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