Vintage Linens

Vintage linens are so popular today and thier popularity is gaining. Thrift stores, consignment shops, even antique malls are filled with booths dedicated to this genre. Family pieces that were used when I was young....I thought were new.... were cherished hand-made memories from Aunts. I suppose it was the imputus to my own collecting.

This tablerunner is from my M-I-L. It was given to her as a wedding gift...she said it was old then, but not sure how old............................................

I was so excited. It's a turn-of-the century hand-tatted lace runner. Just recently a friend of mine had been given a tatting set with patterns and examples that dates back to then and lo and behold, there was the runner Now we know for sure how old it really is. This teatowel was given to her at the same time.........

This is a bridgetable cloth from the 40's. I love the colors and the French Knots.

This is a dresser scarf my Grandma had begun and one she hadn't gotten too. 

  Someday I'll finish em for her.

Here are some pics of some other linens in my collection some I will keep, but others will become parts of my creations...............................................................................................

I guess it's no surprize that my Brown Gingham Creations have thier origins in vintage linens...............

A placemat combining vintage inspired papers with a medallion I created by using a vintage 1940-50 tablecloth and then hand-embroidered  for embellishment.






                                                      

This hand-embroidered pillow was a 1950-60 dishtowel

 I hand-embroidered this 1968 pillowcase

 The Southern Belle is from the 1930's and she was a teatowel

This canvas tote sports a band created from a 1940's tablecloth









This autumnal tablerunner was a 1960's dishtowel.

and, this Angelic Light is a trip thru time. A 1960's spun plastic doll lamp has been reworked. A 1950's hankie that I hand-embroidered is added as a skirt. A 1940's hand-crocheted doily creates her apron, decolatage at the bodice, and accent the parasol. Her wings were vintage lace trim.





Rework-----Repurpose----Recreate
I love taking love worn textiles and making them new again.

Don't forget to visit my Saturday friends over at Southern Lady Vintage for Saturday Vintage Love. They are showing off thier vintage linens too! I'm on my over there now. We can go thru here
And, Monday I'm joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Moday. Let's go over there too and see some pretty vintage inspired tranformations

Dinner for two.......

This Tablescape Thursday and Time Travel Thursday is dedicated to  two ladies, left to their own devices on a week night, while their loving hubbies attend some sports thing. The evening is to include an early supper of Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Mixed Fruit Compotes, and a Pasta Salad, and then, an evening with Clark Gable, Cary Grant, and Tom Selleck.

Since it's just the two of them they'll do something different...eat in the Living Room at the Coffee Table where it's a little fancier than TV trays in front of the television.

Here it is all set up ready and waiting.

These are the components of this tablescape............

Cherry Coffee Table with vintage hexagonal mirror and turn-of-the-century hand-tatted lace runner.

I have included one of my new vintage inspired designs onto this tablescape. I have taken a new footed serving plate, attatched a 1940's hand-tatted doily, and added a serving plate to the top to protect the doily.

Some are plain like this one others will be hand-painted to match the doily colors. They will be available soon on my website and Etsy, but if you'd like to custom order one in a special color I'd be happy to create one for you.

The plates are a very special find I made this past week at the Ohio Valley Antique Mall. They are aluminum porceleain clad plates, marked ' Berens Ware,  England'. I know they were probably an 8-pc placesetting in the 40's, but all they had were the 3, so now I'm gonna spend a lot of time trying to locate matching peices...don't ya just hate when that happens ;) They a re each names in the back.........one is the Cottage, the other the Arbor, and lastly Friends. To see them closer just click the pic.

 

I placed the Cottage plate on top od the footed sering dish for the sandwiches.

The napkins pictured are 1940's hand-crocheted hankies, The Iced Tea Spoons are vintage 1950's and the Silver is Onieda Southern Garden form 1993, which is now discontinued.:(

The iced tea glasses are crystal by Kronos. If you look closely the bottoms have a cross pattern with color fused in. The colors match the plates.

The Sugar Bowl in a very old hand-painted porcelain peice that was a gift. I believe it's marked Austria, but it's so worn I can't be sure. I have the creamer too. The pressed green glass pitcher is Fostoria.

And, lastly these are the salad bowls. Really they are 1950's ice cream bowls, but they work.

So, this is my Tablescape  for Thursday and my Time Travel inspired table for Time Travel Thursday. I'm linking to Susan over at Between Naps On The Porch for Tablescape Thursday of which she so graciously hosts. Don't forget to stop by and see all the incredible tablescape thru Here  I'm also linking to Liz at Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thursday you can visit all the travelers thru Here

And, dont' forget I'm having a little surprize giveaway in my last post. Go here to get more details. Everyone who leaves a comment in my posts this week is entered!

A whimsical garden party

A little lengthy and I might be going out on a limb, but it was  Hoot to do Pics to follow. Please read on.............

The Songbird Gazette

All the News to Tweet About

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Hello my fine feathered friends. Polly Parrot here with all the latest news to squawk about in Birdlandia.

Maple Grove:  Doc Stork visited the nest of  Mr. and Mrs. B. Lue Jay last night and delivered 4 perfectly adorable eggs. Doc says it's only a matter of days before the Hatchlings make an appearance. 

/--------------------------------/

Olde Oak Tree Condos: Construction note, the Woodpeckers will be doing necessary renovations. They request all residents land at the rear of the tree.           

/---------------------------------/

Songbird Exclusive:  Mrs. 'Red' Robin Hosts Garden Party Luncheon                                                                      

 Mrs. 'Red' Robin hosted a grand garden party luncheon for Ms. Carolina Wren. Ms. Wren is relocating to our neck of the woods from North Carolina. She was chaperoned by Chief Red Hawk of the Cherokee, North Carolina Hawks. In the fall Ms. Wren will be attending our prestigious Bird U. Dean Bal T. Mor'Oriole and his wife Raven were on hand to welcome Ms. Wren. Other notibles who attended were, Woody Woodpecker of stage and screen fame, the Starlings of Cornfield, Prof. Hoot Owl, and Col. Nutt Hatch a long time family friend of both Mrs. Robin and Ms. Wren's family. The Cardinal of Birdlandia also flew in to welcome Ms. Wren and give her his heartfelt blessings. Entertinment was provided by the Warblers, The Loon's, and special appearance by Jiminey Cricket accompanied by  the Songbird Quartet.

In defference to Mrs. Robin's wishes photographic and vocal recordings of this party were not allowed.......

but, I Polly Parrot was allowed prior entry into the Garden during set up and allowed to snap a few shots of what the tables looked like.

tables were provided by the Woodpecker Woodworks

And placed in various groupings in the garden.

Lovely linens in bright colors graced the tables

The custom teapots and cups, designed by Pigeon Potters, were placed on each table


and,

locally grown Clover, Crown Vetch, Summer Phlox, Geranium, Butterfly Bush, and Clematis from Mrs. Robin's garden completed the tables.

The menu included Mint Tea, Leaf Salad with assorted Seeds, Corn Cake and Her secret recipe

Caraway Cookies.
Here are a few more pictures of the pretty little tables.

A fun time was had by all.
I must mention Mrs. Robin was, as always, the most gracious hostess in her trademark vintage apron.

And, as we all flew off she made sure each of her guests received a tote, like this, filled with her signature Caraway Cookies.

I have a scoop......Mrs. Robin wanted me to let you know that her vintage aprons and todays guests totes are  provided by Melody at Brown Gingham Creation, "a wonderful old Crow" As Mrs. Robin puts it. "A whiz with a needle and embroidery thread".

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Hi Everybody! I hope you enjoyed my little bit of whimsy. Thought I'd do something different for a post to show off one of my cutest little Tea Sets and include a view of a couple of my creations available. The apron is a 1950's cotton that I finished  the embroidery on, added Swprovski Crystals, and vintage buttons. The Tote has a pocket I created by hand-embriodering a portion of 1940's tablecloth and then embellished with buttons and silver studs.. 

You'd never guess I found this 'tweet' little set in a Publisher's Clearinghouse mailer. I use it outside to accent my porch, which hopefully since the heat has broken I will be able to finish decorating. for the Summer. The cedar stump used for the table was 1 of a few I kept when they cut down an old cedar tree in Grandma's yard. I know odd thing to keep, but I loved that old tree as a kid and the peices have come in handy around the garden. The "tablecloth" is actually A hankie from my collection. If you'd like to see more of my vintage inspired aprons, visit my Etsy site, Apronation. For my other creations visit http://www.brownginghamcreations.com/ or http://www.brownginghamcreation.etsy.com/

Now that I've visited my feathered friends...I can't wait to pop in at Susan's Very Cherry World for Rednesday on Wednesday, Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday, and my friends at Brambleberry Cottage for Time Travel Thursday to see what party-goers are doing there.