Friday, October 24, 2008

Show and Tell Friday


Welcome to Show and Tell hosted by Kelli at my new home. To visit my past Show and Tell's please visit my other blog.

For the last couple of weeks I have been showing my collections of vintage linens.
Today I am sharing a couple of pieces that I am repurposing for a new use.
These are part of a collection of linens that I have bought over the years and repurposed into sewing and craft projects.
Here's one still awaiting a new use.

These I have saved sadly because they didn't fit into the other projects because they were a little worse for wear. You can't see from the scanned image but there are some soiled areas that I couldn't get out. So sadly they weren't pretty enough to be used. But yet they were too pretty to just through away.
Here's another one.

I could not imagine just discarding someones hard work. And so the other day when I unpacked them a new idea came to me.
This part I hope you'll like. It is where making my Home a Sanctuary comes in.
You see my darling Cowboy has this problem when he is in the kitchen.
For some reason he becomes blind when it comes to the roll of paper towel. He just does not use it for anything. Except maybe draining bacon on. Anyway he will spill something or splatter. He loves meat blackened. Do you know how much of a mess this makes? If he drops a little butter on the counter. What do you think he grabs to wipe it up?
You guessed it my pretty washed cotton dish towels.
So I figured these little linens have survived many years and they might just possibly survive Cowboy. So they are going in my kitchen today. I am going to put them in a pretty basket and on the counter well within reach of the messy cook.
Which by the way I try really hard not to let in the kitchen! But sometimes I just can't keep him out. And I love it when once in a while he cooks for me!
Hopefully this new idea will keep me from yelling at him. Which I have decided does no good but maybe it will keep me from biting my tongue so much!

Before I go I have to ask. Do you have any ideas to repurpose vintage linens?

Thanks for visiting my Show and Tell and come back over the weekend for my Home Sanctuary posts.

Making My Home a Sanctuary one clean counter at a time!

7 comments:

Carla said...

I think your Cowboy, and my hubby went to the same 'cleaning up spills' school! That man of mine goes through a stack of washrags or towels when he cooks, because he won't rinse anything. Just wipe up mess, and toss in sink, full of food, or what ever nasty mess he made! YUK! BUT slob that he is, he is a great cook. Good idea to let this one live out its last days in service:)

Linda C said...

Good idea for the linens. I think they are really pretty!
Linda C

Rechelle ~Walnuthaven Cottage~ said...

Your cowboy, carla's hubby and my hubby are all related. lol! I dare not put any of my good dishtowels anywhere in the kitchen when he is cooking.
I had some tea towels that had wonderful embroidery. Parts were stained, so I tea stained the whole thing, which hardly affected the embroidery, I cut out the section with the embroidery and framed it in an antiqued frame. I gave it as a gift to someone. It came out great!

Lady Katherine said...

I have an old one and its made to cover a toaster.

Being Mrs Miles said...

I think I would frame them too, for sure!

I keep a drawer full of 'rags' and hang a couple handy right in the door below the sink OPPOSITE the REAL dishrag. I use rags for quick cleanups etc. Rewashing them saves the environment etc. Perhaps if you had real rags handy for him,(like guys have in their shops) he'd be prone to use them. Worth a try?

Thank you for your interesting entry today, I enjoyed my stay!

~ Barb (Mrs. Miles)

Yellow Rose Arbor said...

Beautiful linens, I love vintage linens and needlework!

I have cut the needlework off of stained and/or ripped linens, and sewed them onto pillows, or make pillows out of them. You can also sew them onto the bottom of towels (that are displayed, not used!) I've also seen in magazines where these pieces sewed onto blouses. You could also use them to make a book cover.

I can't get my hubby to use paper towels either, he ruins all my dish cloths!

Katherine

Susie Homemaker said...

Great idea, and your going GREEN! Maybe that's what Cowboy has been trying to do! LOL...
Blessings,
Susie