Treating myself to a SOST linen apron was one of the nicest things I did for myself last year.  (OK, maybe getting a couple of new South Street scarves was the nicest.)  Mary Ruth, Jane, and Lynn (pictured below) also make beautiful linens for the table.  The fabrics are wonderful, the workmanship, excellent, and I especially appreciate their design sensibility and eye for detail. Note that one corner of each napkin is sewn to accomodate a collar button for under the chin (lobster eating?) use!

Please take the time to visit the shop at 5 South Street, Portland Maine and/or the website: http://www.southstreetlinen.com/.  I’m grateful these gals and their seasonally changing designs are my “neighborhood.”

“Mary Ruth Hedstrom and Jane Ryan are painters; Lynn Krauss is a painter / printmaker. They have been soul mates for over 10 years and share a love of textiles, especially linen. Mary Ruth is a minimalist, Jane, a lover of things bold and colorful. (Lynn feels strongly both ways.)

A year ago these mid career artists started applying their particular sensibilities to making hand stitched and block printed linen scarves. They fell in love with linen. The rest is history.

Their inspiration comes from well-worn ephemera, the geometric patterns of architecture, and things Japanese and Scandinavian.”