A Crafty Trip Down Memory Lane

Crafting and Memories

The first week of the summer holidays was a trip to Southampton. In between the obligatory trips to Toys R Us and Ikea, there are the family visits. I always go and see Nanna and Grandad. They both turned 90 in January and are still very independent (to be honest, I’m always expecting them to pop their clogs). On this visit, we went through some of Nanna’s crafty gubbins, and it triggered a nostalgic twinge.

Nineteen Forties Embroidery

Look at this! Nanna embroidered this tablecloth in 1945, and she said that she’d like to pass it on to me. I’m quite chuffed about that. It’s really very pretty. It needs a bit of cleaning (anyone got any advice on how to do that?).

She stitched it whilst her brother-in-law was in hospital. He’d had his face torn apart by shrapnel in World War 2.

Vintage Embroidery With Provenance

Who doesn’t love a bit of vintage embroidery?! Whilst it’s lovely as a tablecloth, I wonder if it wouldn’t be too insensitive to repurpose it. I would rather it be regularly used and loved than folded neatly in a drawer.

 Now that it’s the holidays, I won’t have much time, but I would love to try some embroidery of my own. I do tinker with pretty stitching, but don’t do masses of it. It’s another thing to add to the list.

Nanna’s Knitting Needles

Nanna also decided she didn’t want her spare knitting needles anymore. This is daft because I’m sure she’ll want some of them back. Also, I am terrible at knitting.

She hasn’t given me the ones she regularly uses. I think these are all surplus. Amongst them is a Tunisian crochet hook. I got quite excited about this as it coincides with the growing fancy that I want to learn a bit of that.

Vintage Madeira Bag

Then there’s this awesome bag from Madeira. It needs repairing, but I think it’s pretty cool. I think she said a friend gave it to her, but I’m not sure. My guess is the 1970s, but it could be much earlier.

I’ve got no clue how to fix the broken bits on this very old bag. To be honest, I haven’t checked out how broken it really is. I can just see that the fabric is coming away from the baskety bit. And the baskety bit is a bit fragile in itself.

A Handmade Patchwork Blanket

Upon returning home to Devon, I went and rummaged in my own cupboards and dug out a few things.

Nanna made this patchwork blanket for my 18th birthday. For a good couple of years leading up to that birthday, I’d see EPP hexagons here and there and ask what they were for. She was always evasive, and I wouldn’t get a straight answer, hah!

I have to be careful with this blanket; I think there might still be a pin lodged in the quilted layers somewhere. I found about three when I got it and managed to get a couple out. I use it regardless, pins be damned. It is not quite twenty years of age.

Having made a patchwork bag using English paper piecing, I know how this sort of thing is a proper labour of love. And her hexies are smaller than the patchwork bag I made!

A Classic Crochet Granny Blanket

This is the crochet granny blanket she made for my eldest boy just over seven years ago, when he was born. It’s a classic granny, and it is this hotchpotch blanket that made me go to my local wool shop and buy my first crochet hook!

A Simple Crochet Chain

Rewind to some point in the 1980’s… This tatty-looking thing in the above pic is the first piece of crochet I ever attempted. I made this foundation chain and decided that crochet was rubbish.

I don’t think it helped that I was told that I must hold the hook a certain way (Nanna and I don’t agree on hook hold). Knitting was easier for me back then; I could make squares and scarves and things. This crochet failure was tied to the middle of a Nanna-made crochet blanket that I had as a little girl. I threw it away last year. It was stinky and holey. The foundation chain is the only bit that remains.

Traditional Knitted Baby Blanket

She knitted this white baby blanket for Eldest boy also. It’s quite traditional to gift a white knitted baby blanket. I was given more than one at the births of both my boys.

And as usual, the cat wanted in on it so she clambered on Nanna’s blankets and went to sleep.

I’m still feeling funny about old things (not Nanna and Grandad, the other stuff). I’ve been sorting through my old work from when I first started school. I blame going back to Southampton.

Old School Work!

This was when I went to the Hall of Aviation in Southampton (now called Solent Sky). I took my boys last week. It’s still awesome.

Sindy’s Wedding Outfit

I don’t know if I blame Southampton that much. It might also have been before that because I asked my sister to dig stuff out a few weeks ago. I was watching the Sewing Bee and had begun to wonder when I first started sewing.

I used to sit for hours, hand-sewing outfits and accessories for my Sindy doll. After a while, I graduated to the sewing machine. I was around ten when I made this wedding outfit from the leftovers of my other sister’s christening gown. It has set in sleeves!

My step mum helped me do this, as I don’t think I could have managed those sleeves alone. I think I need to ask Sister to go back in the loft to see if she has the red corduroy dress I made her for Christmas when I was twelve, and she was two… I was dead proud of myself!

Nanna Knitted Doll Clothes

What Sindy/Barbie wouldn’t want knitted clothes?! Some Nanna specials.

I particularly love this woollen coat. I actually think my mum knitted this. It wasn’t passed on to my sisters; it was the only one I kept.

Speaking of my Mum. I’m fairly certain she knitted baby blankets, too (pictured above and below). One knitted, one crocheted. Both in the seventies, for my brother. I’m sure she’ll correct me if I’m wrong.

She said this crochet blanket wasn’t suitable in the end. Too many holes for baby fingers to twist up in.

Anyway, I’m gonna go. I didn’t realise there was so much from the past that still exists. What the blazes am I gonna do with it all?! Hope no ghostly cooties are clinging to all the dust.