The Kitchen Linens Book is a delightful book that celebrates the often overlooked things that make our everyday lives comfortable. EllynAnne Geisel has found wonderful items that show how women used their creativity and artistry to brighten their homes during trying times, such as the Depression and World War II. She urges us not to hide these away but to use them, because of the memories they hold.

I had the pleasure of going to a talk by the author, and she is delightful. She brought many examples of beautifully crafted items - tiny crocheted tea cups, for example. She has done her research well, and it was so interesting to hear the history these things reveal. ( )

A charming book for those of us who love old kitchen linens. The pictures are beautiful, and I liked the ideas on other ways to use the linens very much. ( )

This is a fun and creative book that brought back memories of my maternal grandmother, Essie, her wonderful kitchen and spending Sundays in that sunny room. A joy to read and fun ideas to make and share. ( )

In our family, there has always been a treasure trove of linens, many embroidered by the hands of long-dead relatives. As a child I did not pay much attention to the time and skill that went into these works, but was rather blasé about them because they were always there, ready and available to serve as a dresser scarf, cover a table, or were stored away as “special.” Looking back, I am horrified by my treatment of some of these linens, and as my family has grown and aged, I have a newfound appreciation for the time my ancestors put into making, creating, and decorating these linens. Considering that many of these women worked on farms, the time they took out of their already busy day to decorate plain pieces of white linen is remarkable. With these women in mind, it was with great pleasure that I read EllynAnne Geisel’s _The Kitchen Linens Book: Using, Sharing, and Cherishing the Fabrics of Our Daily Lives_. In this book, like in her previous one, _The Apron Book: Making, Wearing and Sharing a Bit of Cloth and Comfort_, Geisel shares photographs of vintage aprons, appliance covers, handkerchiefs, towels, napkins, tablecloths, and other table linens while interweaving their history, providing recipes, and personal narratives for each of the items. This is not a book that you look through all at once, nor is it one that you look through and then never open again; Geisel’s book should be considered something of a small coffee-table book where photographs of vintage linens are meant to be studied and appreciated again and again. Geisel also provides tips on caring for vintage linens, ideas on how to resurrect ruined linens for use as cards, or decorations, as well as ways to reincorporate them into everyday use. These linens and their designs may strike some as too antiquated and quaint for a modern family, but by writing this book Geisel is helping readers appreciate the timeless beauty and simplicity of embroidered cloth, and reinforcing the joy one can have in using their linens as they were meant to be used. If your supply of vintage linen is low, or even if you already have some, this book will have you cruising yard sales and online auction sites for vintage items similar to the ones shown. ( )

I’ve struggled to figure out how to review this book since it appeared in my mailbox as part of the Early Reviewers program. While I’m not a formally trained artist or a textile historian, I found I was familiar with much of this book. I was also surprised to find this wasn’t the type of book I thought it was — for some reason, perhaps because I’ve been reading and trying to review lots of pattern books lately — I thought this was a book of various knit, crochet, sew, and embroidery patterns to make various kitchen linens. That it is not. What is it then? The Kitchen Linen’s Book is a collection of beautiful researched stories of personal kitchen linens. The photographs are crisp and varied and beg for memories to be unleashed. Interspersed throughout are boxes of information be it various forms of fibre or an descriptions of different embroider techniques. There are some recipes and patterns (and I put out there it’s trivial to use the photos as a guide and recreate on your own) and they are nice — some oatmeal-pecan cookies have me craving a full cookie jar. This is much more than a history of cloths or a personal memoir. I feel it’s the afternoon conversation I wish to have with my mother over tea. It’s a way to reconnect and to reinvent. It’s a great book to read and I’m happy I’ve had a chance to look through it and will work to revise this review as I spend more time with the book. Each time I read or flip through something new catches my eye and I see a different connection. ( )