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Laundry

I spent the long weekend happily laundering. I love doing laundry and even if it didn't need it I washed it any way. The picture of lace drying above is about 40 feet of hand crocheted lace! 40 feet! There was also a piece that must have been crocheted onto a round tablecloth but the tablecloth bit was long gone and there was just a circle of lace left.

I have a piece of matelasse bedspread that I cut into a circle a while back and I've been meaning to get either fringe or lace for it. See? Procrastinating pays off sometimes. Now I've the perfect piece.

I got a comment from Kathy last week, recommending Biz for soaking linens and let me tell you it's like a miracle worker. Really brightens up and gets stains out without fading any of the colors. I have an old tablecloth that has been stained for years and it got those stains out.

This is what our house looked like all weekend:

The un-linen post

This will be a picture heavy post. My camera batteries died and it was a couple of days before I could replace them so I went a little crazy when I was back up and operational.

The above pic looks like I cropped it so it had the designs in the corners. It was just a happy coincendence. I wish I had lined it up a little better

I am going to have to figure out some way to display all the plates Kelly gave me. They are all so pretty. I would love to find a shallow shelving unit that I could mount on the wall.

Isn't that sweet? I love the little bird.

I would love to find the matching teacup to this saucer. I've always had a fondness for Forget-me-nots. There isn't any identifying marks on the bottom of the saucer though.

A friend of mine used to put a pretty saucer next to her stove to use as a spoon rest. This one might be too pretty to get gunked up with spaghetti sauce or whatever though.

I love the pale turquoise on this plate. I think I'm going to have to find more of these.

It's funny – I don't think of myself as a blue person. I don't decorate much with it yet I'm really drawn to things with blue in them lately.

Let's move away for the plates for seconds. Kelly gave me a number of pink and gold pieces, including this sugar bowl and creamer. There is also a small plate and a tumbler that looks like it says "presentl" on it. I should take a picture of it and let you guys see if you can figure it out.

And last but not least (for this post anyway – there is tons more) a cake plate with hydrangeas on it. I love these plates with the handle cutouts. This plate has really pretty raised detail on it.

The next post will be on the odds and ends that Kelly gave me. Little salt dishes, glass lamps, a pair of botanical prints…. I could continue posting like this indefinitely!

Embroidery

Oops. I should have cropped the tri-pod out of the picture. I was so blinded by the exquisite crocheted trim I didn't even notice it until just now.

The light is just not cooperating for me these days. It is very gloomy and grey out and we have issues even on sunny days so these pictures aren't going to be all that great. And I really should have maybe ironed some of the pieces before photographing them but I'm not very patient.

This is one of a pair of embroidered and crocheted pillowcase hems. Someone had the clever idea of just cutting away the worn out pillowcase piece and saving the pretty part. Included in my five boxes of linen loot were a stack of vintage, cotton pillowcases. Worn to silky softness from years of laundering. I'm sure I can find a match for these pieces and sew them on.

I love the delicate colors in this hand towel. Reminds me of the colors in one of my unfinished projects (the embroidered pillow).

This was one of many small, card table size tablecloths. I love the unexpected bit of black in the pansies. It would never occur to me to do that and yet it really makes the embroidery jump out.

There's that pesky tri-pod leg again.

Kelly's great aunt had embroidered a number of these adorable tablecloths. Lovely, simple designs. They all have the same edging on them which at first I thought was a slender bit of crochet but on closer inspection is actually a really tight blanket stitch and every two inches or so she did a special little knot to give it a little more detail. So what looks like a deceptively sweet and simple tablecloth actually must have taken quite a long time to create.

Would you look at this diva. One of a pair of pillowcases. Someone carefully cut out a portion of the pillowcase and crocheted her hoop skirt. I wish I had taken a close up of the crochet trim on this one because it is especially pretty.

I really should have ironed this before taking the picture. I love this little tablecloth because it reminds me of when we first moved into our last house. We had a sunny area behind the garage and next to my studio and I totally envisioned planting hollyhocks and foxgloves and pretty daisies along the back fence. In my mind it looked just like this piece of embroidery.

I also envisioned sweet-peas but my sister Kate lived right down the street and she grew masses of them and my niece would pick bunches for me and leave them on my front porch. Gosh I miss that.

Most of the pieces so far have a 40's or 50's feel to them. But this piece, a delicate little pillowcase seems older. It reminds me of 20's lingerie with the muted peach fabric and the tea stained lace. The lace is so delicate and the material is so fine that I can even imagine embroidering it in the first place. I'm going to have to get a little pillow form to fit this.

I think tomorrow we will take a break from the linens (and there is much more to come, let me tell you) and I'll share with you some of the china pieces and the adorable glass lamps. In the meantime here's a picture of my assistant. She has been helping me sort through all the linen pieces.

Hankies

You are looking at 150 hankies. I counted them. First I petted them. Then I separated them into four categories; printed, crocheted trims, embroidered and then my favorite category – the white on white ones. Look that stack is the biggest too.

The printed ones are admittedly the most cheerful of the lot, don't you think?

Look at this one – I don't think I've ever come across a round hankie.

There are two of these in my new collection, just slight color variations. The design is signs of the Zodiac. And it is gossamer soft. In fact so many of the them are so incredibly delicate that you can't imagine anyone using them for the rather violent act of blowing ones nose.

Sigh – I do wish I could crochet. I really need to apply myself and just learn. It's hard finding a left-handed teacher though and previous attempts learning from a right-handed crocheter (my Grandmother) were not successful. In fact my Grandmother finally threw up her hands and said I was too tense to crochet and to take up boxing or meditation instead.

Look at this one – another one I haven't seen before but I think it is a mourning hankie:

Yesterday I spent the day happily hand washing lace. I'll save that post for another day. But the house is festooned with drying doilies and lengths of hand crocheted lace. I think I'll just end each post from now on with a big "thank you Kelly!"

Speaking of which – I'm trying to talk her into starting her own blog. Her home is so charming. She has her collections so nicely arranged and her decorating style is the perfect blend of vintage and traditional. She loves white painted furniture so her home has a comforting brightness to it.

Here's an example of her decorating ingenuity ~ We both have cats. Cats that like to claw furniture. At our house we have old bath towels (that have been relegated to car-washing towel status) that we have draped over the arms and backs of all the upholstered furniture. It's really ugly. Kelly has vintage tablecloths covering her furniture. Way more charming.

Linen lottery

I have a friend, Kelly, who recently caught up with me after a number of years of losing touch with each other. She actually found my blog and emailed me and we've been catching up ever since.

She had an on-line antiques business and she really has an eye for finding thing. She's one of those people that can slow down passing a garage sale and spot the jewels amongst the junk.

A few weeks ago she casually mentioned that she had some vintage linens and since they weren't really her thing would I like to go through them and pick what I wanted. Or take it all, she added.

Last night I went to her home and she had five boxes of linens waiting for me. It was hard not to hyperventilate. We are talking hand embroidered tablecloths, hand crocheted lace, hankies, hankies, hankies, vintage curtains, upholstery fabric, REAL 30's fabric, quilt squares, Yo-Yo's (my life's work just got easier), dresser scarves, doilies.

She wasn't done there – oh no. Then she started going through her dishes and gave me every delicate, florally piece she had. She prefers collecting pottery pieces and Japanese Majolica herself.

She kept insisting I was helping her out, helping her make room and clearing out items she really didn't want. I still feel so, I don't know – not guilty really but like I WAY more got the better end of this bargain.

I'm going to sort through it all this morning and I'll have follow up posts on the treasures I received. I know some of the china pieces and delicately embroidered hankies are going to make you all swoon.

Thank you Kelly. I'm overwhelmed.

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