Grow Your Blog Party

Welcome ~ Grow Your Blog Party Visitors!

Vicki from    2 Bags Full  is hosting an awesome Grow Your Blog Party hop, and I am joining in  this  year.     Thanks, Vicki, for organizing this event.

I hope you will click on the link and visit

 

If you haven't been here before WELCOME and if you have WELCOME BACK.

I have been blogging for a number of years now.  I took a hiatus last year due to some family and health issues but they are now resolved and I am BACK,

I own a small antique shop and because of that I now participate in  TEA CUP TUESDAY at several blogs around North America.  (Canada and the US)  Go down a couple of blog entries and you will see the links to the other tea parties.

I like to do crafting and quilting so I talk about that some on my blog.  My latest thing is making Felt Flowers.  The current project will always be featured on Wednesdays.  You can see the pictures of the first few flowers if you check in earlier entries.  You can also click on the link on my side panel for Fellowship of Flowers.

I do some gardening in summer months, travel quite a bit around the US and Canada.  

I often visit flea markets and antique shops in our travels and I occasionally report on them on my blog.    I am going to one today and may (if something is worth while) report on it.  You never know what I will find.

So thank you for visiting today.  And check back often.

Fellowship of Flowers continues.............

The Fellowship of Flowers continues.  Here is a picture of my finished flower from last week.  Because I was using a fairly heavy cord for the couching of the yarn around the edges it took quite a while.  It is slow work pulling all that through the various layers.  BUT  I did it.  For my next set
I will probably use something different.  Be sure to click on the pictures to see them better.

And here the first three flowers completed.  Next Wednesday we will receive instructions on the project we will make using the first three flowers.

Meanwhile, this week our fearless leader Michelle started us on a new set of flowers.  The next one will include 6 flowers.  So at the end of Feb. or so we will have another project to begin.  The anticipation is fun.   I have to go through my stash of wool felt, fabric and fibers to select the theme of the next set.  I think I love the "planning" as much as I do the actual work.


We continue with winter here.  The snow comes.  Then it melts, then we get more.  We are presently in the COLD spell so the most recent snow didn't melt.  My husband keeps close tabs on the bird feeders to make sure our feathered friends have all the food they need and they reward us with lots of good birdwatching.    Yesterday we were visited by this Rose Breasted Woodpecker (on the Suet feeder.)  Isn't he beautiful. 

Today he was gone but lots of other birds include the usual amount of cardinals.  Here is a cardinal that is on the honeysuckle vine.  Another bird of some kind has joined him.

Now it is time to get to work on a quilt project I have going AND starting on the next set of flowers.  Please come back next week for Tea Cup Tuesday and The Fellowship of Flowers Thursday.

Tea Cup Tuesday

 

We have made it to the third week in January already and the year is speeding along.  This week I decided to do something a bit different again.  I have this pretty little Brown Betty Type tea pot in my shop.  It is a hand painted vintage Redware Teapot.....   And although most of these seem to have been made in Japan this one is from Canada.  It is a.......

Royal Canadian Art Pottery Vintage Teapot  

  The teapot mark was hard to take a picture of but I did it and hope you can read it.  If not, this is what it says.   Royal Canadian Art Pottery,   Hamilton, Ontario.

After I put this on the tea tray I knew I needed a bit more rugged type cup and saucer so looking around my shop I came across this set of dishes and and am using one of the cups and saucers and a bread and butter place for this week's tea.

They are from a set of china called Fair Winds.  

This set of china is, as the marks indicate, from Alfred Meakin China.  I couldn't find much info on the maker but learned it was bought out by Franciscan China in the 70s I think.  This set was much earlier though.  It depicts scenes from when the China Trade flourished in the US.  Like some other similar sets each different piece of china has a different picture.  This first mark was on the saucer.  The more detailed one was on the back of the plate.

I hope you are enjoying this weeks Tea Cup Tuesday.   Here are links to some of the other sites.

 http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

 

Rose Chintz Cottage

Sandi is celebrating her 4th year blog anniversary this week at:  Be sure to visit for a real treat.
http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/

 

 

                                      http://www.antiquesandteacups.info/

  http://blog.bernideens.com

Be sure to come back on Thursday when I will be showing some of the sewing projects I am working on at present including The Fellowship of Flowers.