Vintage cross-stitch finds

Recently we cleared my hub's grandmother's house and I felt if on a treasure hunt. We once had such - I will refer to it later in the post. 

Among other things I got  (yes, there will be other posts about this, you did not think I could stick to just one, did you?) these were the most desired ones. Cross-stitch samplers,screaming 'retro,' shamelessly ruined simply because they were made on a too narrow strip of fabric. Honestly I did not expect this from a seasoned stitcher. I already have some ideas how to use them - they are gorgeous.

 

This unfinished piece was probably supposed to be a tablecloth. Here, she used the same color combination as for the above sampler. I guess it was a hit at a certain point in time (the 1970/80s). 

 This tablecloth left me puzzled. It looks like she got tired of stitching the orange squares and just filled out one completely, just to see what it would look like. 

And these below are her used tablecloths, but well preserved. 

I am happy to report that I became the proud owner of the swooning embroidered tablecloth I talked about here. And some other finds I got earlier.