My small window into a stranger's life

DH and I love antiques and antique shopping.  Although we sometimes have a goal in mind, it is the unexpected treasure that really fills us with joy.  I have long lusted after a wooden spool chest but the price always seems ridiculously high for a decorative item.  I rarely see them under $500 and most are much more than that.  While rummaging through one of our local antique markets last week, I noticed a metal spool chest and zoomed in like a torpedoe.  The price wasn't out of reach ($249), I had the money squirreled away from my Etsy sales, and I thought I could bargain for a better price since it was the last day of the month.

The prudent part of me took hold, so I slept on the idea.  Or, I should say, I tossed and turned on the idea for the night!  By morning, I had convinced myself to go for it.  I called the shop and asked them to contact the dealer to see if he would accept $200.  Whoo hoo!!  Price accepted, and I was off to bring back my new treasure.

I was so excited when I first saw this piece that I did not really appreciate the contents.  It has four glass-fronted drawers; each drawer was chock full of goodies.  I soon realized that this piece was used as someone's sewing box.  I love that idea!  Then and there I decided that I, too, was going to use this lovely piece as part of my daily sewing life.

It's hard to tell when this was actually last used by the owner, but it was pretty dirty.  I doubt that a seamstress would allow her possessions to get in such a state.  I surmised that this chest has been in someone's garage or someone's antique store for quite awhile.  As I carefully removed all of the items from the drawers so that my wonderful DH could clean this baby, I realized that I was uncovering pieces of another person's life.

The top drawer held only thread - silk thread!  Manufacturers I've never heard of:  Champion, Belding Hemingway, Corticelli.  Silk thread is expensive, so I decided that the seamstress was not just mending and making doll blankets!  This was a person who loved quality in her craft.  Did she do alterations on expensive clothing?  Did she make designer fashions for herself?  Did she create beautiful appliqued quilts with tiny, tiny stitches?

As I worked down into the next drawer, I found crochet needles, zippers, several hemmer feet, hat pins!  A bobby pin - that reminded me instantly of my own mom who thought bobby pins were the best invention since the wheel.  What would I find next?

Scattered throughout the 3rd and 4th drawers were plastic pill bottles (snap on caps - nothing childproof back then) from a Rexall drugstore filled with various items.  Fabric-covered buttons, small white buttons, pink sequins, pearls, small metal "coins" with a punched hole for sewing.  Costumes!  Maybe my seamstress worked on costumes!

Eureka!  Tucked at the back of the third drawer were two more pill bottles.  This time, however, the prescription paper was still in the bottle.  Lydia Nicklesen had a prescription filled at the Rexall Drugstore in Montebello, California in November 1959.  The second bottle was for Aron Nicklesen in 1966.  If Mrs. Nicklesen was sewing in 1959, she would most likely be in my parents' generation - the Greatest Generation - those who lived through the depression and were in the prime of life during World War II.  No wonder all the bits and pieces from her sewing life were saved in these little bottles.  No one from the depression era ever throws out a single thing without a fight!

More odds and ends:

• A sewing machine lightbulb
• A penny
• Tailor's chalk kept in a small box marked "Helena Rubinstein, Apple Blossom Time Perfume Purse Flacon"
• Two small boxes of matches carefully covered in yellow and green felt and decorated with tiny metal shells - perhaps a gift from a child?
• A bandaid marked Long John No. 100 Adhesive Bandage
• A box of glass head pins from K-Mart - 61cents!!!!
• A receipt from the Montebello Sewing Center (a Singer approved dealer)
• A tiny plastic camel - did a grandchild come to play in grandma's sewing room?

I'm going to keep some of Mrs. Nicklesen's things in her sewing kit along with mine.  I want to remember that someone else used this chest as part of her creative life.  Glass head pins have been on my "to buy" list for quite awhile.  I'm going to use the ones from K-Mart.  Thank you, Mrs. Nicklesen, for your pins -- and for sharing a bit of your life with me.

It's a small world after all ...

A few months ago, I battled my way through Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat.  The battle had nothing to do with Mr. Friedman's book or his writing style.  The battle had to to with my advancing age and decreasing ability to read non-fiction for a sustained period of time with any level of comprehension.  I take it slow --- very slow --- and stop reading when I realize that for the last 3 pages, my brain has been on the dim setting.

This is a great book, and I highly recommend it.  It may not be the book you want to take to Cabo San Lucas, but it is something that you should put on your "must read" list.

Although the book focuses on the global economy, business, government, and how technology has contributed to the flattening of the world, I couldn't help but be reminded how each and every one of us is affected by these changes.  I have an etsy store where I am slowly, but surely, selling the clothing that my MIL purchased in Sri Lanka over 30 years ago.  In the past week, I have made the following sales:

• to a lady in Germany who lives near a town we will be visiting in September
• to a buyer in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, the town where I was born and raised
• to another buyer in Sterling Heights, Michigan, the city where DH and I bought our first home

Pretty small world, isn't it?  In each of these cases, I was able to instantly communicate via the Internet and share stories, memories, a piece of my life, with people who had been absolute strangers until our lives connected through technology.  Pretty amazing stuff.  It wasn't all that long ago that communication was via sailing ship or wagon train or pony express and took months and months.  Now we gripe if the download takes more than a few seconds!

And, I actually had fun!

One of my goals for 2010 is to practice free-motion quilting.  My resolution was actually to practice every day.  Gotta fess up - that is not happening.  But I am putting in more practice time than last year, and I think it is paying off.  I'm not getting better yet; I'm just not scared to death to try!  That's progress, don't you agree?

I have about a dozen gorgeous batik panels that I inherited from my MIL.  These panels were among the boxes and boxes of batik clothing that she bought in the 80s.  I'm slowly selling off the clothing in my Etsy shop, but I just can't part with the panels.  The grade of cotton is high, the designs so unusual, and the colors are brilliant.  My heart says that these panels deserve to be worked on by a true artist.  There is such potential to create a beautiful piece when you start with such a unique foundation.  I've been tempted to try my hand at some kind of art quilt, but always turn away at the last minute.  In most areas of my life, I'm a pretty confident gal.  I just don't think of myself as artistic or creative.  The left side of my brain is too dang strong, I guess.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the smallest panel and make a pillow out of it.  I found a new batik fabric that coordinates fairly well for the back of the pillow.  With trepidation, I got the BSR out of its cocoon, lowered the feed dogs on the old 640, and went full speed ahead.  Well, maybe I got to second gear a couple of times, but mostly I ambled along in first learning more and more with every inch I covered.  And ..... it was a blast!  My poor sister was visiting the weekend I worked on this project, and I kept slipping into the other room to do "just one more row" of outline quilting.

No closeups this time - too embarrassing!  But I'm pretty proud of the result.  I took it to my quilt guild meeting this morning and got a few compliments, so I'm more determined now to get back to regular practicing.

Kinder and gentler - who me?

Doug and I drove to Redlands Sewing Center today to take the Bernina to the repairman (repairperson?).  A quick look told him that I need a new front plate which has to be ordered.  Supposedly, I was not gentle enough while pushing the buttons in and caused the problem myself.  Hmmm .... I'm really careful with this baby and don't think I am the culprit.  I smiled softly and promised to be a gentler, kinder sewist.  It will take several weeks to get the part in and then the 640 has to stay in Redlands for a few days to be fixed.  At least I can still use the machine and sew until the part comes in.  My sanity is on the line!

Let's hope I can schedule this when I'm due to be away anyway, maybe for the girls' birthdays and/or Super Bowl.

I browsed, of course, while waiting in the shop for the diagnosis.  They're going to have a trunk show in February by quilt artist Marilyn Fromherz.  They had several of her pieces on display.  Quite interesting and very colorful.  Click here for a little preview of her work.  The quilt on the left with the fish was actually on display at the Redlands store, and it is stunning.

Finally got back to Etsy and listed a couple of the caftan-style blouses.  I'm hoping my sales pick up a bit with these new listings.  I have 3 more blouses and 4 scarves to list then it's on to the wraparound skirts again.  Remember Resolution #3 - this stuff is sold or gone by December 31!

As for Resolutions #1 and #2, I give myself a great big "F" for failure two weeks into the New Year.  I have not done any free-motion quilting.  I downloaded one podcast of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."  Does that count?

Yes - my house is back! And Resolution #3 ...

Doug and I spent most of the last three days undoing Christmas.  As much as I love to see the decorations come down from the storage bins in the garage, I smile broadly as they make their way back up into the rafters for another year.  I'm sure there are those who are saddened when the season is over, but I'm not one of them.  I'm no Scrooge, however.  I love Christmas and the joy of spending special time with family and friends.  But I'm a neatnik (some would say I border on the fanatical), and the extra "stuff" in the house starts to get to me after a week or so.  Today is a happy day - the house looks normal again.

One of our traditions is to watch the Albert Finney version of Scrooge at the end of the holiday season.  We saw this movie in Michigan in 1970 - our first Christmas as a married couple - so it has special meaning to us.  We watched the DVD last night after dinner.  I still smile at the "Thank You Very Much" scene!

I started the binding on the TLC quilt yesterday using Sharon Schamber's method.  So far, it's going well.  I definitely like the way she joins the binding strips and how detailed the video is (see this post).  The binding is on; the true test will come tomorrow when I try to sew the second side on by machine!  Normally, I finish binding by handsewing it to the back of the quilt.  With Sharon's method, the binding is completely sewn on by machine.  I tried this a couple of weeks ago following another blogger's method and was not particularly successful!  Sharon's method is more time intensive, uses glue, and is highly recommended by one of my quilting friends.  Keep your fingers crossed!  As the arthritis in my thumbs worsens, I'm looking for more ways to use the Bernina instead of doing handwork.

Now for Resolution #3.  About 30 years ago, my inlaws went on a trip to Asia stopping in Sri Lanka along the way (it was Ceylon then).  My mother-in-law fell in love with batik clothing and purchased dozens and dozens of skirts, blouses, dresses, saris, etc. to bring home.  We think she intended to sell them at the College of the Desert Street Fair but never got around to it.  When MIL passed away several years ago, I inherited this clothing as part of the "big clean out" of her house.  I've managed to sell a few pieces on eBay and Oma's Closet and at a The Oasis holiday boutique in 2008.  I even cut up three of the skirts and made handbags out of them!  But I still have two big plastic boxes of clothes in the garage.  Resolution #3 - by the end of 2010, all of the clothing will be sold, recycled into new sewing projects, or given away.

Success Times Two - Well, One & A Half!

Finished the Perennial Pant pattern this morning by Kayla Kennington. The pants are not perfect, but I still like them and look forward to wearing them. The waist is a bit loose, and I'm not sure I like the front darts. But they fit and they are wearable! So, I deem them a half success. I think the decorative stitching on the pockets is what makes them a bit unusual. Love this touch. Next time, I'll make the waist smaller, shorten the darts a bit, and perhaps do them in a cropped style with the pockets a bit higher on the leg. Or maybe I'll really get stylish and do some machine embroidery!

My other success this morning was my first sale on Etsy. The tiger fleece panel sold. Now I have to pack it up and send it off to its new owner in Connecticut. I'm sure my shipping charges are too low, but I'm not really in this to make the most bucks. Just for fun and to find new owners for the remaining fabric and clothing from Sri Lanka. Hip, hip hooray! I'm going to try to list one of the wraparound skirts today.