Friday, April 29, 2011

Favorite Things Friday

As I was thinking about what I wanted to post as my favorite this week, I thought about my grandmothers and their jewelry.

My father’s mother, Granny, had a charm bracelet that was really neat and had all sorts of charms from places she visited. I remember that I thought it was really cool and that I wanted one like it.  never happened. I wonder where that bracelet is now.

My mother’s mother, Dessie,* wore a bracelet with all the names of her grandchildren on it made by Mik Stousland. Her bracelet was wonderful. Made me feel really special that she carried my name with her wherever she went. A favorite for another time. As a side note, Mik and his wife, Betty, were family friends. He was a professor at Miami of Ohio where my grandfather was also a professor. Katie posted about them here. And here’s a link to Chris Stousland’s website where you can see Mik’s jewelry and some of Chris’s as well. I think my favorite of the originals is “He Loves Me” -- an optimistic look at pulling the petals off the daisy. Why go any further than the first one?

However, my favorite this week is the other jewelry that Dessie used to wear: fishing lures.  I have a few pairs (hopefully, my sisters and cousins do too).





My grandmother had a huge collection of these earrings in lots of bright colors.  She always wore them, she seemed to have every color possible to coordinate with whatever she was wearing.

Okay, now, I know you think they are kind of goofy looking earrings.  I do too.


Maybe it's just because she was my grandma, but I think the earrings look great on her -- classy even.  They were made by my great uncle (Eddie Pope) and that may be why she wore them.  Another side note, he had two design patents (D152,287 and D161,870) for fishing lures and these were made from those fishing lures.

I thought I had a second pair that was light blue but I don't.  I looked for the earrings on eBay but could only find the fishing lures.  Anyway, seeing these always makes me smile.

They were never adapted for pierced ears and I’ve thought about doing that .. if I could find some it might be a fun thing to do for all the cousins .. hmmm.

So that’s my favorite this week. To see what everyone else is into this week, check out Shay’s blog.


*Yes, we called our grandmother by her first name.  Weird, I know. 

13 comments:

Katie said...

I have one of grannies charm bracelets the silver one. You can see it here - gpa told me about the pieces in it like two years ago and JJ recorded it - http://katajone.blogspot.com/2009/08/tuesday-10-so-many-lovely-things.html

I also have one of my own from most of the places I've been I forgot in a few places but I'm getting better remembering.

thea said...

Thanks Katie. Nice to know where things are!

Sara said...

When I was younger I used to make jewellery and I would use brass fishing swivels as links - the three way ones would made a very nice dangly necklace too.

Unknown said...

I always love it when people write about their grandmas jewerly. It is such a personal thing and tells so much about the person. I love the fishing lure earings! I always loved it when one of my gandmas would tell me how or when they got a piece. Thanks for a fun post! Have a great weekend!

Marg said...

It's lovely to hear about your grandma's jewellery, I have a watch of my grandmother's which I rarely wear as I'm too afraid I'll loose it. I'm double spell checking this comment, after my last rude one. (silent little chuckle)

Shay said...

I think Dessie had a sense of humour. I second Kate's thought that reading about such a personal item like jewellery really gives me a sense of the person who wore it. It makes them seem so much more than a name.

I dont think fish earings are silly. I think it's a lovely idea! Just as I think a bracelet with all her grandchildrens names is a beautiful idea too! Thanks for telling the story and sharing this for FTF Thea.

seabreezequilts said...

I still have all my nanna's bits and bobs from her jewellery box, most of it is just costume jewellery but it is still very cherished.

Baa-Me Kniits said...

They are such fun earrings! I have my grans jewellery as well, it is special isn't it :-)

Paulette said...

I love the fishing lure earrings! You're related to Eddie Pope? That's wild! I sold vintage fishing lures on eBay for a while, and I'm pretty sure I've seen a couple. Now I want to look back through my old eBay photos and see for sure. Small world. I think your grandma rocked those earrings!

Pamela said...

Beautiful grandmother. We started a charm watch for my daughter.

I'm a new follower and intrigued by your 15 minutes a day quilting...do you just quilt 15 minutes a day?

Janice said...

I have very fond memories of my grandmother and her jewelry. I only have one pair of earrings that belonged to her, but she gave each of her granddaughters a strand of pearls for their 16th birthdays. She said every young lady ought to have pearls.

Great Post!

Myra said...

Memories.... 8-)
Never seen such! Thanks for showing these!

Anna said...

For some reason I missed this post. I had grannies charm bracelet and gave it to Katie one year for her birthday. But she has told you that I don't have any of the fish earrings at all. Uncle Eddie only made those for Dessie.

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