Good Monday morning - hoping each one of you is healthy, happy, and
spent the weekend doing great things.
I have quite a pleasing collection of tea towels.
I like to set up my ironing board in the kitchen - I can watch the birds
and squirrels, and the light is bright and cheery.
Ironing them is not a chore, for me it's more like quiet time alone to think
and ponder, and these days we are all doing a lot of that!
I enjoy spending time smoothing, dampening down with fragrant linen water,
ironing and folding.
Over the years several tea towels have been delightful gifts, they have stories
and memories behind them.
They are also an item often picked up whilst in a foreign country to bring back as
a useful souvenir. I've discovered that Italy and France have the best ones.
They are beautifully made and never wear out. Several are pure linen - my
favorites, others linen/cotton blend. All are lightweight and, when purchased on a
trip, easy to tuck into that ever expanding suitcase being rolled along behind one!
Where do you iron?
What do you contemplate whilst ironing?
Do you have a special collection of tea towels?
I read about this recently published UK book by Marnie Fogg,
The Art of the Tea Towel - Over 100 of the Best Designs, and knew
it would be interesting. It definitely is!
It's the creative history of the humble kitchen must-have which we all use,
from the 1950's to the present day.
I purchased two copies with thoughts of doing a Giveaway some day as
I know some of you enjoy collecting tea towels.
Well the time is now when we all perhaps need a little fun. . . . . and
one of you can enjoy a package at your door!
So, just look at the tea towels displayed on the book cover, tell me which one
catches your eye, and leave me a comment.
This Giveaway is open to all no matter on which continent you have your
kitchen, or where you dry your dishes and wine glasses!!!
My personal dish washer/dish dryer, Mr. Bob, will pick a winner from his favorite
Red Sox ball cap on April 13 (Easter Monday). Hope so much you join in.
Postscript: FYI - we really go through a lot of tea towels as we prefer to wash/dry by hand!
Red Sox ball cap on April 13 (Easter Monday). Hope so much you join in.
Postscript: FYI - we really go through a lot of tea towels as we prefer to wash/dry by hand!
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What a generous offer and way to reach out to your blog friends. I like the fox towel. I do have a nice collection of tea towels, and hadn't thought to post on them. Good idea.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that there was such a book, how interesting. I like the pink one on the bottom row. You are sweet to offer a cheering giveaway in these sombre times!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about the way you lovingly care for your tea towels Mary - I must admit that although mine are regularly washed, hung out to dry, if possible, they are then just folded up.
ReplyDeleteIt is impossible to choose a favourite tea towel as they are all very individual and attractive.
Please do not put me into Mr Bob's hat, you have already been overly generous to me.
I can't believe that Easter Monday is so close, I seem to have lost all sense of time.
Take care both of youX
What a relaxing way to spend an afternoon. I have a collection of tea towels as well. This books sounds very interesting. I love the black ad white one on the left bottom corner.
ReplyDeleteI love tea towels! And luckily I love ironing, too. I find it quite mediative but sometimes I have dance music on and it becomes Exercise. I even have a wobble board from when I once broke my foot that I sometimes stand on to make it more challenging, haha. Yes, there are souvenir tea towels; kitsch; vintage; the beautiful French linens (now starting to fray after nearly twenty years!); and several arty ones. I keep them on rotation to even out the wear and my third drawer in the kitchen is stuffed. There's a fabulous Australian company, Third Drawer Down, that does numbered editions of contemporary artists' prints on high quality linen at a very reasonable price. They make fabulous gifts (I've both given and received them) and years ago I had one bonded to Belgian linen as my kitchen blind. The book looks gorgeous but I'll opt out of the competition as my theoretical, closed system of book ownership (a new one in means an old one out) is a bit desperate at the moment since I picked up six freebies on offer in my apartment building this week. Sigh...
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful and generous giveaway, Mary! I love tea towels and have a big stack of them, but mine certainly aren't as interesting and pretty as yours. The two towels on the book cover that caught my eye were the one to the right of the title (the jar with the colorful balls in it) and the blue and white one with the tea kettle on the lower right.
ReplyDeleteI am partial to the 'art school' tea towel. My mother had a wonderful collection of tea towels but when I moved her from MO to FL so that I could see her thru Alzheimer's one of my nieces confiscated them. I definitely love the way you described ironing them, what a labor of love. PS, my son is thoroughly enjoying Raleigh and has discovered the Neuse River trail where he and his bicycle spend hours whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteYour tea towels look so clean and freshly ironed. I have a pretty good collection, but my problem is I shy away from using the prettiest ones because I hate to see them get stained. How neat that there is a book devoted to these pretty towels. I am intrigued by the variety on the cover and can only imagine what is inside. The second from the left on the bottom row looks right up my alley:).
ReplyDeleteAfter reading about your ironing ritual I'm thinking it is time for me to take down the curtains in my guest room. When I hung them they had a few creases. I was hoping in time the creases would magically fall out. No such luck. If there was ever a time to accomplish this task, that would be now when we are home every day.
How lovely my dear! Thank your for your giveaway. Well, you probably know how I pretty much iron almost everything in my household :) The geometric tea towel with a red and a yellow triangle definitely catches my eyes. Hope you and Bob are doing well! xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful idea, Mary. I love tea towels too, and often bring one home from our travels. Your daily collection is most attractive, and I too think linen towels are the absolute best. The book looks very special, and I am drawn to the one on the second bottom line, with what looks like a group of Suffragette women marching for freedom. The purple and green remind me of the Suffragette posters of the era, and the purple is the colour for International Women's Day, which was just a couple of weeks ago. The style of the lady carrying the flag looks very much of my favourite era in Art History: Early Modernism. Happy Hibernating, dear Mary. xx
ReplyDeleteÜtü yaparken dizi izlerim. Ama ütü yapmayı çok sevmiyorum.
ReplyDeleteMy collection of tea towels is relatively small, but then of course I am a (mostly) single household and do not need much in terms of dishes and cutlery. I have some from my aunts from Yorkshire, printed with the route of the original Tour de France that started in Yorkshire in 2014, and one with foxes that I bought at Ripley castle near Ripon; one with a Carl Larsson drawing was sent to me one Christmas from a blogging friend in Sweden, and a few others.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I enjoy ironing, folding and the quietness it brings when doing something with our hands so that the mind can wander. My preferred ironing place is the bedroom which is large south facing window, light and airy. Sometimes I listen to BBC Radio Four or Radio York while ironing.
I too have always had a penchant for tea towels!!
ReplyDeleteI often pop one in a present and really wonder if such a gift is appreciated!
As soon as I read the title of your book, I thought, that’s just the sort of book I would buy.
I love that you two dry your dishes with a tea towel - just like the old days!
We are going through such a different time just now.
We are in full lockdown here - the over 70’s confined to home.
We are allowed to go out for a walk in our neighbourhood or visit the doctor or chemist, but not the supermarket.
Take care Mary and Bob and keep safe in your hood!
Xxx
Mary, I love the blue dresser, reminds me so much of the pine dresser we had, which my daughter now has in her sitting room.
ReplyDeleteI love the french tea towels, unfortunately most of mine have now been relegated to use to dry glass and polish windows, I have had them for well over 20 years. Its one of the things I always bought when we went to France on holiday. I have to admit now I wish I had also bought more of the french bed linen, especially the lace trimmed ones. I am exploring doing lace edging with my new machine.......
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteThe turquoise tea towel, bottom row", is my favorite. You have a fine collection of tea towels. I have a Miele ironing machine which I roll to a kitchen window and iron away.
First of all. Mary, I just LOVE your tea towels. I can never find many that I want to see, out in my kitchen ! I usually do my ironing in the kitchen and also love to use linen water. Of all the tea towels on the front cover of the book, my favourite is bottom left ..... the snowy scene with the bird ..... it reminds me so much of you and the photographs of your garden in the snow and all of the beautiful birds that visit your garden. Hope you are both doing OK. XXXX
ReplyDeleteI wrote a post about my accidental tea towel collection just a few weeks ago. Yours look much more interesting but I think I have enough for the rest of my life!
ReplyDeleteThe Geometric design one - right hand column, second from bottom caught my eye first though it was hard to decide. I did come back to that one.
ReplyDeleteI iron in my bedroom. You do have a lovely collection of tea towels. My favorite on the cover of your book is the ART one....xo
ReplyDeleteHave a few favorite tea towels that I enjoy and have started using them rather than having them tucked away.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is the bird holding the cherries. Thank you for the nice giveaway you are offering.
Hello, I mistakenly chose one of your tea towels.....I would choose the cats on the top line of the book.
ReplyDeletesorry for the error.
Just checking my comment got through Mary (so often it doesn’t).
ReplyDeleteAnd I forgot to choose a tea towel!
My fave is the one with the lady marching and flag held high - love it!
I see my friend Trish has chosen the same - great minds?! Haha xx
I do love good tea towels, and even more so if they are pretty. I like the green and blue one on the bottom row that looks like shelves with dishes. I dont always iron my tea towels, but when I do they look so admirable.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to pick a favorite. I thought about the blue in the bottom right corner with tea things, but I think my favorite is the bird in the bottom left. I don't iron tea towels though I do love them. I do iron pillowcases and napkins though. I iron in my basement, not the most lovely place to iron, but all the same there is something quite soothing to an hour of ironing.
ReplyDeleteMary, I am so sorry about the loss of your friend and neighbor. I cannot even imagine how difficult it is at this time not only to have lost a dear friend but to be unable to offer and receive comfort because of the social distancing. You are in my prayers as is the family of your friend. Take care of yourself.
ReplyDeleteMy current favorite tea towel is marked "I'll wash, You dry."
ReplyDelete