UPDATE: A New Use for Vintage Linens

Wow—when I look back at the previous post, I’ve done a LOT more than I realized! Since the remodel we just started (what was I thinking?!?!?) is making life chaotic, I’ll space out what I have already finished in case progress falls off (pretty sure!)

So here are two more pictures attached, along with some text:

Here’s an update to the vintage linens quilt I started. The center you saw me working on earlier is finished and has been framed with embroidery and some feed sack fabric that grabbed me. (Funny note—okay, funny NOW!—when I finished appliqueing the original tablecloth corner to the dresser scarf with embroidery stitches, I was all excited…only to realize that in my focus on the stitches, I’d embroidered it to the WRONG side of the scarf!!)

So I had to rip out all that embroidery and do it again. My husband was kind and said “No one will notice” and he’s probably right—but I would notice!

The second photo is one of the tea towels my maternal grandmother embroidered, the puppy in an apron with a coffee cup. I just love it. I framed it with a red and white polka dot to pick up the reds, then surrounded that with some feed sack fabric wedges that had been handed down to me. I later appliquéd it with buttonhole stitches topped with colonial knots (which I like much better than doing French knots.)

I did some more piecing by auditioning fabrics and came up with a feed sack round tablecloth (the little multicolored floral print) that I liked and while shifting things hither an yon, came up with something that was pleasing to my eye. Since this is something I’ll keep, I’m just playing and not worrying about what anyone else would like. I’ll show you the bigger picture in a future post as it evolves, but I’m using feed sack fabrics as much as possible, just because they’re special to me. Most of them came from one of two quilters who has been my mentor and become a cherished friend. (The red polka dot is not feed sack, and the blue you can see beyond the floral table cloth comes from a stash of 36” fabrics she also gave me. It’s been many a year since 36” fabrics were common.)

One of the best things Earlene taught me (besides how to “travel” with my quilting needle—awesome tip!) was that your quilt needs to make your heart happy, above all. This one, because it’s made up of elements that all came from people I love, makes my heart smile every time I work on it. I get to spend time remembering those who have loved me and made me who I am, and it’s almost like being with them again, thinking of those days and the lives that had formed me. I feel like I’m back in my grandmother’s red kitchen (the one that sets the standards for all kitchens to me, not because it was big or fancy—it absolutely was not—but because of the love that lived in it and in the woman who nourished my soul as much as my body.)

That’s what life is all about, isn’t it? The love we are blessed to share with those around us.