Legacy of a life well lived

Last weekend on Vashon Island there was an estate sale from a renowned fiber artist who had accumulated a 50 year stash.  Her name was Gloria Crouse and her entire...and I do mean ENTIRE...home was filled with beautifully organized fiber, bead and fabric stashes.

This was the view directly inside the front door - luscious yarns in ice cream containers meticulously sorted by color:

Treasures were $5 a pound, so I happily rooted through container after container of jewelry findings, oddball treasures and old beads and came home with these...sorted by color of course:

Yes, that IS a clip-on earring; the glass bunch of grapes obviously did not convey enough "grapiness" and so it was affixed to a metal clasp with yet more grapage.  Carmen Miranda would be proud.

Speaking of Carmen, check out these banana beads...can anyone really get enough of them?  And don't you love the metal clicker toy which is cool and vaguely disturbing at the same time?

I love the combination of ice-blue plastic, glass and ceramic:

I'm pretty sure that's a blue diamond and these are worth about a million dollars:

So is this one:

And this one:

And of course these:

And these:

Didn't want to be greedy, so I also selected some broken bits to take home:

Isn't this the craziest collection of bits...a buffalo nickel, a giraffe, a game piece and an on/off switch THAT ACTUALLY SWITCHES, to name just a few.  I can't wait to make earrings out of the swiss cheese blocks on the top left:

Aladdin's lamp, TEENY dice and even TEENIER bird, a cameo and buttons I'm saying are bakelite (work with me people, work with me). I have no clue what that vaguely fish-like metal thing is:

I also had not a single clue what this verdigried concoction was, but I had to have it nevertheless:

Cool (if clunky) charm bracelet.  I think that's the Golden Gate Bridge and state of California on the right; I'm making up that's the capitol building on the left.  Anyone know for sure?

Isn't this the coolest chain; it will be fun to de- and re-construct:

Here's what it came on:

There were little projects in process as well:

I like the thought of excited artgirls going through my stash some day when I no longer can use it.  I'd be honored to know that my oddball little bits and bobs caught someone's eye and they sparked a little creative inspiration.  It's a fulfilling way of passing on a legacy.  Thank you Gloria, for sharing your treasures with us.