Friday, July 20, 2007

Another small corner of my home

This is a corner of my kitchen. It is a little dark because it was stormy here yesterday, but I have this little shelf by the back door that I decided to put something new on. Found the letters (E for my darling husband Earl and K for me) on clearance at the craft store and painted them up. They just fit the shelves and I love how they turned out. It was a fun little project.
I especially liked how the K turned out. I pulled out the stops and made it all flowery and girly and glittered. It is very me.


Also, my dear friend
Jan and I went garage sailing yesterday and I hit the jackpot! I am a total pushover for old linens, especially old pillowcases. I don't think you can beat how soft and pretty they are. Well at the first sale we stopped at I found a few for a real steal. Three lovely lacy edged pillowcases for $3.50!
I am sorry this isn't a great picture. But hopefully you can see that these have a lovely drawn edge to them.


The bottom case in this picture was in a a bag of what looked like stained bits and pieces of embroidered dresser scarves and odds and ends. It was only $1.50 for the whole bag so I took a chance. It was full of more beautiful pillowcases! I took some Fels Naptha to them last night and washed them in hot water. They had those yellow and brown stains all over them and I didn't know if I could make them look better or not. The pansy one above is the only one that didn't clean up very well, I will keep working on it. But look at these beauties!
Can you see the bottom one says "sweet dreams"? The one with the multicolor edge is actually little pansies crocheted all the way across. I LOVE the one with the pink rose edge, and the other is a beautiful hand embroidered morning glory! They all cleaned up beautifully with the Fels Naptha soap. Brown spots are gone and they are gorgeous!! I got eight vintage pillowcases for $5! I had never tried the Fels Naptha on old yellowed stained linens before, but I will certainly try it again! I simply wet the pillowcases, rubbed the soap all over the stains, let it sit in the sink for about an hour and threw them in a hot wash. Love it ! My final find at that same sale was this.
A very pretty, hand embroidered old linen dish towel. I use the linens I find at these sales. I always say what is the use of having beautiful things if you can't use them and enjoy them? I will be careful how I use it, but these have already survived a generation or more!
Well, I am off to get some work done now. I have 250 muslin bags to make for Vacation Bible School by the end of next week (yes, I am quite insane!) and tomorrow Hubby and I are going to the Ann Arbor Art fair. A HUGE and wonderful annual art fair that we love to look through. I will try to get pictures to share! Have a great weekend!

7 comments:

  1. Heyyy! Check out the banner! You did it :) Pretty!
    I love your K...you should be a fabric designer like Anna Maria Horner...do you go to her blog?

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  2. Amazing linens ~ what a fabulous find!
    I love the letters you painted; great job!

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  3. Oh Kathy I love old pillow cases too!
    Love their little works of art and softness!

    I use mine too....
    Thanks for shareing!

    My guest bath is red with black n white toile!
    I'd love to see more of your kitchen!

    Hugz, Dolly

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  4. Hi Kathy, just hopped over from I-don't-remember where. That happens when blog-hopping, doesn't it. What a wonderful find, those old pillowcases are just gorgeous. Lucky you. And your banner is very pretty, did you do it yourself? How clever.
    Coll :-}

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  5. Kathy - I love to use Fels Naptha on all kinds of things. For my vintage linens and clothing I soak them in a small bucket of warm water and Biz. Sometime I soak them for several days, changing the water often. I learned that trick from Martha Pullen, a lady who is well known in the heirloom sewing and smocking world and a collector of hundreds of pieces of vintage clothing.

    I love your finds. Thanks for sharing them with us. I haven't found any pillocases for a long time. Yours are wonderful.

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  6. You know, Kathy, everything old is new again and Fels Naptha soap was Grandma's remedy for everything. These are really beautiful and i am so glad you use them. i love this blog. LAS

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  7. Oh my gosh, I love vintage embroidery like that! Pillowcases and tea towels. Your collection is gorgeous!

    Hugs,
    Amy

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Thank you for taking the time to say hello :)