{Our Yellow Midas Touch Roses & my Embroidered Yellow Roses}

Not only real yellow Midas Touch roses but also my yellow embroidered roses that I cross stitched on a rayon damask tablecloth.

• That was part of my trousseau at the time I first got married. It is French 3 Suisses.

• This is almost heaven; coffee with chocolate, silver roses, real roses and my hand embroidered cross stitched  roses...

• Why not join me for a cup of coffee  & chocolate, over reading the mail...?

• This silver teaspoon with rose is one of my favorites.

• My Giovanni Raspini silver rose

• Pure bliss with yellow roses in a bud vase with roses in silver!

• We MISS our Midas Touch roses...

• Are they not a dream?

• Whomever created these silver roses on that bud vase I admire...

{Are YOU for Cross Country Skiing or for Sun Vacation?}

• That's a good question... 
• Are YOU for Cross Country Skiing or for Sun Vacation? 
• Probably most of you have done both at any given time. 
• Like the two of us have done in the past. 
• My husband Pieter did ski very well in Europe already and together we did some Cross Country Skiing in Cataloochee Ski Area, North Carolina. 
• That is located in the heart of the Great Smokey Mountains in beautiful Maggie Valley.

• With dear friend Dianne.

• All eight of us in one van; all related to work for the local news paper The Courier Herald, Dublin Georgia for which I did write a weekly feature at the time.

• Ready to go...

• Padded pants make us look more plump...

• We needed some lessons, except a few that were more advanced...

• Husband Pieter always being a loyal PR person for the company he was VP Training & Development for at that time; in their Mushroom Division... Campbell Soup that is!

• Calvin with Marion observed us all the time. I too was happy with some sunshine!

• Enjoying a break with Steve, one of the Newspaper's employees.

So after all, Cross Country Skiing is ALSO about Sun!

Related link:
Cataloochee ski area in Maggie Valley North Carolina | link with info

My First Cross Country Skiing and Special Gift for Pieter's Years of Consulting 

{Our Yellow Midas Touch Roses}

Here I would like to show you our lovely Yellow Midas Touch Roses. These photos are form 2009 and meanwhile we have lost all our Midas Touch roses due to drought and heat...

• The little table square I have sewn myself.

• The yellow Limoges cup was a gift from a friend.

• The silver rose is my personal Giovanni Raspini rose. Sorry but all others are sold out from my Zen Cart on line boutique Mariette's Back to Basics.

• It looks almost like a still life painting...

• So utterly romantic

Do you love yellow roses as well?

{Our Ligustrum japonicum}

• A very old fashioned type of shrub but still a great blossom in the spring I love to share here with you.

• Their fragrance is quite strong too.

• Added bonus is they are ever green! You can see however the new and tender 'spring' leaves that have been added to the ever green family...

Related link:
Ligustrum japonicum

{TIP: Forever New Fabric Care}

From my dear French/Canadian friend Hélène, from Québec City, I learned this very valuable TIP that I like to share with my readers. Forever New...

It really is the very best product out on the market for prolonging the life of your Fine Garments. I've been using this for years now and will never do without! It's pure citric base breaks down dirt instead of fibres and rinses so clean without a residue.

For all your fine lingerie items, or for silks and fine woolens it is the safest way. Of course watch your temperature settings too!

Thanks dear friend Hélène; I learned a lot from you!

We always did pick ours up at Neiman Marcus but from above link you see that you can easily order it on Amazon.

Related links:
Forever New Fabric Care Wash |
Forever New Excellence in Fine Garment Care | company itself with more info about product

{Rural Georgia - Stevens Antiques & Guns in Danville}

When we immigrated from The Kingdom of The Netherlands to Georgia, USA there were quite some differences. There were no windmills here in this rural Georgia area.

But it was quite interesting to find in Danville, Georgia such a place like Stevens Antiques & Guns. We did buy a very special silver Verge Fuzee antique pocket watch, some antique silver coins for my sister Diny and a Smith & Wesson for me...

This is me standing on the side of the shop. That was October 1986. The antique silver Verge fuzee pocket watch is since September 2006 in The Netherlands as we gave it to Judith, Pieter's niece. She collects them.

My Smith & Wesson we did trade in again, before leaving for Pennsylvania and moving to Italy.

Related link:
{Tuesday May 4, dinner with friends} | previous post by me, mentioning our Judge Helen through whom I  obtained my concealed weapon's license.

{Antique 19th Century Silver Toast Rack Replica, Made in Kotagede, Indonesia}

Going back and forth all those years for working in Indonesia, we did have this beautiful Antique 19th Century Toast Rack Replica made by those Silversmiths from Kotagede, Indonesia.

It sure is a bonus for having access to such fine craftsmen and when we spotted this exceptional silver toast rack from ca 1819-1831, husband Pieter took a photo of it in July of 1996. We gave the photo to the silversmiths and we were lucky as in the book, also measurements were given. So let me show you this incredible piece of art...

Here it is... After I removed the Birthday cards and such, that I keep in there for writing, I did polish it first. It was not ready for a photo shoot. What do you say? Nice detailing or not? I fell in love with the ball feet from the photo in the antiques book.

This is the photo we took with us to Kotagede, Indonesia on one of our consulting trips in november of 1996.

Don't you think that they did an excellent job in creating this replica from the antique 19th century silver toast rack? 

I have used this also for High Teas, for putting the napkins inside. 

Love the handle at the top, it really is a very convenient one.

Probably since we had this made in November of 1996, there are not that many active silversmiths left in Kotagede... I hate to see this art being lost!

On Sunday, November 17, 1996 at SS Silver shop in Kotagede with Australian business connection Geoff Price. He fell in love with their silver as well and purchased some nice items for his wife.

That Sunday we did hand them the photo for the creation of the Silver Toast Rack.

Husband Pieter did capture my passion for silver very well...

Here the toast rack is on our table on March 16, 1997 with a vase full of fragrant Wisteria blossoms...

The La Perla lingerie set was in Wisteria color, that's why I placed it there.

Related link:
{Have YOU Ever Seen the Making of Silver in Kotagede, Indonesia?} | previous post by me

{Have YOU Ever Seen the Making of Silver in Kotagede, Indonesia?}

Just would like to ask if any of you ever have seen the making of silver in Kotagede, Indonesia?

Our travels as international consultants did give us many opportunities for getting to see unusual things. Living and working in Indonesia, we already did purchase several hand made silver items in the past but we actually never had observed in great detail how this was coming about. Usually a team of about six men, in the 'Silver City' of Kotagede near Yogyakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia would work at our favorite SS silver shop. We had ordered a coffee set on a tray and that took those six men about six weeks to make. That was in 1992...

Many techniques of making silver have remained unchanged for centuries. You can click on the hyperlink for info. Such as is evident here where a worker starts out on a mount of tar and using a long nail... This looks rather rough for creating such beautiful pieces in the end!

This is the work shop where our items came about. Look how they have to squat down or sit without any back support. People in the USA, Canada, Europe or Australia don't realize how lucky they are for having work conditions in a much more favorable environment. These men were farmers that worked in the rice fields in the morning and in the afternoon they worked as silversmiths. The younger generation is not following in their footsteps and as you can read below this post in a publication from The Jakarta Post, December 11, 2009, it is a tarnished future of Kotagede silver; mainly due to the economy.

We treasure  those pieces that we obtained while we were working and living there. Not just hastily bought tourist souvenirs but carefully selected designs that we had made as we had time for them to create it.

Lots of friends were thinking that silver was dirt cheap over there but one must realize that precious metals like gold and silver are directly linked to the US Dollar and therefore have a world market value. What was cheap for our standards is the labor done by those six men. If that would have to be calculated at our hourly wages, no one person could afford any piece of jewelry or other item!

This is the man that sat squatted down, on the left... all the silver that is being spilled, they do catch and it is being reused of course as it is too precious. That is me standing beside him while husband Pieter took this photo. Our best friends John & Becky from Dublin, Georgia have been with us to this very silver shop and work place in June of 2001. That was our last consulting work period. Just prior to 9/11.

Each person has a different task...

Guess that my dear friend Johanna Gehrlein and author from the book  Rosen-Bestecke  (Rose Flatware) would far better be able to explain their detailed work...

Related links:
{Splendid book about Silver Rose Flatware} | previous blog post with mention of author Johanna Gehrlein from Silber-und-Rosen-Shop
The tarnished future of Kotagede silver | The Jakarta Post, December 11, 2009

{YOUR Facebook Like Plugin for Blogger}

• For those of you that do have a Facebook Fan Page, there is a neat Facebook Like Plugin for Blogger. 
• Very easy to install, just look at the example below:

• This is a screen shot of my own Like Plugin for Blogger from March 12, 2015.

This one is from August 11, 2018

You just go to this website: Page Plugin and you enter your own Facebook Page URL at the very top. 

So in fact, you just leave the markings as they appear on this website, only add in your Page's URL. 

Click on Get Code and paste that into your Blog by clicking on Layout

Once inside Layout, click on Add a Gadget

Select HTML/JavaScript and paste your Code in the box.

For those of you that missed my post with TIP: HOW to Shorten Your FB Fan Page URL, see below post...

That's it! Very simple.

Related link:

{TIP: HOW to Shorten Your FB Fan Page URL} | previous post by me

{BRITEX FABRICS & NOTIONS}

In several of my blog posts about My Sewing Creations, you have read my mention of buttons from BRITEX FABRICS or lining, thread, top stitching from BRITEX NOTIONS. Just like to show you this remarkable store in San Francisco, California. I've frequented that store on and on while doing consulting work on the west coast.

This is it! FOUR floors with fabrics and over 30,000 buttons! I'm telling you that is hard to make a choice! You can ask for swatch service as well, for a small fee they mail you a little piece of fabric. You can mail order from them. Now I'm very far away from this unique store; my all time favorite! I always keep their blog listed in my sidebar for whenever I might need to call upon them. You can check out their amazing stock right here: Britex Fabrics - Blog. Just click on all their options in the gray area at the top for getting just an idea how mind bogling this store really is. You have no idea how huge. My rayon cotton jacquard curtains in rose pattern, for covering the front door, are also from Britex fabrics. They did mail me a swatch first and then I ordered from them what I needed.

Does any of my readers know this store? Would love to hear about it!

Related link:
{My French DMC Rose Filet Lace Crocheted Curtains} | previous post by me showing rayon cotton damask fabric from Britex

Britex Fabrics

Britex Notions