Granny McBurney and Granny Black

Well I thought it was time that I introduced you to the 2 wonderful ladies who were the inspiration for my shop name. I was recently sorting through old family photos, a lovely thing to do on a damp and grey January afternoon and I found a couple of snaps I hadn't seen before.

Here is Granny McBurney with the most wonderful hairdo ever! How long did it take her to do that each morning I ask myself. The child on her lap with the pretty frilled petticoat is my Dad aged about 9 months! And how handsome is my Grandfather?! Dad had helpfully noted on the back of the picture that this was taken early in 1911, a typical studio portrait of the time, with everyone looking splendid in their Sunday best.

Here is Lizzie Black looking very stylish as always. Don't you just love the cloche hat?! I think you can tell that both my grannies had an eye for fashion and a sense of style. Granny McBurney died before I was born, but my grandfather would tell me how she loved to select fabric for him to make her suits and coats. As a master tailor he had access to the most wonderful Irish linen, Donegal tweeds and fine suitings. Granny Black would visit us in Belfast during the summer each year from her home in Scotland and loved nothing better than a visit to the Moygashel linen shops in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. She would usually leave at the end of her stay with an extra suitcase bursting with brightly coloured linen dresses and fabrics. So no need to ask how I inherited a love for textiles!