Carlotta Comes Home

About a month ago I did a post on the art of Carlotta Edwards.  In it I mentioned that two of her ballet prints hung in my bedroom when I was a young child.  The originals are long gone but last year I was able to replace one of them - Margot Fonteyn as Giselle.  The other print called L'Aiglon remained elusive.

L'Aiglon

After I published the post Kylie from  Lucy Violet Vintage left a comment that she had a copy of L'Aiglon she could give me.  True to her word Kylie posted it to me - all the way from Australia! - very carefully packaged as the print is framed under glass.  I think we were both holding our breath that it would arrive intact - and it did.  This post is an enormous THANK YOU to Kylie for her wonderful kindness and thoughtfulness.  

The print I had as a child was exactly the same as this one - in an identical white frame.  Last year I missed an eBay bid on a L'Aiglon print with a brown wooden frame.  I think I was always hoping that if I did find one the frame would be the same as my original copy - and here it is.  Carlotta has truly come home!

I was going to hang just the L'Aiglon print next to my dressing table, but my husband suggested we put my two childhood memories together.  They are now the first thing I look at when I wake up in the morning.

My bedroom has always been blue and white.  My knick-knacks are all passed on to me from either my mother or grand-mother.  This pretty little ceramic house (to the left of the pot-plant) is actually a container.  The top section comes off and you can keep small objects inside.

My dressing table is also full of handed down memories or gifts that my sister has given me.  I can remember many of them on my mother's dressing table when I was a very young child.  Sometimes I'm sad I don't have a daughter to pass them on to, but hopefully one day I might have grandchildren!

It almost looks like the room has been modelled around the Carlotta pictures, not that they are the new arrivals - they fit in so well.  Kylie also gave me this blog link to an early post of hers that includes my picture as part of a ballet theme.  I had not discovered Kylie's blog when the post was published so did not know it was there until now.  If like me you enjoy vintage ballet-related items this post is a must-see.

All of my duvet covers are plain-ish white, but some of my pillow cases are embroidered vintage ones that originally belonged to my mom.  (I never thought of them as being vintage until recently but I guess they must be by now!)    

Taking these pictures has given me another idea.  This week I also won another surprise parcel from Barbara at March House Books - a beautiful embroidery transfer and skein of thread.  I'm going to scan and copy the transfer so I always keep the original but I've decided I want to try something new - I'm going to buy some new pillowcases and use the lovely flower patterns on the transfer (and perhaps the birds as well) to embroider them in a similar way to this one.  But that will be another story . . .