Gift from friends

This week I received a box from a friend. It was full of treasures from a her mother's estate (I was pleased to also consider Eileen a friend and I miss her). Mostly textile treasures. We shared a love of lace and fabric and creating.

There were two of these amazing beaded medallions. The edges need some stabilization but I'm thinking they'd make a lovely little purse, back to back with a zipper or perhaps a purse frame.

One of my friend's daughters remembers her grandmother using this scissors case. It is very sweet. I have more photos of the needlebook below.

My friend remembers this spangled fabric from her childhood. it's a long piece, with two corners, cut off from something (a table cloth, perhaps?) The spangles are punched from the metal, with a hole punched in the center (more often spangles are made from a coil of wire, snipped into rings and hammered flat--you can see the join in most of them). The beads appear to be cut steel.

Here is the back, showing a netting like interfacing to support the sequins and beads.

The needlebook has really cute endpapers--they remind me of some favorite fabric I had in the 70s with little sewing tools (it was even the same color).

Best, it's full of needles. I've found that quality older needles are often better than modern needles--they're smoother with smoother eyes. I love finding needles in antique stores. Bohin and John James make good needles, but they're not available at the corner store.

This ribbon was also in the box (along with a few other goodies). It says 70s to me. These treasures brought back my chats with Eileen and, oh, how I would love to ask her about some of them.

 And this lovely Christmas gift was tucked into the box, too. (great packaging, isn't it?)  Thanks!