My Beautiful Roses

Aren't these beautiful. This is one of my favourite roses called Monsieur Tillier and it is a Tea Rose. I love old fashion roses and have quite a few in my garden (or my jungle as my DH calls it LOL). I have always loved this rose as it changes all the time. Currently it is this colour but as the season progresses it will be a darker pink. At the moment it looks as if it has been dipped into tea. Absolutely glorious.

The beautiful doily on my table was made by my dear Mother-in-Law. She was a very talented lady with a crochet hook. She passed away in 2000 and she made me some beautiful doilies that I cherish.

I have all these beautiful roses coming out at the moment. Last weekend was the 1st Anniversary of our Mum leaving us. I think all these roses are her way of saying that she is ok and happy. I know that she used to love this particular rose and my bush which is quite large is full of them at the moment.

Last weekend I picked a beautiful posy of all the beautiful spring flowers that I had in my garden. My Mum used to do the most beautiful floral work and used to enter in a lot of shows etc. with her arrangements. She taught me how to make posies a long time ago and I enjoy making them on special occasions. As Mum doesn't have a grave for us to visit, this is our way to letting her know that we are thinking of her. In fact I think of her every day. Sometimes I have some interesting conversations with her. One way of course LOL. If I ever got a reply though I think I would freak out.

Well, as you can see I haven't done that much on Lois. I have been busy doing some secret stitching with my friend Karen and also driving. One of my sons is going for his drivers licence in a few weeks. They have to have a certain number of hours recorded in a log book that they give them before they can go for their licence. My son has done the required number of hours and has booked his test. We are still going on little practice trips, so sometimes I am away for 2 hours at a time. Eats into my stitching time. God I hope he passes then I won't have to drop every thing every day to go and pick him up. So please cross your fingers for him.

It's very windy in the mountains today. There is a total fire ban up here and in Sydney. I believe it is going to get up to 38 degrees later in the day. I have to go to Penrith this afternoon so I'm sure the heat will get me. Anyway, tomorrow it is supposed to be raining so hopefully it will cool down.

Well I hope you all have a lovely week end and if you celebrate Halloween, I hope you have a lovely time.

Updates

I'm sorry that I have had a big gap in blogging, but as usual life gets in the way. Since my last post I really haven't done that much on Lois, but I am starting to get into the swing of her.

One of the reasons I couldn't post is because my youngest son ended up in hospital for 3 days with Pneumonia. Unfortunately for him it was the start of the school holidays so he hasn't missed any school LOL. He is going ok. He has been on 2 courses of anti biotics and has to have another chest X-Ray in another 2 weeks to see if it has cleared up.

So this is my current progress on Lois. I still think she is beautiful. There have been a lot of over ones. Some of you have asked if I have trouble doing it and also if I do cross stitch or tent stitch when I do it. I actually do cross stitch. I also find I can do it easier during the day. I do have a magnifier, but usually during the day all I need is my glasses. I must admit though that doing over 1 is much easier on 32ct than on 40 ct.

I have also made a couple of necklaces while I have been absent without leave LOL. Jewellery wise there are 2 things that I really love. That is pearls and cameos. (I have already posted a photo of 2 cameo pearl necklaces that I love last year).

The first one is a string of Lapis Lupis that my parents gave me as a birthday present a long time ago. The same with the cameo. One day I was sitting looking at them, thinking now that would work if I put them together. Anyway I think it works ok and everytime that I wear it I always get admiring comments.

The third one is a Wedgewood pendant that I bought on my first trip to England when I was young, rich and single. (Now I am married and poor LOL). It was originally on a silver chain and I never wore it so it is now on pearls and I also wear it quite alot.


Now the middle one is very special. On one of my trips to the Medici Chapel in Florence there was an old lady who was supposed to be 80 years old. She was a minaturist and was painting a small portion of the figures that were on the ceiling on a small piece of ivory, which was quite amazing. She was also selling minature portraits. They are also painted on ivory and can be worn as a brooch or as a pendant. I fell in love with them and bought this one. I used to wear it as a brooch for a long time, but I decided to turn it into a necklace. This is the result.

I was told that the original was supposed to be painted by Michelangelo. She is supposed to be one of his girlfriends, but I think they were pulling my leg LOL. Anyway I don't care who painted the original as I have always loved wearing her.

If you love reading Jane Austen and the Bronte Sisters, can I recommend Elizabeth Gaskell to you. What a writer. She is brilliant. Some of these books I have had for a lot of years and they were on my "to read" list. I started reading Cranford which is a collection of stories that the BBC have made into one of their brilliant series.

The second book I started reading was Ruth. What a brilliant book. I started reading it while my son was in hospital and couldn't put it down. (Luckily he was sleeping a lot at the time LOL). I am now reading Mary Barton. Both Mary and Ruth help you understand life in the early 19th century.

Elizabeth Gaskell was the wife and also daughter of a Minister (funny how Jane Austen and also the Bronte's fathers were all ministers). After a great tragedy in her life with the loss of her baby son she started writing. She started writing about things she knew a lot about re life in Manchester and also the unfairness of the way women were treated.

She became friends with Charles Dickens and wrote stories for his magazine and she also became really good friends with Charlotte Bronte. She was asked by the Bronte family to write Charlotte's biography.

If you would like to read any of her books and have trouble finding some of them trying looking in second hand book shops. That is where I found some of my harder to find books.