what you make, are memories

[eleanor2]

have you ever made anything.that you will keep for ever.when i was 8 i made a needle case.it is still in great condition.it has pride of place in my sewing box.hopefully daughter wil have it when i'm gone. i also knit daughter a cardigan when she was 10.that is upstairs safe and well.sadly never saved baby jumpers i knit a big regret.i now make cards and write personal poems to family and friends. i know my mum loves this sort of thing.she keeps them up for months. there wedding anniversary i cut out a knight and put dads face on it.i cut out a medieval lady and put mums face on it.wrote a verse dad always being a knight in shining armour to my mum.have you got anything youwill keep for ever.that you or some-one else made.

[Oola]

I still have a poem I wrote when I was 9 or 10, and loads of my old school books, including my Creative Writing book from when I was 5 and learning to write. It's amazing really. I still have loads of my writing and stories that I wrote when I was at school, I really was very imaginative - don't know what happened there! Also old school projects, bits of art - all kept in a wooden trunk and in here, the office room.

I'm also a sucker for photography - I love it and have bags and bags of old photos that need categorising and putting into photo albums. They're the old family photographs that I've taken possession of until I've sorted them out, plus millions of pics since Rich and I have been together. Job for a rainy day me thinks!

[jazzactivist]

I haven't got anything that I made when I was a child, as when I left South Africa I left it all behind. We do have in our house a wooden pencil case with sliding hinge and two small bookcases that my partner made in school woodwork classes. They have a charm of their own...

[eleanor2]

jazzyou have reminded me.i have my daughters flop pot and sons bird.funny things they made a t scholl and will always have pride of place.

[franbee]

My Mum kept all the things my brother and I made at school, I found them all after she died and we cleared the house. Also all the cards that we, and her sister had ever sent her. I've still got all those things, plus the things that my children made, plus the hand made baby clothes my children wore. You see, I hardly scratched the surface with my family heirloom list. I've still got my wedding dress which I made, it hung at Mum's for 32 years, but I've got it now. Seriously, though, I can't imagine my children wanting this sort of stuff, so it may all end up in the bin after I'm gone. Fran.

[eleanor2]

i go to a car boot each week fran.i buy postcards.i have bought a series of them written by a lady name bunny to a sgt in the irish army in 1908.it is so touching. they are from an house clearance.at least they have come into good hands.

[Redstart]

We have a wall full of old family photos above the tiled stove in the living room, several that we've been given and have framed ourselves; I hand stitched a patchwork crib cover for child number two - small hexagons in Liberty prints - and I still have that. Not made by us but nevertheless for me an important keepsake is a tiny china cup and saucer that my sister gave me when I was 10 months old - I was in hospital with bronchial pneumonia and my family was told I would die (but I didn't) and she (aged 6) gave me the cup and saucer to make me better (perhaps it did!). I also have all the love letters my future husband wrote to me when he was at art college in London. And the guest room has rugs on the floor that I wove over 20 years ago when I was in North Yorkshire. I also have a cameo that my step-grandmother mounted in black and framed for me. And an embroidery done by my real grandmother (who died before I was born) is framed and in the dining room, where it isn't in direct light as I don't want the colours to fade. It was done in the late 1930s.

All these things tell a story and are important to me.

[eleanor2]

adzactly all those things tell a story in themselves.they must conjure up wonderful memories. you have reminded me i have a crochered blanket my sister made for my daughter .a crochered blanket my friend had made for my grandson. they are in the airing cupboard of all places.

[sunflower]

Among other things, I have two 'paint by numbers' pictures that my Auntie painted, one in the late 50's the other in 1961. These were her first attempts and to other's eyes not very good. But I love the bright colours. One is of a country scene with a man and boy walking up the hill with cottages either side.The other is a harbour scene of Cornwall, very holiday like and a sideway view of a lady in a typical late 50's sundress and hat. They are on our bedroom wall.

[eleanor2]

i mentioned this before on c.l. the fondest thing we own that is home made. is a book my daughter made for her dad she was little. all things about her dad.even a page with a 10p piece about her dad bribing her to wash the car. 10p wow.photos and write ups.a picture of jean claude vann damme saying dont worry dad but this is your competition etc. it is hilarious.