tuesday treasures

It's tuesday treasures time again....
this week I have some traditional treasures. These items are traditional crafts from the region of Italy that my dad comes from. We did live in his home town for a year when I was young.  A lot of dad's history has been lost now with his illness and it makes the little things that remind me of him even more treasured.
Mum bought me these plates when she and dad went for a holiday back home about 20 odd years ago. I was so excited when mum bought them for me.
the painting style is a traditional folk style. I have a dinner set and set of jugs in this style too. the dinner set only comes out for special occasions as they wouldn't be easy for me to replace any broken bits.
These two plates hang in my kitchen.
the rough translation for the first plate is.
Peace, a fireplace and love make every newlywed a king...
the second...
to have peace, listen and be quiet...

they are written in Friulano, my dad's dialect. They remind me of the words that he can't say any more.

these little slippers are part of traditional costume type clothing.

these are little mini's mum bought me as a souvenir. They are lovely black velvet with wool embroidery.

these are a life size pair that belonged to my nana, never worn but treasured all the same. They are too small for me but are lovely to look at and treasure.

thanks for sharing my tuesday treasures!

Only a few more sleeps till the Mill Rosie gathering in Ballan.

Can't wait....hope the rest of the week goes fast.

cheers

marina

a new treasure for Tuesday treasures

It's been awhile since I have played along with Tuesday treasures.
Melody is changing this from a weekly event to a monthly event and it just so happens I have a new treasure that I can share.
Before Christmas, Hub and I were out shopping and we came upon some wooden spinner decorations that when you light the candles underneath it spins a propellor which turns the centre decoration. Sorry for my poor description but the pics will clarify, anyhow.... before Christmas they were quite expensive and we thought we should just not get one, well... on the weekend I went shopping and as I was passing the shop that had the spinners I thought I would pop in and see if they were reduced. There were only a few left and most of them were slightly damaged, mind you they were still asking a decent price. There was one that was still in the box and was reduced from over $100 to only $50 and it hadn't been out of the box yet. I just couldn't leave it there. It's only made in China but it is not a bad quality
It is a little big but it was the nicest one there. Hub was delighted that I bought it, he even commented that he loved it and to leave it out for a bit! There you go..
Now for the pics.
Here we have the tower of Christmas-ness.

the nativity with the three kings bearing gifts

the shepherds and their flocks

Angels... (on the first and second tier)

 As it is a late addition to the Christmas decorating it will stay out and be enjoyed for a little while before being put away for next Christmas.
There has been some stitching happening too, the gift quilt seems to have taken precedence over other crafting. It needs to be finished by the end of March.
I have finished all the flower centres, leaves and chain stitch border.

Now I am up to the actual flowers, not so boring.
The white on white fabric has arrived so I have enough now for the dresden backgrounds!
I was panicking about not having enough of the pink plaid from this range but thank goodness I managed to find 1/2 metre from Quilt Fabric Delights in SA. It should be in the mail tomorrow! Phew thankyou QFD. I wanted to border the blocks with the pink plaid like I did in my DITG centre block. It's coming together perfectly.
Hope everyone in Aus is in a safe place and coping with the heat.
I am loving my air conditioner heaps!
Tomorrow am off to see the Hobbit at Gold class cinemas. Lovely!
Happy Stitching!

marina

tuesday treasures...

Sometimes I can't think of a treasure for Tuesdays, but the other day I found an old photo album that had my old swap cards in it. I used to love collecting swap cards. Those that had dogs, cats or horses were especially cherished. I used to dream of all the lovely dogs I would love to own and could only wish longingly for a pony!
Those days seem so long ago...
I thought I would share some pics of my cards. I did have many more but with time and a little sister many disappeared.

Astro boy was one of my favourites.

these two are very well worn.

well after all those pics....
May even have join a teddy bear's picnic this week...
Will reveal my additions to my hexie top later this week.
cheers
Marina

Tuesday Treasures...

I haven't joined in Tuesday Treasures for a little while but Melody has suggested we post pics of our Treasures being our pets. Well you don't have to tell me twice. I love to post pics of my pets.

 The photos won't arrange in the order that I want, but here we go...
Monty and coffee doing what they do best! Swimming and retrieving.

Coffee at his one and only Royal Show adventure. well I think he is gorgeous!

Monty always at home in the water

Of course there is Maisie the Princess Horizontal.

This is Jack, my super boy (no longer with us)

this is an old photo of Jack, Monty (when he was young) and my super girl Peggy (no longer with us)

I just love all my four leggers and there are a few that I haven't pictured here that left us some time ago.

Pop over to Melody's to check out who else is having a pet brag!

You don't have to ask me twice.lol

cheers

Marina

tuesday treasures

Wow, it seems like ages since I have been organised enough to post a Tuesday Treasure. I am glad I hunted out something that is really under my nose most days.
My treasures this week are two angels. Both are special.

the pottery angel holding a heart is especially dear to me as it was given to me by one of my closest friends. Five years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have a breast removed, chemo, the turmoil of the then recently new herceptin treatment and all the other stresses of her diagnosis and treatment. It was a hard time for her but she is an incredible woman who I admire so much. Once all her treatments were finished she and her husband took out a group of her close friends and family to thank everyone for their support and friendship during those hard times. We each received one of these pottery angels holding a heart as  token of her thanks. The angel is also a little bell that makes a beautiful ding noise. She is just so warm looking and it seems like she could wrap you up in her wings.
The other angel is a beautiful pewter candle holder from Indonesia given to me by my aunt who was living there at the time. The angel is so simple but so pretty. I love the weight when you pick her up.
They both stand on either side of my grandparent's photo to look after them as they are my angels too. I miss them greatly.
Boy that was a full on post!
I hope you enjoy my Tuesday treasures.
cheers
Marina

Tuesday treasures

today's tuesday's treasure is this lovely old cuckoo clock that I inherited from my grandparents. It isn't always crooked, it's the arty farty photography.
My mother bought this clock for my grandparents when she started working as a teenager. That was close to 50 years ago (sorry mum!). When I got it, it hadn't worked for a long time but we found a cuckoo clock specialist that gave us some wonderful information about the clock and also changed the whole workings to get it going for us. It is a genuine Black Forest Cuckoo clock made from Linden wood. I remember my grandfather pulling up the weights to 'wind' it up and waiting for the cuckoo to pop out on the hour/half hour.
When I wake up in the night it is quite handy to listen for the cuckoos to work out the time.
I am so lucky to have this treasure!

cheers
Marina

ps. I have two things to cross off the list for this week! Happy dancing!! I will post photos later in the week

tuesday treasures

Last night I was rummaging through a pile of papers and came across this old photo.
No 3 son was only about 5 weeks old and it was his first visit to Santa with his brothers. We used to take the boys to Myers and we would line up for ages so that they could reluctantly sit on some strange man's lap. Needless to say this year was our last visit to Santa. It just got so hard with 3 boys. You can see how impressed no 3 son is.

This photo does bring back a lot of memories of times when life was simpler and everything revolved around these three munchkins. They aren't off our hands yet but I loved it when they were young. Spending time with them and teaching them about everything they didn't know. Now they can probably teach me things, or they think they can.
Have a great Tuesday
marina

a lovely mail delivery plus a Tuesday treasures post

Today I received a lovely surprise package in the mail..

Some lovely hand painted buttons from Eli and one of her lovely new stitchery patterns that included a hand painted button. This bundle of loveliness was a gift from the talented Eli from raccolto d'autunno. I stumbled across Eli's blog a little while ago and I have enjoyed testing my lapsing Italian skills by reading her blog and emailing her. Eli's English is far better than my Italian, Just proving the adage 'use it or lose it' . As an adult I only spoke Italian with my grandparents and since they have passed away I have missed not speaking the language. Eli's blog in Italian and English lets me have a little bit of that connection with my heritage. I usually cheat when emailing Eli and write in English as I struggle to find the right words and correct tenses quickly enough.
Eli is selling her patterns and buttons on her blogsite- you can click on the link above or click on the first picture.


Just a quick Tuesday Treasure post...
Here are my childhood dolls.

The baby doll in the blue crochet outfit is from when I was around two years old. She was brought for me so that mum could kidnap and dispose of my old extremely well loved and battered doll. I put the lovely new doll aside and kept my old raggy doll. She did disappear years later and then this doll got some loving and wear. The Chrissy doll is a replacement for one I had at Primary school that got damaged. I loved to 'grow' her pony tail and brush it. The two dolls on the ends I got when I was 12 and we were living in Italy so they have been well travelled.  The one on the far right was bough at a festa (called a sagra where my dad comes from). I love her hand painted face and long black plaits.

Hope your week is going well. Off to U2 tomorrow and I can't wait!
so Thankyou Eli!
cheers
Marina

tuesday treasures..

Here is my tuesday treasure for this week. It is a new treasure.
No 1 son returned from a month in the Cook Islands on Sunday. It was a real great life experience to be living and teaching there. We are huge Survivor fans and often made references to Survivor in our exchanges. Survivor has filmed two series in the Cook Islands and on the island of Atui (where he stayed) they actually filmed a reward experience. When he was a bit homesick I would tell him to keep looking for the immunity idol and try not to get sent to exile island!
So what should he bring me but a carved mask. My own immunity idol!
Now I just need to work out what I will be immune from...  housework, domestic drudgery, teenage nagging? Will let you know once it starts working.
He also bought me a lovely black pearl. Well, I was off with Jack Sparrow references...
I think I watch a little bit too much tv!

 speaking of which....Saw Harry Potter last Friday.
Can't make up my mind on the verdict. I did enjoy it but just felt it lacked detail for me. I love so many of the support characters but in all the films they are never developed as much as I would like.
I want to see it again as it did bring the book to life for me. Will also look forward to the final film next year.
Have a great week!
Marina

tuesday treasures

Last week I had an urge to hunt out some old craft that I had done as a teenager. Tapestry used to be quite a popular craft, perhaps it still is,  and you could get wonderful prints on canvas to stitch. My mum taught me  how to stitch and my first attempt was a small kiddies picture. Once I finished that I was allowed to have a more grown up one.
 I was mad on horses and dogs when I was young and mum bought this lovely Semco tapestry for me. I can still remember looking at all the colours thinking how beautiful and silky they were. I can recall stitching it and dreaming of having a horse. Well never got the horse but I did finish the tapestry.

When we lived overseas we visited an aunt in France, she took mum to a craft shop and they had the most wonderful tapestries and I was allowed to choose one. I was only 13 and it seemed huge at the time and we bought all the wonderful french wools to go with it. I was so excited. It took awhile to finish but I got there.
Unfortunately they are all unframed. I must get around to it! 

(I have had trouble  uploading the large pic of this tapestry. It is an underwater scene in blues. You can get a picture from this close up. It is of the seahorse my favourite part to stitch.

Here is another horse that I have done. It was lovely to pull them out of storage and look at them again. Lovely memories in them all.
There are two others that I have done that I don't have pics of. A hunting with hounds and horses scene that was for my grandmother and a gold panner that I did for my aunt.
One day it may be fun to do another one. I must admit I prefer this to cross stitching.
have a great week.
Marina

tuesday treasures plus some...

My christmas trees are coming together nicely, just need to glue the trunk into the cotton reels and find some beads to put on the top.Even dh commented how pretty they are. I just love them.
this swap item has decided to make an appearance after having so much difficulty loading the pic the other day!

 couldn't resist this Maisie pic. I know, she is always lying down or asleep but she is a cat! It is so hard to get a pic of the boys as they are always running around.

 Here is my Tuesday Treasure for this week. Clare is winding this up in a week or two .
This tray belonged to my grandmother and she used it often. I loved it as I have always been an avid dog lover. I secretly wished that she would give it to me one day. After she passed away, when we were cleaning out my grandparents home it turned up and everyone said that I should have it. It is just beautiful. (the little tennis racquet clock on the side was made by no 3 son in woodwork. He has made some really great pieces-could be his calling?)

 Here is a mini camellia from our garden. It has flowered after all the others have finished their flush of blooms. I love the flowers just before they burst open fully.

sorry for all the pics...
Have a lovely week..
Marina
ps and it's unanimous- No one saw Noah in the 60's!

tuesday treasures

Haven't joined in for a little while... but after having an internet chat with Fiona at bubz rugz, we were discussing making things for Grandchildren. I don't have any yet but I will  hope that I am still able to make crafty goodies for them when they do arrive!
My mum made cross stitch birth samplers for all 13 grandchildren. My boys' had an animal theme as animal have always been my passion, my brothers children all got cross stitch pictures by Bessie Pease Gutmann, and my sister's children got samplers with a 'toy' theme. Mum only had to make 3 for my boys but my brother and sister were a little more prolific with 5 a piece.
They are just beautiful works and ours hang in our lounge room as they are too special to put away.
They also help DH remember the birth dates of the boys, details he never seems to remember.
(Sorry about the photo quality but they are so hard to photograph through the glass.)
Have a lovely tuesday...
Marina

tuesday treasures

I always remember this sitting on our kitchen window sill at home. I don't know when it first appeared there, I will have to ask mum. I just always remember it being there. About 8 years ago mum renovated her whole house and especially the kitchen. She was determined to have a good clean out and had boxes of stuff she was ruthlessly throwing out (so out of character for a chronic hoarder like her!). Each time I would visit I would see boxes of stuff and have to fight back the urge to reclaim all those childhood memories of her kitchen paraphernalia. I did sneak out a few things and this was one of them. How could she throw this out after all those years???
I snuck it home and cleaned it a little, it still needs a proper clean. It now sits on a shelf next to my parents photo. It just reminds me of being a child and how much I used to love to look at this little ornament.
Thanks for popping by for Tuesday treasures.
marina