Treasure Hunting

We had a great time over the weekend. We were busy, out shopping and facing holiday traffic and sales on Saturday. I’m a little over half done. I still need to pick up some things for 3 or 4 people. I’m waiting for the weather and roads to become tolerable again to risk driving around. Apparently the town is low on funds b/c they are barely plowing and salting.

On Sunday we went to take Gram to breakfast and then go treasure hunting in her basement. My grandma used to have her own drape making basement. The basement is set up with two huge working tables for laying out the drapes and pinning. Then there are three ancient sewing machines. The old timey kind that are made of iron and make a ton of noise. She hasn’t made drapes in years but still has lots of old fabric goodies laying around. Huge bolts of fabric that were were unused or extra from past orders. Fabric for drapes comes on bigger bolts than that at Jo-Ann Fabrics….I’m talking a 5 foot tall roll of fabric. Granted some of the patterns are a little dated, but I managed to walk away with about 6 rolls. It was great fun picking through them all and hearing any stories associated with them. I plan to make some table clothes out of the fabrics. I need to do some measuring and cutting then I’ll take it home with me over the holidays to sew a hem on. I also want to try and cut strips of the fabrics of similar colors and crochet a rug from them. This was Mom’s idea and she said we’d try it out over the holiday too. I also have a chair in the bead room that the seat needs to be recovered. I’m going to use one of the fabrics for that as well. Lots and lots to do and work on. We found a quilt my grandma started working on a few years back. She quilted squares with a rose pattern and then embroidered an outline of the fancy fabrics with nice beads. It’s really beautiful. We’re in the process of brain storming ways to finish the project. She spent a lot of time and really enjoyed the project. I think she would like it finished.

This Christmas is going to be all about sewing. I don’t know much about it. I can take a needle and thread and make two pieces of fabric stay together. But I haven’t the foggiest about names of stitches and when to do which one. I’ll bring some beads home as well (mostly b/c I have a color combo that’s burning to be used in a fancy flower!), but next week will be all about sewing and family.

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