After running chores this morning, and checking on Annie's Goat Hill products placed in a shop in the next town south of us, I decided to dive into lotion making for the day.
The vanilla goat milk lotion came first. Smelled warm and clean. Then the Sweet Pea type was next. I love that scent! Today was a "spring" scent type of day. Then I decided the next batch would be a lightly scented lilac goat milk lotion. I can still smell it. It will be with me all day. And it smells wonderful!
My grandmother did not wear heavy perfume. But now she is on my mind. Aromatherapy? My grandmother had "treasures." From the beginning of my memory, I have always loved soap, scents, bubble bath, you name it, and grandma's house was not short of anything in that realm.
She loved to sew as well. And that is what I am really writing about today. Her sewing machine and table were handed down to me. I rummaged through the drawers a bit ago, just like I did when I was a child.
I first stumbled across her aprons. I distinctly remember her wearing the three in the first photo. Aren't they great? They need a good ironing. And then I need to find a special place to show them off some day.
Then I looked through her tiny boxes and jars of things that she could not bear to throw away. In the marshmallow creme jar was pins, old buttons, snaps, and even bra straps that grandma would cut off before she discarded the undergarments. You can see the singe marks on some of these items (on the lid of the jar above). Grandma and grandpa's house burned down to the ground once. She salvaged things, bless her heart, and now they are treasures to me (and probably only me). Everything filled with memories.
There is an old Singer box, filled with attachments for a machine that no longer exists. Sort of ironic that I can not throw it away either. A Sucrets box as well. Vintage compared to what we see on the store shelves these days.
Then there are the pin and knife boxes. Filled with other tiny things that grandma could not part with. Perhaps some day she would have used those things when she stitched up a new project. Amazing what she kept. I can open each treasure box and find they smell like "her" things. They smell good. Wonderful.
Memories are treasures!
7 comments:
Mary! You post brought back very similar memories I had of my dear grandmother. When I stayed with her at her house, I always got a fresh bar of soap (Ivory or Dove) and would soak in her ball and claw footed bathtub for hours, filling and re-filling the hot water. Then I would slip into my little cotton nighty and sink deep into the clean sheets of her feather bed. No sweeter memory on earth. She also wore little cotton print aprons - all day every day (mostly the pinafore variety) and she had an old sewing machine that used to get my attention as well. Are we twins separated at birth??
I LOVE the aprons. That's so special to have such fond memories attached to them too. P.S. I am ready for spring too- I love that you're using sweet pea for your lotion right now!
Oh geez, Alix! I didn't tell the entire story today. My grandmother was a little stingy about her bath products. I would lock the bathroom door and draw up a really hot bath with a lot of bubble bath. I used a fresh bar of soap, probably Ivory (LOL), and afterwards I normally used her powder. She would come to the bathroom door several times, "Mary!!! You aren't into my things are you?" I bet I was in there for at least an hour. Funny now! And I treasure it. She taught me a lot. She canned, sewed, gardened, and there is no doubt in my mind that she shaped me to an extent.
Anne-Marie, it has been a long one. I am a person that tries to look at the cup half full, but this really has been a long winter. Spring is going to happen soon!
I need to write about my other grand mother too! Alix, you mentioned clean sheets, were they also starched?
How fun! I love the smell of sweet peas, we planted some not that long ago here though!
Don't you just love the treasures !The memories unlocked just by viewing them are sweet, sometimes sad..funny, but the memories are precious. Then when the memories are triggered by a special scent, they are even more intense and I am often surprised by where these memories take me. Scented soaps and lotions are more than just practical hygiene items, they are also a soothing balm to the soul.
Mary, Singer sewing machines were made not 10 miles from where I live.
In fact the factory was so big that a new train station was built for the workers and called Singer, and it still is! They were there from the mid 1800's until 1980. My OH's father was a sales rep for them.
Wish I had one but don't. I have an old Jones machine on a lovely wooden tressle.
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