Let's make Christmas tea, shall we?

 

 My Blossom girl loves a pot of tea.

Many of our shared and treasured memories of her childhood and young adult years are drawn from the everyday rituals of an afternoon tea time. 

 We home-schooled you see, which allowed us to spend the mornings on academic study and the afternoons pursuing study and discussion of the arts - music, painting, Shakespeare, opera, ballet, poetry, the classics - all enjoyed over a wonderful afternoon tea.

 From a young girl of six through to the woman of 21 she is today, tea has held a special place in our time spent together. I'm so glad to have taken a few photo memories along the way.

2002 - tea party at our home in Coffs Harbour for homeschool friends...

 2006 - a special birthday tea party for a friend in Alice Springs...

2009 - our usual afternoon tea together but this time in another home and a new town (Charters Towers)... 

We had our tea wherever the mood took us.

In the garden (2010)...

 ...at home or out and about.

We still have tea together, not as often, but just as special.

Each year we brew pots of home made Christmas Tea. It's a blend I've been preparing for a while and we all love it. A bonus is that once made it will store for years, so I thought you may like to make some for yourself, and perhaps for gifts? 

Fill a jar and give it a stir, then seal and leave for month before brewing.

I do think some dried orange peel or a split vanilla bean added to the blend would be delicious, so I shall "tweak" my own recipe this festive season!

Drop by tomorrow as I shall be sharing an idea for packaging the tea as a Christmas gift, but until then, have a lovely day!

Perhaps with a nice pot of tea and precious young soul to share it with?

hugs

Family tea-time and one last free design!

It's funny how life turns out.

I've been good friends with Heather and Barb for a couple of years now, sharing many a stitching day with a few other friends but also enjoying the odd cuppa on the spur of the moment when the mood strikes.

I love that - having a friend up the road to just 'drop in on' and there's no effort or planning involved. Just "pop the kettle on and I'll be there soon" kind of thing. 

Having no family here apart from Mr E and Blossom, and still feeling rather 'foreign' after 3 years in Townsville, the comfortable pleasure of friends close-by is a true delight.

But then you start to talk and share about the wider family you've both got and a surprise pops out you never imagined!

You see, about four generations ago three brothers left Teglio in Italy and arrived in Australia.  

Heather, Barb and Mr E are all descended from those brothers - maybe the same brother, we're still working that information out.

So here in a place I never wanted to live, but which has now got my heart, we found 'family'.

Probably second cousins twice-removed (ha ha!) but family none-the-less - and I cannot tell you the depth of joy that has filled my heart at the discovery of this connection.

And that is why the title of this blog post is "Family tea-time".

Whilst whiling away a few hours over coffee (yes, it was coffee in the tea cups...but I LOVE pretty much anything in a tea cup!), Heather brought out a project she'd been working on and seriously I wanted to stuff it under my blouse and run home with it!!

You would have too, right?!

 This gorgeous little pouch is a heart stealer...

In fact if you head over HERE to her blog you can see a second version she made in greens (equally divine) and Heather also has a link to the pattern in her blog post so we can all make one.

 Today is the 31st March, and that officially ends my 9-day Tea Week!

I hope you've enjoyed all things TEA with me?

Of course there was one more design that wouldn't leave me alone so I had to make it for you, didn't I?! 

It started like this...

....and became something rather lovely.

This pattern is free to download HERE until after Easter (April 7th) at which time it will become purchase only, so you'd best hurry over now to claim it...

I think these fabrics make The Tea Lover's Pot sing!

They are a mix of "Wiltshire Daisy" and "Tilda".

BLOG HOP!!

Drop by tomorrow because there's a blog hop and I am part of it!

I'll have a list of all those involved so bring a cuppa to the blog with you 'cause you'll be here a while.

There's a lot of lovelies to swoon over...and it all has a tea theme...well, what do you know about that?!

hugs

Natural cleaning and a sneak peek...

Slowly I am making my way through the house, 'walking each room' and sorting out what can stay, what must go, and what needs to change or move.

Helpful in this is my handy dandy household binder which stores all my notes, lists and ideas, gathered from old or new homemaking magazines, blogs, books and friends - plus some I even thought of myself....

The binder is divided into many (and varied) subjects...

Yesterday I decided to take a leaf from the laundry section and make my first batch of home-made natural washing powder...

I don't remember where I got this exact recipe, but probably from Rhonda's blog (here).

  Anyhow, it was very simple...

...and after I'd made it I did a test run.

I used less than a 1/4 cup for one load of towels in our front loader and they came out sparkling clean and wonderfully soft!

As this year is all about getting my life back to a gentle state of domesticity I have some good resources on hand to constantly inspire and teach me.

Here's a few I've used for general home-making ideas, living more naturally, and bringing a gentler sense of 'home' to our rental house...

For your information:

My tutorial to make the household binder is HERE

The lovely stitchery on the cover is a free design by Rhonda Hetzel HERE.

In between cleaning and planning I've been working on a final free 'tea' design which I'll share with you tomorrow. It's a simple one, but very sweet...

Have a fabulous week!

hugs

A tutorial and a free Easter design...

Yesterday my Kettle block (from this pattern) went from a flimsy to this!

It's now the prettiest mini quilt...

...and I'm sure the sweet 'Pedal Pushers' fabrics by Lauren & Jessi Jung had a lot to do with that!

The small prints and the vibrant colours really stand out against the white homespun background...

The only print I had to search through my stash for was the grey/green tonal used as the steam coming from the boiling kettle...

Now all I need to make is a fabric form of sugar bowl and milk jug because then my tea week projects would be complete! But perhaps this project will cover the milk jug side of things...

Back in 2012 I shared a simple tutorial for a beaded milk jug cover if you have 15 minutes to spare?

It's really, really simple, and you'll find it HERE.

Last year I shared this free Easter project and it's back HERE in my shop for you again for 2015.

Be blessed and rejoice as you stitch it!

Enjoy your weekend,

hugs

A Kettle...

I gave myself the afternoon off yesterday so that I could indulge in some patchwork piecing.

Not just any patchwork though, my mind was clearly set on sewing a kettle!

This block is part of the Fat Quarter Shop's 2015 BOM, "Snapshots".

As soon as I saw it I printed up the pattern and placed it on my desk in preparation for an afternoon's play sometime this month. 

I think from afar my fussy cut kettle top looks like a bird, don't you?

My version of the Kettle block will become a wall hanging when I complete the quilting and binding...

...and I'll hang it very close to all my Tea Cosies!

After all, you can't brew tea without a kettle. 

 You may have noticed by the run of tea posts on the blog this week that I take my tea rather seriously.

In fact, I like to learn as much as I can about it and have a few books on hand for reference...

 ...as well as articles I tear from magazines for future reference.

I have a couple more tea posts to share next week which will be lovely to close March with - and one more free design which I think you'll love. I was going to show you a peek today but decided to wait a little longer and surprise you instead. 

In the meantime here are a few lovely thoughts from one of my books.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, and your tea!

hugs