Salvaged Doily Table Runner; Lace Necklace; Starched Lace Lamp |
Now all you need are the supplies!
This goody bag includes 30 pieces of vintage lace in a variety of shapes and sizes. All items are old/used, most of them pre-date WWII. Some are damaged and/or stained, but I would consider them all to be in overall “good condition.” Some are handmade, some are machine made, but to the best of my observation, all items are made from natural/non-synthetic fibers. There is no “acid lace” in the bunch (like I said: it’s the good stuff).
This Goody Bag Includes:
- 11 doilies, 6 -12” in diameter
- 8 handkerchiefs with lace edging
- 6 pillowcases (three pairs with lace edging)
- 2 table runners
- 1 peach satin and lace bib
- 1 knit lace collar (21” diameter)
- 1 round tablecloth / jumbo doily (37” diameter)
One Time Condition: If you win this goody bag of vintage lace, you have to pinky swear to do something with this stuff. Put it on display or turn it into something else. It’s been hoarded in the dark too long. It deserves a good home!
This week’s Goody Bag Giveaways are open to anyone, anywhere, no “following” necessary. To enter, leave a comment answering the question below. No more than one comment, per person, per post, please. Be sure your email address is included in the comment or via online profile. All Goody Bag winners will be announced 8am CST Monday, September 26, 2011 Sorry, this giveaway is now over and the comments are closed.
Question:
Update 9.21.11: This post has been up less than three hours and already, the remarks below are some of the most fun and heartfelt comments I have ever read (here on this blog or anywhere, ever). Even if you don’t have any interest in entering the giveaway, I suggest you take a minute to glance what people are writing. No where else on the internet can you read about coin coffins and square dancing skirts in the same place! 🙂
PS: If you like vintage treasures, be sure to check back Thursday afternoon!
ShinyAdornments
I have to narrow it down to one thing? Oooo, hard. My Grandmother collected the little toys you used to be able to get out of gum ball machines for a penny or a nickel. She kept them in Ball glass jars… you know, the kind with the metal locking glass lids?
I remember holding those jars ever so carefully as a child, just looking at the hundreds and hundreds of gum ball plastic, celluloid-y goodies inside. Every once in a while she’d help me open the jar top and I’d get to pour the contents out on the living room floor to play with. It was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one. 🙂
My grandparents no longer live in that house. I wonder what she did with all those wonderful toys?
Kristy
Simply Shiny Blog
info (at)shinyadornments . com
Jenny
My grandfather was a truck driver and he bought my grandmother a collector spoon (or “fancy spoon” as I called them) from every state he drove through. I always checked to see if there was a new one when we visited.
Lapetitemort
Her red & black chandeliers. I was a fool not to take them when they were offered to me, but that was with a first marriage and too much to go into.
I was, however, lucky enough to get her red hurricane lamp!
LPM
TracyLee
Oh, Peaches these are lovely! My favorite was my grandmother’s milk glass collection… I can’t believe it’s coming back into vogue…!
Gretchen
My grandmother was an avid quilter/knitter/crafter extraordinaire. Her house was full of airbrushed velvet paintings, fat quarters, and yarn. So much yarn.
One day, while sifting through her supply room, I found a stack of fabric squares with all kinds of butterflies embroidered and quilted onto them. Rainbow butterflies, spotted butterflies, emerald swallowtails, and butterflies with huge lemon and gold wings. It was the most beautiful thing I’d seen in my life. Every butterfly was so delicate and so detailed. It was definitely my favorite thing that I’d found in my grandparents’ old, overstuffed farmhouse.
I assumed she had a project for them, and so I sadly put them back where I found them. A year later, they were mine. She made me a violet quilt with all of the butterflies arranged between floral borders. It is wonderful. It is amazing. It is my favorite thing ever.
It is also the one thing she made that I managed to save after her death several years ago.
Anna
Every doorknob in my grandmother’s house was covered with crocheted covers. I think my great grandmother made them. They were brown, so not pretty, and made the doors difficult to turn, but I sort of loved them. She also had crocheted potholders and loops attached to kitchen towels. And she had covers for tissue boxes and one of those doll dress toilet paper covers. That’s the only thing that is still displayed at her new house. I think this inspired me to incorporate yarn work into my decor, but in different ways.
Lesly
Awesome giveaway – wow! In my grandmother’s house, my favourite thing was her silver tea service. My two cousins and I, before we were school-aged, spent the days with my grandmother while our mothers were at work. Every afternoon, she would write the names of the three bedrooms on slips of paper and put them in the sugar bowl. We would each draw one out to see where we were going to have our afternoon naps. I have her tea service now – it brings back memories of comfort and home.
jen
So fun! I can imagine doing some really fun paintings with lace textures. And I love that lace bib necklace you posted.
My absolute 100% favorite thing in my grandma’s place is her holographic Jesus picture. It has always been my favorite. It’s about 24″ x 18″ in an ornate “gold” frame. Jesus is, for whatever reason, knocking on a wooden door in the Secret Garden. Soft evening lighting and lots of rosebushes in the foreground.
I love this thing so much! The frame has a little lamp built in, and I’ve replaced that bulb a few times. I always clean it when I go over, and the hologram makes that pleasant skritchy-scratchy noise like a record.
Mandy
My favorite thing in my grandmother’s house are the old scrapbooks she had with pictures of her and my grandfather when the were young. I never met him as he died before I was born so listening to her talk about him is great fun.
Crystal
The first thing that popped into my mind for this question was this beautiful ceramic Christmas tree my Nana had in her home. It is totally wacky by most peoples standards -though probably not wacky enough for Aunt Peaches!
The ceramic tree was probably a foot tall and sat on the record player console from Dec. 1 on. It was bluish green with built in multi-coloured lights that poked through at the tip of every bough of the tree.
Whitney B
a stuffed cat named buttercup. It was hers when she was young and she would hold the cat up to her face and meow at me and talk to me as if she was the cat.
and now I just realized that I do that to my boyfriend with our actual cats…
The Thrillz of Hillz
Oh, Peaches. Like I’ve said before, you’re a woman after my own heart. I have just started a doily collection, and have made doily bowls (http://tinyurl.com/3waoqxu) and have plans for that doily table runner AND the lamp when I accumulate enough!
ANSWER: My grandmother had dishes I coveted at a young age. Her green and gold tumblers were something to be admired, but as a kid, I was only allowed to use the “safe” glasses, which essentially, were glasses coated in rubber with a swirly design, but were still super cool. Apparently, they’re called “spaghetti glasses:” (http://www.etsy.com/listing/73232951/vintage-spaghetti-drinking-glasses-by) and they seemed indestructible. That is until I was an adult. I inherited the glasses, and only one remains … one of my most prized possessions.
Christie, Describe Happy
Oh wow… well if your going to save a bunch of something then it might as well be well made lace. Wow! I accept the challenge of making something and showing these beauties off!
Let’s see memorable item from my Grandma’s house? My Mom’s Mom had this huge ceramic giraffe in the living room that I always wanted to ride. And I remember my Dad’s Mom most for her collection of dolls from all over the world. You know the kind with the hand painted faces. So pretty!!
Franjessica
My favorite thing at my grandmother’s house is her collection of elephants. They all have to have trunks pointed up and towards the window. At my other grandmother’s house, I love her antique sewing machine that she uses for her alteration business!
Sarah Gupta
I love love love that lace chandelier idea! I am absolutely going to try it (foreign directions and all…).
And my favorite item from my grandmother’s house were her square dancing petticoats. She used to let the grandkids play with the ones that had seen better days–they were so big that you could puff them up into a little tent and sit in the middle.
I love your blog! Just discovered it = instantly hooked.
Anonymous
This is a tough choice. However, since you specified thing (singular); it would have to be the huge ballerina painting she kept at the top of the staircase. It was turquoise and pastel pink with a dark carved wood frame, and the lady had such a demure/almost sad look on her face. I was entranced by it. She actually gave it to me to “babysit” when they sold their house to travel full-time. Now that I have a house of my own I must find a wall on which to display my treasure. I think I know just the one. 🙂
ninabobina(at)gmail.com
WillistheSheep
Well, wow. LOVE the lace! As for grandma’s house. My grandmother has an old crank vicrola from who knows where. My Grandpa lets me set the crank up sometime, and the whole bottom door opens and there are hundreds of disks with holes punched in them. All of them are super beautiful (because there all hammered brass). I used to take them out and count all the holes in them when I was really little. The sounds it makes are so beautiful!
mamacitamax
My favorite thing was a box of miniature porcelain dogs that lived in the china cabinet. I have no idea what their purpose was, or how they ended up in my grandmother’s house. I do know that I used to be allowed to take them out every now and then (only when I was good) and I would line them all up. Sometimes by height, sometimes by color, sometimes pairing them off into groups I believed got along with each other better. There was something like 50 little dogs in that box. I haven’t thought about them in ages! melissa(dot)schaffner(at)gmail(dot)com
Anonymous
My grandmother had a scary red Chinese dragon that always frightened me. When I got older I found out that my dad brought that back to her from Korea. I would love to have it but my wicked step mom won’t give it to me. My dad has passed. ( marcase1@sbcglobal.net)
Jamie
My favorite thing at my grandmother’s house would be her adorable yet slightly creepy collection of vintage caroling dolls that she puts on display at Christmastime (the only time I ever really go to her house, since she and all the rest of the fam live 800 miles away). They stand there is a little group on the windowsill, clutching their tiny music sheets and singing their silent song. That image is one that always comes to mind when I think about Christmas 🙂
ssshauna
My grandma had (or perhaps it once belonged to an uncle and my Grandma just kept it) a coin coffin!
It was a little black tin in the shape of a coffin that read Coin Coffin in creepy font, and it had a little pice of black fabric on the top, so that when you placed a coin on the coin spot it started to make a whizzing hum sound, and a creepy green skeleton hand would come out and drag the coin into the bank! It was awesome!
ssshauna@hotmail.com
The Polka Dot Closet
I thought I would stop in and see what you were up to….Boy I picked a good day to stop but, I ADORE Lace and promise to use it if I win! My favorite thing from my Grandmas house was her hand embroidered pillow cases, she did not embroider, but was an avid collector
Carol
sharon
I love that my grandmother always wore an apron. Every old photo of hers, her “good dress” was protected by an apron. Most she made herself … hand smocked on gingham, stained from her cooking but clean beyond clean. I miss her still. Her apons give me comfort and remind me of her generosity and loving ways.
Thanx for offering this giveaway. So sweet of you. Best, Sharon sharon.bakke@yahoo.com
Krista
oooo I want it!!! As for a thing in a grandmother’s house.. probably this trunk of very old toys, knicknacks, etc. It smelled like time and dust, it only got opened a few times a year. Still makes me excited thinking about cracking it open to discover the treasures!
pulchrabliss(at)hotmail(dot)com
Casey
My favorite thing was my Grandmother herself 😛 I still have dreams about their house, there was something magical about the ranch in Wilmington, DE.
But in terms of an actual thing – She had an embroidered pillow – just beautiful, but very beat up – that I once told her I loved. Being the giving person she was, she told me to take it home with me that very day. The pillow is not only lovely, but it also reminds me of who my grandmother was, which is the best thing a ‘thing’ can do!
Valiant V
This pillow that she made and embroidered herself. It was always on her sofa in the fancy living room. I think it was supposed to be a turkey but I cant quite remember what kind of bird she created on it but its sooo soo retro and yet I grew up with it. I want it right now but she’s still using it, ha!
Valiant V
and I totally just read Casey’s comment after writing mine. grandmas and pillows. who’da thunk it.
Paulina J!
We visited my grandmother once a year during summer vacation and I loved to see what she had “collected” during the time we weren’t there. She lived in a wood house in the countryside of Dominican Republic. I remember the house had beams along the walls that intersected at eye level. In these you would find letters, pictures clipped from magazines, container labels, calendars, toys, just really random stuff tucked in. I think she was part squirrel. Amazingly it was all very tidy. It helped me learn a lot about what my grandmother really liked.
Anonymous
I’m not sure if this a “thing,” but it was my favorite. My grandmother is a stoic farm wife. I’ve only seen her cry once, at the death of her sister. She is most practical in every way and being a child of the depression, reuses more than I thought possible and rarely buys any more than necessary. Thus, she doesn’t have many little pretty things. However, before I was born my grandparents were repainting their ceilings and she got a glitter ceiling. Like, guys came in with some sort of painter thing and just put glitter everywhere. I like to think that’s she’s secretly as girly as they come.
akladd94@gmail.com
Teaka
My grandmother use to smoke (not any more though) and back in the 60’s she use this pedestal ash tray with a shiny air airplane on top. My grandparents always kept it around even though they stopped smoking. As a kid I enjoyed twirling the airplane around on it’s pole flipping the lids of the ash trays. It still remains in the family and though I don’t smoke it remains one of my favorite things in my grandma’s house.
http://teaipost.blogspot.com
teakalaverdiere@gmail.com
francie
Hm, difficult question… but since smells don’t count, I’d have to say that my Oma’s favorite thing would have to be her “Kachelofen” or tile heater that was in the Kitchen in Switzerland. It was heated by wood via a firepit in the kitchen and it basically just heated up the living room. The tiles it was made of though were beautiful, some ornate and with glazed textures.
My Mom used to tell me stories of how she would have to collect cherries all Summer to fill a pillow case, to get heated up on the Kacheloven before going to her freezing cold bed. Essentially, the equivalent of a hot water bottle, except with cherry pits 🙂
Ashlee
My favorite thing, at my grandmother’s house is her wedding dress. It is gorgeous and I love it and I try it on whenever I can. I have been putting it on since I was a kid. It is fluffy, with gorgeous lace, and I always feel like a princess in it, and never want to take it off. She was unbelievably tiny, so if I wear it in an actual wedding I will need to do some fancy altering. But as far as I am concerned I found my wedding dress in her cedar chest 🙂
Anonymous
My Granny had a book of nursery rhymes that I read every time I visited. It was from the seventies and had really interesting illustrations full of elves and fairies that would maybe remind you of the Dark Crystal characters. I now own and treasure the book.
Trisha
mahgwi21 at yahoo
mireille
OMG, I would love this … as much as I loved the afghan in my grandmother’s home. Now it’s in my home and I think about her every time I wrap myself in it. xo M
mary beth
I am glad to hear that I am not the only one with the “lace addiction”! I am right there with you and have slowly been finding ways to use it in vignettes around the house, and for craft projects. My favorite thing at Mommie and Poppie’s house was the flower gardens. Peaches, this will be right up your alley, because the edging they used for their HUGE gardens was these rectangular shaped concrete things that were covered with found stuff. I am assuming that my grandpa took these treasures and spread come kind of concrete mortar and layed them into it. I’m talking marbles, bits of glass, metal thingabobs, bottle bottoms, etc. Each and every block was covered with these things, and you can imagine what a delight they were for a little girl to look at as she walked between the rose gardens. It makes me smile every time I think of them, and one of these days I am going to make some of my own to edge my little whimsy garden!
Bee Creative
Hands down a tiny little glass with a gold print on it. It was one of her very spical glasses and every visit I got to drink a glass of milk from it 😀 and you can’t go past the lolly jar lol
I was so honored to receive the entire set of glasses and jug when she past
piggie1230
cross my heart hope to die promise that I will do something with all that lace!
My favorite thing in my grandmother’s house wasn’t an object, it was a place – her porch-turned-playroom. Previously a screened in porch, at some time prior to my birth it had been walled up into an actual room. There was something fabulous about my paternal grandparent’s 70’s house – when I got there I would run from room to room and lay on the shag carpeting. When my grandmother moved to her nursing home they replaced the carpet and I wanted a snipping of the old stuff, but my mother said my grandmother wouldn’t approve. Of course I asked her later, and she said it wouldn’t have been a problem to save me some, but it was already gone. Ah well.
But the play room was the best part. Big picture windows to the backyard. Old cast off toys and books from my older cousins. The big folding table with coloring supplies against the brick wall that used to be the outside. I suppose we were shuffled off into there when the adults wanted grown up time, but I remember it as being like our secret castle, always with new things to discover.
Zombie Leah
The living room carpet! It was a wild swirly pattern of reds and blues and all kinds of other colors. I was absolutely fascinated with it as a child.
Dardrian
My grandmother’s collection of blue carnival glass. I covet it badly, I’ve never found a piece of my own.
Saraccino
My grandparents on the german side were in the diplomatic course in a lot of countries, afghanistan, lebanon, portugal… My grandfather died shortly after my birth but my grandma has still all the little and bigger things they collected during their live and work. Also her family side were into trade, so she was living in india with her parents as a little child. She arranged an indian eight arm goddess and arabic metallic lamps due to wonderful paintings. One even from her garden in kabul! But it never crashed, it was always really elegant and still a comforting place. My favorite thing in my grandmas flat is not anything single and material but the whole impression you get. She is one of the most intelligent persons I know and always up to date with politics and what else is happening in the world and we discuss everything since I was a little child up until now.
There was always this feeling that the world is big, full of adventures, interesting cultures, beautiful languages… German is the language I grew up with but english, french, a basic spanish and arabic (and even some written latin, I had a classical education) are also “on my list” now.
I could go on and on like this, I love her and she made and still makes a big impression on me.
But the one things I never ever would connect with her is crochet! 😉 Working, reading, discussing, traveling, challenges to the mind (and a faible for postcards!) I connect with her but really not something like crochet!
Still I have so many ideas what to make with doilies and lace on my to-do list (which is really long) and what is missing is just enough material 🙂
harryn
Peaches – I know very well what my favourite thing in my grandmother’s house was, because she herself asked me to tell her. This was when she was 80 years old and preparing to leave her home and move in with my aunt. She asked all her grandchildren to visit one by one and pick their favourite object and she would do her best to give it to them. Others were there before me and picked silver, china, furniture, or ornaments. But I knew the thing of hers that had always caught my eye – it was a small old suitcase made of wood. I had never seen it in its entirety because it was kept on top of a wardrobe in her bedroom, but its uniqueness intrigued me and it was undoubtedly very very pretty and beguiling. As I told my grandmother that the case was the object I chose, a strange half-smile flitted across her face and she gave a non-committal answer. This was most unlike my grandmother, with whom I had always enjoyed a straight talking relationship, but fearing I had offended her I quickly changed the subject and we went back downstairs.
A few days later I was speaking to my mother, who explained to me what the suitcase was for. It was my grandmother’s laying-out case, in preparation for her death, wake and burial. Inside was a candle, holy water, a crucifix, rosary beads and the clothes in which she wished to be buried. Now I understood her half-smile and lack of an immediate answer – and I felt very foolish for not picking some china!
A week or two later my aunt visited me, bringing with her the small wooden suitcase. My grandmother had emptied it and found another box in which to store her laying-out items. She insisted that I be given it now, rather than wait till after it had fulfilled its original purpose, because she didn’t want me to associate it with death and sadness. It now sits on top of the wardrobe in my bedroom, full of family photographs and happy memories. And when I look at it I remember my grandmother and her extraordinary grace and generosity, and it always makes me smile.
Thanks for asking!
Keely
The one item I always think about in my Memaw’s house was her box of prayers. It was an old cigar box full of little prayers. I used to lay on the couch with my head in her lap every night. She would rub my back and read her prayers. Such a comforting memory.
Ariane
My grandmother always asks me what my favourite thing in her house is.
She has downsized her home several times in the last few years, and she’s making sure that she doesn’t get ride of “my favourite”.
There are several beautiful things in her home, but the most extraordinary are the teacups she’s collected over the years. Each one is solitary, but they all have a story. My grandmother calls me by her dead dog’s name, but she will never forget which teacup she got as a wedding gift.
Anonymous
Favorite thing(s) I can’t pick one thing.
a huge glass bowl filled with match books, the little broom by the fireplace, the picture of me in her hall (sounds weird but I loved that I was on her wall) the jean nate, oh and this big yellow ottoman that my cousins and I loved to roll around, the wall paper in her kitchen, the wall filled with all of her children, grandchildren heights, my grandma herself. Oh, I miss her house and I miss my grandma. Thank you for this post. If I win the lace, I will certainly make something that will remind me of her. Thank you Aunt Peaches.
Suzy
While I was growing up, my Nonnie lived around the block from me so I was able to visit her often. We were like a Little Debbie commercial–I would bike over to her house where she would set me up with a snack cake and a glass of milk at the kitchen table. She would proceed to tell me stories about growing up in the 20’s and 30’s. I especially loved going over there because her house was gorgeous. My mom grew up in that house, making it even cooler. The house was built in the 20’s by the owner of a tile factory so it was full of very fine masonry. Plus, my Nonnie had this very chique sense of style so the house was filled with pieces of furniture and decor that were very simple and understated but also fabulous at the same time. She definitely subscribed to the old fashioned notion of quality over quantity. I never tired of exploring the house’s treasures; I always felt like I was in a museum. My favorite piece was always this fancy statue of a man selling a bunch of balloons. I Googled it just now and it was pretty easy to find! http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/8948491
Looking at that makes me smile! I’ve always had an active imagination so I think I used to picture him as an additional character from Mary Poppins. Whiling away his days in a busy London square, contentedly selling balloons to small children.
Unfortunately my grandparents passed away when I was 15. The house had to be sold so that my mom could split the profit with my uncle in California. It was very saddening to say goodbye to the house but I’ll always remember every inch of it and its treasures in my heart!
-Suzy
sjvergo@Gmail.com
Boss
I barely remember my grandmother. I was quite young when she passed away. But I do remember her crystal doorknobs throuout the house. I loved those doorknobs.
OrangeMama
Wow, what a treasure chest! I never believe in this kind of luck, but still… The favourite thing was sauna, wet russian sauna that what steaming hot every Saturday. Miss it so much.
Juliette
Oh this is tough, there are so many! I think we had the most fun with the buzzer. There was a button you could push in one of the front bedrooms that would ring the most obnoxious and clanging bell down in the basement bedroom causing whoever was in the room to scream aloud in surprise. Seriously, that clanging bell could give you a heart attack in your sleep!
The buzzer was leftover from the days my grandmother cared for her invalid MIL in that front bedroom and my dad and his little brother shared a room in the basement. The buzzer was initially set up ‘for emergencies only’ but of course there were ’emergencies’ for decades after the woman’s death.
Since it was the only guest room with a large bed, there were countless occasions of interrupted naps and parents being woken by children having fun upstairs. It was especially handy on Christmas morning.
Remember that scene in ‘About a Boy’ where the kid rings Hugh Grant’s doorbell a million times? Yeah, we did that with the buzzer. We got spanked for it, too, ha ha! Not like it deterred us, ha, I still remember the mischevious thrill I’d feel pushing that button!
Centi
My grandma had a hammered dulcimer I adored very much because it was black and had flowers drawn on it. I was four or five years old then. Grandma told me I would get it when she wasn’t around any more… but of course I didn’t get it.
Now I’m older I’d rather have a collection of doilies anyway.
Glo
In my grandmother Celestina’s house I could always count on finding some dinner mints in a crystal bowl. I loved how sticky they got inside your mouth, and I am surprised they didn’t pull a filling out.
In my grandmother Isabel’s house I remember a pink glass cordial bottle with a swirly stopper. The glass had bubbles and I loved looking around the room through it. Everything looked pink and distorted. One day I had the great idea of filling the bottle with marbles. I didn’t get very far: the first one I dropped in got stuck midway in the neck. To this day, it remains there. I don’t think I got in trouble over this, but if I had been my mother, I would have grounded myself. What a brat!
Lolailo.etsy.com
debpaint16
What a Beautiful & Generous Giveaway!!! It’s so hard to pick just one thing!
I guess it was her cedar hope chest, that was in a little attic room right off of my Grandma’s bedroom! I love going in that little room!! All of her old hats, the afghans her mother had made & the hope chest! It was full of old Life Magazines, old newspaper clippings & family photo albums! I use to love “snooping” at all of her treasures! She gave it to me many years ago, when she was down-sizing. It is now filled with alot of the same things she had left in it & I have added “treasures” from my life, so far!! Thanks for asking, such nice memories!!!
debpaint16@aol.com
Anonymous
My Grandmas had both passed away before I was born, so no input there. My Mother, on the other hand, kept or collected nothing. Sadly, I didn’t inherit her “get rid of it” gene. I keep everything I’ve ever touched. In my bathroom I have a beautiful picture frame filled with snippets of different pieces of antique lace. Lovely and it makes me happy to look at it.
rachelsmith133
My Nanna had a collection of brass ladies that I loved. The kind with big skirts that hid a bell underneath them and a little brass corgi dog. Every Autumn my Grandad would pack away the summer china, get the brass down from the loft, clean them all and then they’d arrange them on the mantle piece. I think that is what started my love for that time of year. I used to love it when it was time to get the brass down.
I still have the little brass corgi dog, which I keep on my fire place. I’m keeping an eye out for any brass ladies to join him.
wonderingsofasmithy@gmail.com
Sam
My grandmother’s house was full of curios from the silver mines in Carson city. Once I found Walter Brennen there! My grandfather had a wood shop in his basement and we would sneak down the stairs to surprise him. he recreated a stage coach which fascinated us. The best thing was 3 lifesize cement deer in the front garden.
sonyaeverding
The memories of my childhood are so precious with my great grandmother. My favorite memory of my grandmother was her wood burning stove. Oh the Thanksgiving dinners she would fix on that stove. I remember when she got her first hot water heater (I’m only 48) I remember she got hot water from the water tank on the wood burning stove. I now have the stove, it is not in use but hold so many memories, so many good times, so much love. Another wonderful reminder of my grandmother was that she crocheted. Doillies galore and a beautiful HUGE table cloth. I have the table cloth and treasure it. I remember she would starch her dollies and place them everywhere in the home. True vintage. I would be so honored to take care of your lace and provide a wonderful home and put it with my memories to make special new memories for my family now. Thanks for the chance.
Carolyn
My favorite thing inside my grandmother’s house would have to be her potery collection. Later in life, after Grandpa passed, she got into making vases, bowls, teapots, even nativity scenes! I adored gently picking up each piece and carefully examining it for several minutes. I loved finding any little imperfections, as it reminded me that her hands created the piece. Admiring all her treasures on display kept me entranced for hours! This is a fantastic giveaway, and I pinky swear to use all that great lace you’re generously giving away!
graypeape
my favorite things at grandma’s house were the “dressing table” things- costume jewelry, perfume bottles, powder boxes & compacts, lipsticks….. all the things that meant “lady” to me 🙂
owlape@aol.com
Suzanne
What a great giveaway. I have several old pieces of lace and tatting from my Memere and some maiden great-aunts that, despite the stains and broken stitches, I display most happily. My favorite thing at Memere’s house was a little square footed candy dish (or maybe it was the candy inside it!). I now collect square depression era glass pieces and that piece is the center of the collection.
Suzanne at we3roys(at)comcast(dot)net
Camilla Fabbri
This is great! My grandmother had the most lovely rose patterned wallpaper in her bedroom. As a child, I would run my hand over it and study all of its details. We didn’t have wallpaper in our home – I thought it was so special. To this day – I have a soft spot in my heart for wallpaper 🙂
Thanks, C
Anne P
AWESOME comments, Peaches. At my grandma’s house, everything had its place and children could not mess it up. So, we had more fun outside. So, I do not have a favorite thing inside, except the “do not touch that!” remark. However, I always enjoyed climbing and playing on the black iron fence that was on the side of her house. My grandfather had made it before they divorced (before I was born). My sister and I had a blast on that fence. There were also some swings out back we played on. So, that is what I remember.
Now, I had more fun at my grandfathers house! (that is why they weren’t together, I guess….)
Beautiful lace. Amazing how quick they can make it.
Paula K. Cravens
Thank you, I don’t need the lace (I have my own stash I must do something with) but I had to jump in on the comments. My grandma Laurie had some colorful nobby goblets that she would let us grandchildren use because even water tastes better from a “purty” glass. And my other grandmother had cheap little glass chimes that tinkled in the hallways. In her memory, I have tried to put a chime in every tree in my yard and I have quite a few trees (and fortunately my neighbors aren’t too close).
Crafty Kate
My brother and used to fight over who got to brew my grandma’s morning coffee when she had us over for sleepovers! I have such warm memories of the little brown ceramic pot that we’d set up with a filter stand & coffee grounds. I had little patience for the water pouring part but it was fun making part of her breakfast. 🙂
Another favorite thing was her beautiful garden that spanned nearly the entire backyard. She maintained it with great pride until she was well in her 80’s.
She was such an incredible gardener, florist, cook….a little spitfire. I miss her so much!
Anonymous
My favorite thing honestly had to be the lace table covers, I would like to win this to see if there is the same pattern somewhere in there so I can make some of my own 🙂
Sarahconley1123@yahoo.com
Anonymous
my favorite thing : the jewelry box- when I was sad or ill ,or just feeling alien ,she gave me the box to sort out all her treasures.Magic !!!She was a fantastic woman. She is long gone now ,but most of my art pieces are a tribute to the woman who raised me.(feel free to have a look at my site : velkommentilskogen.com ,its norvegian and translates welcome to the forest )
Veslemøy -velicool@hotmail.com
Anonymous
Memories. Fifty + years ago, Sissy’s (grandmother) home was filled with a treasure trove of beauty. Her “tinted” clear glass jars and vases memorized me. She would put clear glass jars and vases and figurines on a metal table outside in direct sun and leave them for months. They would slowly become naturally tinted by either soft tones of lavendar, pink or a bluish hue. Amazing. I am moving soon to the southern cal high desert and am planning on doing the same. I also have her Ivory tatting shuttle and will learn via internet how to use it. After all, I will have lots of free time in the midle of nowhere. Thank you for the opporunity. Keep smiling and good luck on your move. gunnymom@gmail.com
Vicki O'Dell
Buttons! She had coffee cans and cookie tins full of lovely old buttons. I’d sit on the floor and sort through them for hours. Sorting her buttons was one of a very few activities that kept me from pinging off the walls! 🙂
creativejewishmom/sara
Crocheted afghans everywhere! Oh I’d love to win this one!
Alison
Although there are many things in my grandmother’s house (like the silver dinner bell that I would ring as a child to tell everyone that Christmas dinner was ready and that my own children ring today…or the costume dresses she made herself for her own mother to wear), I would say my absolute favorite thing is a purse she found in the attic of the old farm house. It belonged to my great-grandmother and still had a slip of paper inside with her handwriting on it.
Anonymous
I never met either of my grandmothers, as one lives in India and the other died of breast cancer when my mum was a teen. But my mum did keep the most wonderful rocking chair from her. It was made by my grandfather and carved with character and made by love. It became my absoulute favorite thing in the world after one day though. As I was rocking on it one day, I heard something drop to the floor. It was an old ring, made of rose gold and in the middle was a rose with a little white diamond in the middle. I showed it to my mum and she said that it was also from my grandmum, and she hadn’t seen it in decades. I was reading the Narnia series at the time, and thought Aslan was sending me a message.
Thanks for giving this away! The lace is beautiful! I like the necklace idea but also have a couple ideas up my sleeve,(or my brain???). My email is SGandDP(at)hotmail(.)com
Sarah Jane
My grandmother was my favorite person in the world. She had this woodpecker toothpick holder on her kitchen table, you would push down the head and it would pick up a toothpick in it’s beak. It was the sweetest thing, I could just sit there and play with it. I was heartbroken when my cousin got it after Grandma died.
Nancy
Unbeknownst to my Grandmother, my favorite thing in her house was her attic. Many a visit I would secretly sneak through the little square door, stepping into the dark, damp, cold unfinished attic. One lonely bare light bulb dangled from the middle of the attic ceiling. I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach the little chain to turn it on. The dimly lit room was a haven of past memories. Boxes of old pictures, postcards, clothes, toys were piled against the bare wood walls. Cobwebs hung from the ceiling and amongst the broken antique standing lamp. Sometimes I would pretend to play the vintage accordion that laid in the corner. I loved dressing up in the old discarded silk bathrobe and scarves. And when I was sure that I heard the scattering of a mouse, I would scramble quickly back out the little door and into reality again.
nhunteraz@gmail.com
Callae
My favorite item in my grandmother’s house was her china cabinet full of Shelley teacups and saucers. When she moved into an assisted living home I got to go through and pick which ones I wanted for my own home–it was better than Christmas!
Thanks for the chance to win this beautiful lace–I’m using some lace my great-grandmother made at my wedding. I never got to meet her, but whenever I see vintage lace like this I immediately think of her and wish I had an ounce of her skills!
Candace
My favorite thing in my grandma’s house were this doorstops that were made somehow with a doll and a bottle bottom filled with sand. I’m not doing a very good job of describing it, but as a little girl i liked the lace-covered dolls standing guard at various doors throughout the house!
Ani Toncheva
My grandmother traveled a lot when she was working for the Bulgarian government during a period when most people didn’t get to go abroad a lot. So she had filled her house with all sorts of treasures from her trips and I was always in awe of where they came from. One of my favorite things was all the fans she had from various places. I had so much fun looking through them every time I got to visit and fanning and pretending I was somewhere new. It also helped the lack of air conditioning in the summer
Stacy
I had 2 favorite things. One was her piano that we rarely got to touch but when we were allowed, I felt so privileged and proud. I knew I sounded like I had many years of lessons. The second was the staircase. It was very steep and we spent many hours sliding down em on our bottoms while mom and dad were having coffee with grandma. (yes I am weird but lovable!)
slverria@gmail.com
marjay
I often stayed with my Grandmother. She was from Mexico and I was brought up to be only linguistic in English. However, we spent much time together happily making things and just having that special companionship between grandchildren and grandparents. My most favorite thing in my Grandmother’s house was her tortoiseshell hairbrush. She was the only woman close to me who had long hair and I remember loving to wash her brush her gray hair everynight before I went to sleep, sharing her bed. Thank you for asking us all this question which I am sure has revived wonderful memories for your readers.
LindaSonia
You were right in saying the comments here are soo sweet. Since I never interacted with my grandmother because she was in Germany, it was certainly fun to read these.
Erin
First time reader, I love your blog! I think lace is such a lovely craft supply, there’s so much you can do with it. I’ve been collecting doilies to sew onto the back of a chair and to do that runner diy you posted. I’m so in love with lace and doilies.
My favorite item from my grandmother’s house (besides her lovely face and amazing food she always makes) is her collection of vintage jewelry. She has this endless supply of unique things she’s kept forever and always let me dig through to find my mom’s old costume jewelry and more.
Can’t wait to dig through all your posts for more diy goodness!
Lisa
Ooohhhh that vintage lace is gorgeous! I adore that doily runner.
My grandma has a small mantel clock that chimed with the Westminster chime every 15 minutes 24/7. That clock would annoy the crap out of most people, but we all love that thing to pieces.
lisaannbartlett@gmail.com
Grace
My Grandma has a old short grandfather clock which has the scene from the Lord’s supper
Grace
that was me above^ my email address is pink-peaches@live.com
LauraEC
My grandma had (as still has) some teeny tiny red beans hollowed out with the smallest wisp of ivory carved in the shape of an elephant which are about 1/2 a centimetre as the stopper. Inside the dried out bean are many teeny tiny elephants which must be about a millimetre in size. I don’t necessarily agree with ivory but I’ve been fascinated by these things my whole life and even now at 32 I get them out of her show cabinet to look at whenever I visit her.
Diana
Wow! So hard to pick both of my grandparents had a house full of antiques and cool stuff but I think my mom’s mom would be her salt and pepper shakers and my dad’s mom would be the two pump organs in my play house. dianahj123 at yahoo dot com
Sparrow
My grandmother had a giant crisco can filled with old buttons. I would spend hours digging in those buttons, letting them tumble through my fingers like little plastic raindrops, stringing them together to make necklaces and bracelets… It was great.
Natasha
My favorite thing about my grandma’s house was her sewing room. When I was younger I liked it because it had a little tv where we could watch cartoons but now I like it for shelves stuffed with all sorts of pretty fabrics that cover the entire wall. Of all her fabrics, my favorite are the vintage flour sacks that were my great grandmas. Apparently I’m the only person brave enough in 4 generations to make something out of them. 🙂
hekates
My nana had Hummel figurines that I loved and a collection of china teacups. All of us grandkids got one when she died, and my mom broke my cup. So I have a saucer because all my cousins said “TOUGH!” (It is funny, not mean.)
My grammie- I loved her furniture 0 the upright piano, the oak table, the horsehair scratchy sofa, the singer treadle sewing machine with her parakeet hanging above. I never realized until now how much I loved her home (well except for the cruddy plumbing.) It was classic 1930s Nebraska Farmhouse.
Anonymous
I lived with my grandma for about 2 years when I was 6 and it felt like a vacation. She was a big animal love, like me, so we shared the house with Red an ancient Great Dane-Redbone-Coonhound mix who was her brothers hunting dog before he passed, a fluffy birman named chester, and Tea and Scones the parotlets. My favorite thing in that quaint little house was one of the porcelain dogs she had. Now instead of collecting teapots or spoons, my grandma had little porcelain animal figurines. She had a few that she had made with me one day, and since we had limited colours, we decided to make dalmations. But we ran out of black paint at the very end, and came out with the spotless dalmation.We had a hoot when 102 dalmations came out and they stole our idea! It was always my very favorite and now that the story has come full circle and she lives with , our fireplace’s mantel is covered in our porceline ‘friends’ in every shape and size, but the spotless dalmation sits in the very center on a little raised platform.
Email: blahx3@hotmail.ca
Anonymous
I’ve truly enjoyed reading these posts about Grandmas and Great-Grandmas!I have many favorite things from my Grandmas’ house, but my most favorite was her bedroom dresser and mirror, and the items she had on it.She had a lace doily in the center with a jewelry box, perfumes, and small dishes that held recently worn jewelry. On each end of the dresser were matching Boudoir lamps of a Victorian lady with a full, tiered lace skirt. The skirt had a light bulb underneath, and it would cast a soft glow when it was on. She always left them turned on. Everytime I would walk past her bedroom, I would step inside and look at all the beautiful things on that dresser, gingerly touching them so as not to break them.I would hold the many pretty beaded necklaces she had with matching earrings, and just love the way they sparkled. I think that was when I began wanting everything sparkly, lacey, and feminine. I was blessed to receive those lamps (the skirts need new lace now), and some of her beautiful jewelry after she passed away 21 years ago. Lots of lovely memories at my Grandmas’ house! I’m even named after her nickname!!Her real name was Myrtle, but she had everybody call her Jerry, spelled like the masculine version! I guess THAT is my favorite of all….I got her name!!
My email is :: mamajerry@yahoo.com
My name is Jerry Serva and I live in Akron, Ohio
Laura
These are some lovely comments! And some lovely lace, as well.
My great-grandmother had a wooden dish/pedestal type thing that was filled with polished rocks. They were all about the size of a medium jelly bean. It was the very first thing I went for when we visited her and it absolutely kept me entertained! I loved to sort them by color, run my fingers through them and pretend they were jewels, and on and on.
Maggie
My favorite thing at my Grandma’s house was her antique opera glasses. They were mother of pearl and absolutely beautiful!
maggie.merten@gmail.com