Show and Tell: Keepsakes of my cedar chest

I have a cedar chest that my mother-in-law bought me when I was newly married.  Today, I was reorganizing my sewing paraphernalia, which was all stacked on top of the cedar chest.  It has been at least a couple of years since I've opened the chest, so going through it this afternoon was a joyous rediscovery of old, treasured things. 

I store my wedding dress in the chest, and next to the white satin gown was this little yellow knit dress that I wore as an infant.  I can tell it was loved as there is a nickel size hole near the hem, and the inside tags are worn and unreadable. 

Another keepsake from my childhood was my brother's baby blanket, which I've always adored.  I based the first baby blanket I made for my daughter on the sweet checkered design.

As I dug deeper into the chest, I was thrilled to find this quilted wrapping cloth that my grandmother gave me several years ago.  She was just a teenager when she made it, embroidery and all.

My grandmother passed away a year ago this time, so this piece is very sentimental to me.  I don't embroider as much as I would like to, but it was serendipitous that I had worked on a little piece this morning before finding my grandmother's embroidered work.

While rifling through piles of fabric, I found some sawtooth star blocks that I handquilted years ago.  I thought that I would spruce them up by adding embroidered designs.  This is the first piece I completed this morning.