A special Rose Anniversary Tea

Roses in January!  This is a wild rose from my garden last summer. Pretty to look at the picture when there is nothing but snow to see in my gardens at the moment.

This week one of the tea parties that I attend each week is celebrating her third anniversary. 

    Rose Chintz Cottage

 So in honor of that event I will be featuring some Rose cups and saucers this week.

I am beginning with my ultimate favorite  Royal Albert's Old Country Roses.  We have the full set and use it often.  Here are a couple of items from the set.

The next one is Old English Roses, also by Royal Albert.  It is older.  A very dear cousin often used this set so in Memory of Helen here is a picture of that cup and saucer.

And finally here are a few of the various Rose cup and saucer sets I have had out in my shop and have featured here from time to time.

 This is from Regency China Company.

Royal Vale

 Royal Albert

This is a stunning Royal Chelsea Cup and Saucer. 

Hope you enjoyed all the Rose cup and saucer sets!  I enjoyed finding them for you.

So join me for a cup of tea today and then visit the other tea parties that are taking place today.

 Here is the list of other tea parties in which I am taking part. 

 

 http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com 

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

                                                          
                                                              Rose Chintz Cottage

                                              http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/

Folk Magazine blogging #3

If it is Monday it is time to do the Folk Magazine Blogging Challenge.....

Sorry,  I won't be doing the challenge  this week so am just putting this up for those that might check.

A Tea Party in January

Welcome to another Tea Cup Tuesday.

Here we are in the middle of January and although we are having a bit of a thaw where I live, and my daffodils are poking up through the ground, I KNOW the cold will return.  So I thought I would bring out some floral tea cups to enjoy now that we don't have any flowers growing outside.

This week I have chosen two cup and saucer sets from my shop that I like very much.  They are even "sort of" similar in that they have numerous different flowers all around.  However one is the typical transfer ware pattern and the other is partially handpainted.

I am showing them on a tray with a pretty little doily underneath.  And including two porcelain flower vases.

The cup and saucer on the left is from Crown Staffordshire and is partially handpainted.  I love this one because it has a pretty little pansy on it, one of my favorite flowers.

For information on Crown Staffordshire china you can check out this eBay guide by clicking here.

I am assuming the painted on letters and numbers indicate the artist who added the paint.

This next one is shown on the right on the tray.

   .  It is fromOld Royal China. The pattern name is Swansea.

  From information I can gather Old Royal China was part of a company called Sampson Smith ltd. 

Click on the name to learn more about it.

This company had several names and one was Old Royal China. and this

 particular china pattern has a mark from c.1930-1941.  

 

 So join me for a cup of tea today and then visit the other tea parties that are taking place today.

 Here is the list of other tea parties in which I am taking part. 

 http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com 

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

                                                          
                                                              Rose Chintz Cottage

                                                 http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/

Folk Magazine blogging #2

I am back with the Folk Magazine Blogging Challenge of the Week

For this week they were wondering about what have you done you didn't think you would ever do.
At first I couldn't even imagine what to say about this.  I suppose you could say I NEVER thought I would go to a Nascar race and now we go to at least 1 a year and have been up to 4 one year.
I won't be riding motorcycles, jumping out of planes or any of those supposedly really "scary"  things.  I don't even like to fly in an airplane.  I would certainly never jump out of one.....   LOL

  However, I have started to simplify my life a bit.
So I suppose you could say I never expected to be willing to part with issues of old magazines that I loved.  Or books on subjects I "might" want to get back to. 

Last year I started a purge of unwanted items from my house and that got me to thinking about why on earth I am keeping some of this stuff (magazines in particular) especially since so many ideas are available on the internet.
SO.....  I started getting rid of magazines. They have always been one of  biggest weaknesses.  Some people like shoes, I like magazines.

Over the summer I got rid of well over 100 magazines, crafts ones mostly.  At first I went through all the magazines, pulled out what I wanted to keep and threw away the rest.  In the past few weeks I have been giving many of them away on Freecycle. (These are ones that I left intact.)  It feels good to have them go to someone who will appreciate them now. In case you were wondering, some of these magazines have been around since we lived in Maine, over 15 years ago!
This week I am getting rid of magazines likes Cook's Illustrated, Cuisine at Home and other similar ones.  I have taken out the recipes I want and they will go in a loose leaf notebook.  The others I am offering to my shop customers if they want them.  And then finally they will go to recycling.  If feels good to suddenly have empty spaces appearing!
So that is what I am doing that I never thought I would do!

What are you doing that you never thought you would do?

My sewing machine will be humming today.

 My January Dining Room Table Centerpiece

     This centerpiece is made up from a few things I bought from a favorite country store. 


    They have a small shop at my favorite flea market in Leesport, PA
   The small tray they are sitting on was bought for just 50 cents from an outdoor vendor there, and I painted it to go with....

TIME TO GET BACK TO QUILTING

Over the past couple of weeks I have been working on getting some projects ready for machine quilting.  The two that I will be starting on today and for over the weekend are fairly simple ones.
One is a small table cover, the other a runner.

Here are pictures of the finished piecing part.

This first one is made using fabric from a collection from Connecting Threads.   (A great online quilting shop.) Just click on the name to go to their website.  The name of this collection was Circle of Friends.
I checked there today and they are already pretty much sold out of alot  of the fabric.  It really is beautful stuff though the camera doesn't do it full justice.
  

 

 This second one also suffers in looks from my camera.  Don't know why.  The four larger corner squares will have flowers, leaves and stems appliqued on as part of the quilting process.

It is a pattern from "This n That" pattern company called Prairie Star.  I was using what I had in my various collections of "charm" pieces and didn't have any gold like the pattern showed so used lighter colors instead.  In case you don't know "charms" are 5 inch squares often cold in coordinated groups.

I admit to using this pattern to "use up" some of my stash.  Although it doesn't show well here for some reason in person it is great.  (sigh.....)

 

You can see that I have the pieces pinned with my fancy topped pins.  That is why there are little specks of color all over that don't really look like they belong on the items.

By next weekend I hope they are done and the binding will be ready to go on.

Think I can do it?

A Fresh Start to 2013

Happy Tea Cup Tuesday.  Not a real blog post on Tea Cups but I am going to show one pretty one just to keep with the theme.

This is a Royal Albert Tea Cup set called Angela.  It is one of my very favorites.  I have this in my personal collection.

One of my favorite things at this time of year is to open a new, unwritten in, Journal!  All those pages just waiting for inspiration! 

I love January, always have, even in the depths of winter when we lived in Maine.  It was the one month in the year when I didn't USUALLY have outside commitments and could usually get to do some projects or things I had been putting off.

This new year and January in particular has been presenting a few challenges including JURY DUTY so I have to admit to being being behind in even thinking about Tea Cups and other fun stuff.

For the past two weeks I have been working on sewing projects that were neglected and art projects that had taken a back seat to the holidays. Things I really wanted to finish. And now,  at the moment I am caught up,  Just in time for the Jury Duty to take over my life for a bit... or not.... today I find out more about what it will entail this time.  I have only served one other time and that was when I lived back in Maine, in another life.....


I am hopeful to get back on track for Teacup Tuesday, next week.  I will have a weekend in the antique shop to take pictures and get something written.

But in the meantime I wanted to at least say hello and tell you what I have planned otherwise.

A few months ago I started subscribing to Folk Magazine.  It is a wonderful magazine filled with things I love ..country things, simpler things.  Just click on the magazine cover to learn more about it.

They have started a journaling challenge, for every Monday of the year and they have a blog that will do the same.  I decided perhaps I can join in, at least for awhile.  If you want to visit their blog you can learn about that too.  Click here!

This weeks challenge is "What Goals do You Hope to Achieve This Year?"
I generally know better,  after all the years that I have lived,  than to make the broad statements like more exercise, get organized, etc.  Mostly my goal this year is just to live the year productively and joyfully.  Should not be too hard to do.....

My three areas of interest and therefore things I often blog about are Tea Cups, paper and book crafting, and Quilting.  They will continue.  We have plans for a Nascar race or two, a couple of Blue Grass festivals and many trips to Flea Markets.  Lots of good stuff to blog about.

The Teacup Tuesdays will continue on Tuesday, the Folk Magazine Challenge on Mondays and on Friday I will try to talk about quilting or crafting.  And trips we take on other days or included in one of the above topics.  We shall just have to see how long those plans last.


Thanks for visiting today. And be sure to come back next week. And after you finish up your visit here be sure to check out the other tea parties in which I am taking part. 

 http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com 

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

                                                          
                                                              Rose Chintz Cottage

                                                 http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

A Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all my readers.

Not much today since I seem to be very busy out in my shop and here are home.

I thought I would share a few of the tea time items I found that were quite "of the season" when we went to visit a  group shop called Black Diamond Antique Mall south of us, in Frackville, PA. We were there just a couple of weeks ago.

I will begin with the Santa Display in one booth.

 You can buy "new" Santas and other Christmas items but the vintage ones just have so much more character.

 Here was a pretty little sugar and creamer set.

 And a basket to be filled with candy or treats.

 A miniature pitcher and bowl set maybe just for display.

And finally a plate and some mugs.  Just look around at the antique shops next time you happen by and see what you can find.

  
Next time I have an entry for Tea Time it will be the New Year.  No telling what I will find.
 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Be sure to visit the other tea parties after you end your visit here.

  

http://www.marthasfavorites.com/

or http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com

                                                          

  Rose Chintz Cottage

                                              http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/

http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/