The Antique Mats Purchase

The other day on my blog I mentioned purchasing some antique pieces at my local thrift shop.  There were four pieces in total with only one needing no repairs.  Two of the hooked chair pads had teased out along the edges with long pieces of strips hanging.  But they just had to come home with me despite their age and weathered appearance.


Must tell you that it bothers me to think the younger generation will toss out the work of their family; someones mother, grandmother, sister, etc made those quilts or hooked pieces yet there seems to be no emotional connection there.  Luckily I have a daughter-in-love (not law) that can't wait to own all my hand made projects and appreciates everything she gets from me.


This is a pretty piece which required a lot of repairs but I was determined to bring it home and see what I could do to salvage the piece that someone had taken great pride in hooking and which was part of someones personal belongings.

As you can see from the back where I repaired it just how extensive the damage was.  I'd read and heard how to properly repair a rug by stitching burlap to the original burlap and pulling the loops thru both pieces.  However, working with the hooked piece the burlap just wanted  to crumble away.  So I had to gently just stitch the loops down and while it doesn't look very pretty from the back, when you look at the top you see a lovely hooked and colorful chair pad, and I love it.  

Okay, so before I post any other pieces here, must tell you the story.   When I came home I immediately went to my sewing room and evaluated the situation and started working on the pieces.  As I'm working on them there was a very pleasant floral fragrance ~ not overwhelming but a gentle and pleasant aroma as tho the pieces had been stored in a drawer or chest with potpourri.   I didn't get all the pieces repaired that day so in my upstairs sewing room they stayed until I could work on them again the next day.


So it was time for bed ~ the bedroom is downstairs at the other end of the house ~ slept, got up and when I got near the clothes I'd worn the day before I could smell the fragrance again.  I picked up my clothes, thinking the smell was on them from having worked with the mat in my lap.  Nope....not on the clothes.  I immediately went upstairs to pick up each mat one by one and there was no smell.  And, I've not experienced the fragrance since then. 


Okay, call me crazy or what you will, but I personally believe the woman or women who hooked these items was with me to thank me.   So then she must have been in the bedroom, likewise she had been in the sewing room with me the day before, hovering over and watching me.  She wanted me to know she appreciated my connection to her thru her handiwork and was making her presence known with a pleasant scent.


Here is the one piece which needed no repairs, it too may have been a seat cover but is notched at all four corners as if to be the perfect fit for a piece of furniture.  

This one shows up as a little more yellow than it really is in person.  Think that is because the picture was taken very near my light in the living room.

This is the repaired back side.

And this piece is a very thin braided or crocheted piece.  You can see it has a hunk taken out of it but other than that is very pretty and I have it draped over a book case top in my sewing room.

This is a close up so you can perhaps determine if it is crocheted or braided; but it is thin and delicate.  These were the only items like it in the shop that day; had there been more I would have purchased them all.

I just wonder if anyone has ever had a similar experience?  I felt a closeness to the woman and was honored that she visited me.