Mikasa Jannie having tea with the 50's

A new summery tea cup has come my  way to help cheer gray days.  The bottom is marked  "Mikasa Jannie".  I swear it does, but I cannot find any information online about it.  

Hubby insisted that I bring her home when we were out and about.  What a sweet guy!

The Pink Splattered Pottery Vase from the 50's was being photographed for the shop, and Janie winked at me.  They do go awfully well together.  

12 Plates Windswept Carefree True China - available

The Windswept plates in the shop would play nicely with her too.  A pink and taupe tea table would be so classy.  Maybe with some natural linen napkins, and sleek silver teaspoons.

Pink Splatter Pottery Vase -available

The vase is a nice height, because it adds some to a table or  shelf without being too tall or overbearing.  

Here is a question for you all; 

Is a lovely tea table an excuse to invite a friend to tea, or is having a friend to tea an excuse to set a lovely tea table?

I will be linking Jannie to these lovely tea parties.

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage

Tea Cup Tuesday

And some vintage fun too!

Knick of Time Tuesday

Your Cozy Home Party 

Green Homer Laughlin and a New Party

Good Morning!  Are you looking forward to spring?  These were the very last roses of 2011, and I am already looking forward to the first flowers of 2012.  Even just a little bit of green would be wonderful.  

There are so many types of green, new and full of life, soothing and restful.

I would like to share a lovely green set from the Homer Laughlin Company that I have in the shop.  They are definitely a soothing green.  Perfect for calming coffee and restful tea.

They are perfect for inviting you to the very first Monday Marketplace Blog Party sponsored by Debra at Common Ground.

The Marketplace Blog Party is a way for those of us with Etsy shops to share what we are excited about at our shops.  It sounds like so much fun.  Let's go see!
(Aww, I forgot the Linky might not be set up until later in the day.  The suspense!)

Taking Time for Tea and Vintage Hankies

Here is the book, taking time for tea, that I won from Linda.  It is full of lovely photo collages that she shared with us over at Friendship Tea.

When I opened the package tea bags sprinkled out!  Thank you Linda for the chance to try a tea company that I had only read about.  Our seventeen year old son and I did a "taste test" right away.  

Having a nice calm discussion about tea with a teenager who is going through the mood swings, school pressures, and all that entails was a wonderful gift too.

This little teapot from China is sitting out waiting to be measured for the shop, and was begging to be in the photo too.

One of my friends here in Wisconsin was surprised that I sell vintage hankies.  Since I actually use them, she thought I would keep them.  

I have a simple system that I use with most of my vintage goodies.  If it has major flaws, I get to keep it.  If it is in great shape, it gets sold.  My shop supports a special need, so it is a priority.  Yet our home has all sorts of vintage accents to make it nice and cozy.

This hanky has a few small holes, so I will "Fray Check" them, and get to keep her to cheer up my days.  The water color looking bouquet almost glows with color.

Do those of you who have shops have a system too?

A Little Creamer and a Little Crochet Doily

 Look at what I found!  

You think I am excited about this little glass creamer.  As cute as it is, that is not it. 

I had forgotten that I took this photo of one of the doilies I crocheted last autumn.

The Granny Squares with flower centers that I was working on for a shawl worked nicely in crochet thread for this little piece.

Here is the whole doily.  I think Grandma would be proud.  She crocheted long after her sight went.  Don't ask me how.

It has rounded corners that I designed on my own.  It seemed a shame to just have plain corners on it. 

Oh, don't worry about that little glass creamer.  She is going to show up in the shop one of these days.  Until then I am going to give her lots of attention trying to figure out who she is.

Embroidered Dots Everywhere

My contribution for Rednesday this week is this tablescarf that I embroidered for Suzie.   For the  Dotty Swap sponsored by Cutie Pie Cottage . The dots bounce all the way around the rest  of the piece.  I used a large vintage linen Damask napkin.  Little Miss and I even made a special trip into the fabric store for the perfect shade of red for her kitchen. 

This is also my piece for the New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns February Redwork Stitch Along.  I was not planning on participating in this SAL, but when I found out Suzie's kitchen was done with red and green I simply had to.

I also hand quilted her this little dotty pouch.  

It is all handsewn, quilted, and embroidered, so even though it is not very large, it took a lot of time.  It was finding bits of pink and green dotty fabric in my stash.

I am just so thrilled to be able to do some handwork again.  It makes waiting go so much faster.

China & Embroidered Flowers, Little Bits of Prettiness

These lovely little plates ended up next to my newly embroidered basket and they looked very nice together.  I have a hard time turning down little orphan plates.  This one is a Limoges  Bread and Butter plate.

The green mark was one the company used from 1900 to 1953.  Fifty-three years!  The red mark is one that they used from 1941 to 1976.  That means this saucer was made between 1941 and 1953.  I should use this as a story question for Little Miss' math lessons.

This little saucer is by Royal Albert a favorite company of mine.   Notice how the scalloped edge echos the shape of the embossed shell pattern around the center.  I love little details.

I have never seen such a wispy flower design on a Royal Albert of this type.  There are even the tiniest pink dots inside the white flowers.

This is "Hawthorn" from the RA Friendship series.  There are twelve different flower designs.  There is not just one, but three different types of tea cup sets in this series, and even full place settings and serving pieces in the different patterns.  A great place to see them is the Royal Albert Patterns Website.  This site was immediately put on my "Favorite Research Sites" Page.

My piece for the  New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns 2012 Quilty Stitch Along  is complete.  These little baskets are turning out to be a nice little bit of fun.  They are only about 5 inches tall.

You may remember my progress report about the different stitches.  I used a double strand of DMC embroidery floss except for the flower stems that I wanted to be more delicate.  For those and the darker green leaves I used a single strand.

There you go, some little bits of loveliness.  I hope your day is full of bits of beauty.


If you need some inspiration, join me at Knick of Time Tuesday.  I am featured this week!

Hallmark Merry Miniature Lambs for Spring

Confession, I have a weak spot for little animals in old-fashioned clothing.  I like to think that it is just a way of staying young.  Yes, it started with Beatrix Potter, and was nurtured by Jill Barklem and her Brambley Hedge stories.

This Hallmark Merry Miniature Pair is in the shop ready for spring.  I am one of those people who does not think spring can come soon enough.

Did you spy the vintage hanky?  It will be going into the shop also.  I am going to collect a group first, to list together.  I love my job!

I cannot figure out what type of flowers these are.  They remind me of double sweet peas, but I do not think that's it.  Azaleas perhaps.  Let me know if you have an idea!

Vintage Straw Holder and a Question

Vintage Straw Holder - sold

Do you ever feel funky for no reason at all?  Playing with photo effects is a good thing to do when I'm in a mood like this.  

Does anyone have any suggestions for online photo editing sites.  Am I stuck using Picasa?  I do not like how Google keeps my original photos without my permission when using Picasa.  Picnik is nice and quick, but it is going away.  

I like simple, fast programs.  It makes it easier when there are a couple hundred 

photos to do for the shop.

Help!