Dyeing old linens

I have a trunk full of old linens from my mother and my aunt, both of whom delightedly abandoned linen for permanent press.  I have pulled several tablecloths and sets of napkins that I use from time to time for special occasions (and that I can easily iron with the mangle that I also acquired from my mother), but that still leaves me with lots of linens.  This week I got up the courage to try dyeing some of them--they seem so precious, but surely it's better to do something that may give them a new life, rather than just leave them in the trunk in the basement.  The photo shows three different linen napkins on the right, compared to pfd cotton on the far left.  A little lighter in value than the intended color, but that's fine.  Now to consider how I might use the linen.  It is so beautifully soft.

Regret--further thoughts

Since my last post on "Regret," I've gone back to my blog several times for one reason or another.  Each time I've looked at the top photo on my August 31 post, I've thought, "not there yet."  I'm thinking the idea behind the quilt might be better expressed by focusing close up on the point of highest tension in the piece--the narrow space between the two figures, as in the photo above.  (Ignore the quilting trials currently in the piece--I'm thinking now just of the interaction of the shapes.)  Very early in the process of sketching this quilt, my friend Mary Beth made a frame around this section, suggesting a focus here.  As I worked on the larger piece, I forgot about this, and then remembered it again more recently.  I thought I would make it as a second quilt.  But maybe this is what I should move to now--this smaller section, sized up to a large quilt.  The next step will be to cut out some large truncated shapes and play around with them on a background.