Musing with Max

Musing with Max

January 13, 2014

Forever Flowers in the House

Sometime back I wrote about my aunt and her talent and love of gardening. That, however wasn't her only talent. She was also very crafty in many other ways. She loved to draw, embroider, made quilts, refinished furniture, sewed and made all manner of artsy crafty stuff. When I got married and you were still allowed to throw rice at the newlyweds to send them on their way she made this:


What is this you ask? It is a rosebud made out of satin, inside this rosebud was a little pouch made of tulle which was filled with rice and meticulously folded and tucked into the rosebud, she made hundreds of them (well, maybe 100, I had a small wedding) and filled several baskets with them and placed them throughout our house where we held our reception. When Frank and I were making our exit, she handed everyone a rose, once it was thrust forward the pouch would open and out came the rice. It was such a hit that she was asked to do it for a myriad of weddings afterwards. Since she was such an avid gardener and loved flowers so much, a lot of her projects involved flowers which she would dry in any way she could think of. Here is what she did as a remembrance with our wedding invitation,


which hangs on my bedroom wall. When Jane announced that the FITH party was on for this Monday I thought; Hmmm, I'd like to attend but I have no flowers in the house. With all the storms, snow, sleet, ice, rain, wind and plummeting temperatures there is absolutely nothing out there, the stores have slim pickings and my yearly Christmas poinsettia turned into a spindly nothing very quickly. But then I remembered, I have my aunt's and my mother's books!







in which I will always find flowers, so there are always flowers in this house.

22 comments:

  1. So creative! In the same situation, I resorted to photos of floral prints on clothing:). Your approach is more original!

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    1. I had that in mind too! Have to be resourceful, anything to keep flowers in the house!

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  2. I must have the cleverest friends in blogland. This is just wonderful, full of creativity, sentiment, history and of course flowers!

    Bravo Amelia.

    xo J

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    1. I believe we are all inspired by our hostess!

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  3. Powerful post--filled with love.

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    1. Thank you, they deserve all the tributes I can possibly come up with.

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  4. LOVE your pressed flowers and your talented aunt. Brilliant rice rosebuds. I've always wanted to learn how to refinish furniture. It's not to late... Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. And if you only knew how old they are, easily 30 years inside those books. Never too late.

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  5. Oh, those rice rosebuds are wonderful! How clever!

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    1. Aren't they? And I believe she came up with the idea herself.

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  6. Oh what a great idea to photography the roses pressed by your aunt and mom. And that little satin rose filled with rice is just perfect. What a lovely tribute to your aunt!

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    1. I love leafing through their old books and finding those little treasures, they were constantly doing that. My souveniers.

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  7. I think you win the non competative FITH Monday for 1/13/14!!! It's so fun to see alternative ideas for this post.
    Your Aunt was a genius!! How amazing and creative she was…and the pressed flowers - an idea for the next FITH.. Thanks for sharing these wonders!!

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    1. Ha ha, thank you. She was very creative, both she and my Mon were but in different ways, I reaped the benefits.

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  8. We had those rice buds way back when, when we got married. A clever friend of the family made them. So sweet. Love the pressed flowers, don't be like me and forget and then stumble upon them one day. Ooops!

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    1. We must've married during the same way back when and the rosebuds were the thing. (1982). Sorry you lost your flowers...as of this moment I am very cognizant of where they are. Let's see how long I can keep that up.

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  9. Amelia, It's nice to always have flowers in the house, especially when they once belonged to someone dear to you. It's almost like your mom and aunt are with you all the time. Thank you for sharing your treasures with us. Christa

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    1. They are, most likely regardless of the flowers but I do leaf through the books on occasion and I'm happy to find them there.

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  10. Beautiful treasures with such lovely memories attached x

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  11. Such a lovely post. I enjoyed seeing the pressed flowers in the books and that you always have flowers in the house. That was so touching.

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  12. ! Maravelloso y tan creativo! Brava,
    Amelia!
    Diane
    in Denver

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