Today's "To Do" Pile or Tomorrow's Vintage Treasure?

Gramma hit the jackpot this weekend but was nowhere near a casino. After an early breakfast at the diner with Grampa, she dropped in on the local flea market and noticed a tattered cardboard box that everyone else had passed up. And—voila! She found some treasures to share with all her fans.

 







Think for a moment about someone discovering your sewing basket 50 or 60 years from now. What would they find? Gramma’s digging produced a McCall’s quilt pattern from the 1930s and a quilt-in-progress. There were 25 strips of vintage quilting fabric ready to be stitched up and some just fabulous finished quilt blocks with traditional newspaper backing used to help hand stitch them together. The real surprise is that the newspapers were from the 1930’s!! Oh my!  Unfortunately she couldn’t read all of the articles because the owner hadn’t put “continued on next square,” but had to settle for bits and pieces of news stories. (Did that man ever go to jail? . . . .hmmmm.)

And you should see the delight on her face when she discovered—in the same box--several hand-stitched collars (some with really nice adornments) that would add the perfect touch to plain cardigan or sweater, or serve as the centerpiece of a girl’s special-occasion dress.

It pays to dig. At the bottom of Gramma’s cardboard jackpot was the cutest little apron complete with a Raggedy Ann tag sewn in. Remember those little dolls we had back when? They weren’t Barbies; they weren’t Bratz with all kinds of accessories. They were simple and loved and cherished Christmas gifts from Santa or a birthday gift from your favorite aunt.

And finally, Gramma also came across a beautiful  pink wool and cotton cabin-style blanket from the 1940s or 50s! This delicious looking “spread” would brighten up any cottage-chic décor.

I now know what Grandpa means about finding “the honey hole” when he goes fishing. What looks like rag remnants just might be worth another look and some digging. There are nuggets of gold out there - - you just have to prospect at some places you’ve never tried before.

To see Gramma’s treasures, click the links to her Etsy shop; Facebook page; and her eBay items online.