I collect kitchen towels. I don’t remember when it started really, only that I began picking them up here and there—and now I can’t stop.
I think it started because I realized I had way too much stuff sitting on tables and shelves, so when I went somewhere I didn’t want to bring home something else “pretty” that would just take up space. I wanted something practical.
So…kitchen towels.
They’re nothing if not practical, and they’re handy. They don’t last forever so it’s an item with a built-in life cycle. Plus every time I use a towel I remember that specific trip, who I was with, what we did, etc… They’re nice memory keepers.
Here’s one from a trip to Paris a couple of years ago…
Here’s another from a Saturday morning when Kels and I took a cooking class centered around food from the novel (and movie) The Help…
Here are a few others I grabbed a while back at Belle Meade Plantation here in Nashville (setting of my Belle Meade Plantation novels)…
These have been well used, can you tell?
And finally…
Last Friday Kelsey (my daughter) and I made a quick trip to Bella Vintage Marketplace in Franklin to check out all the booths. It was such fun (always is, hanging with Kels), and I loved this one particular booth that had—you guessed it—beautiful Southern inspired kitchen towels.
I wanted five of them but decided on one. I need to keep this fetish under control, after all. And this is the one I chose…
Isn’t he cute!
The booth was Southern Fried Design Barn (waving to you, Amy), and oh…what fabulous stuff she has! Everything from kitchen towels to gift cards to notepads to prints to napkins. All so pretty…and practical. Great for gift giving too.
Check out Southern Fried Design Barn website
What’s something you collect? It can be practical…or not! : )
Can’t wait to hear from you!
Tamera
In case you want to order something from Southern Fried Design Barn,
here’s a code for 10% off. And be sure and tell Amy that Tamera sent you!
Tamera Alexander
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Well, I just learned something about you I never knew, dear friend! What a fun collection, and what a great idea! I may just have to start my own collection of kitchen towels! Easy to pack too!
I have lots of collections (3 or more of anything constitutes a collection, right?) but some of my favorites are: pitchers and teapots, MUGS (I have well over 70 of them), globes, yardsticks and folding rulers, orchids and houseplants…and grandchildren!;)
Ha! Truly? How fun. I LOVE your mug shelf!! So cool. Didn’t your sweet Daddy make that for you? (Welcome home, btw! Glad you had fun!)
I’m going to start collecting kitchen towels! I never have enough of those. 🙂 At the moment, the only collection I add to regularly is my Department 56 Dickens Village that I bring out each Christmas.
Oh, the Dickens Village! Lovely! And yes, kitchen towels are fab!
Besides books, (of course) I collect old stamps, vintage paper clippings, anything from the past…Especially from the 1940’s!!
Love knowing that about you, Halee. The 1940s. Any reason why that decade is most special to you? : )
Wish I could upload a picture along with this comment because my favorite kitchen towel (that I don’t use) says: “Property of The Pullman Company” centered in a blue stripe across white fabric. Lest you jump to wild conclusions Tammy, I did NOT steal the towel. You know I would never take a towel or picture or anything else. Stephanie Whitson gave it to me. She said she’d found it at a garage sale. Not sure how the original owner came by it, but I was thrilled to receive it and keep it with other Pullman memorabilia I collected while writing about Pullman.
Oh, that’s a keeper for sure. And actually, knowing that you stole it makes it even more special. : ) (Heh, heh, heh….)
Key chains and magnets is what I collect.
Cool, Kim! What’s your favorite key chain of all of them?
Any time we take a trip, I make sure to grab a magnet. My refrigerator is covered with full-color memories of the places I’ve gone. Sometimes I catch myself just standing there staring at them. 🙂
I never thought of kitchen towels. I do have a strong practical streak, so that might be a fun one to try.
Cool on the magnets! And come on over to the kitchen towel side with me!What fun awaits!
I collect books and angels
Yes on the books! And cool on the angels Sheila. What kind of angels? Gentle looking ones or warrior like? When the kids were young, I had some little cherub looking angels I perched on a shelf. Someone gave them to me and I thought they were cute. Then one night when Kurt was scared, I shared with him how angels were watching over him when he slept, and he said, “But they can’t do anything. They’re babies!” I took those chubby little cherubs down the next day. And when we ran across the Ron DiCianni print of the angel warrior guarding the boy at night soon afterward, we bought it! The portrait hung in Kurt’s room until he went to college, and now he has it in his condo. A good reminder of the warrior angels the Bible describes. I love how Daniel describes the angel that visited him in Daniel 10… (I pasted the section below for anyone interested in reading)
“2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.
4 On April 23,[b] as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, 5 I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. 6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.
7 Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. 8 So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. 9 Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.
10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling….”
I try not to collect tea cups, but I’m not doing a very good job at it. They’re so pretty and tempting, but so fragile and take up space in a tiny apartment. Yet somehow when Grandparents downsize, or a bible study lady hosts a garage sale, or a friend spies one and picks it up for my birthday, my not-a-collection ends up growing more.
I am getting better. If it’s not violets or roses, I harden my heart and turn away. Most of the time.
Love that “most of the time,” Rachael! ; ) Tea cups are so pretty. And make me think of days of old. I’ve got my grandmother’s china (which was my mom’s and is now mine), and I love holding those delicate china cups. But as you said, they’re sooo fragile!
We tend to end up with fridge magnets because they’re small and you don’t have to dust around them much. But I love kitchen towels like that. Cool post idea to share your collection with us!
Cool on the fridge magnets, Julie. And dusting? What’s that??
: )
I used to collect mugs, but they take up way too much space and I’m the only one that uses them. So I’ve started buying a nice Christmas ornament on our trips. Most places have one.
But I love the kitchen towel idea. If I could make myself use them! LOL
I love mugs too, but as you said, they take up so much room. Kels got a really pretty cubby shelf from Pottery Barn (on major sale! even better!) that fits her mugs perfectly. LOL on using the dishtowels. I’m washing several of mine as we speak. The piggy, the black print one, and others. #ThingsYouCouldHaveLivedTheRestofYourLifeWithoutKnowing
Those are beautiful and fun! I collect vintage aprons, mostly from my great-grandma but I also can’t resist if I come across one at a yard sale or thrift store.
Oh cool! Love vintage aprons. What kinds do you have from your great-grandma? Ones she made herself? Would love to see pics of those!Thanks for sharing, Heidi.
I somehow ended up with piles and piles of kitchen towels as wedding gifts ten years ago. I put many of them up in a shelf and every few years I get rid of the worn ones and pull out some “new” ones. It’s fun to remember who gave them to us, and that exciting time in our lives.
LOVE that, Karen! We’re kitchen towel sisters at heart. Sort of like “kindred” only better. : )
I collect nesting dolls (Matryoshkas). I have ~100. It’s fun to look for them wherever I go.
Those are so cool! And so beautiful. Quite a collection you’ve got too! Thanks for sharing, Anne!
What a fun thing to collect! I buy any kitchen towels with anything about coffee on them. I’m a coffee addict!
I’ve got a huge collection of books, and I can’t seem to stop collecting them. (But I do donate the ones I’ve finished and reviewed to my church library.)
I also have a huge, attic full, stash of yarn. I started buying it when my husband said he was going to retire and I knew our money would be smaller. Unfortunately the things I decide to crochet nearly always requires yarn I don’t have in my stash so I have to give in and make a trip to Michaels.
LOL on the “things I decide to crochet nearly always requires yarn I don’t have in my stash so I have to give in and make a trip to Michaels.” That made me laugh, Gail. So cute! Do you have a favorite coffee flavor? Or are you one of those coffee purists? : )
Oh I drink coffee all day long! My coffee of choice is Folgers Black Silk. I used to drink iced tea all day until I discovered it was why I was having kidney stone attacks every six months! A very good reason to switch to coffee!!
Cute collection!
I collect bookmarks from different places I or my friends/family visit. Bookmarks are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. (Except in Italy! I couldn’t find a single bookmark anywhere. Not even in a bookstore. haha)
Ha on bookmark-less Italy, Cheryl. But what a great idea! And again, a very practical collection!
Loved seeing some of your kitchen towels, Tammy (especially the ones with the “southern sayings” on them, LOL). 😉
Besides collecting cats (*smile*) I collect lighthouse figurines. Since I LOVE lighthouses (and have for years) my family and friends have given me some lovely lighthouses that I display in a curio cabinet and also on shelves.
I am giggling at Judy Miller’s comment about not stealing anything (waving at Miss Judy). Hmmmm….I’ll have to dig out that photo of her “admiring” a painting at an ACFW conference a few years ago! 🙂
Smiling at your collecting cats, Patti Jo! I love knowing you love lighthouse figurines, too. I don’t think I knew that about you. Cool. And I’m SO glad you were there to witness Judy trying to abscond with that painting that weekend. Thankfully the hotel had the foresight to screw it to the wall. Apparently they heard Ms. Miller was coming. It’s up to you and me to keep that woman honest. Not an easy feat, mind you.
: )
I collect – books, naturally. And model horses. That started with the ‘Breyer’ horses, but has morphed into ‘any realistic/pretty’ horse will do. Especially as Breyers are at *least* $50 a pop, and a lot of mine have sort of gotten more fragile over the years. (Stupid degradation of plastic. :P) Its shifted into ceramic horses (yeah, like that’s SO much tougher than old plastic. lol) toy horses that are nicely done and even a couple resin horses. Not a collection I can add to all that often, with money being so insanely tight, but probably the one I’m most fond of. Unfortunately, there are a fair number of casualties in my collection. Bad shipping when someone sent one as a gift, an overly curious cat, plastic thats gotten brittle, etc. But I still like them. But yes, its one of those collections that take up room and require dusting. Not that i bother with the dusting that often. *coughs*
Then there is the digital collections, naturally. Those are almost scary sometimes. lol Pictures being the worst culprit, I think.
Thanks for sharing, Elentarien! So interesting. LOL at the digital comment. Yes, pictures seem to multiply by themselves! SOOOO many.
I need a collection! I don’t collect anything
I love western country style home decoration, though. Rugged, dark wood, red and white gingham, burlap, wood slices, antlers… You name it. There is the occasional star spangled banner in our house too 🙂
But you could hardly call it a collection.
Any ideas on what I should start collecting?
I think you just found your collection…sort of. A western country something! What does your eye go to first when you’re looking at western country style, Maaike? Horses? Cows? Gingham patterns?
I’m quite sure it’s not the cows but the cowboys 🙂
It’s just a mix of gifts and ‘souvenirs’, most of it from Montana. I’ll send you some pictures sometimes!
Books and dog hair. The books are intentional… the dog hair not so much but it goes with the territory 🙂
LOL, Carrie. Love that!
I collect pianos. Practical – absolutely not…lol They are a real pain to dust, etc., but this is something I started as a child with the grand piano from my doll house. Someday I hope to have a cupboard for them so they won’t need to be touched and won’t collect any more dust. I think collecting something that you use is a great idea – something I will have to consider. 😀
Oh Betti, I bet your pianos are lovely! Cool thing to collect, for sure. Thanks for sharing.
Tamera, I collect bells, little ones, big ones, glass, porcelain, wood, etc., ones that make a racket and ones that do not. It started almost 40 years ago when we received a crystal bell as a wedding gift. I have 100 + and they came from all over the world. My husband calls me a ding-a-ling but in the nicest sort of way.
LOL, Janet. Gotta love that husband of yours. And bells… How clever! I love the tinkling of a bell… So pretty. Or the clang of a school bell, calling class to order again. Or church bells. Inspiring! Thanks for sharing!