Monday, February 11, 2013

More Vintage Treasures

 Our church has a new kitchen, so they were replacing old things with new stuff.
[Unfortunately, the inspector could not be convinced that our new church kitchen is not a commercial kitchen; as a result, we can not have any potlucks or bring in any food that is not commercially prepared.  I don't know if that's the result of an anti-Christian bias or something else.  But I do know that for those of us who love to cook for people we love, taking the potlucks away from a church removes a lot more than just food!]

 JoAnn wondered if I would like these!  Oh, yessssss!  They are old flour sack towels.  I'm guessing most of them are 60 years old, maybe older.

 This is a piece of bark cloth appliqued to the towel with buttonhole stitch.  The selvedge of the print says "Guaranteed not to......" followed by illegible writing.

 I love this one because someone was learning to cross stitch, and the upper line of stitching in the pale orchid leaves is a series of vertical stitches instead of cross stitch.  Also, the Greek key design was stitched only on this section of the towel, not the entire border, and the left petal of the iris is missing.

This towel has three printed circles machine stitched down and topped with three colors of ric-rac.

The hem of the bunny towel in the first photo was hand stitched with a feather stitch, much of which has worn away.

JoAnn said a couple of the ladies thought no one would want these; they were going to throw them away.  I absolutely love flour sack towels.  My first embroideries were done on flour sack toweling.  Then when I was in third grade and my mother decided it was time for me to learn to use the sewing machine (her Singer 201), it became my job to hem the feed sack towels.  We didn't buy flour in those sacks, but after feed and seed companies stopped using printed fabrics, they still used unprinted cotton sacks for many years.  We washed them and bleached out the writing and then hemmed them.

Of course, I love them.  And of course I will use them! And I hope the church ladies enjoy the new towels in the new kitchen half as much as I'll love using these old ones in my old kitchen!

Happy quiltmaking.....

13 comments:

doodlebugmom said...

I love them too, I would have snatched them up in a heartbeat.

andsewon said...

Yes me too!! Love vintage needlework! Sadly same inspectors must be here as well. So many 'new' regulations! Now local groups can not have food booths at the local events, such as grilled hot dogs for Scouts, for fund raisers anymore unless food is prepared at a food safe commercial kitchen!
Sad how things seem to keep changing but nothing is getting better!

Pokey said...

What a wonderful save for you, Dora! Another time when we wish the vintage items could tell their story.
I served in the church kitchen on Saturday, when helping with the wedding cake for Rajeana's wedding. We have done several building projects for church, but due to the strict rules on food service, we have done very little to remodel our tiny kitchen. It is sad how restrictive the laws are and yes, sometimes it seems to work worse against God's work ~
:-}pokey

Carol said...

What a treasure trove. They are priceless.

Cindy Sharp said...

Awesome.

Christine said...

Love the towels! And what a shame about the kitchen. Is there someone you can appeal to?

Unknown said...

Lovely!

Lynn said...

Hmmm...are they wanting you to get Food Handler's licenses? Our Senior Center allows no one in the kitchen that doesn't have one. They cook from scratch there, requiring pre-prepared food is just wrong! And no pot lucks? Un-American, if you ask me!

Sheila said...

I love these too lucky you to now be the proud owner . Sorry to hear your renovations have resulted in your church not being permitted to have suppers , that really does not make sense ,

Martha said...

Cute towels!! Reminds me of my grandma, so glad you have them :-) They deserve a happy home!!!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

No potlucks at a church??? What is that guy thinking? I help cook the Wed. night meals, once a month, and most of the preparation is done at my home (our stove at church burns food if you aren't careful). We wouldn't even be able to have funeral luncheons (which I'm working on one right now). That guy is CRAZY! I'd complain to his dept head.

Cheryl Warren said...

so sad about the demise of church potlucks. but your vintage goodies are terrific.

Unknown said...

They tried that here - eliminating the pot lucks, pancakes breakfasts, ice cream socials, etc., and were quickly put straight by public outcry. They said it was a "public health issue" and the churches demanded them to show ONE instance of food poisoning from a church event! They could not. It was a power grab motivated by anti-Christian sentiments on the part of the "officials". I hope your churches will make a HUGE issue of this. So many children are growing up without any Christian heritage.

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