The newspapers even look to be about the same vintage. My tin of threads belonged to my mum. It was one of those childhood constants, something you always remember; and I love having it now. The paper is dated 1944; so, of course, I have let my imagination drift as I do. And I wonder did my mum, as a schoolgirl, stitch and listen to Churchill on the radio? Did she pack the tin into her satchel to carry with her on the train when she was evacuated?
It was still with her in her 30's, I know; when she embroidered a "new look" skirt.It's something else she passed on to me. The tales of our childrens births can be read in the waistband: it's been very narrow and then really not quite so narrow in turn. I wore it a couple of years ago to a Prize Day in the hall of the school she used to attend. Where my children are now. That's another little piece of symmetry I love.
What tales do Eleanor's threads tell, I wonder?
A couple of you have asked about the chenille ribbon in the Hadrian's Wall page. It's by May Arts and it came in a Studio Calico kit. It thought it looked like..well, Hadrians Wall.
14 comments:
Great post, Sian. Love how it coincides with Eleanor's post. :o)
I had a similar tin that belonged to my grandmother. She taught me how to stitch when I was a small girl by pulling bits of tangled thread from that tin. When my own daughter moved out on her own this past year she begged me to let her take it and I did. That was tough to let go of, but the tin held special memories for my daughter as I had taught her to stitch as a young girl from the same tangled, beautiful mess.
Such nice memories. My mom did not stitch, but my grandmother did. I have so many gorgeous things that were crocheted, knitted or embroidered by her. She even made lace! I myself dabbled in embroidery as a child and some counted cross-stitch as a young adult, but my stitching days are behind me now.
Rinda
How lovely that you have something that your mother made. It's beautiful. Unfortunately my mother died when I was young and lots of personal things didn't get passed on. I do have photos and some lovely tureens.
Oh, wow! To the skirt and to the coincidence and to the photo and to the story :-)
The tin of my childhood was full of buttons....I can remember playing with them while my mum sewed.....I still have her old Singer sewing machine in the roof.
There's a little something for you on my blog,Sian.
Yes, my Grandma's tin had buttons in. They were wonderful and we loved playing with them. I used to have my other Grandma's sewing machine too, but I gave it away - wish I hadn't!
Your vintage skirt is lovely - you could make a fortune selling it on Etsy or EBay! (but of course, dont sell it, it's special...)
What a sweet story, I do wish my Mum sewed....none of my family is creative so i don't know where my love comes from. I will have to check out the blog post....another one for me to read.
Oh and fab photo of the pens, I cannot wait for my course to start.
x
wow what a co-incidence!
I have a Lumix Panasonic but it is a point and click type, still has all the fancy stuff just not all the big lens! If you find out some special tricks with yours, I'd love you to tell me! I don't "get" all the special settings like ISO! The burst feature is fab though, multiple shots in seconds is a great thing to have!
such a lovely coincidence - and what a lovely, lovely skirt. It's just so wonderful that you have a lovely reminder when you reach for a thread, I can imagine a smile on your face.
Lovely story and the skirt is stunning, lovely you still have it.
What a lovely skirt, what clever embroidery. It's lovely when something like that can be handed down. Hope your daughter realises we will expect her to take care of it too when you pass it on again!
I love your comment re continuity too, my mum, her mum and my grandmother all went to the same primary school that I went to. Weird to think of all those generations sitting in the same school hall over the years.
Oo, what a coincidence! :) I have a tin like that full of embroidery skeins that used to belong to my grandmother. I can't bear to throw it out even though I never use the threads ... and already own almost every DMC shade known to man.
Wow what a coincidence! My gran and them mum used to have a large box of buttons that we would also play with.
Oh oh oh. Lost for words! The 'threads that bind' is all I can say. I must link back to you, this story must now be a layout too.
The skirt is so covetable. Now I have to make one like this. Coming to a blog near you sometime this year.
E
xx
Post a Comment