Sharing the wealth

The pressing board

One of my beading buddies brought a huge bag of sewing stash to me last week. An elderly aunt, who died recently, had been a dedicated needlewoman. She had amassed a vast stash -- like every crafter known to have ever lived.
My friend didn't know what to do with many of the notions and buttons left behind, but then she remembered me. Which was a lovely thing. 
Her aunt also created gorgeous pieces of needle lace in her lifetime. Some of her pieces have also come to me.
This stuff is labour intensive.

Handmade needle lace!

First, the heavy cording is laid down on paper or parchment in pattern. Then, the cord is joined together with a series of tiny, tiny button hole stitches.
It is so pretty. I want to use it for something. I'm thinking it will have to be something I can easily hand wash.

As I went through the bag, I found zippers, elastics, seam binding and a ton of lovely vintage buttons.
There was also an awesome pressing board. You can see the wonders of this board here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZy3nHSNAjE 

I have a notion to share the wealth

Once I was finished going through everything, I also had a bag of zippers, etc. to share with some sewing buddies.
As I was going through the bag, it struck me that some day, like 50 years from now (hopefully) someone younger than me will be going through my stash and sharing it out.

Vintage glass buttons

Boy, that will be a task! I'd best do some editing as I go along, or start apologizing now...