How about a new take on Banana Bread for your teaparty

 

This week I stumbled across this recipe for Banana Bread at a favorite recipe site called

Just A Pinch.

I love Banana Bread and have been making it for years using the recipe in James Beard's cookbook..  On Bread.   I found this recipe which is a different take on Banana Bread and decided to try it.  So far my family is enjoying it.  I made two loaves the the first one was almost done on the first day.

The recipe is called..... Aunt Lynda's Cream Cheese filled banana bread.   You can find the recipe by clicking on the title.

It was a bit of work but so worth it.......

 

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For this week's tea party I am reprising a blog post I did two years ago featuring my personal collection of Riviera Dinnerware by Homer Laughlin.

With the addition of the yellow and white daisies I think it is quite springlike and spring is what we are waiting for............... This week the temps are starting to head upward which is welcome.

 

  Many of you are probably familiar with Fiesta.  But Homer Laughlin made other patterns at that time.  One was this one called Riviera using the plate design called Century.  It was available at JJ Newberry.  and The Murphy Co. (similar to Woolworths)

Riviera is available in the same colors as Fiesta....  but is a very different shape. We like it so much we have been collecting the green color for many years and as a result probably have almost every different item they sold.

(they made it in other colors and the blue one and the yellow one go nicely together.)

If I was going to have a tea party using this pattern these are the pieces I would probably use.

There was a teapot but that is one thing we have not found.   We have all sizes of plates and platters, bowls in several sizes, a large pitcher and a covered vegetable dish.  All in addition to the pieces I have shown above.

Sugar and Creamer

         Interestingly enough this sugar bowl is just a smaller version of their casserole dish.

cup and saucer

Fruit Bowl

2 tiered server

Be  sure to check in again next week.  I will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day and also have some more completed quilt squares to show you.

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*

Teapots and Quilts

Spring is due in March but it is still cold enough to REALLY enjoy a hot cup of tea.

 As my regular followers probably know I READ A LOT.  I almost always have a book handy.....  So when I saw this teapot available on ETSY I thought how much I would love to have it.  Unfortunately it is a big pricey for me but I do love it.  They also have a single cup style that is a bit more in my price range.  I wish I liked it as much as the first one. We shall have to see.  But meanwhile here are the two teapots I am talking about.  If you want to learn more about them and the seller click on the picture and it will take you to the sale page...........

 The classic authors tea pot...

The Poetry Books Teapot

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As February draws to a close I continue to be amazed at how fast time flies.  Must be having a LOT of fun as the saying goes.

This past week I started a new quilt project.  It is a Block of the Month style, ,(this one actually has 3 blocks a month.)  Because I am on the continuing mission to use up my stash of fabric this is a perfect one.   It will be comprised of 30 squares and I am making them "scrappy" to use up my existing fabric but they will have the one common denominator.....  a cream colored fabric I had bought a lot of awhile ago and never used. And various blues and reds.

Here are the first three blocks that I finished this past week.  Now I have to wait a few weeks before the next pattern arrives!   If you think this is something that might interest you, you can  check it out on Craftsy... (and, no, I am not getting any payment for mentioning this here.)  See below for the link for Craftsy.  (It is a relatively inexpensive project. (if you use fabrics from your stash!!!)  Just $2 USD a month for 10 months.  You will get the pattern for three blocks each month.

Here is a link.........   Simple Traditions BOM on Craftsy..........    And if you decide to do this.... you can join the facebook group to get lots of fun inspiration.        Simple Traditions Facebook Group.   You will have to join the group to read it but it has been worth it so far!!!

And here is a picture of a few of the bulbs coming up in one of my garden areas.  That means Spring MUST be near.........  And YES, I think that hole in upper right part of picture leads to the "home" of the resident chipmunk.  LOL

 

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*

And the heart beats on..................

As February marches along so do the hearts.  This is the Art Journal Page I did for the month of February.  I told you last week I would share it this week.

Our cold weather of last week disappeared for a bit and brought a LOT of rain.  And finally this rainbow.

This is was the scene across the road from our house after the storm.  It didn't last long but it was lovely while it lasted.


The day I started writing this post was not very nice so I stayed in and did some crafting and had some of this tea...  It is called cranberry autumn by Harney and Sons.  I found it at Barnes and Noble in the fall.  I only have it occasionally but always enjoy it when I do.

The mug I am using was made by Buffalo Pottery a LONG time ago.  You can see the mark below with a possible date.  Sometimes, when I need the tea for warmth I like to have it one of these heavy mugs.

 

Here is the mark.  It says 1911 but don't know exactly what they means.  It is for sure that the mug is old.   I am sorry the mark is a bit hard to read but that is the way it is printed on the mug.

 

 

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*

February is for Hearts

February continues here in my part of the world with snow on the ground and some cold temps finally arriving.  It seemed like Winter didn't want to come this year.... but now it has, at least for awhile.

For the last couple of years I have expanded my artwork into the area of collage.  I have found several places on line where I can get prompts for art journaling and when I do the art journaling I usually do collage.......... Sort of like the post card I showed last week.  Here is the collage I did for Valentines Day last year. It featured a Valentine given to me by my husband and I just expanded on it to make the page.   Next week I will share the collage I am working on now.

     

With our very cold  temperatures it is definitely a good time for a hot cup of tea..... 

Today I thought I would show one of my favorite tea cups....  made by my absolute favorite maker... Royal Albert.  If you read my posts often you know I always seem to like to talk about my Royal Albert Tea Cups.  This particular one is called Old English Rose.  It is a special one to me because it always reminds me of one of  our favorite cousins....  Helen Lawrence, who is no longer with us.  She loved this set and so I always think of her when I use it.

 Sorry about the color change in this picture.  Not quite sure why that happened.

If you visit the History of Royal Albert pages you will learn this design was used up until the late 70s.  But I think I like the earliest ones best.

 The mark on this one indicates it was made between 1939 and 1945.  

One thing about February is that it is a huge month for celebrations.  The main one after Valentines Day that I always think about is that it is National Heart Month.....  Without a heart we wouldn't be here....... but there are many other celebrations as well.  Quite a fun month actually if you celebrated them all  from the Presidents, to Black History, and even Dental Health Month.

There is a website I like to visit that lists all the special days, weeks, etc. of the year and February is FILLED.   Probably a good thing here in the northern part of our country.  With cold temps and often snow what else are you going to do but PARTY.

Here is a website you can visit when ever you want to know what special days are coming up.

Brownielocks' Holidays & Fun For Everyone!

             One example is that  February is National Children's Dental Health Month.
     My dentist's office even has a holiday tree  filled with Hearts and Shiny Teeth. I haven't been back again to take a picture but maybe next year.

Do any of you do holiday trees?  I have thought about it but so far haven't done it.  As they say... maybe next year.

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*

Valentines and Tea

With Valentines Day approaching rapidly I decided to bake some of the family's favorite cookies... Sugar Cookies with cream cheese frosting and crushed "chicken bones" candy on top.  I talked about them awhile back on another post.  You can check them out here.  I made them for Christmas this past year.........          Chicken Bones Sugar Cookies...............

I don't really have any "Valentines" tea cups but I always love to use my cottage designs so here is a cup and saucer by Royal Vale................

And the tea pot is from Arthur Wood, England............

Here is a close up of the cookies.   They probably won't last until Valentines Day so I will have to make another batch.....  which is ok by me........................

One of the art forms I really enjoy is making collages.  And to that end I have joined artist Lisa Vollrath's Mixed Media Club in some monthly swaps making postcards where I generally do collages.   Appropriately enough for this post, this month the theme was Valentines Day and here is my offering.  I had such fun making it though it took awhile to get it like I wanted it.

    The way the swap works is that we make three postcards using the theme and we send them off to her where she swaps them out and sends us three others plus one from her.   It is always a fun mail day when they arrive. If you want to learn more about her swaps to try it yourself here is the link..................   

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*

50 years and counting

We made it to 50 years............  who would have thought back in 1966 when we were married.  2016 seemed an eternity away. But this past week our 50th Anniversary arrived!!!

Our daughter sent us a fun and special package this year.  It is filled with all things golden.... It was fun to look through it and find what she had found out and about that was GOLD.  And she added three little framed pictures of us from our wedding, all those years ago.  What a special daughter we have!

For this weeks post I am showing a very special (to me) picture.  On Christmas Eve in 1965 Bill gave me a Christmas Present that included a box with two coffee mugs, symbolic of our first date.  AND nestled in that box was an engagement ring.  Needless to say I was quite speechless for a while after.  Of course my family was all there too....  wondering at first what was going on since they didn't see the ring right away.  50 years later only 1 of the pair of mugs remains intact but here it is... in a place of honor on one of my kitchen display shelves. But today I nestled it in the Anniversary Box.

Because my husband's mother was Canadian we got a LOT of bone china teacups and saucers as wedding gifts.  And that is how my collection (obsession really) came about and now of course my collection is way larger than I ever thought it would be.  The first cup and saucer I opened was the Royal Albert Silver Birches pattern. I remember it well.  Unfortunately I no longer have it, probably lost in one of our many moves.  But I did love it and it began my love of Royal Albert.  I found this picture on the internet in  case you don't know the pattern.

 Normally we don't do a whole lot for "gifts" for each other for our anniversary since Christmas is  so close by and we generally get what we want then but this year we decided it was time for a new car... so we started out looking a week or so ago and on Tuesday of last week we brought it home! That is definitely quite an anniversary gift by our standards.   It has all the whistles and bells that make it interesting to drive.  I am not sure I will ever learn them all but it is fun!  So car hunting and celebrating our anniversary were last week's adventure.

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*