A bargain to treasure...

Yesterday Mum and I went to Hamilton to pick my Dad up from hospital. As he was not going to be ready till after lunch we took the opportunity to do some shopping.

Mum need to go to the "Trade Aid store " to purchase some of their 'fair trade' drinking chocolate which is Dad's favourite. Trade Aid is a shop that sources handcrafted goods from mostly third world countries and is run by volunteers. They sell all sorts of things from fairtrade foods to rugs , jewellery, baskets plus traditional childrens toys etc...and everything is beautifully crafted. We spied this beautiful wooden sewing box high up on on shelf. The shop assistant lifted it down so we could check it out properly but as it was priced at $100 it was above my budget and my birthday isn't till October. So we purchased what we had come in for and then as we were walking out I saw another box exactly like the other one but heavily reduced down to $40 due to a damaged hinge on one of the lids. I couldn't believe my luck and didn't think twice about buying it! I love it!

I'm not sure which country it was made in or the wood used but it has a beautiful grain. I actually have a sewing box like this except it is bigger and nowhere near as beautiful as this one. I can remember my Grandmother having a box similar to this one and although I was left her treadle sewing machine (blogged about here) I somehow never recieved her sewing box. This sort of makes up for it but it would have been interesting to see what she kept in it.

The beautifully carved ends of the box!