Such a treasure to have.
Yes, you should enjoy it by using it. Your Grandmother would be pleased.

Yes, enjoy it, you can't take it or use it when you're gone. You'll think of her every time you enjoy it.

That is a *lot* of work. I tended to be like you, afraid to use my really nice things that were old because I was afraid I would somehow ruin/wear out/ hurt them. But, my mother finally told me that if I didn't do all that to them, my kids would. If they cared. Or, they would end up in a garage sale. Those words were my CURE. I use my nice stuff at least once a week, even when it's just him and me and we are in t-shirts and jeans. The table gets set for two with the works and the candles get lit and the "stuff" gets taken out and rotated and used. We both really love doing this, even if it's for a mac and cheese out of the box dinner.

You can't see the future, you might be the last person in the family to treasure these items. USE them!

Your kids might end up treasuring and loving them precisely because you did and they watched you as you did and thus, developed feelings for these items - you will give these items their real family value to your kids - but only by using them!

And if you "wear them out" then they will have the momories of these items associated with their memories of you. Time is going to ruin these items anyway - it's what time does best. Wears things out. So, enjoy them while they can be enjoyed.

Use them all the time, with care. With the crochet, you can wash it but it's better to air dry it. They last a long, long time. If it develops holes or snags, people who know how to do crochet can repair it for you - I crochet and it's an easy process if the whole thing isn't disintegrating. But, even with holes, I use some of mine antique tablecloths anyway. I just place a serving dish over the holes if that can be done. Or, there are some small holes in a gorgeous cloth, I don't care that there are. I am so taken by the aged beauty of the item that the holes dont bother me.

Your piece looks to be still very sturdy and in good shape from what the picture shows.

Use them. Better you than a person at a garage sale who will use it instead of wearing out her own grandmother's lovely tablecloth.

i have to agree with mylab...you could get a clear plastic to cover it...or use it elsewhere...

i too have a set of china...and know one day it might be put out for ebay, ect...so i'm going ot make sure if my kids don't want it, it's sent to one of my coz kids who would...

Such fine, even stitches! It is beautiful! Take good care of it as the threads can become delicate.

I did not use my good china until my children were old enough to be careful with it. We put out my mother's, grandmother's and grandmother's-in-law silver serving pieces and crystal at the holidays. It is only then that I use the silver salt and pepper shakers I bought as my only souvenir of our honeymoon. My DH bought me beautiful Limoges bone china from a PBS auction when we lived in Chicago, and I use the silver place settings he has given me over the years. I crocheted a banquet cloth for our table. We love our family holiday meals with the tradition of our ancestral table settings. My sister and brother-in-law join us and make the meal a very special family affair with family pieces on our table.

Omgoodness!! What a beautiful work of art...That should be on display. It is sad that is almost a lost art and not many ladies know how to crochet nowadays. :(

I have one but I have it in my cedar chest that my grandmother crocheted for me also. It is ecru and darker than yours. It may be because of the age, but I am afraid of washing it. I never use it, though.

Have my crocheted bedspread that my grandmother made. Inherited it when mother died. It's been in a plastic bag at the top of the closet for 15 years :o(

Oh my, that is lovely. When my Mom and Dad married in 1944, among their gifts were a table cloth similar to yours and a pair of federal bullseye mirrors. I have the table cloth over a quilt display rack in my DR and the mirrors are in the LR. I smile at them everytime I pass, my Mom would be so tickled to see them still on display! I also use all of my "good stuff"...there is no-one left who will enjoy it, so I will!!!
Thanks for posting your beautiful cloth.

Your grandmother made it to be used, not poked away in a closet somewhere. She would probably be very pleased that you are getting enjoyment from it and thinking of her every time you use it.

What is the point of having all of these lovely things if we don't use them? William Morris said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I have purged so much "stuff" over the past few years but kept the beautiful and useful. If they break, they break but I will have had much enjoyment from them, infinitely more than if they were boxed up or on a shelf gathering dust.

That's just beautiful Barb, just think if your DGM crocheted just one motif a day how long that must have taken ;0)

That's a wonderful gift from her hands to your heart ;o)

My mother used to put a colored sheet under her crochet cloth -- like yellow at Easter, green at Christmas.

That is beautiful work- lots of time put into it. Seems that today people just want to go out and buy readymade. Maybe because people work so many long hours in today's world and have no energy/time to do something in the evening...
I too was/am like you as far as not using the 'good stuff'. I don't have any china, good linens, but even the bath towels sit in the closet! I never wanted to use the good stuff- would let it for company. Why we don't realize that we deserve to use things that we save for everyone else is a mystery. Don't we think we are 'good enough?'.
In the part of the country I live in, people don't seem to be interested in putting out the fancy items. It is a rural working class- you might get lemonade served in a Mason jar/Ball jar, or old jelly glass! Or is it that the items that were once so important to 'have', are no longer important as we age...

You can "use" it without risking purple kool-aid, though.

As someone said above, put it on display.

I once overheard a woman talking to her elderly aunt.

For the sake of clarity, call the aunt Edna, the niece Linda, & Linda's daughter Heather.

Edna asked Linda if Heather liked the quilt Edna had made for her.

Linda said, "Yes, but you know, she doesn't *use* it. She keeps it in the cedar chest & sleeps under a cotton/dacron/polyester J C Penney comforter!"

Edna chuckled & said, "Well, that's all right. just as long as she's warm."

That must have been 20 years ago, & I still remind myself of it every now & then when I start fretting about using/not using/what does using mean.

My Mom has a lace crochet tablecloth made by her mom (my Grandmother). She keeps it on her dining room table, which gets little use except at Holidays. She puts a colored cloth below, then the crocheted cloth, then a clear plastic cloth on top. Never a problem-any spills just get wiped up. There's a scortch mark in the plastic where the gravy boat was set one year. Luckily the crochet is fine. I would recommend keeping something like this on display, it's not clutter, it's folk art.

If it was mine (I wish) I'd have it on the dining room table and like Chisue and Jannie, I'd put a solid color tablecloth under it to make that beautiful pattern "pop". I can't imagine how many hours it took to make it. I'm sure it was made with love by your dear grandmother.