Linnea was my good friend Lynn's aunt. 'Nea (pronounced "Naya"), as she was called, lived on a farm in New Sweden, Maine, which is in the far northern area of this large state.
She and her husband Evold farmed and lived quite simply in the Anderson family's home. Their home was one of the first homes built in New Sweden when their ancestors immigrated to Maine from Sweden in the late 1800's.
Lynn has been sorting through many of her ancestors' treasures. When she comes across Linnea's needlework, she passes it on to me. Lynn has known me for 45 years, so she knows how much I love and treasure fine needlework.
Linnea was adept, obviously, at tatting (in the top photo), filet crochet, and "regular" crochet.
It's beautiful.
I was thrilled to make a special discovery as I thumbed through one of the crochet booklets. It's the pattern for the doily centerpiece currently on my dining room table. I made that doily about 25 years ago, from a photocopy of the pattern given to me by my Aunt Jean in New Brunswick. Aunt Jean and I both loved that pattern. She made over twenty-five of these centerpiece doilies; I made perhaps seven or eight. I've always wished I had an original of that pattern. Now I do.
I'm keeping Linnea's laces stored in a special box so they don't get twisted and neglected. Such lovely laces deserve to be treasured.
They indeed need to be treasured but I would say they also need to be admired. Putting them away safely in a box means you alone enjoy them. You've heard "Out of sight, out of mind."
ReplyDeleteI would encourage you to look for a way to display them. Perhaps a table with the glass door, made for exhibiting things under glass, or a curio cabinet.
I'd say you've come into possession of a super trasure. Tatting always catches my eye. We see very little of it these days. Perhaps you could look for antique tatting shuttles to display as well. Some of them are quite lovely.
Yes, a display case of some kind is necessary. That's the next step. First Lynn needs to finish unearthing these treasures. She does it in stages. I have a tatting shuttle. I had big plans for learning to tatt (tat?), but my instructor passed away before the lessons came to be.
ReplyDeleteThose truly are treasures. I wonder if some of those pieces of lace might end up on other special projects. Using them seems like the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteTreasures indeed. My grandmother did beautiful tatting. I wish I had a piece of it. How thoughtful of your friend to share these beautiful pieces of handwork with you.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's grandmother once gave me about 36" of lace edging that she had tatted, and said to put it on my daughter's underwear---she was newly out of diapers. I couldn't imagine putting it on something so ordinary. Finally we did put some of it in her wedding gown to be the something "old."
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