Wedgwood Anniversary

Wedgwood ceramics is celebrating 250 years. The company was founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759. There is a wonderful new book available titled "At Home With Wedgwood: The Art Of The Table". I really like the Jasper ware cups and saucers on the front cover.For readers of Bliss Victoria magazine, there is an excellent feature on Wedgwood with beautiful photos and an interesting time line of the company. For further research check out the terrific information on Wedgwood in the Autumn 2007 issue of Tea A Magazine.

I've really enjoyed my eight place setting of Queen's Ware in the Edme pattern. I'm missing several serving pieces and find that this discontinued pattern is quite hard to find.

This appears to be a much earlier version of the Edme pattern.

I really enjoy the shape of this cup and saucer with its pedestal base.

There have also been some lovely Wedgwood Christmas ornaments over the years. My top wish list item is a miniature Jasper cup and saucer ornament to put on my tea tree.

Green Day

Green is the color of joy, hope and youth. It symbolizes spring and new life. It can be very calming (think hospital walls) or the color of a fiesta (like lime green with red and yellow). I don't think about the negative connotation of green very often, but there is the green eyed monster (jealousy) and sickness (turning green).

It is surprising how much green is in my home.

This photo includes my Elizabeth Arden "Green Tea" Scent Spray and my funky Caribbean amber earrings - I love their pale yellow green color.

This is a Johnson Brothers teapot from England. I like the different shape of the spout and lid.

This vintage teapot looks somewhat blue in the picture, but it is really a pale minty green.

I guess it's no surprise just how many of the books in my tea library featured green.

This was a pretty window that I photographed while walking around in Charleston, SC. There are so many gorgeous gardens there.

Here is another block from my first quilt. Two of the nine blocks in the quilt are green.

Maybe I'll get back on track with my walking program and enjoy all the lovely shades of green in the neighborhood.

If you would like to play along with the color of the week, see Steph's blog at www.stephcupoftea.blogspot.com

Tea Bags

I enjoy sewing small items featuring some of the many tea theme fabrics in my ever growing stash. These little bags are perfect for a shopping trip - lightweight and compact. This one features an older Debbie Mumm fabric with lots of different teapots. It has two handy inside pockets and a velcro closing.




This one has vibrant colored cups and saucers with flowers. It features a bright red zipper closing and an outside pocket.



Here is the pattern for my next tea bag. I thought it would be handy to carry my phone, license and a little cash. It measures only 7" x 8" x 2". This will be my project for the long weekend.

Cheerful and Charming Yellow

Isn't this a charming little figurine? She is all decked out in her Sunday best with her hat and gloves. She is an Avon "Mrs. Albee" award for President's Club members.

It is hard to believe that it was twenty years ago that I was a sales representative (in Canada) for the Avon company. The award was for reps who had sales of at least $10,000 per year (probably a lot higher now). I don't know how I did it - sales are not really my thing.

This glass piece is over a foot tall. Does anyone know what it is intended for - maybe just decorative.

I keep it around because the stem is so beautiful with all the twisted strands inside.

Lots of yellow in this group. The bright yellow teabag is Darjeeling Spring tea from the Stash Tea Company.

These books belong to my grandson. I couldn't resist buying him Tea At the Treedome. There are so many yellow cartoon characters besides SpongeBob. Big Bird and Tweetie come to mind.

This is my America's Sunset Coast book. Yellow and blue is one of my favorite color combinations.

This is a block on the first quilt I ever made. It has yellow sashing between the blocks featuring nine different teapots. The retro fabric prints all seem to have a little yellow in them. I have another tabletop quilt that features French Provencal style fabric in a yellow and blue combination.

I really didn't think that I could find much yellow around the house. Thanks Steph for suggesting this exercise in color. http://stephcupoftea.blogspot.com/

Vintage Jewelry Christmas Ornaments

This afternoon I got together with some friends to learn how to make ornaments with vintage jewelry odds and ends.

My friend Barbara has taken several classes and was kind enough to offer her expertise. She is an accomplished craftswoman, an avid collector and a wonderful seamstress and embroiderer. She showed us boxes and boxes of lovely vintage jewelry and prisms that she has collected over the years.

Her creations, displayed on three small trees in her dining room were so pretty. We were working with 24 & 28 gauge silver and gold wires. Learning all the techniques would obviously take more time than we had today, but we were happy to complete a half dozen ornaments each.

Two of mine featured teapots and will be hung on my dining room tabletop tea tree.

The little angel with the prism body was quite a challenge. Her little wings are rather misshapen, but she is still cute. The ornaments are all rather slender, since I didn't have any large jewelry pieces and was working mostly with beads. I will be on the lookout for new crafting materials now when I stop at local yard sales.

It really was fun to chat with friends, drink tea and get creative.

Color Of The Week giveaway

Steph is having a giveaway at her blog http://stephcupoftea.blogspot.com/ and this week the color is robin egg blue. I love blue and found many lovely shades around my home, but somehow this shade of blue is a little hard to find around here. This book cover on my "Isles of the Carribbean" book is pretty close.

Robin egg blue is such a pretty, bright color. Darker blue is less lively and seems to represent authority and success. Maybe that's why IBM was known as Big Blue. Then there is "having the blues" and being sad.

This Royal Stafford bone china cup and saucer is paler than robin egg blue (the background comes closer) but it is a favorite of mine for its pretty color.

The candle looks to be the right shade. This will be a fun exercise to help me become more aware of the color that surrounds me and not just see blue, but robin egg blue, navy blue, teal blue, powder blue..........

Tea Theme Quilting

Recently, I received a gift of fabric from a friend wanting to encourage me to start quilting again. It is a gorgeous pattern with a black background and blue and white china and floral cups and saucers. She thoughtfully included a simple quilt pattern as well. We chose two coordinating fabrics (deep blue and salmon) at a quilt shop. I found another yard of fabric (a Mary Engelbreit pattern with tiny teapots on a black background) in my stash. Pam offered to help me cut out the pieces for my quilt, which we did in less than three hours. This time frame also included a lot of piecing that I did on her sewing machine, while she pinned and pressed. I came home with a large portion of my quilt completed.

I now have six rows completed and sewn together. My next step will be a trip to the quilt shop to buy fabric for the borders. I'm considering a black print that I could use for the borders, back and binding. I found this whole process much easier and more enjoyable with the help of an accomplished quilting friend.

The Berries Are Back

Don't you just love the availability of fresh local berries at this time of year. I really miss my organic granola with fresh berries for breakfast during the fall and winter. It is just not the same buying berries imported from Chile or some other country. I have been buying Florida blueberries for the past few weeks and now the strawberries are ready at my local pick your own farms here in my area of Georgia.

The June 2009 issue of Martha Steward Living has a nice page (From My Home To Yours) that features a recipe for Blueberry Buttermilk Scones and they look delectable. I will be spending a little time later today making these, my favorite kind of scones.

Another great thing about blueberries is their superfood status. They are packed with antioxidants and are known as brain food. I like to use berries in all kinds of recipes, especially salads and deserts.

Tea With Milk And Sugar

This Tonfisk Newton milk jug is really quite an innovative new product. It has an ingenious mechanism that makes it possible to pour the milk without removing the sugar bowl, which remains level.

It was designed by Tanja Sipila. The jug has a 3/4 cup capacity and the sugar bowl is coated in real gold. You can see more great products at the Huset shop. Huset means "the house" in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian.

www.huset-shop.com

Tea in Grand Style

Tea in the Garden View Lounge at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort is always an enjoyable experience. The tables are set with Royal Albert's Old Country Roses china, which is a very pretty pattern and the most popular china pattern in the world. The Grand Tea is my choice and comes with a glass of Domaine Ste.-Michelle sparkling wine. There are five kinds of tea sandwiches (basil poached pears and Gorgonzola on pumpernickel is my favorite), onion quiche and a delicious duck pate. If you care for dessert there is a luscious English Trifle with strawberries and raspberry liqueur.

The atmosphere is quite serene considering that this Lounge if part of a busy Disney resort. That is my lovely daughter enjoying her tea. It is so pleasant to take a break from the hustle and bustle of a crowded theme park, ride the monorail over to the stately Grand Floridian and enjoy an excellent afternoon tea.