Little Heirlooms

The last time I was visiting my mom, I spied this sewing basket in the storage closet, alongside a bunch of things that didn't look much used.

I had had a much smaller one in blues, given to me by a distant (as in geography) relative. Maybe my Oma, maybe my godmother. When I was a young adult, moving around a lot, it disappeared in one of those many boxes that do disappear. This green one is my mom's. She told me that my brother, sister and I had bought it for her one Mother's Day, filled with sewing notions. I can see myself doing this sort of thing, but I don't remember doing it. But I do remember the basket being around the house a lot and there being a running commentary on where the scissors had last been. Certainly not in the basket. As I tell this, I recall that I once sneaked out the family scissors and have them in a drawer somewhere. I must reunite the basket and scissors when I'm done this.

Mom said I could have the basket and the next challenge was to fit it into the suitcase with the tons of stuff I had managed to collect. It made it home safely and this Victoria Weekend, I repaired it.

 

It isn't a beautiful repair job, but it works. As I was sitting here, waiting for pictures to upload to the blog, I thought of a cunning way to get a pair of embroidery scissors to not disappear to the bottom of the basket. I am going to ask my very clever husband to install a small bit of metal dead center of the puff, so I can put a magnet hook the outside of the puff. Then the scissors will remain in sight when I stitch. I'll update you on it when the cunning plan is done.

Karen Ruane's Lace course is completed, but the stitching isn't.

Here I have all the pieces combined and some fun stitching done on the tulle.
 

The tiniest flowers have been done in regular thread. It was an accident. I thought I had embroidery thread in the needle. They look so delicate, but I was aghast when I realized which thread I had used. Now I am committed to doing more in the larger space at the bottom of the tulle.

 I like the craziness of the scrimm sections.

Every where I look, there are opportunities for stitching. Some feel more interesting than others. That tulle bit that is still empty feels daunting. I might have to get really creative and find a way to fill it up fast. Maybe I'll cut it up into holes?