New Years and Resolutions

 I am sitting here drinking a "cuppa" of my favorite tea... Earl Grey Vanilla....  apparently available only in Canada.  At least that is the only place I have found it.  (I always buy up a supply when we go up there!!  And for today I am using one of my favorite everyday cups..............  It isn't a fancy bone china cup.  It is a simple pottery mug made by Churchill, England.   It is from a series of cups given out at Irving Oil Gas Stations around New Brunswick, Canada  (and maybe other provinces that had Irving Oil Gas Stations at that time, back in the 70s or 80s.  I forget which.  I have some of them and use them every day for coffee and tea when I don't want to sit down and be formal.

 There was a series of 8 Farm House Scenes  and at the moment I don't have all the different ones.  But they featured one with a scene of a farmhouse showing a number of different farm animals and fowl.  Then on each of the other seven they featured each one of those....  The one pictured above is obviously the chicken.  There was a cow, horse, duck, goose, sheep, chicken and maybe a pig.  I don't have the 7th one and don't remember that well.  But it seems logical.  I did an internet search just now to see if I could find a picture of the farmhouse.  I did but it didn't show all of it.  At any rate I learned they must be getting rare because I could only find a few for sale and they were getting pricey I thought.  Anyway.  Here are the ones I have.

On another note...............
I recently participated in a tea swap with an on line swap group called SWAP-BOT.  I have done lots of art type swaps with the group over the years but this was the first for tea.  Each person (2) sends you 4 different teas.   The first little package arrived today........

Except for the constant comment I have never tried any of the others so it should be a little adventure.


        ..................................   And SO A NEW YEAR BEGINS............


We all like to start the New Year with a clean slate.........  and some resolutions.  If I can get through January keeping the resolutions going I always feel like I have made a major accomplishment.

Well...........   last year my resolution was to USE UP!!!  Art supplies, fabric and what ever that was sitting around unused.   And I am happy to say I actually did keep one of those resolutions.....  I vowed to NOT BUY ANY MORE FABRIC and to USE UP WHAT I HAD..........  so I got going, organized all my half started projects, added a couple of new ones and started sewing.  I ended up FINISHING twelve projects!!!  (Now yes I still have a few more..........  but I did what I set out to do!
No new fabrics purchased!  And found (mostly free on line) patterns to bust my STASH.  That felt good.  I want to do it again this year!  A couple of months ago I showed some of my finished projects here on the blog.
     Here is the link to see some of them plus other quilting posts I have done.......  CLICK HERE....


In addition I made myself a promise that I would NOT buy any new art supplies.  That was a little harder as I occasionally run out of glue, paint or something else I THINK I must have.......    But over all I think I succeeded except for colored Pens and Pencils because I did get caught up in the Coloring Book trend.  But I didn't buy any other crafting supplies except some glues since that is something I actually use up!

I am hopeful that I can continue on with this.  I now have a notebook developed over the past few months where I have listed and printed out instructions of projects I have underway.  I am hopeful I will be able to finish another huge group of projects this year without adding to the pile of UFOs.  I am adding some instructions to the notebook for projects to help me use up my supplies and fabrics... so we shall see!

Because of the popularity of Personal Planners and free printables for them I have found appropriate pages for this notebook.  I am fairly certain I will be able to continue this all.  Pinterest is the place to start if you are interested in planners, organizing info and more!  Of course once you get to Pinterest you may find it hard to break away!!!!!

Is there anyone else out there trying to do this?  I would love to hear your ideas on the subject.

I hope you will all visit me again next week.  You just never know what I will be showing.  Or talking about.

I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME 

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

As the year winds down...........

 

As I sit here writing my post today I realize I have been at this Tea Cup Tuesday thing for quite a while.   I have shown almost all of my personal tea cups and many that I have had or still have out in my antique shop.  And have shown many things I have found at flea markets and other antique shops.

Today I decided I would show you a couple of my FAVORITE cup and saucers.  There are ones I still own.  And will NOT put out in my shop.

I think the reason I love these is because they are not your standard fare.  They are both Royal Albert because that maker will no doubt ALWAYS be my favorite.  And they are primarily black which really makes the designs on them pop.

These are two in a series.  I MUST find more.... maybe when I get back to Canada this year I will find some more.

Without further ado.......... here they are.  Two of the Provincial Flowers of Canada series from Royal Albert.  On the left in the Violet representing New Brunswick and on the right is the pitcher plant representing Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Violet will always be one of my favorite flowers and so this cup and saucer set gets to go first.

This is the information that is shown on the Royal Albert website about this design..............

New Brunswick -The purple violet (Viola cucullata) is a perennial which flowers from May through July. It is stemless, with leaves and flower stocks growing directly from rootstocks.  The flowers of the purple violet have been used in jams and syrups, and are supposed to have properties to soothe the digestive tract and suppress a cough. The flower was adopted as the New Brunswick  floral emblem in 1936, at the request of the provincial Women's Institute. 

 

 This pretty little flower is featured inside the rim of the tea cup as a little bonus.

 

 And here is the Mark.

The other set I own if the Pitcher Plant  and here is the information on that one.........

Newfoundland and Labrador - Although it was not declared the provincial flower of Newfoundland and Labrador until 1954, this strange plant appeared on the Newfoundland penny during the late 1880s. The pitcher plant is found primarily in bogs and marshland throughout the province. It has a large wine-red flower with a red and gold centre, and hollow pitcher-shaped leaves are attached to the base of the stem. An insectivorous plant, it feeds off the insects that become trapped inside when the leaves fill with water.   

                                         And here is the pretty little surprise inside the cup. 

                                                              And this is the mark.

I have spent a LOT of time in New Brunswick because we have so much family there and also because we enjoy going there.  I have never been to Newfoundland.  Maybe, someday.......

I hope you will all visit me again next week.  You just never know what I will be showing.  Or talking about.

I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME 

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

Getting ready for Christmas

I can't believe how quick Christmas has come this year.  Also this has been the warmest Christmas season I can remember in years.  (not counting the years we lived in Puerto Rico and some Southern states.

I finally got the tree up... yes it is artificial but at this point in my life it is what I prefer.  When we lived in Maine it would NOT have been appropriate since we could just go out in our woods and get one fresh!!!

 A very large majority of the ornaments on the tree are made by me or as part of various ornament swaps in which I have participated over the years.    This year I did some cute little wool ornaments that were freebie patterns from Trish Harriman at Attic Heirlooms in Damariscotta, Maine. 
 Two Snowmen, a star and a chickadee.  There are also close ups of some of the others I made over the past few years.

Here is one of my favorite Christmas tea cup sets with a few other Christmas  decor things.

  

And here is the centerpiece I remade using base of my Thanksgiving centerpiece I received from my daughter this year.  I liked the basket so am re using it for this.

This is a picture from the Ganong website

I usually do a bit of baking about this time of year so we can have cookies when folks drop in and of course for ourselves.  An absolute family favorite came about quite by accident awhile ago.  I may have talked about it here before, I don't know.

I made some sugar cookies and frosted them with my favorite frosting, cream cheese.  At that time I didn't have any "sprinkles" or other "decor" to pretty them up.  But then I remembered I had some really good candies we had purchased on a recent visit to Canada.  So I smashed it up and used it on top of the cookies.  Now that may not sound too good.... however...........  it is scrumptious.

The candy is called Chicken Bones and is produced by New Brunswick, Canada Candy Maker  GANONG.  The name "chicken bones" doesn't seem to fit these that well.  But they have been making them for 130 years so I guess the name doesn't matter..  Since we only get up to Canada once a year or so I finally had to break down and buy some mail order.  Now I do it fairly often.  MUST get my "fix"                                

So here is the details from the company website.......   GANONGs
and here is the site to learn all about the Chicken Bones....... .click here

Here is a picture of on of the bags of Chicken Bones I recently purchased.

 The next picture shows how I crushed up the pieces to make the topping.

 Here are the basic sugar cookies..............

 frosted with cream cheese frosting...........

 And then dipped, upside down in the topping......................

 And here is one batch...............

           They are beyond yummy.  I don't dare make them very often or I would be in trouble!

      Before I sign off today I want to wish all my followers and readers a very Merry Christmas.

 (Note: The postcards pictured today are from The Graphics Fairy whose link in is in my side bar)

I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME 

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

 

Off to the Sales!

 

Tea Cup Tuesday

 

Last weekend we went up to the Syracuse area to visit with our  daughter and husband.  While there I went to a craft fair where I was surprised to see a huge table full of tea items and nice vintage items.  And then off to the Syracuse Regional Market where we like to visit.  Didn't find much there but did find a couple tables full of teacups and such.  So all in all at least it was fun to see everything.  In my last blog I  showed you the sugar and creamer I did buy.

Here are the pictures of what I saw.

And here are the tables of items from the regional market

Lots and Lots of goodies.  I didn't buy much but it is always fun to see what is being offered.

Next week I will have a few Christmas things to share and maybe a picture of my little tree.  The shop is getting busy so my free time isn't as much as I would like.

I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME 

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

A very special sugar and creamer

 

Another week, another tea cup.  However, this week I am showing a sugar and creamer that would go well at your tea party.    I have been traveling a bit the past few days so didn't really get to do much with the blog this week but I wanted to share a wonderful little Royal Albert Set I found at the Regional Market up in Syracuse, New York.   

I already have a LOT of violet bone china items.  This will fit right in.

There was no name listed on the bottom of the items like there usually it but I don't think it matters since it is pretty obvious what the pattern is all about!

 So here it is.

And here is the mark.

I will be back next week with pictures of the other items I found at the flea market.

  I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME 

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

Tea Cup Tuesday

TEACUP TUESDAY 

I hope that all of you that celebrate Thanksgiving have "recuperated" from all the great food you consumed.

Here is the lovely centerpiece my daughter sent which graced our table for Thanksgiving.

This week I am showing a full Tea Set that I have for sale out in my shop.  I like it a lot because of the size and colors.

It was made in japan.  It included 8 cup and saucer sets, a sugar and a creamer as well as the teapot.  The cups are a bit smaller than normal but so pretty and they seem daintier than the usual size tea cup and saucer. I imagine it could be a "demi-tasse" set actually but would be nice to use for tea as well.

 

The mark is barely readable but it does say Made in Japan.

     I am joining with the following Tea Parties and blog parties.

  These may not be available every week so check to be sure.

Hope you will visit them too.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

 Martha at Martha's Favorites *

Bernideen's Tea-time Blog *
Ruth's Antiques  Teacups *

Share your cup  Thursday*

A quilted Pine Grove

 A Happy Thanksgiving wish to all my American friends.

Continuing on with the "showing off" of my recent quilt projects. This quilt is called Pine Grove.  It is sitting on a table in my living room that will hold a small Christmas tree that I put up AFTER Thanksgiving.  Prior to that and afterwards it will hold this bouquet and the table will hold some family pictures which I won't show now.

 This quilt project was from the Connecting Threads website and is called Pine Grove.
 Here is a link to the site if you want the pattern.  They don't have the actual kits anymore.

                                                                 Click here for

                                   Pattern for Pine Grove

 This quilt will now put me in mind of Maine.... the Pine Tree State..... where we lived for many years before moving south to Pennsylvania.     The scent of pine trees will always be a special memory.

 
 Because it was a kit and because there was fabric left over I decided to make the back using those leftovers.  Because they were left overs things may look a bit "wonky" but I will love the way they turned out.  And I didn't have to buy any more fabric.  I am doing this more and more with my quilts.  Using fabrics from my stash or from a kits that I already possess.  I just don't like going out and buying new fabric when I have plenty available here.

The fall leaves are just about all down.  After my husband removed a very large amount again this past weekend he said he is DONE!  The other leaves get to live here until the first mwoing in the spring I suppose.     It is now time to start getting ready for Thanksgiving AND to start thinking about Christmas decorating.  

      BUT NOT YET...............  I personally like to wait until AFTER Thankgiving.

             I am joining Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for her special new blog party...............

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

             Be sure to join me there.  There are MANY wonderful posts to see..............