A Simple Summer Tea

This week I thought it would be nice to have a simple tea out on the deck.

 I found a few interesting things in my collection to share with you.

The cup and saucer are a pretty little one from Royal Albert.  It doesn't have a name on the bottom. I may have shown it to you before.

I found this sweet little Shelley Creamer recently so I will use it.  I don't have the sugar unfortunately.

According to the mark the name of the flower is Campanula. 

 I have had them in my garden in the past but none this year

And to use for serving I chose a "CELERY SET" that I put to an entirely different use.   You can find these sets that were often made in Japan.  The "set" is comprised of a plate for the celery and little "salts" for use in "dipping" the celery into.  I decided the set would be perfect to hold my sweet little flower brownies (from my local bakery) and the "salts" can be used to hold the used tea bags.

I picked several different teas. One is called raspberry thriller.  I bought a box of it when I was last in Canada.  The other two (Earl Grey and Rosebud) were gifts.

Finally, today,  here is a picture of my "Wave pansies."  Even though the temperatures are heating up here they are still doing great.  They are in a shaded area and I give them lots of water.

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Thanks for joining me  today and I hope you will visit the other Tea Time blogs as well.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *

Terri at Artful Affirmations *

Martha at Martha's Favorites *
Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Loveliness *

A Day at the Flea Market

We spent the past weekend in the Syracuse area attending a high school graduation, a dance recital, a graduation party and last but not least one of our favorite flea markets...

The Central New York Regional Market in Syracuse.

It is always an interesting mix of old and new, produce, flowers,  vintage and antique items, food, coffee and a few TEA THINGS.  Actually I have to hunt for the the tea things but I almost always find some and this week was no exception.

To begin I found a pansy tea pot.... no I didn't buy it.  I hesitated and lost out when I went back and it was gone... OH well. I did get the picture.  Maybe I will find another one some day.  Besides, if I bought every cup and saucer and tea pot I found at all the flea markets we attend I would be broke have to buy a new house that was big enough to hold them all.

I saw this cute little set but they weren't in that good of shape so didn't get them.  I did enjoy seeing them as they were unusual and I had never before seen ones like them.

 This is the saucer. 

There were no marks on them.

I found this mustache cup.  I imagine our Tea Cup Tuesday friend Martha would  like it and probably would have bought it......................

Here is a pretty little tea cup set with roses.  I though Sandi when I saw this one.

And a simple tea set..

This unusual Brown Betty was nice but DIRTY as the picture shows.  I imagine all cleaned up it would have been good.  I didn't buy this one ....

But I did buy this one................

 I admit to being a sucker for the Brown Betty style teapots.

 I was surprised a bit when I read the mark.  I had sort of expected it to be from Japan.

And finally here was a grouping of cups and saucers that I did not buy but if you look at the back corner you will see a cream and sugar set I did buy.

And here it is, up close....

I thought those forget-me-nots were so sweet.  I think I might have a tea cup that goes with it out in my shop somewhere.

Thanks for joining me  today and hope you visit all the other Tea Time blogs as well.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *

Terri at Artful Affirmations *

Martha at Martha's Favorites *
Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Loveliness *

A salute to my pansies!

I have been enjoying the pansies in my garden.  We continue with not too terribly hot weather so they continue to thrive.  But I am sure the heat will be upon us soon and they will begin to fade.  Meanwhile though I shall enjoy them.  And today I went outside on my covered deck that we call the "pavilion" to enjoy a bit of tea with some of my pansy china.  And some nice banana bread I just made. 

                   These first pansies are the new "wave petunias" they just keep on coming during the cool weather.  BUT they like a lot of water.  The ones below are just the regular kind, bought in a flat of 12.  I have then in a couple of places.

If you are wondering about the glass "mushroom looking" thing on the edge of the picture, well that is what it is.  Maybe I will do a post about them soon.  I love to make art for my garden using glass plates and bowls!

Today's tea features a few of my pansy items.  I have been collecting them for many years so they are varied. 

I think this Elizabethan cup and saucer is so sweet and delicate looking.

This plate is hand painted.  The only mark on the back said "Nippon."

Isn't this little cream and sugar set adorable.  It almost looks like it might have come from a child's set it is such a small size.  But probably not.

Here is the link to the Banana Bread Recipe.  It is from one of my favorite cook books.... 

Beard on Bread  by James Beard.  I have used it for years and years.  Rather than just copy it out I found this link to his website with the recipe I use.  I should add here that I personally do not add the nuts but that is just personal taste.

BANANA BREAD RECIPE

           Thanks for joining me  today and hope you visit all the other Tea Time blogs as well.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *

Terri at Artful Affirmations *

Martha at Martha's Favorites *
Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Loveliness *

Penny Rugs and more

In January I started on the Fellowship of Flowers project.  (For information on that click on the link on the right hand side of this blog.) That got me interested in using wool and felt for other projects as well.

Since I have been working with it more and more I decided I should organize what I had.  I found it in several places in my craft room.  Now it is all together.  I added some too.  I found a picture for making what is called a penny rug and remembered that awhile back I had purchased a circle die for my die cut machine. (just for cutting "pennies" for this kind of project.)   Here is a picture of my machine.  I originally bought it to use for scrapbooking but now use it for lots of different craft projects.

If you have never tried a die cut machine and want to learn more about the Big Shot like I own or others  you can watch tutorials on You Tube.   Just go to You Tube and put Big Shot Tutorials in the search line.   Here is a link I used.....   Big Shot Tutorials .    There are other die cut machines and you can probably learn about them there too.
   Although it is really designed for paper for scrapbooking  and paper crafting I have had no trouble cutting fabric, wool,  or felt if it isn't too thick. 



  By using it to cut the little wool or felt circles I can do 4 different sizes at a time, easily.  I spent a couple of evenings (while watching the news) cutting out circles.  Then I found a pair of patterns from Shakerwood Woolens  and when they arrived I went crazy....

This first picture shows (using plain paper) the sizes of the circles I can cut.

The next picture is a box of circles precut.

and then here are the two projects I have started.  They are all put together.  I just have to finish off with the blanket stitch all the way around each circle.  That is best done while we are going for a drive somewhere or when I am sitting in a doctors office.... waiting....

I should mention here that the die I purchased came from a friend who sells or at least sold "Stampin UP" things.  The die itself was made by Sizzix.  Apparently this die has been retired but you can still find them on ebay.  Here is a picture of one I just found offered for sale there.  If you want to do an ebay search  you can probably find one available. 

 I looked up dies for the Accucut quilting die cutter and found them to be more expensive in comparison to the Sizzix.  I have no idea why.   Maybe someone out there knows why.  But if you have the Accucut die cut machine already you can get dies for it for penny rug circles.  You will just apparently pay  more!


I have done a few other things using the wool and felt and I will share those another time.

A fairy tea party and a trip to some sales

Just a  quick little tea party today for the fairies in my garden.

This week I have been busy chasing around to sales to find things for my shop and below you will see some of the things I saw.  I also spent a lot of time in my gardens since the weather was wonderful and of course I tended to my shop.   soooooo.........  That is why the tea party part of this post is so "mini."

 .  I want to share a couple of things I have seen lately at the sales.

These pretty little cups and saucers were sitting on a table at a sale and I had wanted to buy them.  However someone beat me to it.... she did let me take pictures so I could share.  They had such lovely scenes painted on them.....

I was pretty sad that I didn't get them.   They were made in Japan and here is the mark.

I saw a few other things but NOTHING tempted me.  I did take their pictures though to share so you can see what it out there.

A yellow tea pot.........

 a modern looking tea set.......

And here a violet tea cup and saucer someone has filled with plastic violets.  If I had bought it they would have had to go but it was "cute."  And at the very least caught my eye!!

I hope I will be able to have a nice outdoor tea party again next week but it depends on what is happening in my life.

Thanks for joining me  today and hope you visit all the other Tea Time blogs as well.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *

Terri at Artful Affirmations *

Martha at Martha's Favorites *
Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Loveliness *

TeaTime

 

 I just added this really cute 1930s style kitchen and table chair set to my shop.  I thought it might be fun to have tea out there today since it is a beautiful day.   I am enjoying getting to spend more and more time outside since the weather is behaving so nicely.

So here are some of the items I gathered up to use for tea today.  A nice brown betty teapot, a cute little glass "bunny on a nest" to use for a sugar bowl, a sweet pot holder of the era (Sunbonnet Sue), a homemade hankie apron and of course a pretty Royal Albert teacup and saucer.

Thanks for joining me for tea today and hope you visit all the other Tea Time blogs as well.

I have joined with the following Tea Cup Tuesday Tea Parties.

Hope you will visit them too.

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage *

Terri at Artful Affirmations *

Martha at Martha's Favorites *
Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *
A Return to Loveliness *