While I was going through my storage box that had all my own DMC embroidery floss through it, I came across a very old shoe box. I had completely forgotten about it. My grandmother, Minnie, gave it to me a few years before she passed away. Duff and I would go out to Yucaipa the 1st Saturday of every month and clean her mobile home, do all her bills, and I would get her out and take her to do grocery shopping. One Saturday she took me over to an end table in her living room and opened the bottom drawer. In it was all her embroidery supplies and some fine crochet stuff. 
She had written 'yarn' on it in her unique penmanship.
Here is the old, faded box.
Remember this? I grew up on these slippers. Everyone in my extended family wore them. Eski-Mox in hot pink. They were fluffy and could actually dust the floor where you walked. Kind of like a hairy Chewbaca from Star Wars. Haha! The Broadway was our favorite department store. Mamo had small feet and wore a size 6.
She had stuffed her floss in this box for all these years. I can't even begin to count how old these are. And the 'smell' was exactly her home. I don't want to say that there was an odor, but just the fragrance of her. It took me back in less than a blink.
They were so tightly packed that when I turned them out of the box, they stayed together in the shape of the box!
It took me HOURS to separate all of the skeins. About 1/2 a day, actually. But here they are.
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You can tell which colors she preferred by how many there are. When I see these I think of all the times I watched her embroider sitting in her chair or on the couch. She made so many projects. Dish towels, european tablecloths and then she would crochet lace around them. It might sound weird, but I could feel her with me as I was going through all the floss and separating it. It felt happy and good. Peaceful in a way.
All of the floss is vintage J. & P. Coats.
She had written 'yarn' on it in her unique penmanship.
Here is the old, faded box.
Remember this? I grew up on these slippers. Everyone in my extended family wore them. Eski-Mox in hot pink. They were fluffy and could actually dust the floor where you walked. Kind of like a hairy Chewbaca from Star Wars. Haha! The Broadway was our favorite department store. Mamo had small feet and wore a size 6.
She had stuffed her floss in this box for all these years. I can't even begin to count how old these are. And the 'smell' was exactly her home. I don't want to say that there was an odor, but just the fragrance of her. It took me back in less than a blink.
They were so tightly packed that when I turned them out of the box, they stayed together in the shape of the box!
It took me HOURS to separate all of the skeins. About 1/2 a day, actually. But here they are..jpg)
You can tell which colors she preferred by how many there are. When I see these I think of all the times I watched her embroider sitting in her chair or on the couch. She made so many projects. Dish towels, european tablecloths and then she would crochet lace around them. It might sound weird, but I could feel her with me as I was going through all the floss and separating it. It felt happy and good. Peaceful in a way.
All of the floss is vintage J. & P. Coats.It is in perfect condition. Some of them even say, "Boil Proof", whatever that means.
I guess I better start making dish towels. Where do I get good quality flour sack towels? And if anyone needs vintage floss, I've got plenty! I'm going to organize it the same way I did my counted cross stitch DMC floss with the plastic bag system.
What a sweet find.
4 comments:
E.U.R.K.E.A.! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Holy cow, a life-time supply of DENTAL FLOSS . . . FLAVORED ! ! ! !
Can I put in an order for some of those dishcloths? Being one of the youngest grandchildren I missed out on many of those priceless handmade treasures Momo made. Especially the temple aprons. I used to love to wear my mom's when I went to the temple. It made me feel close to Momo and my mother. Sadly, she made me PROMISE I would bury her in it. That was a very hard promise to keep.
Lucky you! What a gift to receive and to now find. I have nothing like that from her. Unfortunately, I guess that's part of being in the youngest group of grandchildren. I feel sad that because of our family living so far away, we kids missed out on so much of knowing our grandmother and all the memories of her.
Don't feel bad girls! I have one small tablecloth. Everything else went to her DAUGHTERS and friends. Your mom had so many dishtowels when she got married it was crazy. She had quite the treasure trove of handmade things from her mother in her cedar chest. It would be interesting to know where they all went....Probably the dishtowels wore out over time. But there was a lot more in her cedar chest.
I have SO much floss of hers. I could never use it all. If you would like some I'd be HAPPY to share and then you could do your own projects and have a part of Mamo with you! I'm going to give some to Adrianne too since she does a lot of traditional embroidery.
You could do pillow cases too! Joann's and Michaels have them already stamped. I just bought some recently with Adrianne.
Let me know if you are interested in the floss. I will mail it to you.
Love you both!
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