Thursday, June 16, 2016

Inspiration from Grandma's attic


Grandma Eivor was a crafty and hands on woman. Her life was never easy, working as a maid in a house hold when she was young. Later she married a man who wasn't the best man on the planet, but she stuck by his side (and his drinks and temper but hardly ever had a schnaps herself...) until he one day dropped dead. She raised a boy to her best abilities - my stepfather. She was a working hard woman, but I can only remember her as a Grandma - retired but busy from early morning until late night always on the go and accomplishing things.


She went fishing, cleaned her fish and cooked it. She picked blueberries, cooked jam and served it with our pancakes. And every now and then we could find a plastic bowl filled with fresh wild raspberries on our door step when coming home from school. We ate them with heavy cream and sugar.




Love and adore rag rugs of all sorts!

She ripped our old bed sheets into strips and weaved rag rugs that told a story on our wooden floors. She made needle point cushion covers and wall hangings with traditional flower motives.

One of Eivor's crochet blankets.

Eivor's blanket in Tilda yarn colors: 071-Denim, 005-Cream, 033-Yellow, 048-Fuschia, 046-Dark red.
Available in my Yarn Shop.
She crocheted the most lovely bed spreads and table runners in every color and seasonal theme imaginable. She knitted socks and hats and cardigans and full on ugly slip overs... 70's style... She wasn't very talkative, more of a hands on maker. Baking cookies every week, giving it us who lived in a new built villa next door on her large property. Every Monday we knew the cookie cupboard was stocked up to its brim with delights...



In fall she picked baskets of mushrooms, in spring she picked elderberry flowers to make syrup. She made rowan berry jelly to serve with Sunday roasts. She solved cross words on a rainy day, always served coffee in delicate coffee cups with flowers on. She had a single bed with a knitted patchwork blanket in the room next to the kitchen where she took a nap to recharge after lunch.



She loved cats and had a number of them running in and out through her kitchen window, ringing their window bell for attention if she was not in the room. Her flower beds were colorful with amix of perennials and wild flowers. She chopped and stacked her own wood and lit a fire every day no matter what weather.

One of my stepfather's properties.
I would love to have a kitchen like this in my stepfather's property.

Vintage wall papers - oh my how pretty!
I didn't really know her that well to be honest. But when asked to see if "there is anything you want" of the remainders from her household at one of my stepfather's properties attic, I somehow felt like I got to know her for the first time. Maybe because I now share the love of hand crafts and home makes just like she did.

Eivor's crocheted rug.
I found a bag of crochet samples and yarn balls, doilies and pretty embroidery. A crocheted rug in a typical Scandinavian design. The old child sized harmonica I used to play on as a kid and much much more. I would have brought so many things with me back home if it wasn't impossible to fit it into a travel bag... And when writing this blog post I realize that Eivor has influenced my life quite a lot. She is definitely representing a lot of my Swedish roots, style and interest in artisan crafts.

Eivor's crocheted potholders.
But what I squeezed into my luggage was these. Grandma Eivor's potholders in different shapes and sizes. They inspired me to reconstruct the pattern for one of them (the middle one) and once I got that done more design ideas based on the same idea came along and the Vintage Potholder Pattern was born. It will be released this weekend. I hope you will enjoy it.


Kärlek
Annette


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24 comments :

  1. What a lovely story!..
    With warm wishes Manon

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  2. What a lovely post! Eivor was clearly cherished even if you feel you didn't know her well. Of her beautiful makes, I like the rug with its flowers (or are they snowflakes?) best.

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  3. Klump i halsen! Dette var koselig lesning. Hun reprensenterer det vi kaller for skandinavisk. Sånn var livet i Norge også, og alle vi hadde bestemødre som henne. Gleder meg til å se ditt nye design. Del gjerne på bloggen min dag.

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  4. Lovely! :-) That kitchen!!!!! Wow.

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  5. this is so beautiful - I guess we all are influenced by the women in our roots. I also had a gradmother like yours. Her name was Adelheid and all I remember about her was her amazing knitting skills and how incredible productive she was, whilst running a family of 9 children and much more grandchildren. I had several jackets, pullovers etc made by her and her patterns where always exceptional. I often think about her now that I am crocheter and crafter myself Sadly there is nothing left from her work. So thank god you can cherish your grandmothers beautiful heirlooms.

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  6. Love Eivor's style. You should try and bring out a pattern book in her memory. I am sure it would be popular. Grandma Eivor's Vintage Makes. Thank you for sharing her story and bits and bobs. Looking forward to seeing the pattern. It looks beautiful. Lesley x

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  7. Lovely to catch up with you today Annette! So sorry for your loss.
    The kids are getting so big!!!
    xo Kris

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  8. I so enjoyed this story. Memories are wonderful.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  9. This was a lovely post Annette. Lovely to read about this lady who does indeed sound like she has left many echoes in you. Lovely to see the pictures, those rugs are just so pretty. But yes, I think you chose very well, those pot holders are just lovely. I'll look forward to seeing the pattern.

    S x

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  10. What a lovely story!
    I did really enjoyed it!
    Thank you so much for sharing your memories.
    Lots of hugs from Portugal
    Nina

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  11. Oh, lovely post. Great woman the Grandma Eivor, an inspiration indeed and your words are a great tribute to this lady. The photos show true relics, the crafts, the house, everything! thank you so much for sharing with us ;) and Annette, for sure, the new pattern will be a success!

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  12. Loved hearing about your Grandma, Annette, and the parallels appearing between the two of you. Its wonderful to think that in her day she probably made these things from necessity whereas we choose to make similar things as a pastime, and it is good to know the skills are still being used. Thanks for sharing x

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  13. Hi Annette, How are you doing? Another wonderful post to make me stop my hustle and bustle of life for a few minutes and be transported to your world. Oh how lovely to remember our grandmothers. They all used to knit or crochet and sew and make do and mend. All those gorgeous things that they made and you have some of them! Thanks you for sharing your memories. It made me think of my grandma, she lived in the country and I spend every minute I could there. We picked wild field mushrooms in the meadow and collected chestnuts to roast on the open fire. She made bake stones(a flat cake that is cooked on a griddle and is a traditional welsh recipe). When she baked them the smell was all through the house and I used to run in and pinch one that was still pipping hot. Glad we have these wonderful memories to treasure and past on. You should cut out a copy of your blog and stick it into a scrapbook so that future generations will have a record of your life. I would have loved to have had something like that from my nan.
    Hugs Julie

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  14. Hello Annette thank you for sharing this lovely post about your grandmother, it's lovely to think that you have some of her things. I have lovely memories of my grandma who died when I was 6 but I do remember her as being a loving and caring person. It's lovely to think that we have these memories of them and that we also can pass on our love of making things to our children who in turn will pass it on to theirs. For a lot of us our love of all things homemade have come from our grandparents. Love from Marion xxxx

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  15. She sounds like a gem of a woman! Thanks for sharing her with us. A lot like my grandmother without the wool work her passion was with cloth.)Beautiful potholders! I have some similar from great aunts that crocheted.

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  16. She sounds like an amazing woman, you were blessed to be a part of her life. Hugs,
    Meredith

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  17. I enjoyed this post about your grandmother. My midwest grandmother really take any interest in me, but surprisingly when she died I found that she was an avid crocheter, just like me. I have many of her crocheted doilies as I know the work it took to make them and I do cherish them. The afghan is beautiful as are the potholders.

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  18. I loved reading about your grandmother... she must have been a very caring and lovely woman. My grandmother moved away when I was six, and I never got to know her well, as she was almost 70 when I was born... but she was always keeping herself busy, and did quilting, embroidery and crochet, and I am so happy that I have some of the pieces that she made... sure wish that I could have known her better. In her late years, when she was in her 80s, she cut out and made cloth potholders with handmade binding, and I still have some of those. They are real keepsakes to me. ~Jan~

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  19. What a lovely post, I felt really transported back in time :) Thankyou for sharing :)
    Jillxo

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  20. Beautiful! That wallpaper in the first photo could have been in my grandma's old bedroom. Wonderful to have these memories.

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  21. Oh gosh, what a truly lovely post. I really enjoyed reading this. Your Eivor was quite a wonderful woman and your photos are absolutely gorgeous. I am hoping to make a beautiful blanket just like hers and I will be sure to grab the yarn from your shop! Thank you so much for your beautiful inspiration. :) xo

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  22. She sounds like she was an amazing woman. Its lovely that you are making designs to remember her by.

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  23. A beautiful and inspiring post.
    Cheers
    Fi

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  24. J'aime et j'apprécie votre univers fait de douceur, de calme de tendresse et de petits plaisirs simples. Merci beaucoup

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Thank you so much for visiting my world. I love reading your comments and I do my utterly best to respond to questions and sweet messages. Thank you again for popping by.

Kärlek
Annette

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