Packed away in the cedar chest my Dad made for my Mom in the 1950s, I’ve kept some treasures and linens from my Grandma.  Elsa loved doing handwork.  Her mother, Susanna Schaefer had a needlework shop with sewing supplies on the main floor of their home in Germany.  Below is a postcard of their home with the store.  You can see some of the wares hanging in the window.

In those olden days, girls in school learned to stitch.  Grandma Elsa was born in 1895. Below is a sampler she stitched in 1907 when she was 12 years old.  She did beautiful work.

Below are more samplers with beautiful satin stitches and her initials: ES.

Below is a sampler with different ways of mending a hole.  Grandma Elsa raised 4 boys on a farm.  They went through plenty of jeans and had plenty of mending.  My Mom even took my Dad’s jeans to Grandma to be mended because she did such a beautiful job.  Patches were inset and beautifully finished.

Grandma also knit and darned socks.  Holes became invisible.  She was a master stitcher.

These are 2 little bibs Grandma made.  I’m guessing they were for her twins, Wilfred and Ruth.  Ruth died of pneumonia at age 2.

These are the initials of Susanne Schaefer, Elsa’s mother.  All of her linens and pillowcases were monogrammed.

Here are a few of Elsa’s monograms:

This last piece from my cedar chest is an Indian blanket Grandma kept on the back of her divan, or daybed that was in the front office room.  Grandma’s rocking chair and sewing machine were in that room.

Here are some photos I took in 1988 when I visited, just after Grandma died.  Grandma would sit at her rocker and watch out the window to see who was coming and going.  Her black Singer Sewing Machine was in the corner behind the rocker.  On the far end of the room was the daybed where Grandma took her naps.  Sometimes I’d join her on that bed and I’d try to nap with her, but I don’t think I ever fell asleep.  I’d listen to her deep breathing and then try to slip away without waking her.

She told me this blanket was made by Indians.  She’d pull it up over her as she napped.  It was worn soft and just the right weight for a napping Grandma.

Grandma made 100s of these hotpads.  She always had to keep her hands busy.  She sewed and made quilts.  In the winter she shelled walnuts and stemmed cookie sheets full of raisins.  The rest of the year, she knit these hotpads or crocheted Christmas snowflake ornaments.  Her hands were a wonder to me, always nimble and busy.