I recently came across a shop that sources beautiful pieces of antique furniture and sometimes textiles from Sweden, and purchased a few delicious pieces to sell. Here is one of them, a beautiful Swedish embroidery, a felt appliqué panel with three lovely flaxen-haired girls carrying candles surrounded by flowers. It has an Art Nouveau flavour to the figures, so I imagine it dates to somewhere about 1900-1920. It is substanially faded, as can be seen by the deep midnight-blue colour on the back of the panel. It has a Christmassy, or at least a wintry feel to it, but I know very little about Scandinavian culture or textiles, so it has opened up a whole new area for me to research! Initial research these days is so much easier, I shall start with some 'googling', which will hopefully lead me to an interesting book or two...