Musings and Bäste Mormor

Thinking about things lead me down a crookedy memory path... I was working on this runner (lace doilies sewn together) and thinking about some of my favorite things which include doilies, lacy women's handiwork, under appreciated by many but if you look closely, you see the incredible work and care that went into making them.  I appreciate that.  I have many of these handmade items in my little Nordic Niche spot at a local store, we'll call it "the No-Name".

The No-Name is a group store, filled to the brim with memorabilia, and inexpensive tchotchkes.  I have a little bookcase with my Nordic treasures because that's the only space they have at the moment.  The women there are very nice and creative - the shoppers enjoy listening to golden oldies as they look for bargains - the system uses paper and pen, so in some ways it's the easiest way to enter the wonderful world of retail.  The problem is that I don't really want to offer bargains.  I love my little things (is that OK to say in the day of buy and purge?).  They are small things, and not important to others perhaps, but to me they evoke memories of Sweden, home and Bäste Mormor (great grandmother).  I realized that today.

Bäste Mormor was my grandmother's mother who lived in a little apartment in Malmo.  She was a tiny woman, a good listener, and always appreciated our visits.  She was a quiet, and calm person for me, and I loved visiting her.  I was a reluctant world traveler, a shy girl who had been moved from the US to Sweden at the impressionable age of 13.  I appreciated the fact that we were always welcome, and that things were always the same there - same paintings in the same place, same bed with embroidered coverlet, same cookies devoured by my sister and I while crammed on the same small kökssoffa. See a "köksoffa" above which came from http://inspiracionline.blogspot.com (image owned by Martha Stewart).  A place of calm and peace.  I think with my little things I am trying to recreate that, which is why I can't offer them at a bargain basement rate - I love them too much to sell!

Look at this little lady ready to hold your bouquet.  Other people may see a kitschy sculpture, I see a little sculpture that looked like the one next to Bäste Mormor's bed, and a nice little face that reminds me of home.  On the bottom it says "Elsi".  Get a good look.  Because I'm rescuing her today!