Making another tea cosy and etiquette...

 I'm rather partial to tea cosies, are you? 

Today I started on a new one. In my stash was some lovely green linen which I'd originally purchased to make an apron, but then decided it was too dark for my style so popped it away until another idea came to mind. Which it did this week. 

Recently I received an advance gift bundle of the new Tilda line 'Gardenlife' from the Australian distributor to design with. Now, all the prints in this range are large so I've had a real brain freeze how to use them. As a stitchery designer I tend to choose small prints otherwise the fabric takes over and the stitchery is lost...so how do I feature these larger print fabrics, I asked myself? And then I was tidying up the sewing room and picked up the green linen I'd purchased a while back...yep, it would match perfectly with some of Gardenlife. Yay!

I made a template for the tea cosy after measuring the pot I'd use it on, fused Parlan behind the front and back pieces for insulation, then sewed that pretty teal and green floral print along the bottom.

Next I made some paper pieced hexagons to create flowers which I'd applique to both sides of the tea cosy.

Then I needed leaves so instead of my usual blanket stitch applique I chose to make these ones. After drawing the outline of a leaf onto a doubled piece of the green linen I machined over the drawn line before cutting out the leaf, leaving a tiny seam outside the sewing line. 

Then I cut a hole on one side of the leaf, pulled the leaf right side out and pressed the leaf flat.

Next, I stitched the leaves in position beside the hexie flowers using a blind stitch.

Can you see that I positioned the flowers and leaves differently on each side of the tea cosy?

That's as far as I got today, after all, there's more to my days than sewing - but I did thoroughly enjoy taking a few hours out for myself to make something new.

I'll complete it tomorrow, though how it will finally look I'm still not sure. There's a few ideas competing in my imagination! In Friday's post you'll see which idea came to pass.

A trip to the op shop after doing groceries on Monday yielded a bargain! The Ashdene tea pot, tea cup and saucer above are gorgeous and when Blossom and the children were over for the day on Tuesday we enjoyed numerous cups of Vanilla Tea from that pot.

This pink tea cup and saucer were also an op-shop find; in fact I deliberately drop in to op-shops when I'm out and about to look for pretty tea things.

Notice the tea cosy behind the pink cup? I shared a tutorial for this one in 2015 when I did my first Tea Week series, and it's still my favourite cosy. I used just one pretty Tilda print to make this one, adding vintage lace and ric rac as embellishments. 

To be honest, I miss the old style of Tilda fabric - they were unique and sublime. The fabrics of the past few years just haven't won my heart the way those beautiful older ones did. Have you found that too? Perhaps that's why I love this tea cosy so much. 

If you'd like to make this tea cosy just pop over HERE to the tutorial blog post from 2015 and it's all there for you. 

HIGH TEA

Blossom, Rosie, Rosie's daughter Barb, and I, enjoyed a sumptuous High Tea together at a cafe in town a number of years ago, and sometimes Blossom and I would go there for High Tea alone. The beautiful little shop who hosted these teas closed due to an illness in the family and never re-opened again, so we've never attended one since. One of the things I loved about that shop was choosing your own vintage tea cup as they had many to choose from and all of them so pretty, old and dainty. And of course there were the tiered displays of various cakes, desserts and sandwiches! Oh my, how incredibly delicious.  and I cherish the memories we all made.

So what exactly is a High Tea?

I found this information on the website of my local tea centre the other day and thought you might like to know the history of High Tea. Here's what I discovered...

Have you ever wondered why high tea is never referred to as high tea in cities like London and Dublin? That’s because Australia is one of the few countries in the world that refer to afternoon tea in this way!

One of the biggest misconceptions is that the ‘high’ in high tea is a reference to the upper classes, and in extension, fancier tea affairs. However, it’s actually a historical reference to the height of the table that afternoon tea was originally served from. 

Back in eighteenth-century Britain when afternoon tea was synonymous with dinnertime, the term ‘high tea’ was used to describe formal meals served on high tables (think a dinner table) as opposed to more casual morning tea served on low tables (like coffee tables). 

While contemporary afternoon tea is now understood as a light repast enjoyed around 4:00 pm (coming from a twentieth-century shift in cultural norms), this historical connotation plays a lot into why Australia and other former British colonies like New Zealand and South Africa still call this meal ‘high tea’.

Perhaps I need to make one of those tiered cake stands and host my own High Tea? I surely miss attending them...but that's what was so lovely too. I was being served the tea and treats, not making them. You know, it's nice at times to be the one at the table rather than the baker and hostess. So maybe it would be wiser to find another cafe which hosts High Tea in my area...hmm...??

Now on to something new I learned this week!

How to hold a tea cup correctly (etiquette lesson)...

All these years I have been holding my tea cup incorrectly, so after I watched Myka Meier demonstrate correct etiquette for drinking tea from a tea cup on Monday, I taught Blossom, and together we sat and laughed as we drank our tea like Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. We felt so posh, and rather proud of ourselves too. 

Here's Myka's video on the correct etiquette for taking tea. She's such a fun lady and knows her stuff so I hope you enjoy learning along with me. 

That's it for today my lovelies. It's taken me hours on and off to finally finish this post and we had dinner half way through, but now there's apricot pies cooling on the kitchen bench for dessert and I might just make a pot of Vanilla tea so I can show hubby how to hold the cup. Oh wait, that won't work. He only drinks tea from a coffee mug! Sigh.  

Have a blessed day or evening, wherever you heart resides around the globe. May the Lord bless you and keep you close to His heart and be all the assurance you'll ever need...

hugs

Stitchery pattern to celebrate TEA Week...

Are you enjoying Tea Week at Elefantz? 

It's been loads of fun for me because tea is such a lovely thing to talk about, think about, plan for, and indulge in - perhaps because tea time represents a period of rest. You know, downing the work tools and resting your body on a comfy chair to 'indulge' in a moment of leisure and peace?

What do you  do when you take your tea break? Sometimes I wistfully turn the pages of my favourite English magazine and dream of being surrounded by a cottage garden or on a picnic by the river; and other times I just sit quietly and think deep thoughts about life, the universe, and everything.

Yesterday I showed snapshots from the progress of a pretty little stitchery I was working on for you.

Today you can see it finished and already displayed on a project...

No surprise that this became a feature on the third tea cosy I've made in a week?!

For this Cosy I worked to compliment the circles in the fabric design and add dimension. The stitchery was needle-turned onto the front, then a line of hand quilting sewn around the shape. For more interest an assortment of red buttons were positioned inside a few of the flowers...

I decided a Tea Cosy must look as interesting on the back as it does on the front because when it's placed at the centre of your table it will indeed be seen from all angles - so here's how I finished the back of this new Cosy...

A piece of the striped contrast fabric made a narrow stem for one of the flowers on the fabric print, and then I added long lazy daisy stitches inside the petals before sewing a large button to the centre.

What do you think?

And to finish off my newest Cosy there is a useful loop for lifting it off the teapot when pouring...

If only I had time to make more and more Tea Cosies. There's a million ideas roaming through my little grey cells! 

Maybe when I have finished all my current projects...hmmm....

Enjoy stitching the "Tea Leaves" design. It's available HERE in my shop. 

How will you be using it?

If you missed my tutorial for making a Tea Cosy it's in THIS blog post.

 Te Etiquette number 4...

 hugs

Tea from Nana's pot...

From the time I was three till age 14 I mostly lived with my Nana and Pop in their tiny three-room walk-through flat. Childhood memories of those years often spill over into life now, decades later, and I think of that as a special legacy they left me. 

This week I've been talking a lot about tea, which has caused me to ponder what it is about the ceremony of tea time that I love so much - and that led me straight back in my mind to Nana and Pop and the thousands of pots I had happily shared with them.

I thought I'd share a little of that history with you today... 

In Nana's home we only ever drank tea as our hot beverage because coffee was thought to be something you drank when you were out, and cocoa just never appeared in her kitchen.

Each morning upon waking I would take my place at the beautiful, yet simply set Formica table, and await my first cup of tea. Always in china tea cups, and always white with two sugars. 

 Nana would set the table for breakfast as her final chore at the close of every day. I would listen to her setting our plates on a fresh tablecloth, the cutlery softly placed to the side and tea cups clinking as they were turned over on their saucers. When she was satisfied with her preparations the light switch would be flicked, darkness welcomed, and sleep embraced.

On a full moon night Nana’s kitchen table was magical to my young eyes. I would creep past my sleeping grandparents and through the doorway that led from their bedroom into the softly illuminated kitchen.

Atop a freshly laundered and pressed tablecloth, a delicate square of lace covered the cups, saucers, tea pot, plates and cutlery like a shimmering web, the moonlight dancing upon the silverware adding to the ethereal atmosphere. Often I’d pause by the table on my way back to the couch where I slept, and try to guess what breakfast Nana had planned for the morning. 

 

She never, ever, served a cold breakfast. It could be leftovers from the evening meal the night before, eggs and sausages with thickly cut charred toast, butter fried kidneys and bacon, or if Pop had just arrived home after a night shift at the wharf he’d be standing by the stove with the old frypan tilted to one side frying fresh potato chips in lamb fat. Nobody made freshly chipped potatoes like my dear old Pop, and Nana never set her hat to take that crown from him because it was such a blessing for her to sit and be the one served for a change.

Pop would cut a thick slice of bread and butter it generously before laying a half dozen plump chips diagonally across it and folding the bread across them so my little hands would not be burned as I gobbled up my favourite of all breakfasts.

Our teapot was large and metal, leftover from Nana’s days as cook in a pub after WW2, and she only ever used loose tea leaves. Nana made a point of teaching me her recipe for a good brew – before pouring in the boiling water add to the pot one teaspoon of tea for each person, and one for the pot. Once the brewing had begun an oversized hand-knitted tea cosy would cover the pot and the next step of this ceremony would be mine.

I was to turn the tea pot around and around, using another of her calculations - one turn for each person and one for the pot, and halve ther total.

Morning tea on weekends always offered the surprise of tea cake, buns, or biscuits with another pot of tea, as did afternoon tea when I arrived home from school.

Nana religiously served a leg of lamb or roast chicken for lunch on Sunday’s,  but Sunday night it was her custom to take the evening off, baking only a fluffy batch of scones to have with thick lashings of butter and her homemade jam. On Sunday nights it was also usual for us to drink our way through two large pots of tea whilst playing cards!

As I think back on my childhood it’s easy to see where my love for the ceremony of tablecloths, tea cups, and piping hot pots of tea in handmade cosies came from - Nana. 

Another favourite memory is when Pop would be working afternoon shifts so it would only be Nana and I for dinner. Sometimes she’d have a cheeky twinkle in her eye and ask me, “How about we skip dinner tonight and share a loaf of fresh baked bread between ourselves? I have a pot of strawberry jam, plenty of butter, and we can drink all the tea we like. Just you and me and we won’t tell Pop I didn’t cook a meal…”

Pop knew all about this and was chuffed that we shared this simple treat, but he never let on to me. It was a little game they played with me to create a special ‘Nana and Jennifer’ occasion and it lasted until I was well into my teens when I absently let slip I'd known for years that Pop knew exactly what we were up to.

To this day I cannot brew a pot of tea without remembering the taste of fresh bread, butter and jam, and Nana’s clear blue eyes smiling across at me over the teapot.

Those moments are forever stored in the treasure-chest of my heart.

 Day 3 of tea etiquette...

 

hugs

  

Tea inspiration...

As this week is all about tea, I've been inspired to create with tea cups in mind.

This new design will feature in April's Stitchery Club patterns...

 

Stacked cups on a vintage doily with ???....you'll have to wait a little while to see.

I've also been sampling something new in my cuppa. Mr E found this ginger syrup for me and I have to admit, it's *yummy*....

I try not to indulge in sugar very often so only a teaspoon of the ginger syrup is added to my teacup but it definitely adds some decadence to my afternoon drop...

Tea Etiquette number 2 from Maxwell & Williams (the blue tea cup above is "Bluebells" by M & W and my current favourite as the cups hold a good amount of the amber fluid and it's just plain gorgeous to boot!)...

hugs

Making a vintage style tea cosy...

I decided to take time off work over the weekend and just 'play' with my sewing instead of designing with it.

I gathered some pretties...

 ...because I had a specific project in mind.

This would be a project which would require my current favourite Tilda fabric, vintage lace and trims, and one of my 1950's buttons....

You see last Friday I shared a tutorial to make a tea cosy and even though I loved the red, blue and white colour scheme I'd made it in, there was this little voice inside tickling my creative impulses to make a second version - shabby chic style.

So I began by gathering fabrics and trims that blended beautifully...

...then I printed up my Tea Cosy template and drew a pencil line about 1" inside the pattern line before cutting away the excess shape.

DOWNLOAD THE TEA COSY TEMPLATE

I have a number of tea pots that require new Cosies and this one was being made for a smaller pot than the first...

 Once I had my four shapes cut out and the Pellon fused behind the two main pieces, I began hand quilting the front and back of the Tea Cosy.

 The spots on the fabric gave me a perfect line to follow with the Perle #12 thread...

Before sewing the two main (outer) panels of the Tea Cosy together I hand stitched a flower just to the right of the centre line using the lace, a small doily, and mother-of-pearl button.

Then I made the new Tea Cosy using the same process as the one featured in my tutorial.

After sewing the binding in place I hand stitched a row of vintage Ric Rac braid under the flower and added the 1950's pink button to the top.

My pretty new tea-pot dress was complete!

Much nicer than a plain white tea pot don't you agree?

I have a feeling a nice pile of new and varied Tea Cosies are about to fill a shelf in my linen cupboard.

Have you made one yet?

The previous tutorial is here.

This week I'll also be sharing Tea Etiquette advice from Maxwell & Williams - after all if we're going to do tea let's do it proper...

See you tomorrow!

hugs