Homage to my Great-Grandmother & Marshall Field & Co.

Time marches on!  Yes, and some of the things and people who were once held in high esteem are no longer, and memory of them or their accomplishments is gone or fading fast!  But, through this writing, I am hoping to keep some of a particular memory alive.

My great-grandmother was not famous, reknown or recorded in any annals of the history of Chicago.   She lived there most of her life.  She led the life of an average housewife. (And content to do so!)  Yet her contribution to American society should not go unsung or swept away with the progression of time.  Her link to history is in the tremenous volume of fine crocheting and handwork she did and by whom she had been commissioned to produce it. 

Somewhere during the first few decades of the 20th Century, she had been commissioned to design and manufacture handwork by Marshall Field & Co.  She made crocheted, tatted, and embroidered items.  Field's was, by that time, known for its exqusite, high-end merchandise.  And being asked to contribute your own personal work by "The World's Largest Department Store" was quite a feather in her cap!  Her modesty kept her from shouting it from the housetop.  But if it wasn't for her contribution, there probably wouldn't have been much of a "housetop" for her to shout out anything!  Her work kept the family fed and in their home during the "Great Depression".

So now, after almost a century has past, I proudly display her work in my little shop. 
I thought you might like to see some of many designs she made for Field's. (Pictured here, are only a small portion of them!) 

Most of these pieces are a one-of-a-kind sample model, which were saved, while multiples of each were sold to countless numbers of Field's customers.  I wonder how many of those production pieces still exist out there somewhere!  These are "Original, Alma Klinkhamer Thielke" handmade doillies, runners, tablecloths, etc. (My pictures don't do them total justice!)  She was born in 1875 and only lived till 1951.  (I guess you could call her a contemporary of Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

Here she is working on a piece, in her back yard, probably around 1906.  (I think she was pregnant at the time with my great-aunt.)

Thanks for your attention.  I hope you enjoyed seeing these and taking a walk down memory lane with me.  If you want to see these and more examples of her work, you'll have to visit my shop.  I hope you do! - In the meantime, I hope you'll sign on to follow my blog, leaving some comments and tell others to do the same. Thanks.

The Old Man in the Bib Overalls