"It takes ages to finish a quilt you're not working on!"

Monday, July 23, 2007

A weekend of windfalls.

Why do they call it a windfall if you receive an unexpected gift of some kind? I must look that term up in a book that I have, which explains the origin of unusual words and phrases. OK, down to business.
My 'windfalls' this weekend were several bundles of old embroidered articles. We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night, and one of them was an old friend of Ken's. He lives on his own in the family house, and is cleaning out the place in preparation to selling it. He found a pile of linens in a drawer, and remembering what Ken had told him about me collecting them, he put his pile aside for me. Here they are. Once I've washed and pressed them all, I'll scan them for better pictures to put on here. The item on the left is a teacosy which hasn't been made up, and the others are doilies/centrepieces. The next lot came from Ken's Mum on Sunday afternoon. She had a stack of old aprons for me (see Patra's Aprons blog if you want to check them out), and in a plastic bag among the aprons were these little treasures. Again, once they are washed and ironed, I'll put better pictures of each item on here.

6 comments:

Meow (aka Connie) said...

How beautiful, I love old linen and embroidery stuff ... lucky you.
Take care, Meow

loulee said...

Oooh! Pretty treasures. I have one or two items which belonged to my grandmother, they are nice to have around aren't they.

Janice said...

What lovely items! I have never heard the term 'windfall' for a surprise or unexpected gift. To my knowledge, it is not an American term. :o)

Crookedpaw said...

Windfall comes from Middle Ages England and the fuedal system.
Land was owned by the ruling class, and common people worked the land only by permission of the local Squire, Earl, Baron, etc.
Anything growing on the land was also their property. A peasant was forbidden to cut down a tree, or pick its fruit, unless permitted to do so by the owner.
However, any wood or fruit that may have fallen from the tree because of wind, storms, was considered free for any who was fortunate enough to come across it first and no permission was required.

Pear tree cottage! said...

Gina, lovely "wind fall" well done to ken's friend for thinking about you.

"wind fall" is what drops into your lap or off the tree as I know the saying goes. my grandmother would always call us if we were off to get an orange off her trees "only take the wind fall from the ground!" (smiles)

see you soon "I hope"
Lee-ann

Gina E. said...

Thank you Peter and LeeAnn for your interpretations of "windfall". Greatly appreciate this kind of input.