Marilee Wertlake
My Mother’s Treasure Box . . . of Little Sins
Materials Botanically dyed cloth by artist - Lisa Binkley class
Hand-dyed cotton - Blue Bar Quilts
Silk velvet – Gay Feather Fabrics
Jewelry - Elizabeth Silverman collection
Cigar Box (courtesy of Madura Cigars)
My mother had a wonderful jewelry collection that had grown over time. As a child, I had spent hours (usually while waiting as my mother was getting ready to go out) sorting, inspecting, trying on and admiring her jewelry. She had great taste. Precious & semiprecious gems, gold & silver, trade beads, amber, vintage costume jewelry . . . she loved it all. About a month before I got married, I went home to visit my mother and sisters. So there I was once again looking through her jewelry boxes, waiting for her to finish dressing and asking her questions about her jewelry collection. I believe I was looking at her old nursing watch, which was extremely tiny, and her original, very modest wedding band, and was asking her a question about why these were so plain (jewelry serves as a certain kind of family history – this ring was your Grandmother’s, this pin belonged to your Aunt, this was the wedding ring from my first marriage). “Well,” she began, “you know that some Seventh Day Adventists consider jewelry prideful, a kind of sin . . .” [Now, I did know that, having been raised in the faith while young. I also knew that some Adventists exchange watches instead of rings when they get married because of that belief, but I had never really thought about jewelry as a sin in the context of my mother’s jewelry!] “So you see,” she continued, “those had to be modest, because I was getting married as an Adventist. But all my other jewelry? That’s my treasure box of little sins!” And that’s how I’ve thought of it ever since.
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