Safekeeping Susie's Treasures

"I want my "stuff" to have a happy home! Strangers just can't enjoy them the way I feel they should be enjoyed. Anything I send that you don't want to use or have please feel free to pass on to someone you know who would enjoy it."

That was part of a facebook message I received from my life-long friend Sue (known to many as Susie). We became friends back in 1972, shortly after I graduated high school and began my first job at a local weekly newspaper where she was working. She was one of the typists for the news columns and I was hired as a lay-out/paste-up artist for the advertisements. This was back in the day before everything was done on computers. The newspaper columns and ads were laid out on dummy pages and pasted into place. They were then photocopied, developed in a darkroom and burned onto plates and put on to the huge printing press...quite a cool process, actually.

Anyway, our friendship has stood the test of time and distance. Although I moved away from Ohio in 1981, Sue and I made a point to meet as often as we could when I returned for family visits. This continued as we moved even further south to North Carolina, but several years went by when we were not able to make it happen. I will never forget being at the funeral home in my home town after Mom passed...the family was gathered for her visitation when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and there she was, greeting me in that familiar little girl voice of hers. She was just beaming and I was about to find out why. Susie was in love and soon to be married for the first time...plus, she had traded in her keyboard for a white uniform and stethoscope. So at the tender age of 60, she became a wife and a nurse!

Susie had been a collector of vintage items for many years and her home was full of them. Unfortunately, her new hubby didn't share her love for the rusty and crusty so she packed many of her treasures away in boxes. Over time she felt compelled to part with most of them, some of which she gave to me! So several weeks ago, a large heavy box arrived, chock full of wonderful vintage treasures! She made sure everything was wrapped and packed safely and it was just like Christmas morning as I went through them, unwrapping each individual item. Many of them had come from estate sales and such, but a few others were actually family heirlooms.



This delicate night cap and the crumb catcher set (below) had belonged to her Great Aunt Ada. She told me they were well over 100 years old.

Great Aunt Ada was married to a dentist and was considered by the family to be "rich", according to Susie. I can't imagine sleeping with something like this on my head (although it does tend to bring back memories of sleeping in rollers...:O) but I guess many ladies wore them back in the day.

I was absolutely CAP-tivated (tee hee) by the intricate detail of the lace and delicate ribbon trimming. Take a closer look, isn't it just beautiful?

There were also many handmade lace doilies, embroidered dresser scarves and table runners and dainty lace-edged hankies and the like.

The lace around the edges of most of them is  hand-tatted and/or crocheted.

Also included was a darling vintage dish towel, a great old flour sack and many useful odds and ends.

 

Have you ever seen a cherry pitter?

It looks like I have all the tools I need to make some cherry jam, huh?

And then there was this adorable pin cushion made of linen from hand spun flax. Susie had put many notes inside of the box, giving a little history about just about every item.  But I have to say that above everything else that came in the box...even the lace night cap...these are my favorite...

When she was a little girl, she had a special friend whose mother, Mrs. Parker, made many beautiful crocheted doilies and things. The pink and red ruffled doilies are gorgeous but it's this little pair of high-heeled shoes that really made me ooh and aah. Aren't they just the cutest? What beautiful handiwork!



Although I felt totally blessed by receiving Susie's treasures, a part of me couldn't help but feel a little sad that she felt like she needed to part with them. But that's what blessing others is all about, isn't it—giving something away that you'd really like to keep for yourself. I means so much to me that she wanted me have them.

So what do I plan to do with my box of treasures? I think a little farm house in a meadow might just make a good place for many of them to be put to good use :)

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