VINTAGE CROCHET

"Life is like a crochet project, sometimes you unravel and start over to create something beautiful.." -Unknown

This is my Vintage  Crochet wall quilt. It's created with my mother's crochet form the 1940's and 1950's, pieces she taught me to make when I was a teenager, costume jewelry that had lived in a drawer for fifty years. I had no idea what to do with all of  it. So about 5 or 6 years ago I created a wall quilt, and added  to it, periodically. It's a work in progress..... 

Some of the beaded pieces were gifts, handkerchiefs made of fine Lawn fabric edged with lace, old costume jewelry , from the same era,  dripping across the lace.

The main crochet doilies are from a tablecloth she and I worked on when I was in high school. It was never finished. I threw it into a shoebox, into storage, till 2019. The net ribbon is from her 1936 bridal bouquet. I found it in an old box, part of it rusted with age. I saved the main part to drape across the crochet with her kilt pin, Celtic cross and her seamstress tape measure she used in the 1950's. I've recycled as many vintage pieces ,as possible.

 

Nov 21, 1936 Nessie Shiels McConachie

In the early 1950's , my mother spent a few summer's teaching crochet to her nieces from Peachland, BC. This is an actual photo of them sitting outside the house making doilies for this Christmas Lace tablecloth. It took them a couple of summers.....

In perfect condition after all of these years. I use it as a drape over the banister.

"There is a certain magic in the rhythm of crochet..." 

                                                                  -Unknown

 

In the 70's I tried my hand at making a lace tablecloth, using a pattern from a 1951 (15 cent crochet book. ) I kind of gave up after a while, and for years, with all of our moves across country, I kept it in the sideboard, thinking someday I'd throw it out. But instead  turned it into the centre portion of the wall quilt. 

(Crocheting over tea in the back yard: My grandmother, Isabella Shiels, my mother, Nessie, and  their dog, in 1951.)

After 2019, I found more pieces I made with my mother....the white sapphire centrepiece, and added it to the quilt....it really isn't difficult to do lace crochet. it makes perfect sense as you do the rounds. Quite addictive.  Very peaceful.

"Crochet is not just a hobby, it's a passion..." - Unknown

(Nov 21st, 1936 Davy and Nessie McConachie . The simple wedding dress, veil, and  bouquet with net ribbon....)

1951 Favourites crochet book.........................taped, torn, retaped .....

"Each crochet project is an adventure waiting to unfold..." - Unknown

The centre of the piece is a soft, fine piece of lawn fabric that my mother edged, before teaching me to make the surrounding doilies......It was a hot July day, and we sat on the porch while she took her finest hook and created the edging, before we crocheted  lace.

"Crochet is a dance of yarn and hook; it brings joy with every turn...." 

- Unknown

15 Cent crochet books, found in another drawer, under tablecloths in the sideboard.....

My mother also did a lot of Tatting, something you don't see very often anymore. Her books were marked and dog eared from years of use.

In 1959, my mother sent away for a filet crochet pattern from the Vancouver Province newspaper. Free. Only 2 cents for postage from Toronto! Still in its original envelope. She kept it inside a mason jar with her my grandmother's hooks and tatting shell. It was never crocheted. Never used. 

One summer, I taught my daughters to crochet. Just like my mother and grandmother, we sat on the back porch with yarn and thread. There isn't a day goes by that one, or all three of us ,are crocheting with hooks shining away in the light of day and night....

My mother, Nessie, Grandmother and Grandfather, My dad, Davey, with an uncle and cousin. 1952. (photographs 2025 and vintage family photos)

One Stitch at a Time......

        "Never underestimate the power of someone with a sewing machine..." -Unknown

 When cutting out fabric, especially bags, make sure the straps are as long as the cat. Luckily, Bunny is a very good ruler. This summer I have been whipping up all sorts of things, fabric, yarn, thread. Life does not just revolve around flowers and gardening after all.....Life really revolves around fabric, and yarn, and more fabric, and ......you get the picture. I just cannot imagine a day where I am not making something. It's absolutely so wonderful...

 This summer I mended my antique table cloth. It was my grandmothers. She embroidered on it in the 50's ,my mother took it over years later, and I finished it when I was a teen. It was kept in an old box for many  years, till it was resurrected. Things that are special should never be shoved away.

It was always meant to be used with Mikado china. It's a shame to hide it in a box. So now it has free reign of my table....meant to be seen, and seen to be remembered.

 "The act of sewing is emotional repair..." -Faberwood

 And this summer it was Bags. Bags in the greenhouse. Bags hanging from the chimes. Lots of bags.

 Like lots of  bees and wasps covered in pollen. Lots of them. Lots of fabric things.

 Messenger bags with beads, sari strips, fringes, feathers, dangly things. Can't get enough of the dangly things.

 And furry helpers. Holding down fabric. No need for an iron...

 Bags stripped with second hand trims, ripped from saris, ripped from scarves. Being inventive. What to do with what you have.

 "Fabric only doesn't make exquisite bags, it is the stitches." -Mrs. H

 Chinese silk. Something I have never worked with. Spencer was very nice. He didn't play with the fringes.

 Bohemian hobos, sequins, ripped fabric, .,,,batting, linings, decor fabric.....sigh. SO much fabric . And shiny stuff. Did I say how much I like shiny things...

 "#Sewcialist: Someone who would rather be sewing." -Love Sewing

 Trying to find places to take pics of bags. Walls.....outside, inside....

 Tables.............jumbled and inviting.

 And don't forget the Crochet. Shawls. Bags. Yarn. Oh yarn.Lovely lovely yarn. Droooool.
 And Christmas just around the corner.  Yes. It is. Come on. Admit it. For making things, that is. ......

 Stockings.....netting, feathers, beads, coins, shiny things, dull things, all scrambled together.....

 "The desire to create  is one of the deepest longings of the soul." 
                     -Wallquote

 Then  Cathedral Windows......golden, warm. Perfect  in its ability to be so lovely to hand quilt.

 Beautiful fabric to work with, silk and cotton all working together.

 There is nothing like making something for someone  else.....that is the MOST bestest thing in the world. ( Yes, I know bestest is not a real word. But oh so fun to say...)

 Nothing like planning, figuring out, engineering  and then executing.

 So satisfying . And  then you just want to go and do it all over again. And again.... and again...

 "Beautiful things come together, one stitch at a time....." 
                                     -Household Words.

One October Day......

                 I believe , deep down inside of all of us, there is a creative side, waiting to explode.
                                                   Boom! There is is!

                                  Sometimes  this wakes up our senses (Costume makeup for "La Muerte")

                         Sometimes we just want to stay in our box.  On a cold October day.
                                           Time to think "out of the box" . Tap into that creative side.

                        Quilting is so addictive.  .  ( Centennial Square runner)

                       It  screams. Good things. But it screams.
                 This Hanukkah Runner symboizes the flames of the Menorah.

                          Made in velvet, sequins, pearls. coins, lame, sheer tone on tones...

                                     Fabric stripped and pieced like a crazy quilt. No pattern.
                                                    Just randomness. I love randomness.

                                       It made it's way, eventually to California. Quilts travel far.
                                                Heads don't go far. Mannequin Heads. Useful.

                               Finds a place in the garden. To double as a hat model.
                                        Hats crocheted with leaves and flowers. Crochet is incredibly addictive.
                                  So wonderfully repetitive. Ch 1 Dtr 3, ch 1, ch 1 ch 1, ch 1.......but I digress.

                                            Henna tatoos . A new medium to try.

                                            Natural. Earthy.

                                                    As the days grow shorter.

                                      And  cupcakes for sale take on hats of chocolate.
                                    Baking in the fall. In  sugar and  frosting.
                                                     And a lot of "Oh yummms".

                                      Quilts can be large or they can be small. Like this Goshen Star.
                                Back in Civil War times, quilts carried secret codes.Well, so it is believed.

                                      Quilt patterns carried secret messages for the escaping slaves.

                                   Slaves could not read or write, and it was illegal to teach a slave to do so.          
Therefore, codes were part of their existence. Their route to freedom. So the old stories say.

                                           There is no written proof of this,
                but it is greatly understood that the stories of the symbols were passed down.
                       What IS true is that quilt squares all have names and patterns.
                                              And they came from somewhere.

                                      For example, the "North star" symbol  was given to mean two things...

                                           Contained two messages in the quilt square.
                       One to prepare to escape and the other to head north, to Canada.

                                              These days, the patterns are  used and reused over and over again.

                                  This runner is the "Ribbon Star". Done in black and gold.
       I'm not sure if there is a message hidden deep in the pattern. But it is nice to think so. Gives it history. Gives it something mysterious.

                                     And yet, there's another hat. With no message this time. Nothing mysterious, but Bo's lovely purring "Three Threads in a Thrum". A hat for a lovely cat.  On a wonderful October day.