Meeting the Folks From...

While rainy days are great for spending time in the sewing room, they are not so great for showing off one's corner. As if I have any control over the weather, but I am thanking God for some blue skies so that the Creekside Cottage Folks can have a good day.

I always document the crafts I make hoping to see improvement. It's not always the case. Hope that no one inspects this tea cozy too carefully.

And could my October calendar be any more perfect?

(The Creekside Cottage Folks are from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.)

Have a happy day. I know that I'm going to enjoy mine.

Ditto

Late in the night I was still putting the final touches on this tea cozy. I'm so happy that it is finished and that I can now send it with joy to Miss Sandy. I was up early this morning to grab enough light to take a reasonable photo. This project has been promised for over a year. Over a year. *thud*

Heading for Arkansas

ETA: 9/21/2011 You'll find Miss Sandy's sweet thank you here at Quill Cottage.

Late yesterday afternoon, I took a lot of photos to share the new kitchen window and what's going on with John's work on the house. Now you'll want to throttle me, but I'm waiting on most of it because it'll look so much better in just a few days. Here's a mere hint:

new insulation



Much of the delay is because John is reinsulating the house. It is labor intensive and time consuming. Soon, though, I can show this side completely done and that will include my new kitchen window from outside.

Let's move on to other sights around the yard, shall we?

Looking Up

First of all, here it is the middle of September already and the leaves are still green. Usually, they have begun to change. How about in your corner? This alarms me a bit and Deanna knows why. ☺

Back Yard

The sweet potato vine is a plant new to me and suggested by Deanna (Creekside Cottage). I've been quite pleased with them and am looking forward to their autumn colors.

Late Afternoon Wave Petunias

The petunias are looking their best of the entire summer; this picture just isn't the best. I repotted them when they began to look bedraggled in July. That has made a world of difference. They had been terribly root bound. I've just about decided, once and for all, that any potted plant in my possession is going to get repotted immediately upon arrival at The Haven.

Touched by Fire

This is my favorite photo of the day. A few minutes after I'd come inside to get back to work on all things tea, I glanced outside and saw that the sinking sun was now highlighting and shining through the blossoms. So pretty.

Did you see that Melissa at The Inspired Room is having her annual Fall Nesting Party tomorrow? (Check my sidebar for the link.) This year, the time sneaked up on her so it's a bit of a late notice.  Still, I'm going to try to participate and here is a preview.

To the left you see a pitcher. It belonged to my grandmother and it appears to be the size for mixing cocktails or martinis or something. Seasons and scenes are represented and I'm showing you autumn's scene with a hunting dog, an Eastern Spruce, and a hunter prepared to shoot. The photo should enlarge to see the details.

The photo on the right shows my Eastern Spruce. The only tree on my property other than bushes. I am easily charmed by such coincidences.

Join me tomorrow for The Fall Nesting Party and won't you consider participating, too?

Blue Tea Cozy

My titles are so uninspired these days. That's because I am trying to make finding a former post easier than it had been back in the day when I wrote those fussy foo-foo titles that meant zip. It's all about being able to find it again. And I finally started using the post labeler, also in hopes of making finding things easier.

I've had a few questions about yesterday's post so wanted to explain. My mother told me that my grandmother loves to color. I had no idea that she enjoyed coloring; although, I love to color, too. Perhaps that's where I get it. Anyway, I printed off a spring picture of tulips and daffodils and she happily colored and colored and colored. Two days worth of coloring. On the same picture. I think that I must find out how to do a wax crayon transfer so that we can preserve her efforts. (She tells me that crayons used to be much better. Anyone know anything about that?) Anyway, at one point, I turned the corner and there she was still coloring and that little pang hit and I wanted to save the moment. (It is that picture I used for yesterday's post.)

While she colored, I worked on the tea cozy you see above. Now that I'm so smart about digital images and everything (those of you who truly are must be snickering behind your hands ;>), I reattempted one of Miss Sandy's tips of Quill Cottage and it worked this time. Perfectly! It just goes to show that I must read directions carefully and follow them closely.

I also got inspiration from Becky's recent post at Sweet Cottage Dreams. You can find that right *here.* Becky does beautiful work!

Things are looking up around here...no snow. Enjoy a wonderful Monday!

Tea Cozy Winner

The names are gathered in...

Honey, I need you! (He's not nearly as excited about playing the role of "the hand" as he used to be.)

But he's still a pretty good sport...

Just announcing the winner of the tea cozy. It may be that I buried that giveaway too deep as few there were who found it. So it's as it should be and as I like it. One who reads here regularly and comments often has won — Packrat @ Swatting at Flies!

Packrat, please email me your information and tell me a little more about yellow, white, and blue. The Tetley black tea I understand completely.

Thanks to everyone who participated. Wish that I could make you all a tea cozy!

Show and Tell

Do you remember Show and Tell day from kindergarten or first grade? I do. Very well, in fact. I even remember the one item that I most loved showing — my dolly. She was all dressed in a coral crocheted number that my mother made for her. It included the dress and a little sweater with pearl buttons and a hat, too. Plus booties. Oh she was a vision was that little doll baby of mine.

Anyway, perhaps it's because I know the quality of my mother's workmanship that I have a difficult time making things for her. I know that I can't do as well as she does. Case in point...tea cozy #2. The design is a bit off center and it stands a bit wonky, but I did double turn it so that the inside seams are not raw edges. That's an improvement over mine. As John likes to say, "By the time I get these projects perfected, I'll be on to the next thing."



Still, I was terribly impressed with myself for creating this pot holder for my sister. It's partly made from a vintage tablecloth that used to be on our childhood home's table. It's a lot of fun to make, too. *Here's* the link for figuring it out for yourselves or you can watch it below. This gal does a great job of explaining! I think she used 8-inch squares, but I used 10-inch squares for a nice big one.







Did you think that I was going to make you look at tea cozies every few days for nothing? Noooo, it's time for a giveaway! (The drawing will be March 1, 2010 at 7 pm EST.) I'm offering a tea cozy like one of these wonky ones pictured. Nothing special and only for those who find this post and read this far shhhhhhhh. All you have to do is tell me what your kitchen/dining room colors are and what your favorite tea is. (Yes, and don't you know it, this is really a test to see if people actually read my posts. I've had the sneaking suspicion...)

So that's my Monday story, I'm eager to hear yours!

Edited to Add: March 1, 2010 @ 7: 08 pm Comments have closed, which feels ridiculous to say since no one has commented in days and days. Guess tea cozies don't make the best giveaways. ;>

Tea Cozy

Thank you all for your wonderful comments, which have buoyed me considerably. I know that behind those comments are a lot of prayers. I can sense them and am so grateful for them.

And, I am taking your advice to heart. It may not be possible to get out of the house for a getaway very often, but I can get away in the house. It had been weeks and weeks since playing in my craft room. Though I'm not a very good crafter, I do enjoy my puttering time. Nan had her silver bell to ring for me and that gave me a few hours upstairs. She read. I sewed. It worked. She only rang once. ;D

So now I am in the tea cozy business (do not take this too literally...no Etsy shop in my future). My hope is to make all the ladies in the family a nice tea cozy because I have been enjoying my tea times tremendously. Chamomile is wonderfully calming and I need all the calming I can get.

Using Insul-Bright, yesterday's project was a repurposing of a torn pillow sham. Since it was going to be the prototype and the pillow sham was a gift from my daughter and I was keeping it, there was little fretting and lots of fun. I mean, look at it! What could I possibly have done to harm it? Ha!



Here's the finished cozy sitting on the jelly cupboard with a rooster button covering a patched hole...





Next up...



The thing that is really floating my boat is that there's enough old pillow sham to make a kind of matching cozy for my daughter. She doesn't drink tea, but who knows? One day, she may want to give the cozy a try.

Hope that if life should become stressful, you'll try a project and a cup of chamomile tea. A blessed day to you...