Tuesday Treasures - Grandma

I can’t believe it is Tuesday Treasure time again already.

This week I’ll show you some bits and bobs from Grandma.

My Grandma Mabel is pictured here on the left with her sister  Maud. They grew up in the Lakes District in northern England.  Their brother and my Grandfather were best mates and came out to Australia.  They both settled and then Grandma, Maud and their parents came out.  They settled near Gayndah in Queensland, whereas Granddad settled at Hartley Vale in New South Wales.

Grandma and Maud had a double wedding and then both had their first child on the same day a bit over a year later, which also happened to be Grandma’s birthday.

Enough family history, onto the sewing.  This is actually Mum’s treasure, but I wanted to share.  This doyley is Grandma’s first ever crochet.  When I was learning to crochet using 8-ply wool it always amazed me that this had been created by a very young child.

Look how fine the crochet thread is and then the lovely feather stitch on the centre.  The only  hint that this is a small child’s work is the wonky circle.  Despite that it received much use over the years.

Grandma was 16 when they immigrated in 1913. This little box accompanied her.  It is from their local jewellers shop in England.

This lives in it.  Although I have a little thimble collection, this is Mum’s treasure.  The maker’s mark is “JS” which is James Swann of Birmingham.

I don’t think the silver thimble was  used regularly. This steel and brass one was her everyday thimble.  It is so lovely and shiny as it is now Mum’s everyday thimble.  As Mum has got older, her finger has outgrown her usual thimble.  Grandma’s thimble fits me perfectly too.

My treasures from Grandma that are sewing related are surprisingly few as most are over at Mum’s, but I do have her knitting needles in their lovely old art deco bakelite case.

For our wedding present my Uncle Chris gave us Grandma’s kitchen dresser.  Grandma’s home was a very basic weatherboard cottage that grew as required and was definitely nothing flash.  I can’t remember it and Mum says that is a good thing.  Grandma had her wish of a new home come true a few years before she died and Uncle Chris still lives there.  The old dresser was relegated to a shed once the new kitchen was installed and I always loved it.  This is the original paint job, carried out by Grandma in the 30s. Even when the fashion was to strip everything back I just loved the cream with the green highlights. (By the way, I don’t collect jugs.)

 

How is the dresser related to sewing.  Well, with the dresser I received the two runners made especially for it by Grandma.  They are very fragile, but I still use them.  Mum also made me one as well.

They have very simple embroidery which I wouldn’t be surprised if Grandma drew up herself. 

The colours on this one are so very 30s.

And that’s it for this week.

You can find other treasures over at Clare’s.

You may notice a distinct lack of sewing on my behalf. I have done a tiny bit of hand stitching, but have nothing to show, which is very sad.  I’ll have to get a wriggle on.