June 18, 2014

English Legacy

I call this linen "English Legacy".  I purchased it on eBay from a woman who lives in the United Kingdom and was downsizing.  She had gotten the linen from her mother, Edna Lyles, who lived 1913-1990.  Her mother was born and died in the Yorkshire Region of the U.K.  

Cindy, the daughter, really knew nothing about the linen.  When I received it and was looking it over I found a very small tag in one corner on the back of the piece which read "H. Leake".  I wondered who that was or if it was a company name.  So I emailed Cindy only to learn that H. Leake was her mother's sister, Hettie, who had died of tuberculosis at a very young age.  It is unknown if Hettie perhaps made the linen or how she happened to have her name on it.  But it was obviously passed down from Hettie to Edna to Cindy and now I am the recipient.

I told Cindy my plans for quilting the linen and perhaps preserving it for the future.  I put Cindy's name, Edna's name and Hettie's name on the label.  Cindy's response was "her mum would surely be smiling from heaven."  And that made me smile.

Hugs,

Karen

2 comments:

Kyle said...

What a wonderful story connect to your beautiful quilted linen. It's an awesome piece.

Seams French said...

Oh my gosh Karen; your work is extraordinary. I have many antique lace pieces as well and your work is an inspiration for me to do something with them. How wonderful that you found Aunt Hettie's piece of antique linen and gave it a new life. Thank you for sharing that story.