Friday, January 20, 2017

Using fine china because life is short-and a quilt finish!

Yesterday we held a small family funeral for my 96 year old Aunty. We had a lovely dignified service, and afterwards the family stayed for afternoon tea.




My aunt's fine bone china came to me when we cleaned out her house in order for her to move into a nursing home. It is a very pretty Queen Anne Forget me not pattern from Royal Osborne. In the whole time she owned it, she never used it. Aunty didn't want it to be broken! She used to say that she was waiting for the queen to visit! 

I gave her a cup of tea in it one time we brought her home from the nursing home. 




Yesterday I took my red tablecloth to the church and all the fine china I owned -including my MIL's "Country Roses" and all the Royal Doulton birth month mugs. I took Aunty's set too: when would there be a better time to honour her with these beautiful things?

Of course I was a bit anxious about things getting broken -actually I had visions of the whole box of things being broken when someone tripped, or something.

The decision I made to use these pretty things was partly  about justifying the space they take in my house: if they are not useful, surely they shouldn't be here? Mostly though it was about an old lady who would have known how to do a proper afternoon tea: with cups and saucers and plates and serviettes and things like that.

So we used them and it helped to give the event a bit of grace and dignity. Yes, one piece was broken and it was entirely my fault. Yes I have found a replacement and it is on its way to me now.

My siblings and cousins ere responsible for clearing out Aunty's place. I think we were all struck with the amount of STUFF a home can have in it, and the difficulty of finding a use for these things when you want to get them out.  Life is too short to hang on to useless things. I prefer to use the pretty things and enjoy them

Today I am washing tablecloths and napkins. This is also not hard -and using them helps to make a sense of occasion to any event.

What do you think? do you use your fine china?

PS I have just edited the Quilting and the Creative Challenge page of this blog to update my first 2017 quilt. Head on over and let me know what you think! 





1 comment:

Jo said...

Beautiful things are to be used. When my grandmother died I received sets of linen sheets saved from her glory box, still labelled and in their original ribbons. Such a sad thing. Glad you had a good day - and yes, they are gorgeous!