Robin Dellabough: From the Linen Closet

The Kitchen Linens Book

About the Book About EllynAnne Geisel Praise From the Linen Closet History of Kitchen Linens Blueberry-Coconut Muffins

When they married in the early 1950s, my parents lived in Greenwich Village, wore black berets, turtlenecks, and blue jeans, wrote poetry, and painted. They had grape-stomping parties that led to vinegar more often than wine, and listened both to cool and red-hot jazz. They embraced what used to be called the Bohemian life.

Then their first child was born. And although I slept in a dresser drawer rather than in some fancy bassinet those first few months, my mother decided she had to start my hope chest immediately. She bought a piece of off-white linen, 60 by 100 inches, large enough to cover the dining table she already envisioned for me, and chose thread in shades of rust and turquoise. Working in old-fashioned cross-stitch, she painstakingly embroidered a wide border. Or at least she tried to embroider a wide border. Five more children and two moves interrupted her plan.

I discovered the unfinished tablecloth in the back of a closet when I was ten years old and working on my own embroidery project, a monogrammed handkerchief for my grandfather. When she explained what it was, I thought, How silly to make something for someone twenty-five years in advance. Then I decided it was a shame—and she should be ashamed—that she hadn't been able to complete it. It became a running joke between us, as periodically I'd ask, "How's my tablecloth coming along?" She'd answer, "Oh, I'm going to get to it when your brothers leave home . . . after I go back to school . . . when we come back from Greece . . . when I have more time."

Nearly twenty years passed. The day before my own wedding, I walked into my backyard in Berkeley, California, where I was living what used to be called the hippie life. There, at a shower filled with balloons and flowers and friends, my mother handed me a box and, before I even opened it, knowing what I would find inside, every stitch made with love, I was moved to tears.

It's been thirty more years, and my mother has passed. The tablecloth is stained now with countless Thanksgiving gravies and candle wax, but I still use it on the special occasions when my brothers and sisters and their families are gathered in my house. I quietly finger the embroidery during dinner, sending a silent thank-you to my mother, who somehow found a way to transcend time. —From The Kitchen Linens Book, Andrews McMeel Publishing

Online:

Author's web site: www.apronmemories.com/index.php

Author's Blog: http://apronmemories.blogspot.com/

The Kitchen Linens Book: Using, Sharing, and Cherishing the Fabrics of Our Daily Lives

Author: EllynAnne Geisel
ISBN: 978-0-7407-7763-9
Format: Hardcover, jacketed: 7 x 9, 152 pages
Price: $19.99 ($24.50 Canada)

Contact: Tammie Barker | (800) 851-8923 | tbarker@amuniversal.com