Mom's Talented Hands
♥ Thread Tied With Love ♥

Even in memorandum, needlework was a pervasive part of mother's life.
Speaking at mother's memorial service, our neighbor Sue
mentioned mother's talent for making beautiful baby dresses from our father's old shirt tails.
Not only was mother talented, she was eternally resourceful and creative
in finding the fabric and thread to fuel her passion.
A Found Tatting Shuttle
~ Dannie Lee's Story ~

April 1931 Dannie Lee Browning, age 12, made a trip with Grandpa Lowry (Jim Lowry) to a cabin to visit an old man outside of Delta Alabama. The cabin had only one room with a fireplace and no glass in the windows - just holes cut in the walls.

Firewood was stacked by an inside wall. Between the logs and the wall, Dannie Lee found a tatting shuttle. She showed it to the old man. The old man gave mother the tatting shuttle.

Dannie Lee took the shuttle home and, finding no one who knew the craft, taught herself to tat. Her first hat she tatted was from a pattern found in a ladies magazine.
         Oral story from Dannie Lee as written down by daughter Vicki Burns.

Mother continued to tat throughout her life, creating miles of lace for numerous items from bonnets to linen embellishments.

After Dannie Lee's death, March 12, 2005, her daughters found bags of bunches of tatted lace in her house.  One must assume, in later years, she she frequently  just tatted for the joy of the work. 


Pictured above are Dannie Lee and her granddaughter Rachael Benson. Rachael is wearing a tatted bonnet and booties mom made for her first daughter, Brenda. The dress was also made by Dannie for her first-born.

Vicki Burns currently has mother's first tatting shuttle, mentioned above. 
At some point she'll have a chance to take a snapshot of it to include on this page - She's only off the hook for
now because she managed to get mother's taxes in on time....
Always a Canvas and Brush of Thread
~ A masterpiece, regardless of the tool ~

In addition to tatting, mother was equally comfortable with knitting, crocheting, smocking, embroidery, and needle point. Her deft hand at the sewing machine provided many a backdrop for her beautiful accents.
Brenda - crocheted bonnet

Brenda Burns - smocked dress - probably homemade.
Brenda, older, wearing smocked dress.
Mimi Burns wearing smocked dress.
I remember Mom making this dress for me to wear in Brenda's wedding ~ Mimi
Joe Benson, Mimi's son, with the remains of his "feel good blankie" made for him as an infant by his grandmother.
The photos, left, are of Rachael Benson, Mimi Burns Benson's daughter. Rachael is wearing a dress and tatted bonnet and shoes made by Dannie Lee for her oldest daughter Brenda.
There's more to come...I'll add photos as I collect, scan and organize them - Mimi

Interested in learning more about tatting?
Try these links - they'll take you outside of the www.burnsfamily.com site - to return, use your browser's back button.

In Memory of a Loving Mother

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All photographs are for personal & family use.
İMimi Burns Benson 2005