Today I’d like to show you something sewing related again: a needle case.
As far as I remember this one came from one of my mother’s friends. It’s only about 2″ long and only fits fairly short needles. I know nothing about it but assume that it’s fairly old. The needle case lives in my hand sewing box making sure I always have sharp needles at hand.
It’s Valentine’s Day today and I have to admit I don’t celebrate it. Despite that I’ve chosen a treasure today that sort of ties in with the theme: A picture in a picture frame.
This faded photograph of my sister and I in it’s lovely 1950-ies frame stood on my grandparents piano together with many other pictures of us growing up. I have a whole collection of these frames, some of which I inherited from my grandparents others that I bought at secondhand shops. I’ve taken the photographs out of some of them but this one I kept despite the fact that it’s so faded you can hardly see us. To me it’s a little reminder of my family which I miss a lot living here in England.
Every Thursday I pick one of my ‘treasures’ and tell you a little bit about it. This week I’ve chosen a wall hanging which I bought for the stairwell when we moved into our house.
I found it in a small shop called Ethnic Origins in Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire. Apparently it’s made from old torn or stained saris and the embroideries and beading are absolutely exquisite. I’m sorry that the pictures don’t really do the wall hanging justice.
The flowers on this arch are my favourite part.
The details are amazing. I can only imagine how beautiful the women wearing these saris looked. One of the reasons I love this wall hanging so much is the fact that it’s recycling at its best. It would have been an absolute disgrace to throw these wonderful fabrics in the bin, don’t you think?
When I first got it I didn’t know which way to hang it up as there was no hanging sleeve. In the end I decided that one way looked like a river running under some bridges and arches.
Being fairly new to quilting I really hope that I will be able to make something as beautiful and improvisational as this wall hanging one day.
Every Thursday I pick one of my personal treasures, i.e. things that are very close to my heart, and tell you a little bit about them.
This week I would like to show you a another secondhand shop find. When I was a student, I had a small room in Bern which I tried to furnish on a very tight budget with things from home and cheap finds at the secondhand shop. I was very lucky as one of the nicer shops was around the corner from where I lived. One day I found this little beauty in a corner:
I fell in love with the colours but felt that it was too expensive at £4. After all I didn’t need it and for just a couple more pounds I could get a bedside table which I was in need of. I’m sure you can guess what happened, right? Yes, I left the bedside table and went home with my little enamel plate. It’s in constant use and has been since the day I bought it. It’s the perfect size at about 4.5″ for a couple of biscuits or a small slice of cake and holds my tea bag whenever I make a cup of herbal tea.
It’s signed on the back but I can’t read the signature.
I just love the colours and wish I could make a quilt that looked like that.
By the way, I went back for the bedside table the following month and bought it. It was a yucky dark brown colour and I quickly turned it into a lovely orange little number. It has since changed colour a few times and has been painted blue, green, white and pink. Little Miss Bossy-Boots and I painted it pink last summer and it now resides in her room. It was well worth the £6 I paid for it.
This week’s treasure is a cat.
My aunt Tania, who gave me my sewing machine, was a cat lover. She had real cats which she spoilt rotten and she had a cat collection. It was easy to get her birthday or Christmas gifts, all you had to do is get an unusual little cat. When she died I asked if I could pick out one cat from her collection to keep as a memento and the cat above was the one that spoke to me the most.
Just look at that little face. Who could resist? I have no idea where it’s from of who gave it to her which is a shame but with more than 1000 cats in all sorts of materials it would have been impossible to remember every one of them.
This little cat is about three inches high and lives on our bookshelf behind glass doors and I make sure that Little Miss Bossy-Boots doesn’t play with it. Today, however, I took it outside to take pictures and she (the cat, not the Miss) thoroughly enjoyed herself, even trying to hide behind some frozen moss.
You can see she’s not really used to playing hide and seek; I found her within seconds.
Today I would like to share another sewing treasure with you: My beautiful Bernina KL117.
This model was built between 1938 and 1941. She’s built into a sewing table which is quite plain except for the intarsia measuring tape.
The table isn’t in very good condition and the machine has had a few knocks but I don’t mind. After all she’s over 70 years old and being an industrial machine she’s been used a lot. Sadly she doesn’t work but I’m hoping that I will be able to get her repaired one day.
I love the label.
The reason she is such a treasure to me is because I bought her when I was at a real low point of my life. I was having chemo therapy which meant that I was incredibly tired all the time. Most days I didn’t go very far; a quick little walk with Aron was all I could muster. One day, however, my friend Anita called and asked if I wanted to go to the secondhand shop. Of course, I did. Everything was better than sitting around reading books I couldn’t remember a week later (A nice little side effect of the chemo. Makes buying books really cheap as you only need two which you can rotate). Anyway, I went and found the Bernina hidden away in a corner. Looking at her made me happy, getting her home made me even happier and now every time I look at her I can still feel the happiness bubbling up in me. She’s usually hidden away as her sewing table is the perfect height for sewing at and that’s where my other Bernina sits.
Sometimes, though, I get her out and just look at her… and enjoy the happiness that fills my insides.