No...I haven't dropped off the face of the earth...just traveling all over the place teaching! I was also having trouble loading my pictures to my Blog so it really set me behind.
I spoke for the Amador Valley Quilters Guild in Dublin, CA last March and met Susan Waldron. She talked to me about some linens she had. When I got home the other night there was an amazing package waiting for me...Susan sent her linens to me as a gift knowing they would have a good home and something beautiful would be made from them.
She knows how important it is to document the history if you know it. I was so touched by her story I needed to share a few of the linens as well as the story that goes with them. Thank you for such a touching gift Susan...you can be assured I will do something beautiful with them!
"My husband is from Mullingar, Ireland which is about 60 miles south of Dublin. It is the "navel" of Ireland and is considered to be Joyce country. The town of Lilliput is just outside Mullingar. Martin's father was a doctor in what was then a very small town in the midlands. Quite often patients didn't have money to pay the fees so they paid with what they had--fresh fish, turkeys (which my mother-in-law had to pluck) and sometimes needlework. The tablecloth with the inset owls was such a payment. It was probably given to Dr. Waldron in the mid-1930's. As you can notice there is a swastika-like design which was originally a Celtic design inserted as part of the decoration. The town of Lough Owel (pronounced Lock Oool -- it means Owl Lake) is just outside Mullingar. The owl motif has been used as a local emblem for many years, but the local saying is: "Beef to the heels like a Mullingar heifer." (This refers to the size of the ankles of some of the country girls.)"
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