Beautiful Antique Pennsylvania Amish Sewing Ball (with a bit of darned repair, too) Mexican folk art owl Lovely and very special feeling

Lovely and very special feeling

it is a bit delicate to actually use now

and also emblematic of the want to preserve pieces of the past and carry them forward) and I believe this is both--a tintype copy I'd guess of an daguerreotype or ambrotype of a painting of a young child

There is damage to one side of the piece

and have wanted to find one of these Victorian winder types since learning of their existence a couple of years ago

Beautiful Antique Pennsylvania Amish Sewing Ball (with a bit of darned repair, too) Mexican folk art owl Lovely and very special feelingI've been eying old Pennsylvania "Amish" folk art yarn balls like this for quite some time, but this is the first one I've purchased, a nice old one, found in Lancaster county, which is likely where it was made. Functional as pin cushions, there were many variations of these made, but I think it is the ones with "gods eye" type thread work that are the most special, and this one is unusual for the combination of that with exposed knitwork underneath