What I've Been Working on Lately......

Here are a few of the things I have been creating, some for the shop, some for gifts, some just because I wanted to!!!!
These gift tags are going to the Broadway shop, Julianna's, and I have another batch soaking in coffee, to use for myself !

The snowman's buttons are from my dwindling collection of vintage abalone and mother of pearl buttons.This snowman is made out of vintage, felted, tea stained wool.Some of the others are made of cotton batting or cutter quilt remnants.

These "zen sticks" are a result of  me playing around with my leftover beads and stones, after receiving a similar one from a "bloggy: friend. .They can be quite pricey to make, especially when using semi precious stones!
I received some  lovely calming beads from "faerwillow"- you can go to her blog and check out her etsy shop to purchase some of hers!She has some gorgeous ones!  My daughter promptly christened mine  zen sticks- they are a new age version of the old time worry beads. After having faerwillow's for a while, I can attest to their usefulness!! Mine are made with 20 gauge copper or silver coated wire. One of mine has a red jasper ring - jasper promotes harmony- we'll see if it's true!!! The other two are a beachy feel. These will just be gifts or giveaways.

The little bead bracelet spells out Broadway Gobblers - for the local high school team.

My feather tree is just a tiny "Charlie Brown" tree, made with a wood skewer, wrapped in floral tape, with faux pine branches, topped with a primitive rusty star. The pottery flower pot sits in a thrift shop votive candle holder made out of a slice of tree.

 I was harvesting herbs last week- and made this little hanger of curly willow (or Harry Lauder Walking Stick, not sure) with similarly scented herbs - lemon thyme, rosemary, and sage.

This bunch of lavender in the vintage silverplate urn may make it to the shop - altho I kind of like it!!!! The urn was a yard sale find - for 50 cents - since it had a broken handle!!! I fixed it!!!

Here's my vintage drying rack in the basement-the rack was also a yard sale find !

The upcycled teacup server and Christmas pedestal servers are already in Julieanna's.

The quilted table runner was one I made years ago out of vintage quilt blocks, machine quilted by Anne Weber of Ashburn, Va.

This last little piece was just me fooling around with a tin pie plate, after seeing Kimmie's tutorial on her bottlecap quilt! The reverse side looks better than the front, I think!!! The front is gessoed and decorated with bits of  clock innards. Not sure what I will do with it now tho......LOL

Now, off to make yet another cup of hot tea with honey, in an attempt to get rid of this cold!!!!

Tea on Tuesday

First of all, I bet you didn't know that today is International Tea Day??

You can go to this website to read more about it - www.cec-india.org

In a nutshell, I believe the idea for an international day was conceived in the hopes for fair trade and to protect the interests of small tea farmers and their laborers in the 3rd world countries.

Here is a blurb from that website:

"On every 15 December all tea producing countries across the World observe International Tea Day to draw attention of governments and citizens on the impact of tea trade on workers, small growers and consumers. The decision to observe the International Tea Day on 15 December was taken after deliberations among various international organizations and trade unions during the World Social Forum in Mumbai (‘04) and Porte Allegre (‘05). Subsequently, the International Tea Day is observed in major tea producing countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Uganda,India and Tanzania."

It is worth checking out.

Today, I raise my new cup (from my friend Teresa) to those hard working farmers, who allow me to drink such a wide variety of wonderful teas.

This mug is an early and surprise Christmas gift from my friend - with a lid and infuser. I am steeping a cup of fresh ginger. Thank you, "T"!!!!


Since the holidays are almost upon us, I thought you might like to see this lovely little feather tree adorned with tea ornaments!!! So cute, it has inspired me to be on the lookout for some tiny teacups in the coming year!!!!

I have several little teapot ornaments, including one that a friend gave me last year- with a winter scene, complete with red barn (like mine)! This teapot stays out all year 'round, hanging on my kitchen window.

This blog has the cutest original design artsy teapots - check it out!!!

Please join us for Tea on Tuesdays - see Kimmie for a list of participants. We have a new one amongst us - drop by and visit her- it's a good read!!!