Is it just me, or did souvenirs used to be a lot nicer and a lot more useful? Take this needle book for example. I found this in the drawer of my grandma's sewing machine, which I've been through many times before, but only just spotted my new old treasure.
The stamped leather cover has fantastic lettering, and will certainly stop the "needles and pins" from poking through. But of course, what makes this a souvenir over just your standard needle book is that it's from Niagara Falls. How great is that? I don't recall ever seeing something like this on any of my trips and stops at tourist shops. Or maybe I just wasn't looking?
I now invite you to take a closer look, then come back tomorrow to make your own needle book inspired by my find.
PS: If you look closely, you can see the price written inside the front cover. I'm pretty sure it was 25 cents. Nice.
PPS: Even non-reading books count for book month, right?
It is a book by definition :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're doing a needlebook based on this treasure. I've been intending on making myself a little needlebook for some time, looked at this one and thought it more inspiring than the current pattern I'd previously intended to use.
How cool is that! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing treasure! Your grandmother took very good care of it and I love how you had been through the drawer before but had not discovered it before!
ReplyDeleteOh it's so cute! I wish they made handy souvenirs like that still. I'm excited to see how you recreate this cute little guy!
ReplyDelete-Becca
Ladyface Blog
What a wonderful thing to find; so sweet.
ReplyDeleteLove the design on the front cover!
ReplyDeleteDeb
Wow, you can really so many unexpected things in your grandparents drawers! I was going through some of the drawers in my grandfathers old desk the other day, you wouldn't believe the stuff I found! Amazing.
ReplyDeletexo. Flora
Super cute! I love it.
ReplyDeleteDo you know what this little ''book'' reminded me of? We had a discussion at school, a discussion with an old man who was studying Phyhics or Chemistry (can't remember exactly :/) at university when he was taken by nazis to a concentration camp. While he was there, he created a tiny book from papers that you use to roll cigarettes and wrote some formulas, poems and such into it, it was not bigger than a matches box. He showed it to us when he visited our school and I just got the memory flash back when I saw this little souvenir from Niagara Falls :)
ReplyDeletewhat an intricate needle case, a beautiful stamp mark. My needle case is just a piece of felt with a few folded pices of cotton in between :D
ReplyDeletefrom Em x
It's beautiful..finding "oldies but goodies" is so much fun!!
ReplyDeleteIn the late 70s I was to Niagara Falls, and I never saw any nice needle books for sale. I would have bought them! I have some old cedar items that say from certain places, but this is a real treasure.
ReplyDeleteI do like that little book, and no, I also do not see too many "useful" souvenirs, just bobble heads, makeup pouches, refrigerator magnets, posters, sparkly kids #2 pencils, rubber ducks, wide advertising lanyards, key rings and coffee mugs etc. The souveniers around here are pretty "typical". Though a handful of museums here do sell some rarities. Some of the things I have in my grab and go (that I use all the time, even in the house because I have no room for a specific craft area) came from museums. I have a (6 inch) wooden ruler that came from a agriculturally oriented museum with a one room schoolhouse, in a neighboring county. It is nice and thick, not like the easily snapped 1$ plastic nightmares available at walmart. That museum also sells things like silver measuring cups and measuring spoons and other domestic style options. Another museum here, (from the gold rush) that has docents that dress to the time and show off how people made bread, sewed clothes, chopped wood, spun yarn etc in the 19th century, sells brass thimbles (not size specific, so that if you cannot find a "size" that fits in a commercial craft store, you can get one of those non-size specific beauties) and (TOUGH!!) little sewing snips in their little shop. Another museum sells small magnifying glasses (Victorian style that you can wear around your neck or put on a Chatelaine, and small pairs of scissors that will fit in small trays etc. In the scissors case, you would have to make yourself a cover if you wanted to hang them on a chatelaine, but they are also tough little snipping buddies. I guess what I am saying, is that history museums are more likely to have crafty type souvenirs. Also, If you need small sized tools (screwdrivers that fit in your carrier tray for example) I got mine at an electronics/computer store. Not the fancy kind of store that only sell you electronics, and games but the stores that computer repair people go to for replacement parts etc You can also find them sometimes at hardware stores. Another gem I have, is a tiny (2ft long) metal measuring tape. You know, the metal ones that they sell at hardware stores, but the tape is about 1/4th inch wide, and the tape box (metal also) is about 1 inch square. I got that at a "hardware store" combined with a museum, it is one of the oldest (privately owned STILL!) hardware stores on the West coast, and they sell them as key-chain souvenirs near the front register. It literally has EVERYTHING crammed into that old fashioned hardware store, they still sell nails out of bins, kitchen items, and the 18th century hardwood floor still squeaks when you walk on it! :-) The measuring tape fits perfectly in my to-go box tray, when the ribbon style ones did not. My mother also found a thread cutter with an alligator clip on the back. I believe it is called a "Quickie Cutter", and she found it in a yarn shop. The clip is so that you can clip it to the project you are working on (or a needle book page?). I suppose the reason that they do not sell needle books and other similar items as souvenirs any more is because they have very limited appeal now that hand needle workers are not that common any more. Likely when your grandmother visited the falls (or the book was given to her) needle work was common for women, so selling needle books would have been a good idea. Now, they would just take up space in the souvenir shop, since most people would just ignore them, and if they fill that space with refrigerator magnets, they get a smidge extra profit, and sadly, profit is many peoples hobby...... (sigh) Anyhow, just a few thoughts! :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely find, you are right old souvenirs were much more tasteful than today's shot glasses!! Having said that I do rather like my collection of mini snow globes ;)
ReplyDeleteI love it! I think you right, they just don't make souvenirs like they use to. I remember seeing something, like this many years ago when traveling to Maine. Just seeing this, brought back so many memories.
ReplyDeleteDo you really know how cute you are? I wake up every morning and excited to see what you have come up with next. Thank you for making my morning bright on even a gloomy day.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Vicki R
sunraesban@yahoo.com
That is a great book. I've made needle books before but of felt rather than leather. In fact I made many thru the years and have given them as gifts plus I have two myself. Very useful and something anyone can use. Better still make a couple of "pockets" so that you can add some shirt buttons perhaps. I also have given them with safety pins and some straight pins as well as just needles.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a pretty souvenir! Totally jealous!
ReplyDelete