Roses, Roses, Roses!

Just like many of you, I absolutely adore roses and never tire of seeing them in any shape or form. It's generally a pretty dull time in the garden at this time of year and despite the early signs of Spring flowers, it will be a few months until we see the roses again! So I thought I would share these roses with you in the meantime! The beautiful barkcloth fabric above is one of my favourites and the pretty ribbons and roses cotton fabric below is so pretty!



I really enjoy seeing roses - and other flowers - around the home on textiles, china, barbola mirrors and paintings. These are two of my favourite paintings. The first is a stunning yard long oil painting dated 1921.



This beautiful oil painting is Edwardian and is very much in the style of Catherine Klein. Again, it is a yard long painting but has always been hung this way up - just as well as it really wouldn't fit anywhere else!



Finally, a few of my favourite things, as the song goes! A delightful old chest of drawers covered in wallpaper...



...and a roses pastel painting with one of Niki's wonderful rosy creations!



I'd love to see all of your favourite rose items!

A Moment in Time...

I was sorting through some old black and white photos the other day and came across several I'd like to share with you all. Sadly, many of the photos have been passed around the family and become torn and marked, so apologies for the less-than-perfect appearance of some!



The first is me! Despite most baby photos being embarrassing, I've always liked this one because I think I look so happy! Apparently, according to my mum, I was a very happy 'bouncing' baby and laughed and chattered a lot (nothing's changed there then!!!)

This is one of my favourite photos. My mum and aunt decided they would like a photo with me and the cat. Of course, the cat had other ideas so my aunt is trying to keep her in the shot! Both my mum and aunt are highly amused by it all - but I'm a little perturbed at the family cat being restrained in this manner!

Here are a couple of much older photos. The first is my grandmother, Gwendoline, and was taken in the 1920's. I believe she was about 19 at the time. Just look at that 20's fashion!



This is Lily, my mum's cousin and was taken about 1930. She doesn't look particularly happy does she?!



Finally, this is my husband's family. This photo shows two of his aunts and an uncle, along with his dad, who is the youngest in the photo. This was taken in the 1930's and they are stood outside their 'picturesque' country cottage - which I'm informed had no electricity and no running water - very typical for such cottages at that time.



Having found a huge pile of these old family photos, I'm now going to make it a priority to find a lovely vintage photo album and put all my old photos in and label them up so there'll be no guesswork as to who's who.

I'd love to see some of your family photos - don't forget the baby ones!!