Hidden Treasure

The people who lived in our house before us left quite a mess behind. Mainly, in our garage. When we first moved in, it was trashed from wall to wall. From a seemingly endless supply of empty pop cans and garbage to a snowboard and a lawn mower, we thought we saw it all in that garage. Even though we have it cleaned out enough to park our cars inside, there are still things in there we have yet to thoroughly sort through and organize. Last night, I ventured into said garage in search of a piece of wood for a project I'm working on. Instead, I found a box. Do you see it?

I had no idea what I would find when I peeked inside it.

Wiper fluid?

Tools?

Spray paint?

More wood?

A mouse?

Good gosh, DO NOT let there be a mouse!

I was not at all prepared for this:

These two antique sewing kits were filled to the brim with vintage spools of thread, lace, buttons, and all sorts of delightful treasures. There were two round tins filled with even more. My jaw dropped when I opened the one with all the vintage buttons in it. I literally squealed, I was so excited! And the old lace? It is so beautiful! (You can click on the image for a larger view.)

At the bottom of the box were three tapestries. I guess that's what you'd call them. They were in perfect condition. I don't know how old they are, but they are just beautiful pieces that someone obviously worked very hard on. The round pink and brown one has aged silk on the reverse side. Seriously, how neat is that!?!??

Look at how gorgeous these old labels are! Aren't they beautiful? They were in one of the sewing boxes. And, at the very bottom of the box, was this little postcard from the Puritan hotel in Boston dated 1918.

I can't stop wondering who all of this belonged to and what the story is. Did the previous owners of our home purchase these things at an estate sale? Did they find them in our house? I have no idea, but whoever these things used to belong to can rest easy knowing I will utterly treasure them.