Something old . . . . something new

We've just had the most fantabulous weekend of wonderful weather - scorchio!!!  Pity we had to wait until the third week in May to get any warmth at all, but heck, I'm not complaining - we just made sure that we spent every minute of the weekend outside - barbecues, sunbathing, walking, cycling etc - it was bliss :)   

I was rummaging through a drawer searching for some summer t-shirts (they were WAY, WAY at the very back!) when I chanced upon this . . . 

It's a detail from an embroidered tea-cloth which I retrieved from the family home some years ago.  It's funny when I initially came across it, because it was a very familiar item to me when I was growing up.  

Whenever anyone 'special' came visiting, it would come out of the kitchen drawer and was placed ceremoniously on the wooden tray, the special china teacups would then come out, along with whatever nice cakes and biscuits we had in for the guests.   It's funny how a simple handcrafted item can trigger memories of times gone by.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it may have been embroidered by my late mother, perhaps when she was a  girl - I can't be quite sure,  as she wasn't one for 'blowing her own trumpet' - but I'd like to think that she DID embroider it!  It was reserved, as I say, for special  visitors, sometimes people who were visiting the islands on holiday to see long-lost relatives, or for their annual summer homecoming holidays.  

I can really only appreciate it now that I've done a  little fundamental embroidery, although I would love to do more.  Here's some more details from the cloth . . . 

I love the colours - they're really pretty!  I must look after it a bit better - taking it out of the drawer, where it was crammed amongst lots of t-shirts and summer tops, would be a start! ;-)  It's a nice thing to have though, as a family heirloom :)  Do you have any items made by family members which you treasure?

I remember clearly as a kid, waiting for the visitors to leave, eagerly anticipating that they'd left some of the yummy cakes and biscuits on the tea-tray, hehe!  Well, you  can't let good food go to waste :) :)

Well, that was 'something old' . . . the 'something new' came about really as a result of a chance remark from my older sister while we were chatting on the phone.  I was telling her that I was making some 'tweedie' birds for the Gallery shop - 'Ah', she said,  'are you making tweedie lovebirds?'   Em, no, I replied, just  . . . um, birds!  She must have a more romantic streak than I do, hehe!  Anyway she'd planted an idea in my head to make a  pair of tweedie love-birds and  here they are . . . 

I've added them to my Etsy shop here, and they can be personalised with initials if being given as a wedding gift.  Aw, I've gone all mushy and goooey, hehe!   Speak soon, when I've regained my 'stiff upper lip' :)

Hope you've been enjoying some  'scorchio' weather where you are!

Alison x

P.S.  Remember you can  still enter my craft-kit Giveaway here - it's open  until Saturday 2nd June :D

P.P.S.  I just noticed  this on my blogroll list - sounds like fun, and I have just the perfect crochet-piece waiting in the wings! :D