sarah in nyc

  I didn't get out much this week. I was sick with SOMETHING that wasn't COVID but had me on the couch napping on and off for most of the week. I inherited a batch of  1940s and 50s printed tablecloths from my late mother-in-law.  They all have the kind of wild and hopeful prints that in those days were called gay. I have used those cloths regularly over the past more than thirty years. One of my favorites is this one  with a vaguely Hawaiian print---the border is actually a motif used on Hawaiian quilts. My friend Anne owns the same cloth but printed in Christmas colors. Anyway, after eighty or so years of use the cloth has needed some mends in the interior. I had noticed the last time that I ironed the cloth that the edges were getting frayed.  I thought about a variety of solutions, binding the cloth with a contrasting fabric, serging off the grotty bits and then re-hemming or even tossing the cloth in the rag pile. Instead, inspired by Nancy Sullivan who se...

  I am making progress on Liat's tallit. Each dyed strip needs to be edged with the dark teal ribbon before being attached to the body of the tallit. I am really happy with the progress although I have had to do a fair amount of un-stitching along the way. Either I have gotten better at the less than pleasant job of undoing rows of machine embroidery or have achieved a new state of Zen but I haven't cursed once when I have had to undo dense machine embroidery. Yesterday we took the train to have lunch with my husband's friend since second grade. Aside from the lovely time we had and the excellent lunch we ate I also got to take these photos of the fabulous light fixtures at  Grand Central Terminal.  Today I opened my front door and found a bag attached to the doorknob.  Inside was a treasure trove, from my friend Pearl. Pearl's adventurous mother had traveled the world before she decided to get married. Pearl's mother was an accomplished needlewoman ( she knit the b...

 Many thanks to all of you who have weighed in on the  Schmatta puzzles post . Several of you, including my husband, identified this set as an antimacassar set, or chair set that is missing one of the arm pieces. I had wondered if the pieces were too small to stay put on an upholstered chair but one of my wise readers mentioned that these sets were often attached to chairs with small brass pushpins. I have contemporary plastic-headed ones made with a spiral-shaped pin that screws into the upholstery.  Sue in MN explained the mystery of the cloths with the little valances. Apparently, they were the answer to the inevitable messiness of open shelving. Open cabinets could be fitted with small brass curtain rods and you could install a sweet little decorative curtain to hide what you didn't want to keep in public view. I probably have half a dozen of these little curtains in my collection. Some of them like this one began life as tea towels. Others were made for the purpose ...