Maybe we could persuade Ricky and Alex to do a segment of a future show about what can be made with tea towels.

Lorchen, your tea towel look like the perfect addition to that wall! Lois, your mom's tea towel work is lovely. My grandmother did, my mother still does that kind of edging and they taught me too. Love how you made the roman shades--I need to find the hardware so I can make my own; your tea towel shades inspired me and I have the perfect place for them. Our local fabric store carries tea towel material, no one seems to purchase it here though... too bad.

I think you can still buy this kind of linen toweling. We have a fabric store operated by an Amish women which is where my mother purchased hers. The next time I go I'll make sure she still has it and check for a manufacturer. Martha Stewart has featured using it for some craft projects and I know she listed the manufacturer or source. That was a number of years ago. I still have lots in my stash. It's great stuff.

I love that tea towel lorchen, what a fun one it is. Ulster Weavers do lots of lovely linen tea towels as well. Some years ago my kids junior school created a tea towel with self-portraits of all the kids in the school. They had to order more than there were children in the school so when the plastic bag levy came in a group of us made totes out of the remaining bags. I still have mine and it's great. It folds away into a very small square so I can store it neatly in my hand bag.

Lois your mother's work is lovely. It's what we call drawn-thread work here. My grandmother did some and so did my DH's grandmother. We still have some pieces they made. I even did a little myself back in my cross-stitching days.

loise98 wrote:
Hi Lois,

I wanted to get some toweling to make similar roman shades for my non-standard sized tall narrow laundry room window, but I could never find any toweling in the right blue color. Yours are beautiful and I'm so jealous!

Looks really good, Lois. I learned these techniques as a child but I am not sure I could do it today.

Wow, Lois! What a treasure to be able to see every day. Your mother did beautiful work!

Lois, thank you soooo much for the pictures of your wonderful blinds. My grandmother taught me how to do 'Hohlsaum' (hollow hem). I haven't done any for years, but always loved the technique. Most of my grandmother's bedlinen had some of that embroidery on it, especially the pillow cases. Unfortunately I did not manage to rescue any of it. By the time my grandmother died, my mother didn't want any of the linen. She only wanted household textiles that were easy to wash and didn't need starching or ironing. I did manage to sneakily safe some smaller pieces of my grandmother's work, and I treasure them.

Beautiful...doubt you'd find that toweling today !

Lorchen, My mother was very creative with her tea towels. She removed a few cross grain threads and used the open strands to create designs and she called it hem stitching. She taught me how to do hemstitching. After she passed away I found yards and yards of her beautiful linen toweling waiting to be made into towels. I used some of it to make curtains for my kitchen windows. Actually, they are Roman Shades not curtains. I have been wanting to post this ever since you asked this question. However, every time I went to take the picture the sun was shinning directly on the window and I could not get a good photo. These photos are not the best but I think you'll get the idea.





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Great quilt Lorchen. I dry dishes (well actually I don't)! Actually about the only time my tea towels get used is if I have the family in for a meal and the sink is too full to let the dishes drip dry or if we are making bread and I need to cover the pans of dough to get them to rise! Love your idea though.

pam7040 wrote:
Some kids need a place without a lot of visual and auditory stimulation so they can calm down. It's not prison, it's helping them.

I don't have any so I am not sure what I would do with one. If they had fantastic needlework on them, I would just enjoy them. Great idea Lorchen!

I dry dishes with them, Lorchen You are one very creative lady! I can understand wanting a room where kids can calm down, but it sounds more like a large prison cell.