1 More rain but the Cistus keeps on flowering albeit getting a little battered. It’s still beautiful.
2 I’ve just got the hyacinth bulbs out of their dark cupboard, the root systems are good and the tops are already greening up. They should be in flower early in the New Year. They are growing in my Mum’s special glass bulb jars. She planted bulbs up every year, not for Christmas but for the dark days in January which is what I now also do .
3 The tablecloth the glasses are sitting on was made by my Granny many, many years ago. The hearts all round the edges are tatting, I think and the flowers are embroidered. What skills!
NB My friend Shelagh in Vermont has told me, in a comment below, that the hearts are in filet crochet not tatting. Thank you, Shelagh.
Table cloth detail
Hearts in tatting made by my Granny c 1900
petit4chocolatier
December 5, 2012 at 12:15 am
Beautiful everything 🙂
mybeautfulthings
December 5, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Thank you! 🙂
thoughtsfromanamericanwoman
December 4, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Beautiful table cloth, you were able to keep it looking new. I had always wanted to learn tatting. She was indeed talented.
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Turns out I was wrong about tatting. It’s Filet Crochet and very beautiful 🙂
thoughtsfromanamericanwoman
December 5, 2012 at 2:43 am
Either way – you are right it is very beautiful! You have a beautiful collection of family treasures.
mybeautfulthings
December 5, 2012 at 6:32 pm
I am very lucky indeed. 🙂
pennycoho
December 4, 2012 at 7:06 am
Yes it is still beautiful, the Cistu, and the needle work (all of it) in your grandmothers table cloth, exquisitely beautiful.
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 9:38 am
Thank you. I’m very lucky to have several of these embroidered cloths, all of which my Mum kept wrapped up in a blue cloth but I’ve decided to use them! I think my Granny would like that! 🙂
pennycoho
December 4, 2012 at 6:06 pm
I think she would too! 🙂
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 7:12 pm
🙂
on thehomefrontandbeyond
December 4, 2012 at 2:53 am
beautiful tablecloth–what a keepsake!
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 4:11 pm
Thank you! Actually, it’s only as I’ve been writing about it that I’ve really begun to realise how special it is! I bung it in the washing machine and iron it damp and we use it every day! 🙂
Hudson Howl
December 4, 2012 at 1:46 am
It is startling for me to think somewhere Blooms still thrive at this time of year as we won’t have outdoor blooms now till May. Now, is there a trick or advice you can pass on with hyacinth bulb jars. I don’t even recall ever seeing such jars, but am going searching for some. Just the ticket for winter blues. My mother, who is in her mid eighties, crochets everyday as her mother did and her grandmother before her, except when in summer the large garden needs tending and the acre and half of grass needs cutting.
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 9:32 am
Those glasses are pretty old as they were my Mum’s but I have seen plain glass ones in the same shape as my squat ones in our local garden centre. Mum also had miniature ones for crocus bulbs which your query has reminded me about. I shall have to go looking for them in the attic!
I hope you manage to find some as they really are beautiful in the grey days of January and February when there is so little in flower – and, being indoors one has the benefit of the glorious perfume too! 🙂
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 9:35 am
Hello again, I’ve been told that the work I showed you is not tatting but filet crochet. Your crocheting Mother might be able to confirm that! I have some very fine metal crochet hooks that were Granny’s so that might have been what they were used for. I have often wondered. 🙂
Good luck in finding the glasses for bulbs. I found this one online http://www.hyacinthvases.org.uk/
🙂
ApplePieAndNapalm
December 3, 2012 at 11:33 pm
The jars and tablecloth are just stunning!
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Thanks! 🙂
Shelagh
December 3, 2012 at 10:51 pm
That is filet crochet, Sally, not tatting.
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 9:24 am
Thank you so much Shelagh. I wasn’t sure.
I have Granny’s sewing box and in it are the finest metal crochet hooks. Are these what she might have used for this work?
I’ll go in and edit the text now!
Thanks again 🙂
Kathleen Richardson
December 3, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Sally, I absolutely love the glass bulb jars. Do you buy them special or just use whatever jars/vases you can find? BTW, the barometer I ordered for my son-in-law’s Christmas present arrived already. Thanks for the idea!
mybeautfulthings
December 4, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Hello! The glasses are my Mum’s and are really old but I have seen clear glass ones of the same shape in our local Garden Centre.
You may find this link interesting http://www.hyacinthvases.org.uk/
I’m very glad the barometer has already arrived. I hope it brings pleasure to the recipient. 🙂