Grandma Daisy's Sewing Basket...

I have mentioned my Grandma Daisy on here a few times.  She passed away in the early seventies.  She was 97 at the time.  I hope to follow in her footsteps.  How else will I get all of my projects finished?

I was cleaning, once again, the workroom this morning and found this.

It was the sewing basket that always sat by her chair in the living room.  Her needlework was mainly tatting and quilting.

She did teach me to knit, crochet and embroider kitchen towels...I hated those.  I got as far as Tuesday in the towels for every day of the week and rebelled, but it did get me started on that track....I never thought about it, but I must take after her somewhat.  She did a little bit of everything involving a needle or hook too.

I hadn't opened the basket for a few years.  I first gave it a coat of the infamous lemon oil to bring it back to life.

When I lifted the lid, this is what I saw.  I have thrown anything in the way of antique handmade lace into the basket for years.  It's a way to keep it from getting lost in the shuffle.

There is very little left of grandma's sewing stuff in there.  My dad, was so proud of cleaning it out...I didn't say anything about the stuff that was in it before he got to it.

As I said....I had not peeked into it for a long time.  It solved several mysteries for me.

I found my peacock pin box of cast bronze.  I also found some of the oldest buttons that I own.  they are on a wire in the top right corner of the photo.  Someone made them by hand and they are very Victorian in style. Also bronze.

I found a full box of darning silk and the darning egg to go with it....Evidently the lady that bought that box didn't ever use it.  I can't imagine having to darn silk stockings...It seems like it would be well nigh to impossible.

The lace at the bottom right is one of seven pieces of needle made lace that someone saved from a Victorian period dress.  I found them carefully pinned together in a bag of remnant pieces in an antique store. 

The white buttons are bone from the same period.

I won't go through everything that was in the basket, but the cards and bundles of trim at the top are machine made tapes and coronation cord for making lace.  You can see an example of the coronation cord in the crochet at the top right.

The two strips towards the front are hand made Victorian collars.  The white work in those is amazing.

The piece of tatting that they are laying on is a strip for a pillowcase that my grandma made.

Last and definitely not least is the hand carved ivory needle case.  I got that at an antique fair before they got scarce as hen's teeth. I think I paid about twenty dollars at the time and thought it was outrageous.  The price has gone up since then....I got a bargain.

The piece of lace that it is laying on is another fine needle made lace that is grounded on net.  You can barely see the stitches in that one.  Each of those little circles on the net is done separately, one at a time.  This is probably the oldest lace I own.  I couldn't give you a date though.  It is very soft and intricate.  I would have to have a powerful magnifying glass to stitch something like that.

Anyway, I thought that you would rather see these pieces than photos of the piles that I am trying to put away...And I enjoyed looking at them again too.

See you tomorrow.