Special Friendships

A while ago i bought a  lovely book titled,  ON WOMEN & FRIENDSHIP at a vintage fair. It shows a collection of Victorian Keepsakes and Traditions to commemorate the timeless nature of friendship.
The keepsakes were all cleverly made by hand and must have taken many hours to produce such fine and special gifts.

Keepsakes of friendship exchanged between women took many forms, from poems recorded in albums to letters decorated with flowers. The symbol of clasped hands, meaning " hands in trust for ever" is found on many objects, as in the request "remember me"and "Forget me not"

Flowers were often given as a token of friendship. Each flower had a different meaning....

There is a language in each flower,
      That opens to the eye,
A voiceless-but a magic power,
      Doth in earths blossom lie.

I found this friendship card in an old book. I would  have loved to receive this token of friendship.

As you can see the hands on these old Victorian pieces of pottery are not clasped, but i thought they represented something about friendship.

 The bone bobbin is inscribed with " Forget me not" probably given by a friend or sweetheart as a token of love.  My lovely husband gave me this when i first started making lace years ago....The Friendship poem was taken out of an old autograph book. 

 The friend who received this must have been very special, as the work in it would have taken lots of hours to make...

  Friendship  between women in the Victorian times is no different to us today....... We just show it in different ways....

The heart in the top left hand corner was given to me as a token of  friendship by a very very dear friend who i have know since i was 14 years old..She is the sort of friend you can call at 2am in the morning and she will be there for you.......

Julie from my contemporary craft group "Four's Company" gave me the heart brooch , middle left, last week at our monthly meeting. She saw it in a charity shop and thought of me , how kind of her.
 Joan and Cherry also show their friendship within the group by bringing gifts..... We have made a strong bond of friendship since the group was formed and hope we can keep our friendship going for ever..


The heart was given to me by a loving friend who i don't see any more, but i will always remember them with affection and friendship....

People touch our lives if only for a moment. and yet

we're not the same, from that moment on.

The time is not important,

The moment is forever.

My collection friendship memories....The old Flowers of friendship book is full of lovely poems that the Victorians wrote in their friendship books

                                 The miracle of friendship speaks from one heart to another......
                                                                          listens to
                                                                    unspoken needs,
                                                                   recognizes secret
                                                                           dreams,
                                                                     understands the
                                                                     silent things that
                                                                       only love can
                                                                               know.

Cherry surprised me today by giving me these confetti hearts as i was feeling a bit down. What a caring friend!!! She has been my rock these last 2 years..

Hold a true friend with both your hands....

I crocheted this friendship pincushion and am going to give it away to one of my blogging friends.... Keep an eye out for my forthcoming post ......

 Friendship is the greatest bond in the world....Jeremy Taylor

Thank you to all my friends who have been there for me when I've needed them......especially my daughter, Rebecca and lovely husband Neil who is my very very best friend..........xx