My Grandmothers’ Things

I’m a keeper.

That’s what a friend of mine said to me the other day. I was at her house, helping her plant some hanging baskets up with some plants we picked out at the garden center. We’re cleaning up and I ask what she wants done with the pots they’d been originally planted in. “Oh, those are garbage,” she says to me.

I mention they might be useful in the future and she makes that comment, that I’m a “keeper.” She has plenty of pots she’s purchased that are nicer and doesn’t need them.

It was the start of realizing we’ve probably grown apart as friends, which isn’t where this post is going. This post is going to talk about some specific items in my life that used to be my grandmothers’. Plural, because they are two very different objects from two very different grandmothers.

I have my Grandmother Carol’s sewing machine and my Grandmother Irene’s hairdryer.

Both of these objects have been getting quite a bit of use. It makes me wonder if they would be proud, confused, or some of each. There’s a little bit of “not the intended” purpose with the hairdryer especially and it sometimes makes me giggle.

The sewing machine was used to create my wedding dress (and also some cosplay items). Every single seam and stitch was done on that machine, and it broke with the last one. Not permanently, mind you, it has been since repaired, but the timing was impeccable. I could tell something was off partway through the gown, but that machine held up and kept chugging along. I hope grandma would be proud… but I’m not sure.

My other grandmother’s hairdryer has been used to put plastic on windows in our home, melt ice, and most recently to create leather masks. I can only imagine how that might confuse her. The other two uses are practical and she was pretty pragmatic, but making leather masks is a bit far-out there. I also use the sewing machine to finish drying the masks on, since 100% heat drying can cause cracks and burns in the leather.

So my grandmothers are not only the original inspiration behind my art-sy, craft-sy ways, but still involved in the process beyond the grave. Try doing that with constantly buying new items. =p

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