Lunch Linen and Free Mary Frances eBook

NEWS FLASH!  The  Mary Frances Adventures Among the Thimble People sewing book is still available as a free download from this fabulous homeschooler site.  Not only that but now you can also download–for free–the Mary Frances Knitting and Crocheting  Book  These were promoted as one-day only freebies.  But apparently, they remain on the site for some time.

This week has been filled with delightful visits from  two South Carolina friends.  First, Terri Click (The Thrifty Needle blog) of Conway arrived after teaching in Orlando.  I’ll share more of that visit in a future post.  She snapped some pictures and  has posted photos of my sewing room   (gulp….) on her blog.

Then just yesterday my high school friend Carole of Bluffton stopped by with her husband on their way to DisneyWorld.

Having planned to serve lunch on the breakfast porch, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to use this charming vintage tablecloth, which is just the right size.  It teamed up nicely with my favorite, everyday Blue Willow china and this robust African violet.  When Suzanne Sawko gave me the pot, the plant was no more than three tiny rooted starts.  Now it overflows the container and blooms profusely, nonstop.  I’m so pleased with it.

As I was setting the table, it occurred to me that you might enjoy seeing this beautifully embroidered table linen.

So I grabbed my camera, unset the table and started all over again, snapping close ups and finally the set table.  About half way through this impromptu photo shoot, the kitchen timer started buzzing.  It was time to take my apple/cranberry pie out of the oven.

I did not take time to smooth out the cloth,  straighten the plates or line up the pieces properly.   And after all that rushing around,  the top crust of the pie  could best be described as “blackened.”  No one was surprised.  I’ve never claimed to be a good cook.  But I do have some pretty linens and love to use them on such occasions as this.

The tablecloth appears to have been commercially hemstitched.  There is some puckering along two parallel sides, as if the straight of grain required reduced tension.  I’ve often experienced this when hemstitching on my sewing machine.

The padded satin stitch is beautifully executed.  The remaining stitches seem fairly basic but very effective in this design.  I love the big chunky French knots.

There were no napkins with this set when I purchased it.  The iris napkins I used don’t match perfectly, but seemed to fit the mood of the table setting.

Do you have any special vintage linens?  Do you use them?  I’d love to see pictures.