Turning old to new...

I'm in the midst of giving this old rocking chair a facelift....

I wish I'd have taken before pictures....but here's what I took it down to.  The seat cushion (not shown) is pure cotton....and I mistakenly washed it.  Now I plan to hand card the batting....just like wool.  I figure if it doesn't work, I'll card some llama wool and use it as the cushion.  I'll post more pictures as we progress.

Next project:

My mother embroidered some dish towels as a teenage girl.  She did one for each day of the week, with a cute character on each.  I remember drying dishes with these as a kid.  We used them for years when I was growing up, and eventually they got pushed to the back of the drawer since they had so many holes in them.

Years passed, and one day mom gave me a pile of hand-me-down dishtowels.  Three of those embroidered towels were in that pile.  I have had them for years....in a box of "to do" fabrics and projects.  Today I pulled them out....I've been thinking that I would cut the sewn piece out and frame each one.....but I just can not bring myself to cut them up!

I know they are stained, they have holes in them......but by golly they SHOULD have holes in them!  They were well used for over 50 years!  Imagine the holiday meals that we enjoyed, and even as torn "rags" they would be pulled out of the drawer to dry dishes because all the other towels were soaked.  They are so precious to me now, thinking about the dishes they dried after family meals.

Now they need a special place.  I thought I would cut them up to frame them but I just can not bring myself to do it.  So for now they are not in a box....each one has it's own frame.  I'll be hanging them in my was*sewing room*now called the mudroom*...it's my room of creative thoughts and ambitions.  And where we leave the muck boots.  :)  This is the room where I put most of my precious things.

It took a lot of ironing and starch...but I got each full dishtowel in a frame!  Ignore the cutting mat in the background...that's for another project.  I squished each towel into a frame with no cutting!

Aren't they adorable???