Quilted Christmas

Does anyone else do what I do when I look at old linens? There is something about them that makes me want to touch and ooh over them. My mom would always pull out her best tablecloth for the Holidays and maybe that tradition made me appreciate them even more. Do you have any family linens that have been stored away for that perfect setting? Or maybe you are like I once was and believed that they should be admired from afar and never used.

How did I ever get into that silly tradition? Years ago, I would pull out my best dinnerware to use for the holiday and then put them away not to be seen or loved on for months on end. About 10 years ago, I stopped that nonsense, and I am not sure why I did, but it may have been a discussion that my husband and I had about the subject. Since that time we use our best dinnerware everyday! Each meal is special now and not just the few times a year that I made up in my mind.

If old linens could talk, can you only imagine the stories they could tell us. I would like to hear them for sure. I have several old linens that have been given to me and I have a goal of pulling them out and using them or using them to make something new. Is that sacrilege? I don't think so. In fact, I think that the original owners would be happy to know that they are still giving happiness to us.

Check out this tablecloth from the 50's!  I thought it was kind of special because it is on the small side at 50 by 51 inches, but then tables from the 50's weren't huge. I remember my parents had a red melamine table that had chrome legs! We were styling. I'm pretty sure the red seats were a red vinyl. I remember in the summertime, my legs would stick to the seat.  Yep...that must have been a vinyl plastic material.  

It has a few light stains on it, but nothing too noticeable. Our kitchen table is a small 36 x 36 inches so I thought this would look pretty dandy on it. Then I decided that I could add to the charm of the tablecloth by adding a border to it and a backing with batting and make it sing even louder.

Here's the next step.

Pretty sweet looking, huh!  Don't you think the red border really made it pop. Now the thing is with these pre-stamped tablecloths from this age is that the ink may or may not have been stamped square. This one missed the mark on the outside border so there is less cream on certain edges then on the opposing corner. I could have trued it up, but then I would have lost a lot of the cream which I wanted to keep. I figured that if it didn't bother the original owner I wouldn't let it bother me either. 

I did try to square the inside red border as much as possible and then basted it to the batting and backing and am now in the process of hand quilting it using the big stitch method. I'm using red Aurifil thread in size 12 and it is adding a lot of definition. The batting is a new-to-me bamboo batting. It was nice and flat which should lend itself well for a tablecloth. 

More pictures to be posted soon. What are you working on this week?