Slow Stitching - April 2025 - Week 4

This is my April piece for K3N Cloth Tales - Comfort Coverlet 2025.

I added the tea branch this week as tea grows as a bush.  

I added colored leaves to represent the different varieties of tea. White, Green, Rooibos(red), Black and Yellow which can also represent herbal teas.

The branch fit in very well in the space I had left above the tea house.

Stem stitch was used with brown floss for the wood part and the leaves are hand cut fabric applique with a whip stitch.

This piece is coming together great.

Birthday Lunch

I made this birthday card for a friend who celebrated her birthday in the last few days.  She has been out on several occasions over the last week, lucky girl. I am taking her out for Vietnamese food for lunch today.

The card base is yellow Bazzil textured card stock in the portrait orientation in the half sheet size (8.5x5.5 inches). 

I added this bright designer paper with spring blooms in yellow and various shades of pink.  I added a raspberry colored ribbon along the right hand side with the ends taped to the back.  The layer was adhered to the card front.  I then created the accent with Spellbinder Oval Nestabilities.  The yellow with the scallop edge, then the designer paper with the corresponding smooth oval.  I added some handmade paper flowers held in place with tiny black brads. I then added a birthday greeting in black on a Stampin Up Modern Label punchie.  The accent was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

She is a faithful card giver and I am a card maker so she gets All Occasion cards every year.

I have included a small tin of Jasmine Green Tea from my stash as I recently discovered she enjoys it.

Looking forward to a great visit and lunch.

Recently - National Hot Tea Month

January is National Hot Tea month in Canada.  I am just making it under the wire.

I chose Chai Green Tea in a small 3 cup teapot paired with a pottery warm toned square mug.  Placed on a bamboo placemat.

I warmed up some baking I bought for Christmas and it is time it is consumed.  They are savory tarts.

It was served with Peach Ginger Chutney.  It is so good.

Stay warm with a cup of tea if you are affected by the Polar Vortex hitting the eastern seabord of North America.

I read this most of Saturday.  I enjoyed it very much as it was quite similar to the Kate Morton books I have read.

The story spans the 1920s and the mid 1950s.   It takes place in New York, London and Paris - how bad can that be.

Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor.

Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is.

The Perfume Collector explores the complex and obsessive love between muse and artist, and the tremendous power of memory and scent.

I found this book at the thrift store yesterday.  I normally would not peruse the children book section but I have been watching this show on TV since the fall.  Good programming is very difficult to find on TV these days.  

I like to have physical reminders of the good things in my life and the 20 minutes I spend each day provides me with positive and inspirational programming.  Sam has the cutest laugh.  The watercolor art in the show is very good for my soul.  

So I thought there may be one of the books in the section and there was!  Not one of the stories I have seen on TV yet but I will read the book and await the segment on TV.

I did read the book through because I am not a quitter.  

I did have to pause and question whether a murder investigation story was what I wanted to put into my head before I fell asleep at night.

I did not suffer bad dreams as a result but I will be more discerning about the content of the books in the future.

The story has a good ending but not before betrayal, guns, and murder.  It was a quick read.

It was in the bag from our Welcome to my Kitchen Fellowship group so back into the bag for someone else to read.   If they ask I will give them my thoughts on the book.






 

Recently

I have tried a couple versions of this drink.  

I read about tea infused hot chocolate here.  I decided to try it as it is 2 of my favorite drinks.

LuAnn suggested making the hot chocolate mixture from scratch but I just used what i had on hand.

This sample is Jasmine Green Tea with the off the shelf hot chocolate mix.   It does a different flavor dimension to the hot chocolate.  For me, it is adding caffeine to caffeine so it may not be an evening drink.  

I have tried it with Earl Grey Tea which was very good.

My textile project is complete but I will not reveal it in full until it is submitted to the show in April. 

It was a lot of work and an interesting exercise in using different skills.  Lot of needle work and my right hand was very sore at the end.

Check back here April 13th to see the finished piece.

I picked up this book in early December but only recently finished reading it. 

It is written by my aunt.  She worked on the research, the writing and publishing over an 8 year period.  My aunt inherited my grandmother's journals when she passed away. 

This provides good historical information regarding the ancestry of my grand parents.  It documents the birth of the fourteen siblings in my aunt's family, some of the moves which took place in my grandmother's life and some excerpts from the journals. 

I provided some insight into the family life of my mother and her siblings.  I will have a few questions for my Mom when I see her next.  I am sure she has read her copy by now as well.

My niece has organized a bit of a luncheon before we meet at the book launch in early February.  I am looking forward to see family and speaking to many of those personalities in the book.

Recent Photos

This is a great cup of green tea.  It does not look green but I read in a book recently that the color depends on when it is picked in the year.

This is Jasmine Dragon Pearls green tea which is hand rolled and on the pricey side.  It was a gift from a friend.

I brewed the tea for my photo shoot for my 2019 Tea Pot Calendar which will come out later this year.








This is the book on my night stand this week.  Of course, Maeve is one of my favorite authors and this book covers several incidents that I am familiar with from other books.  I don't know how she kept all the stories and characters straight.

In this book, the story is told from Clara's point of view which is  new character for me.

I am enjoying it and will be done to swap it out at Welcome to my Kitchen next week.

My bible study material is ready to go.  It is on the Fruit of the Spirit and starts next Wednesday which is Feb 14 Valentine's Day.

I am looking forward to having at least 5 ladies attending as we explore how God works in our lives to grow Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Goodness, and Self Control.

Are any of you following "This is Us" TV series?  I have watched it from the beginning and on a special Super Bowl episode we find out how Jack died.  He has been dead since the first episode but with flash backs I have come to really love this character.  He is such a good person with the best heart.   There will be a couple more episodes until it goes in hiatus till the fall.  I have convinced several friends to watching it.  I understand the first season is now on Netflicks.

Well sewing projects don't always work out the way you plan them on paper.  I did a sample of the pattern I posted here but it did not go as planned so I made some adjustments.

I now have made several sets of these and I am happy with them.  The fleece is tricky to get consistent stitching in the zigzag but I can live with it.

I am sharing with
Jann who hosts Share Your Cup #283 at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson

Friends Sharing Tea hosted by Bernideen

Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Tea and Mother's Day Event

I'm sharing the page of my Tea Time Calendar for May.

It features a white bone china teapot by Mantles Kingsbridge.  It's matched with a  Royal Worcester fine bone china tea cup and saucer the pure white Serendipity pattern.

My sister helped me with this table scape and we added  a peony in a crystal vase.  It is a beautiful pink and it adds a bit of height to the table.

A white cloth napkin with a crystal napkin ring.



We hosted our Mother Daughter Sister Friend event on Monday night.  You will recall that I blogged the tea cup coasters I made earlier this year.  We had 80 attend who enjoyed a wonderful roast beef dinner.



We decided to use teapots as center pieces for the 10 tables.

The teapots featured as follows:

a navy one from Ikea,
a Japanese with a wrapped handle,
the cute pink one,
an earthenware glazed in bright colors
a ceramic one in bright green with white flowers,
an elephant in a shiny black glaze,
a blue and white tall one,
a classic Brown Betty,
a clear glass with a fluted body and
a Bone China Royal Albert Petit Point pattern.

Here's how our tables were set up with the cute tea cup coasters.  Each coaster had a pink tag which shared this message.

"A gift for You to help you encourage others.
A teacup coaster to place under
your daily cup.
Should God place someone on your mind as you relax and enjoy your cup.
Make a call, send a text or email, give a card, or plan a visit. Stay connected."

We provided coloring pages and word scrambles as activities for the young ladies who attended our event.

I brought one home and colored it as a way to unwind after a long day.

I chose bright colors with yellows and pinks and purples being featured which were our colors for our event.

I love this fine porcelain tea cup by Adeline.  It features pink and yellow chrysanthemums with gold accents.  The top is not round and features a wavy top edge.

The tea pot is white porcelain by PC.

I added some books in the background along with a vase of pink roses to repeat the pink in the photo.  

I brewed Jade Citrus Mint green tea leaves in my white teapot.  I enjoyed a wonderful cup of tea this afternoon.

  





Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs. Olson who hosts Share Your Cup #248

Bernideen's Tea in the Garden

Ruth at Antiques and Teacups - Mother's Day Tea Battenburg Cake

Share Your Cup #204

My collection of white porcelain tea cups is growing.  I found 2 cups from Stokes at Goodwill for a $1 each.  They are a pure white color, have a bit of texture and present very elegantly.  I filled it with Jade Citrus Mint green tea.  I will be getting rid of my Mikasa ones which don't have saucers.
Check out this post for my last tea cup bargain.

This is a wonderful hand blown glass ball.  It has a wonderful glass hanger at the top.  The outside is iridescent, multi colored and textured.  Shining a light through it reveals wonderful colors.  It's a wonderful beautiful thing and I look forward to having the sun shining through it in the mornings.

This is a tea caddy spoon.  What is it?
A caddy spoon is a spoon used for measuring out the dried form of tea leaves, that are commonly called tea. Traditionally made of silver, they were in common use in the 19th century, when tea was a more expensive commodity. Tea was sometimes stored in elaborate boxes or containers called tea caddies, and these spoons were made to be used with such containers.  I think it's silver plate but with no marks it's impossible to tell. 
This was an extra in a bag of stuff from a second hand store so I'm thrilled that it is a tea related item.  It has Australia etched in the bowl and the Harbour Bridge Sydney on the emblem.

This mystery piece of glass showed up this week.  It was free and undamaged.  It has wonderful colors in it, such as teal and copper.  I have put a tea light on the inside to show of the colors. 
The mystery is what is it?  It has 2 holes on the side which have been drilled.  Why?
It could be a vase but then the hole don't make sense,










it could be a pot which may explain the holes if suspended by some sort of string,
it works as a tea light holder.  Do you have any suggestions or ideas as to it's purpose?  Leave me a comment.

I bought myself a nice bowl for salad.  I eat a lot of vegetable salads during the summer.  I have been eating it from plastic bowl from the dollar store.  Today that changes.  The old one heads out to the second hand store and this nice glass bowl takes it's place.  Eating should be a pleasure and a nice bowl will make it so.  It can also double as a serving bowl when entertaining.  It's just an elegant simple bowl which will wash up nicely after being used.
Love it.






Sharing with Carol at Art and Sand for Share Your Cup #204.

Share Your Cup #200

I washed the kitchen rug and put it out to dry in the wonderful sun this morning.  As you can see it fits right in with the navy and sunshine yellow color theme of my kitchen.  I wash it in the bath tub then put it in the washer on spin only to get most of the water out.  Then it sits on the balcony till it's dry.  I have to turn it over a couple times during the day but at the end of the day it will be dry.  This rug was woven by my Mom on the loom she inherited from her mother. Mom asked what colors I would like and filled the bill.  She's a great lady. 

It rained last night but this morning was warm.

The pot of herbs planted on May 21st is showing signs of life and green sprouts.  It will be a while before I cut them and put them in my cooking.  Patience is a virtue.

I received the latest Stampin Up catalog from my demo Gail.  I made a cup of Jade Citrus Mint and browsed every page carefully.  That was 60 minutes well spent.

I've put a check next to the Woodland and Seaside embossing folders and the new balloon punch which is the right shape in my humble opinion.  The others were perfectly round and balloons are not usually.

I captured this water drop this morning on my walk.  It rained last night so most natural surfaces were wet. 

Roses blooming is a good sign it's June.  I took this one again on my walk this morning.

Great Weekend!

These are pics from my weekend.
The first 2 pictures are from the feature pyramid at Muttart.  Theme is Journey to Middle Earth.  The hobbit house is terrific and Smaug the dragon had "fire" coming from it's nostrils.
On Saturday, I joined my sister to pick saskatoon berries at a U-Pick.  They were just perfect. We picked Nan King Cherries also but I forgot to take a picture.
Jasmine Green Tea Dragon Pearls which I received from a friend.  It was very good!
I have been craving hot dogs roasted on an open fire.  My brother in law made the fire and the hot dogs were just as I had imagined!  Thanks.
The canola fields are turning a wonderful yellow. I chose to have the barn in the background.
It was a perfect Alberta summer weekend.

Submitting this to Mosaic Monday hosted by Judith at Lavender Cottage.