A Treasure

 Good Morning!

And Brrrrr...it is just at freezing outside - 32 degrees.  It's sunny, but still....I'm beginning to think that April never got the message that it is a Spring month.  And, as so many have been saying, my fear is that we are going to jump right into HOT weather without having a proper Spring.  But, it's one of those things out of my control, so I will not spend a lot of time worrying about it, but I won't quite put my woolens away either!

Today I want to share with you one of my Treasures.  It is my sewing cabinet.  My Grandpa (paternal side) made some beautiful furniture and I am so fortunate to have some of it.  I have a dresser, a bedside end table, and my sewing cabinet (Colin has a desk that he made).

Grandpa was a very talented man.  He did not have a college education, yet he served in politics, ran a creamery, worked at the Bowl Mill in Weston, Vermont (we all have plenty of bowls, offering plates and salt & pepper shakers that he turned out of wood).  He would also recite poetry ALL the time to his kids.  The creamery he ran for a bit was down the street from heir house in South Londonderry, VT.  My Dad and his brothers and sister and neighborhood kids would often gather there after school and listen to my Grandpa recite poems.

Here is a picture of my Dad's parents on their wedding day.

Grandpa was 6'3" and Grandma was around 4'11" - quite the pair!!

And here he is working in the barn that was attached to their home in South Londonderry.

Anyway, many, many moons ago he made a sewing cabinet for my Grandmother.  and, then, many years later I was fortunate enough to get that sewing cabinet.  It is roughly 28" high and roughly 16" across at the widest point.  It is made out of birds eye maple.  (Click to enlarge all the pictures.)

The dresser behind the cabinet is also one he made. 

The two sides of the cabinet open up.  First we have:

Some open space.  This is typically where I store my patterns.  Sometimes some dribs and drabs of velcro, sewing elastic, etc.  (The left "foot" of the cabinet is a little twisted - it is loose and easily turns to the side...I need to get Fletch to tighten that up.)  The other side is like this:

The tray on the right slides back and forth (except that most of my spools are too large and prevent that from happening.  I do have a lot of old spools of thread from my Mom - perhaps I should change those out so that the tray can slide.  And, do you see the two tiny drawers at the top?

I suppose I could keep small scissors, seam rippers, etc. in one.

So there you have one of my treasures!  This sits in the office room right next to my sewing machine cabinet so that the spools of thread are handy when needed.

And with that, it is time to start the final work day of the week.  Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

Treasures From My Grandpa

Well, it is Unraveled Wednesday, but I haven’t done much knitting in the past few days and therefore have nothing to show.  I did finish “Manhattan Beach” by Jennifer Egan and enjoyed it very much.  I’m now almost halfway through “The Immortalists” by Chloe Benjamin and liking it a lot too.

 

Inspiration for this post comes from Kym and Bonny both of whom recently blogged about beautiful wooden items made by their Grandfathers.

 

My paternal grandfather, Ray Lyman, was born in Stratton, VT in 1887.  He was a big man – 6’3” (and my Grandmother was only 4’11” or so!!) and he had the largest hands.  When Colin was born his hands and feet were really big and the first thing I thought was he will be just like my Grandpa (for the record, Colin is not 6’3”, but he has grown into his feet and hands – lol).

 

Here are my grandparents on their wedding day:

 

 

And here they are in later years in front of their house:

 

 

And one of my favorite pictures of my Grandpa – at his workbench in the barn that was attached to their home:

 

 

Grandpa held many different jobs (including a stint in state politics) – he ran the creamery down the street from where they lived and he also worked at a bowl mill.  Much of the furniture in their home was made by him:  bureaus, tables, chairs (caned and woven), stools (caned and woven) as well as bowls and other wooden items.  I’m fortunate to have some of the pieces he made:

 

 

The piece on the right is one of the many offering plates he made for the local church they attended.  The bowl and salt & pepper shakers are like those that were used daily in their home.  The little rattle was carved from a single piece of wood!

 

This bureau is one he made out of birds eye maple (love) and this is where I store my fabric (the drawers are now easy to open since I got rid of so much stuff!!).  This piece weighs a TON. 

 

 

The apothecary style cabinet on top is one Fletch gave me and that holds my specialty embroidery floss – silks, linens, Danish Flower Thread, etc.  The smaller black & white cabinet on top of that is another gift from Fletch and that holds my “special” buttons (some day I’ll do a post showing some of those).  Other buttons are in the jars to the right (and various boxes and tins hidden away – lol).  The Galileo Thermometer was my Dad’s.

I was also gifted the sewing cabinet my Grandpa made for my Grandma.  It is one of my prized possessions and I will show that in a later post.

 

Hope everyone’s week is going well.  My office is closed Friday, so I’m on the downswing of the work week which feels really, really nice!