This linen guest towel was inspired by an item I saw at a very upscale tea room, reservations required, thank you very much. The PlayGroup Mamas were on an outing and had a fabulous tea experience with a variety of dainty delicacies, scones and clotted cream. On our best behavior, we kept our laughter and conversation to a level less raucous than usual.   After our tea, we drifted out to the adjoining the gift shop.
Heavily stocked with both antique and contemporary linens for bed, bath and kitchen, I saw a hemstitched linen guest towel embroidered with two bumblebees. The hemstitching was plain, not the more intricate Gilucci hemstitching on the pictured towel, and the simple embroidery featured two bumblebees buzzing around a white on white gridded square. Their flight pattern was defined by machine straight stitches in black.
None of this was remarkable. However, the $42 price tag was. Even more remarkable was the queue of shoppers waiting to check out, two of whom had 2 and 3 towels each. Hmmmmm….I thought. I can do this!
Charleen Madsen’s sweet little bees came to mind right away. Frankly, the honey hustlers on the tea room towel looked a little scary to me.
By the next day, I had this towel hanging in my guest bathroom. It’s such a nice, seasonal addition to the bathroom decor. The hive design is from Fil Tire’ and Fancywork Elements and is the same one used in the Bumblebees and Blue Willow post two days ago.
The flight pattern was simply drawn free hand with a washaway marker and stitched with wing needle entredeux on my Brother Duetta 4500D. The black ribbon woven through the hemstitching, I think, gives a contemporary look to the towel.
I hope to have time to make up a few more to have on hand for hostess gifts or forgotten birthdays. It’s relaxing to do a quick and easy project every now and again. Especially if it’s worth at least $42 retail.
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