In My Kitchen-The Linen Obsession

Most people collect something. It's often something useful, that's part of our daily lives. I have collections. Bundt pans. So many that I can't fit them into a cabinet. They have to live in plastic tubs in my storage room. Wine glasses. I have a wineglass from every winery I have visited, and they collect dust, err, I mean sit nicely in a china cabinet all their own. Kitchen knives. Now there is a useful collection. I do use them- all the time. Every day, in fact. 

Kitchen linens. Especially kitchen towels. By and large my biggest collection and most used. Some are old, some are new. Some are pristine, some are stained and tattered. All are loved. 

My best friends know me so well that when they travel and look for souvenirs to bring me, it's often a kitchen towel and something food or wine related. When I visit cute little shops in different towns I always am on the lookout for kitchen towels. I have found some of the cutest and most unique towels in those little shops. Sometimes they are embroidered, sometimes stamped or printed with something cute and kitcheny. 

Sometimes I find beautiful antique kitchen linens in antique shops. Long ago some woman spent hours creating beautiful needlework on that towel, maybe a crocheted edge. When I was little my mom taught me to embroider and she often made cute little tea towels with vines and flowers and French knots sprinkled all over. 

Don't leave me unattended in a kitchen store for very long. I don't shop at the mall very often- maybe once a year, if that, but when I do a stop in Williams Sonoma is a must for me. They have some of the best kitchen towels I have ever had. I love stopping in there at odd times during the year and digging through the clearance pile, looking for last season's "in" colors. I don't care what color they are!! 

When I am doing my regular shopping I still am vulnerable to my obsession. The nearby town has a small department store where I stop in for necessities like laundry supplies, pet supplies, things like that. Darnit, they always have an endcap with the current season's cute new kitchen towels. Sometimes it's the closest holiday, sometimes it's just a cute theme, like fall leaves or teapots.

They end up in my cart every time.......