Linen Love

A few nights ago I received a surprise phone call from beloved Aunt Delores saying she was in town visiting her sister-in-law.  We went to pick her up and take her out to dinner, and passed by a favorite thrift store on the way.  I was happy she wanted to stop in!

I found some great stuff on our short tramp through the store, but most memorable was this piece that literally took my breath away:

It's about 14"x14" -- cigarette (or cigar) silks stitched onto a piece of cotton fabric.  I think it's about 80 years old.

The silks haven't shattered yet.

The stitching is well done.

The flowers are just beautiful, aren't they?

The most fantastic thing, though, was the price!

I was in heaven, seriously.

Can you take a little more linen love?  Okay: then I want to show you these lovely scarves that I found at an estate sale a while back.  This first one was tattered but had such great design I had to get it anyway:

It's silk; I loved the hand rolled edges, even though they were ripped, and the colors -- especially the purple!

It's one of those souvenir scarves, this one from the late '50's, I think, from Belgium.  The middle shows the typical scenes of interest, but with great little cartoons...

That's me on the back of my boyfriend's motorcycle, motoring about Europe when I was 23... (wink)

But, best of all are the watercolor-like designs along all the edges:

You have the flea market...

Naughty kids...

revelry...

dining...

and wonderful pets!

Another scarf I bought from the same sale, just because I liked the way the edges were silhouetted:

The rose motif is common, but his was unique, I thought, with the feathers.

I just cannot get enough of beautiful linens -- colors -- design -- texture.  I am addicted!