I am thrilled to be finally introducing the ‘Grandma Mabel’ tea cosy to you.  The second cosy in the Grandma Collection

 

Dedicated to my Granny Mabel, whom I knew as Granny Jason.  Granny Jason was named so by myself when I was still in terry towel nappies.  Named after her dog Jason, it was my way of distinguishing between my two Grannies. 

Granny Jason was born  in August 1914 in Southern Ireland and in her younger days enjoyed driving tractors.  Moving to England in 1960 when my Mom was a little girl, she worked in factories and finally as an Auxillary Nurse before she became too unwell to work.   I was privileged to have had her in my life for just 10 years before she left this world at the age of 73. 

I have precious memories of my Granny Jason, who although unwell always found a way of making me feel loved.  She was a humble and unassuming woman, who was always busy in the kitchen and always had her hair done and was house proud.  She would always give you the best of what she had and keep the worn out and old things for herself. 

She loved shoes and made daisy chains and made the dog (Jason) a cup of tea with a sugar in, poured into his bowl, each time she made my Grandad a cup of tea…which was often!

Granny Jason was often unwell, seriously now I realise as I am older, but she tried hard not to let it show.  I remember as a small child counting her tablets into a big medicine jar. There were all sorts of pills; round ones, oblong ones and all sorts of colours…

I loved this job…

maybe it was the beginning of my fascination with public health and my nursing career.

But I think family was the most important thing to her,  because she cared so much about her family and cared so well. 

 

This cosy has been inspired by my memories of her.  The buttons representing those many colourful pills that I used to count, not understanding the gravity of how poorly she really was.  The pretty colours of the cosy reflecting her beauty and the lace representing the finest dress a tea cosy could have.

 

  I know Granny Jason would have been proud to put this cosy on her teapot, to put that teapot on her hostess trolley and wheel it from the kitchen to serve her guests. 

 

So that is the Grandma Mabel tea cosy in all of its glory, I will post the pattern in the week.

xxxxx