A Rediscovered Gem

For the past couple of months, I have been cleaning and purging preparing for a rummage sale.  Or yard sale, or tag sale, or whatever you call it in your neck of the woods.

It was an attempt to get my daughter to learn about earning money for the mission trip we are going on in a few weeks, rather than Mom and Dad just paying for everything.

While I was cleaning I re-found (is that a word?) a box of linens given to me when my husband's grandmother passed away.  This is one of the pieces.

It's  a large tablecloth, and it will actually fit our kitchen table.  When I was showing these old linens to my daughter, I discovered that this was not meant to be embroidered.

Years ago, I cross stitched tons of things, but carpal tunnel has gotten the best of me and I can no longer do it.  I knew I had these linens, but I thought I had to embroider them and that my hands couldn't handle it.  Imagine my pleasant surprise when I discovered these were meant to be painted!!

The linens are stamped with a pattern.  It even includes paint-by-number instructions. I can't paint anything, but I can handle this.  There is no date on the instructions, so I have no idea what vintage this is.

By the time I met Grandma Dorothy, she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's.  The memories I do have of her are fond, and my husband speaks of his grandparents often.

Back when I first received a few of the pieces I was still able to cross stitch.  I worked on a small table cloth and finished it in early December.  The day I finished just happened to be the day Grandma Dorothy died.  I gave it to my husband's parents for Christmas with an explanation of when I started it and when I finished it.  Fortunately, she had the embroidery floss that she originally purchased for the project, so they are the same vintage as the cloths.

I feel like I have discovered this gift all over again.  The days here are quite hot, and our old home does not have air conditioning.  We don't normally have days this warm for any extended period of time.  This is a great project for these warm days, and I get joy my heart as I do it.  We will enjoy this tablecloth for years to come and my husband will tell our daughter about Grandma Dorothy as we enjoy dinners with this beneath our food.