Appreciation Week: A Block-Printed Tablecloth

This week I'm planning to do something simple: post about one object or person per day that I appreciate. I got the idea while I was looking at this tablecloth while visiting my in-laws last night:


I love this tablecloth, both its colors and the varying parts of the design: elephants, vases, arrows, peacocks, fish, squiggles, zigzags.


It's hand printed, and was sold by Ten Thousand Villages, the grandmother of fair-trade shops in the U.S.


The tablecloths at Ten Thousand Villages come from Indian (and sometimes African) women's co-ops. The workers are paid not only a fair price, but receive half of the payment up front.