Mum came to visit last week and went to Kiama with us for the weekend. She never wants to go home - I think she feels that we need her to cook dinner for us and do our washing (and husby's shirt ironing, which I don't do) and a bit of cleaning, because we both work. Mum and Dad always found it puzzling that we started work so early and didn't get home until almost 7 at night (if not even later). The city lifestyle (or should I say workstyle) was so different to them being from a small country town (where the shops still, in the main, close at noon on Saturday and don't open on Sunday). I still remember how shocked they were when they saw our house after we'd bought it, given what we paid - a good price for Sydney, but astronomical for my home town!
Mum used to knit a fair bit but has mainly always done her "fancywork" (embroidery on traced linen) - she makes a lot of duchess sets (dressing table or sideboard type embroidered doilies - a big one and two small ones). While I treasure the ones she has made for me they are not the sort of thing you use much now, so I've been buying her some different ones (very hard to do, they are not very common any more). Here she is doing a pair of pillowslips which will look great on our bed, which is antique style. She is so neat, the back of the work looks almost as good as the front - but fancywork is not something I have any patience (or aptitude) for - at least at this stage!
Mum came to visit last week and went to Kiama with us for the weekend. She never wants to go home - I think she feels that we need her to cook dinner for us and do our washing (and husby's shirt ironing, which I don't do) and a bit of cleaning, because we both work. Mum and Dad always found it puzzling that we started work so early and didn't get home until almost 7 at night (if not even later). The city lifestyle (or should I say workstyle) was so different to them being from a small country town (where the shops still, in the main, close at noon on Saturday and don't open on Sunday). I still remember how shocked they were when they saw our house after we'd bought it, given what we paid - a good price for Sydney, but astronomical for my home town!
Mum used to knit a fair bit but has mainly always done her "fancywork" (embroidery on traced linen) - she makes a lot of duchess sets (dressing table or sideboard type embroidered doilies - a big one and two small ones). While I treasure the ones she has made for me they are not the sort of thing you use much now, so I've been buying her some different ones (very hard to do, they are not very common any more). Here she is doing a pair of pillowslips which will look great on our bed, which is antique style. She is so neat, the back of the work looks almost as good as the front - but fancywork is not something I have any patience (or aptitude) for - at least at this stage!
3 comments:
Your mother's work is beautiful. I love Kiama although the traffic at holiday time was always horrendous when we lived in Wollongong. Do they still have that great fish and chip place down near the water?
I think that some forms of embroidery lend themselves to different temperaments - people who can do very fine embroidery must be so patient. Your mum's work is so pretty and to have a neat back too is so thorough, I wish I could!
Jenny - the traffic is still bad (we try to leave Sydney early and we always leave Kiama early as well).
And the fish & chip shop is still there - we bought fresh fish and prawns for the barbie! Yum!
Kate - Mum is very patient, you are so right about that.
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