Instead of crying

I have two big piles of laundry in the basement right next to each other - one is new fabric to be washed, and the other is tablecloths and bed linens (yes, there's clothes too, but that pile doesn't play into this story). But the truth is that they're really more like heaps with little distinction between the two. And so it was that somehow this new (and very very bright) fabric made it into a washload with many of my favorite vintage tablecloths. Not a good thing. Not a good thing at all. Steve ever-so-gently broke the news to me when he discovered them while folding....and I was like a maniac talking myself out of crying about it, 'it's okay. no really, it's okay. i'm sure there's something we can do with them,' as I shakily brought them to my sewing room. And so instead of crying, I started cutting. And ended up with this tote bag. I mean, tote bags get stained and dirty anyway, right? So, why not start out that way? Here's the first of what will be many stained vintage tablecloth tote bags. Sigh. (I know you can't see the stains in this photo, but trust me--there's yellow blotches everwhere).

My groceries are going to have a very beautiful future, don't you think?