I just love my workbasket...when I have the time to work on my projects that is. It's always waiting for me when I have a few minutes to sit and stitch. Right now I'm working on some crocheted lace to edge a pair of embroidered pillowslips for a Christmas present. I'm also crocheting a blue baby blanket. I have 4 favorite patterns that I make up for baby presents, and have made one for each of my 9 grandchildren, with the exception of our oldest grandson, Samuel. I don't remember what was going on in our lives 9 summers ago, but somehow Samuel didn't get a blanket. In Julie's family they just added a baby girl, Cecily, number six, and I took her blanket with me when we visited them in West Virginia. Julie and I were talking about how Samuel didn't receive one, and I realized that although it was a little late, I should make him one to pass on to his children in time. I have made them all in different colors, but I had enough blue yarn on hand, so started right in when I got home. It will bring about a sense of completion for me...and hopefully a good memory someday for Samuel as he brings it out and wraps up his first son.
I have another workbasket I treasure as well. This one belonged to my maternal grandmother, and shows the wear of many years. She sewed and mended for her family of 8 children from this basket. When I received it, it had a cache of antique buttons, several embroidery hoops, scraps of material and lace, and round crocheted windowshade pullers. There were also several pair of small mending scissors, mostly broken, with stubs of marking chalk. I have used the buttons on many projects and loved the feel of the old smooth white and cream buttons. There is a connection somehow with this grandmother that I never knew, when I look at these things that she used and touched.
Her name was Mabel Estelle Erskine, and she died in 1935.
Here she is on her wedding day in 1909...and maybe she brought her workbasket with her into her marriage, or received one for a wedding gift. In any case, workbaskets were an important part of a womans' life...and I still like to sit in the evenings and stitch, even though the necessity has turned into a hobby.
I have another workbasket I treasure as well. This one belonged to my maternal grandmother, and shows the wear of many years. She sewed and mended for her family of 8 children from this basket. When I received it, it had a cache of antique buttons, several embroidery hoops, scraps of material and lace, and round crocheted windowshade pullers. There were also several pair of small mending scissors, mostly broken, with stubs of marking chalk. I have used the buttons on many projects and loved the feel of the old smooth white and cream buttons. There is a connection somehow with this grandmother that I never knew, when I look at these things that she used and touched.
Her name was Mabel Estelle Erskine, and she died in 1935.
Here she is on her wedding day in 1909...and maybe she brought her workbasket with her into her marriage, or received one for a wedding gift. In any case, workbaskets were an important part of a womans' life...and I still like to sit in the evenings and stitch, even though the necessity has turned into a hobby.Thought on thankfulness for this day:
"Grace and gratitude belong together like heaven and earth. Grace evokes gratitude like the voice an echo. Gratitude follows grace as thunder follows lightning." Karl Barth
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