Today is Grandparents’ Day, in case you didn’t know. So, along those lines…I’ve found things during our move that I swear I’ve never seen before, though of course that’s unlikely. One such item was a very large damask tablecloth, probably linen.
I thought it had belonged to my grandmother, who was very much into fancy tables. (We’re talking multiple sets of china, flatware, etc.) However, the monogram marked it as having belonged to my great-grandmother, Ida Miller Ownbey (1862-1923).
Despite the beauty of the cloth and the handwork, there were several holes in it, and too many Sunday dinner leftovers to save it.
I threw it in the trash.
THEN I needed to spray baste a small quilt. I retrieved the tablecloth and used it to cover the garage floor for the procedure. Ha!
I was so glad it wasn’t wasted. May we all be so useful at age 100!
Zippy Quilts 
I do hope you cut out the Family monogram to use as a scrappy bit somewhere in your scrappy creations!
In any case – I have been known to use such pieces as ‘rags’, too. The ease of throwing a protective piece on the ground, using it and then just tossing it without a second thought is sooooo freeing – especially when it has been ‘in use’ for 100 years!
Good call, Zippy
ps-email forthcoming within the next few days!
Thanks 🙂. I’ve been thinking of you.
I am trying to get some stains out of an old tablecloth myself today — a relative youngster at 70 years old! It is all cross stitched in a color combination I don’t like very much — melon, moss, and lots of black. I think I am going to turn it into an “art cloth” and just do some meditative stitching on it.
Art sounds like a good solution!
I am loving the sage green borders on that swap block quilt! Ditto on saving the monogram for something special.
See you soon!
No doubt there are vintage-lovers who will think it’s tragic that you didn’t turn this tablecloth into something more useful. However, I’m the sort who understands that not everything can be kept. That’s why I recently gave away more than 90 hand-embroidered redwork blocks that may have been made by my great grandmother (one block was embroidered 1899). I was happy to pass them along to someone who loves them, and is already turning them into something very special.
I’m the only surviving child of an only child, and have only one child, which means there is a lot that needs to be shared outside the family. Thanks for understanding 🙂
Shall I confess to a feeling of “oh no!” when I read you had thrown out your great grandmother’s tablecloth. And then relief when I read that you retrieved it. I once consigned old family napkins to The Woodworker’s rag pile and then, when I discovered kantha stitching and reusing old linens, I was so pleased that he had not used them as rags. I turned one into a sampler, and have saved the others for my old age (ha ha).
I am glad you found a use for the tablecloth and maybe some crazy hand stitcher can use the good bits in the cloth!
I have lots of old linens—3 generation’s worth—and have found various uses for them. We are now in our 16th residence and all that moving puts things in a different perspective.
I am sure you must be heartily sick of packing and unpacking!
Wow – that is a lot of residences! I guess I won’t complain about moving a couple times in one year!
We get rid of a ton of stuff every time we move. I hate to think how much we’d have if we’d been in the same house all these years. We may be hoarders 🤪
Okay then moving wasn’t so bad, right 😉
Sorry you could not save it in the traditional way but I like how it ended up being of use!
I have since found 2 additional, similar tablecloths,
Are you sure they are not breeding in the closet or something?!?! Ha!
I’m pretty sure the scraps breed in the closet, but I hadn’t thought it of the tablecloths 😂