Tea today is actually iced Lemon Zinger. I may be switching to ice water, and pouring it over my head and letting it drip down my body.

I know that everyone else in the country had a warm summer, we did not, it was gray, gloomy and a bit on the cool side. However I think that Mother Nature tried to rectify her imbalances and has decided to give us everything we missed all in one week! We went from the mid ’70’s into the 90’s here in SD over the weekend.

Yesterday was one of the hottest days on record for this time of year; for my hubby it was 110, and here in SD it was about 95. Now I must remind you we have no AC, just little fans that move the heat around your ankles or head, not really very effective or all that pleasant!

Today is supposed to be cooler, but the humidity is supposed to be as high as the temperature, and I have to go to the dentist, and he works where my husband does, and it is gonna be a muggy ugly adventure!

Oh well, complain complain! I hope that everyone else is enjoying the beginning of their fall weather!

I can’t wait to start decorating, and I can’t wait to see all of your decorations!

Take care my friends, I will visit you and Kimmie when I get back from the dentist!

Tea today is actually in a battered old mug, sitting by my computer, steaming hot with my fav, Raspberry Zinger.

I wanted to share the tea set that I have been collecting for over 5 years, which I shared in one of my first tea posts. The pattern is called Sweet Pea, it is a vintage chintz pattern that was made by Royal Winton in the 30’s. The tea pot style is called Albans, there were several styles available in this pattern and there were two different cup styles, and two different cream and sugar bowls. Other items that were made are a pitcher, salt and pepper shakers, sandwich plate (shown in the back) toast rack, nut bowl, candy dish and a covered butter dish.

I fell in love with this pattern after discovering that my grandmother had one piece, a covered butter dish, which I inherited. Actually it came to me by default, my mother and sister thought that it was hideous. I cherished it, we used it for special occasions, with the pretty little summer flowers brightening up the table.

One day a friend came over for tea and I invited her to pick out her tea cup from the china cabinet. I am sure you can guess from the image below that a little bit of a fiasco happened.

Nobody’s fault, I just had stacked a plate incorrectly and it slipped down, pushing the pieces in front of it along the shelf and onto the floor. The butter dish sitting prominently was hit first, taking this lovely little tea cup that had also been my grandmothers. Unusually enough only the bottom portion of the butter dish smashed, the top potion is resting fully intact at the back of the photo.

To say that my heart was a little crushed does not really cover my feelings at the moment, but being the lady that my grandmother taught me to be, I continued to entertain, and we had a lovely rest of the day. Afterwords I went on a quest that took me several years and several undisclosed dollars to find a replacement butter dish.

Along the way I discovered the other wonderful items that were made with this pattern. I made several wonderful connections with people from all over the world, Canada, England and Scotland, with the butter dish coming all the way from Australia. One sugar and creamer came from Florida (perhaps from a transplanted snow bird).

I eventually would like to find someone who cuts the pieces and puts them into a bezel and have a bracelet made. But for now I have recached the smashed and trashed into a bit of art with the help of Gimp photo imaging program.

Cubanism

Woven

Oils

A few weeks ago Patty left me a lovely quote and I would like to share it with you:

“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they fill the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.” ~Barbara Bloom

Thank you for stopping by, and glad to have you all in my life, I truly enjoy visiting you, and look forward to my Tuesday Tea with friends. Please join Kimmie and the rest of the group!

Christen

Tea today is green, calm and warm….

We woke up an hour late and my hubby had to dash into the shower and get dressed for work in 20 minutes. What a special way to start the day, ummmm not!

I just finished the tea cozy in the background, it is hand crazy pieced, with hand quilting. The only machine work was to assemble the front to the back. I made it from leftover bits and pieces of vintage feed sack cloth, that I had used to make my pincushions that I sell on Etsy.

The teapot was a gift from two dear old English friends that I worked with at the Broadway, many many years ago. I found the lovely little cup and saucer at the thrift store where I also found this lovely embroidered table runner.

I used this as an example of free-form embroidery in my BEBE class last session for Joggles. I am a sucker for anything that is embroidered, it is my passion, my meditation, my joy!

I found these darling little Bridge cards on ebay. These came in the original box, with the place cards and the Bridge match up cards! The ladies are a hoot with the net face cover and felt hats, I believe there are eight different styles. The gentlemen all are wearing the same top hat, I guess that it wasn’t important to vary there.

I must not be awake yet because I dream that I am from a different time, when place cards, tea cozies and lace were an everyday enjoyment…

Please join Kimmie and the rest of the tea gals, and make today an event, because you all are special!