Linens, though, I rarely walk away from.
This piece is exceptional. The stitches are so regular, the button-hole embroidery so close that it looks like machine-embroidery. It's not. It's all hand-done. The large yellow leaves, edged in blue button-hole stitching, are appliquéd. The two smaller yellow leaves, one bottom left, the other higher on the vine, and the leaf outlined in green all are shadow-stitched. The scalloped border? Hand-done button-hole stitching.
The sides are hand-stitched as well. This piece has heirloom quality stitching and someone gave to the thrift store. What are people thinking? And why am I questioning it? Their loss, my gain.
This bridge cloth has eight matching cocktail napkins. The embroidery is spectacular, the flowers all french knots. Exquisite!
I remember my mother-in-law having the ladies over for cards, back when I first married. (She played canasta.) Me, the closest I ever came to "having the ladies over" was when I was writing and had a bi-weekly writers group. We didn't do bridge cloths or cocktail napkins. We did sitting at the bare kitchen table with a drink and a snack while we read each others' manuscripts. That doesn't mean t can't still imagine the elegance of a time gone by when ladies did do otherwise. Hey, I may not be a writer anymore, but I can still exercise the imagination muscle. ;^)
These are similar to the first towel, but different.
The embroidery and appliqués are beautifully done but the side hems and satin-stitched edgings are machine-stitched. It's almost as if these and the first were done by the same woman but these later in her life when she could afford a sewing machine and was too tired to do everything by hand.
Well, that's a little look at some of my recent finds. There's more; feel free to check out my shop for the others.
It's been fun sharing with you. Ta, y'all.
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