The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Wednesday 10 June 2015

A bonus post this week! Sweet Vintage Linens in our Homes. By Helen.

Sweet Vintage Linens in our Homes.


All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle~ Ellen Birdseye Wheaton 1851


Dear Friends,   It's lovely to be with you all again!  Today in our cozy circle I wanted to share how very true this quote is.  Annabel and I have found to our joy, that our minds are at ease when our fingers are busy engaged in some sort of handiwork or craft.
It seems in the planning of something for our homes or as a gift, the happiness that surrounds the gathering of materials infuses our hearts.
There are days in my life when I am very busy with ministry to women, my mind is almost too busy, and it was Annabel who encouraged me, to make sure during those days I had some knitting or crocheting on hand to provide a quiet space for my mind.
Recently I have been enjoying a couple of weeks of a blog called Posy Typepad.  It's from a lovely lady called Jane Goble in England.  Her home is a small two story cottage....just the sort of home I adore, and her lovely of crocheting, and sewing....painting her home, and decorating with thrifted furnishing and china is just delightful.
I have a whole list of things that I am now on the lookout for.




Lovely things such as tray cloths. Don't they go perfectly with vintage china?  This is my rosebud set which is used every single day. I bought it from a lady on Ebay....all 42 pieces of it.  It was bought new in 1955 by her mother for her wedding, and sadly it was never used.  Her daughter described it to me as her Mum was always saving it for when " the Queen came to tea", but she never did.

After being inspired by Jane, I visited a total of 9 lovely op shops ( thrift shops) over a couple of days. Those lovely shops in country towns which are almost exclusively run by local churches.
There were very few hand embroidered linens.  When I asked the staff at each shop, they told me that they rarely get them in now.


This sweet vintage cloth embroidered with sailing ship, and anchors is now resting on the end of my bed reminding me that bedtime is the time for sailing to the land of nod.

I also gathered the sweetest handkerchief  holder on the same day for 50 cents.




Here it is filled with some of my hankies.  I have found myself using it daily.



The last thing I found in my pursuit of linens made by another woman were these baby pink curtains for our bedroom.




Autumn has arrived here and this last week has seen me adding layers of linens to our home throughout . I added a pair of pale pink Rachel Ashwell curtains to the centre and with the lamps on at night has become a favourite retreat.
I've found over the course of the last few weeks, that these beautiful embroidered linens so popular years ago are becoming expensive and scarce.  I ventured onto Ebay thinking I might pick up a few there, but the prices were beyond my budget in most cases.
All in all my treasures cost the princely sum of $6.50 for these.  The pleasure they have added to my day is priceless.  I often think about the women who spent hours sitting and stitching these linens for their homes, with dreams attached to them, much the same as I do when creating something.
If you love and treasure these embroideries as much as I do, it may be time to look out for them and buy them when you see them.

Recently my dear friend Kaye, who is in our group here told me how she bought a beautiful pink cloth for $1.  She was planning to use it on a holiday at the seaside for a special High Tea with her daughter.
It seems that linens, love and family will always be tied together in our hearts.
What is it that you love in your home dear friends?
Love Helen x



22 comments:

  1. Dear Helen, what a surprise and delight to find a bonus post today from you!

    My great grandmother embroidered and crocheted a deep edge on a little white linen supper cloth. It is on my side table near my armchair. I know it is probably "too good" to use for the everyday, but I do! It connects me and reminds me of the wonderful women who have gone before me and what their lives were like. I was only 10 when my great grandmother died, but I remember little things about her. She was industrious, creative and kind and gentle. Things I aspire towards too.

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    2. Dear Kaye, Thank you so much for sharing about your supper cloth! Don't you wish that we used things like supper cloths? It makes me think of having people visit our homes and maybe having an evening of playing board games, or singing around the piano or the ladies knitting together. Your great grandmother sounds like a woman I would love to emulate. What a true treasure she was. I'm so happy that you are using and enjoying her cloth.
      Love Helen xxx

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  2. Linens I am crazy for linens, I have so many I had to file them so that nothing got ignored.I believe that they must be used.Lovely post.

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    1. Hello Tealady...I do love your name! Yes...you are so right. They add a touch to our homes that I'm sure impart graciousness to our everyday life. I think of the women who laboured and dreamt over them, and feel somehow that I am honouring her when I love them and use them.
      Love Helen xxx

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  3. Helen I have a love of linens - they are currently packed away and I am counting down the days until they arrive here.

    I missed being able to knit - didn't realise just how much until I picked up my needles again. Now a day doesn't pass without my needles clacking away. In the warmer months I would love to teach myself how to crochet, I have a pattern that my grandmother gave me from a newspaper that I would really like to do.

    My curtains and fabric are also still away but I plot and plan especially when I see something and I know that I have the exact same fabric stashed away.

    It is sad when someone keeps things 'until the Queen visits' things need to be used especially china.

    Love


    Lynette
    XXXXX

    PS I will keep an eye out at the op shops I visit to see what I can find - yesterday I was in an Antiques place and I am sure that the prices there for pretty fancy work, as it was known, were not what would be paid in an op shop.

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    1. Lynette dear, thank you for your beautiful comment. You are a wonderful knitter, and the picture you paint is simply lovely. Annabel has successfully learnt a number of new crochet patterns off youtube, and I have learnt two myself. You are right Lynette, some of the prices now are very expensive.
      Thanks so much for taking the time to write.
      Love Helen

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  4. Helen, yes it was a nice surprise to see a bonus post! I love the pictures!

    My grandma embroidered and crocheted and I love using all those "treasures"! After 43 years of marriage, we are still using pillow cases she embroidered. :) Some have worn out but I saved the edges with the embroidery work.

    Thank you so much for sharing, Helen. Teri

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    1. Oh Teri, you are so blessed having your grandma's linens. Truly, it's better than anything we can buy. What does it say about fabric that the pillowcases have lasted so long?
      Well done on 43 years of marriage. Such lovely news encourages us all in our relationships.
      Love Helen

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  5. Gorgeous linens! I just love vintage linens - the designs are so sweet.

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  6. Hi Jayne,
    Aren't they though? It's like a different time almost. I sometimes grow weary with the brashness of the world and using things like this in my home and reading beautiful blogs like Annabel's and Jane's just keep me in a lovely mindset. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.
    Love Helen

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  7. Dear Helen,
    When I was twelve or thirteen or so I started collecting embroidered linens. Also blue and white china. Mum and I would go to Adelaide occasionally and we would go to an old shop that was probably an op shop I think and I would get doilies for 20c and china for 50c. I loved this! So I started young and found it so exciting to collect and plan! All I wanted was a cottage, garden and babies!
    Over the years I collected so many linens and eventually sold quite a lot too.
    Chloe has gorgeous vintage curtains at her place. So when we op shop we are both still looking at the linens.
    I am also very fond of pretty aprons, bedspreads etc.
    Love. These things are all so beautiful to me!xxx

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    1. Dear Annabel,
      The lovely thing about these posts are the stories from our lives that come out. We have probably written hundreds of letters back and forth to each other and yet I didn't know this.
      I too love blue and white china, and I have a plastic crate of it stashed in my cupboard. Opshops ( thrift shops) were my haven as a teen girl for the same reason. They had all the things I loved and fitted my almost non existent budget. We had an excellent one in a little country town, owned by the Anglican Church, and clothes were all 20 cents. I used to get 80 cents pocket money a week, so every couple of weeks, Mum and I would go for an outing and I could do some shopping. I still love the thrill of the undiscovered.
      Thanks so much beautiful friend for the opportunity to sit here awhile.
      Love Helen xxx

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  8. I too love beautiful old linens. I have a few that belonged to my mother in law that I am saving to pass on to my daughters and granddaughters!

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    1. Dear Patsi, It's always a joy to hear from you! What a blessing....beautiful family linens and daughters and granddaughters in your family. These are the true ingredients for a happy life.
      Thank you for taking the time to send your little note.
      Love Helen x

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  9. My daughter has a beautiful small square embroidered tablecloth framed in her home. I bought it for a quarter at a garage sale about twelve years ago. Which I found sad because it had to take months to embroider it and now it was a cast off. But good for my budget and I knew she would love it. It was easy to find such treasures at one time but with renewed interest in vintage items, they are now mostly found in antique stores.

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    1. Hi Brenda, I know what you mean....over time I'm sure that all of us have seen these wonderful handmade linens for pennies. The thing is that you and your daughter both appreciate it, and now it is gracing another home in a different way. It's true what you say, they are scarce, and a lot of them on places like Ebay are now quite expensive. Now that I now this, I'm watching out when ever I am out thrift shopping.
      Have a wonderful day,
      Love Helen

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  10. Helen, what beautiful linens!
    I love the embroidery on old linens and, of course, the lace edgings. I have several pieces my maternal grandmother did and many from my husbands side of the family. Two years ago his parents passed on and his mother had stored all of the handwork she and her mother had done. Sadly, due to blood stains (someone wasn't that great with a needle :)), I had to throw some away.

    There was a lot of embroidery, crochet, and knitting among all of the trunk fulls of saved items. Since my husband's brother didn't want any of that "stuff" my husband brought it all home for me to use; pass along; or make something else out of it. There are two beautiful full size crocheted bedspreads.

    I have always loved anything old (antique) and our home reflects that.

    Thank you for such a delightful and uplifting special post.

    Many blessings to you.

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    1. Glenda, Thank you for letting us share the story of how you came by your family linens. It's such a wonderful blessing, and you appreciate it! I'm so happy that now you can use these things. I love the sound of your home, and if you ever want to share some photos with us, I know that Annabel and I would be thrilled to see them. You decorate in just the way that I would love!
      Have a wonderful day!
      Love Helen

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  11. How wonderful to have another post from you Helen.

    I too am a lover of vintage linen and have a collection of my own. I use doileys all around my home. I also use vintage table cloths and aprons.

    I love the china set, it is so beautiful. How fortunate for you to find such a treasure and give it a good home.

    xTania

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  12. Oh my goodness, I was so happy to see you had posted again Helen.

    There is so much prettiness around your home. I love the gorgeous china set, and what a great find and just to the right home too. Those curtains look so lovely, and so does the granny square blanket. I have a few of those too ~smiles~

    I love vintage linens and have a collection of my own. I use the doileys around my home and have table cloths and aprons too. I just love the way they are made and the pretty embroidery work on them.

    Every time I go to the op shop I pick up a pair of vintage sheets for $3.00 and put them away for a rainy day. The flower patterns are just so nice, I cant resist them. My mum also saves chenille bedspreads for me. These come into the local op shop but they don't seem to sell in their small hometown. I have to admit that I am a collector of old things, I just love them all...

    Have a lovely weekend Helen,

    xTania

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  13. Hi Tania,
    It's always a treat to hear from you! I too love the old sheets. The flowered prettiness seems to add another layer of love to a made bed. You are so blessed to be able to get them. Chenille bedspreads are impossible to secure in the op shops in the city . Country towns are really the place I have been successful with finding some nice china and linens at a reasonable price.
    Tania you should do a post one day on your blog on old linens and things of that nature. I'm sure it would be appreciated by so many of your readers.
    It's a lovely drizzly Saturday here, and I am having the afternoon toasting myself by the fire.
    Love Helen

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I really appreciate your comments thank you! The aim of my blog is the be a place of encouragement and happiness. Very rarely is anyone rude. Actually only twice so far! If you post a rude or aggressive comment I will read it but not publish it, thanks for understanding.xxx

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