I'll been going through boxes this week to clear out some clutter and have been finding all sorts of stuff from my past. Let me show you a couple of things I made as a kid in the early 80's....
Both of these were made from kits that belonged to my great-grandmother (she taught me to sew, crochet and do needlepoint ). My love of needlework comes directly from her, I believe, since she was the one into all kinds of handcrafts and always fed my curiosity to try each and every craft. I wanted to be able to make all the beautiful things she did and when she showered me with praise and encouragement, it kept my spirits high even when my attempts failed miserably.
The string art on the left I made in '81 and I specifically remember looking at the instructions and not wanting to be bothered with the string wrapping directions after figuring out where to place all the pins, so I just did my own thing. Obviously, I did not have the tying off step right; just look at all the loose ends dangling, but I do remember being pretty pleased with my results at the time.
The stitchery on the right is my very first attempt at crewel embroidery. I think I was around 12 years old at the time I was shown how to do this. I fell in love with learning the various stitches and now use the same stitches in doing embroidery with cotton floss. It's fun to see the project that helped me get to where I am today.
Anyways, these are just a couple of items that have had my attention this week. I've been up to my elbows deciding what to keep, donate or (gulp!) trash. I'm in the middle of purging things from my childhood, my college years (mostly letters, papers and some textbooks). Once that's done I have to take another look with my boys, at all the things my sons have outgrown (mostly items like toys and books). It's been a busy week that has had me going through some emotional ups and downs I work to scale back the boxes of memorabilia from my life. I have been taking photos as a way of preserving or honouring some of my childhood things that I've decided not to keep. It's helping me let some of these items go. I realize that it's too much of a burden to have so much stuff that has been kept only for memories sake - things that remain in boxes and take up space and end up being clutter. So, I've decided to choose a few items to keep (which explains the emotional roller coaster I've been on, because of all the memories I've stirred up). The thing is that I realize I'm not really honouring the memories if they're stuffed away out of sight in boxes. There's some more posts in the works about my trip down memory lane. You'll be seeing some more of my own 'vintage' items in future posts. ;o)
Both of these were made from kits that belonged to my great-grandmother (she taught me to sew, crochet and do needlepoint ). My love of needlework comes directly from her, I believe, since she was the one into all kinds of handcrafts and always fed my curiosity to try each and every craft. I wanted to be able to make all the beautiful things she did and when she showered me with praise and encouragement, it kept my spirits high even when my attempts failed miserably.The string art on the left I made in '81 and I specifically remember looking at the instructions and not wanting to be bothered with the string wrapping directions after figuring out where to place all the pins, so I just did my own thing. Obviously, I did not have the tying off step right; just look at all the loose ends dangling, but I do remember being pretty pleased with my results at the time.
The stitchery on the right is my very first attempt at crewel embroidery. I think I was around 12 years old at the time I was shown how to do this. I fell in love with learning the various stitches and now use the same stitches in doing embroidery with cotton floss. It's fun to see the project that helped me get to where I am today.
Anyways, these are just a couple of items that have had my attention this week. I've been up to my elbows deciding what to keep, donate or (gulp!) trash. I'm in the middle of purging things from my childhood, my college years (mostly letters, papers and some textbooks). Once that's done I have to take another look with my boys, at all the things my sons have outgrown (mostly items like toys and books). It's been a busy week that has had me going through some emotional ups and downs I work to scale back the boxes of memorabilia from my life. I have been taking photos as a way of preserving or honouring some of my childhood things that I've decided not to keep. It's helping me let some of these items go. I realize that it's too much of a burden to have so much stuff that has been kept only for memories sake - things that remain in boxes and take up space and end up being clutter. So, I've decided to choose a few items to keep (which explains the emotional roller coaster I've been on, because of all the memories I've stirred up). The thing is that I realize I'm not really honouring the memories if they're stuffed away out of sight in boxes. There's some more posts in the works about my trip down memory lane. You'll be seeing some more of my own 'vintage' items in future posts. ;o)
It's so good to see inside those boxes!
ReplyDeleteOf course all the memories they call to our minds justify the ups and downs emotions!
But it's good to have memories and emotions. In Portuguese we have a word "saudade" that has no translation in any languague and expresses this feeling: memories - things, persons, food,smells - that are from past
(you learn sewing very young!)
It sure can be hard to plumb the depths of our history and decide to let some of it go, and to honor other parts more fully by using them or having them where we can enjoy them...but it's good, right? Gold star for you :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that string art brings back memories. I loved making those.
ReplyDeletewe take some photos of our kids' artwork to preserve the memories...because my kids are pretty prolific when it comes to their art (go figure) and we would run out of room if we kept it all. :)
ReplyDelete