Swapping Is Fun!

Hello All!

I wanted to share the other half of my Valentine's Day swap with you last week, but the cord that connects my camera to my computer disappeared... now that I've got that resolved (and it's just occurred to me as I'm typing this that, hello, I could have just put the memory card into the computer... doy! If I used my noggin' the way I'm supposed to, I'd be dangerous!) I'm back on track.

As you may recall, my partner for this swap was the wonderful & fabulous Pam, you might know her from her super fun and cheery blog Faster Kittykill. I like it there, it's a nice place with lots of glitter and puppies. Sometimes I hang out at Pam's blog and just dream of the day I get to hang out in her cool-ass tiki yard in Portland and have cocktails with her. She's awesome, possum.

The whole package, I tell ya! Even the outside of the box is special.

Ooooh, what's in here?? At this point I can tell you I started making little grabby hands and squeaky sounds.

Would ya look at this haul! There's so much good going on there! From right to left, there's an adorable little lunch tote filled with the prettiest delicate little sugar cubes topped with iced flowers, handmade tea wallet, a new tub of lip shimmer, a Love Bot, a new mug (which I'm sipping coffee from right this moment), Bee Mine Valentine rings, treats for Lola, and two gorgeously stitched vintage hankies. Let's take a closer look at those handmade goodies!

This little tea wallet is just the best, I love the fabrics and the stitching, just look at that perfect blanket stitch. 

Here's the inside, perfect for a few bags to take on the road.

Oh you guys, this tea is lovely! So good with sugar & milk, a treat all on it's own.

Here is the the first of the TWO hankies Pam stitched for me, isn't it great? A lady in a pretty window stitching and conversing with a songbird. When I saw this I ran to my purse because I thought I had a matching one. I always have at least one pretty hankie in my purse. I collect them, so why not always have one on ya?

Alas... not a match, but close - the colors are very similar. I really do always have one (and sometimes two) with me, they're dead useful, and not just for blowing your nose, in fact I can't say that I've ever used a hankie to blow my nose. Real life moment here, girls... ever have the under wire in your brassiere snap unexpectedly? I have, and I can tell you, having one of these pretty, little babies in your purse will save you from being stabbed to death until you can get home or to a department store for a replacement. 

This is the second stitched hankie, such sweet kitties! They remind me of my own two kitty cats, Chyna Cat Sunflower & Egypt The Great.

I love these two hankies ever so! I'm concocting plans for them. I think I might mount the first one so that I can hang it on the wall so everyone can see it. The kitty one may be a pillow some day ♥

So that's my wonderful Valentine Swap! It was really fun putting Pam's box together, but it was even more fun to getting a package from her.

Thanks again for everything Pam, it was all so very perfect!

I hope you all are having a great weekend, it's beautiful outside here today, I think we might seize the opportunity to grab some of this early spring sunshine, maybe take a scooter ride and get some lunch. Nothing like crisp air in your face on a sunny day.

oxo,

Lisa



Happy Valentines Day!

Hello~hello!

I hope you're all having a loverly Valentines Day!

Today I thought I'd share with you the little pressie package I sent my pal, Pam for a little Valentine Swap we participated in. If you don't already know Pam, you should go over and check out her blog, it's a fun place, and Pam is awesome, super fun chick-a-dee!

I started out thinking that I'd make my pally an embroidered tea towel, then I got carried away and whipped up a couple of other goodies, it was easy to do!

I added a couple of cute panels of Valentine fabric to each side of the embroidery, then binded the towel with aqua gingham to give it a little more weight. The embroidery I used was a freebie pattern I found in the Hoop Love group on Flickr, it's a terrific resource for vintage embroidery patterns, you must take a look sometime! The pattern was sweet and simple and took less than an hour to stitch.

 Now, you may not know this, but Pam has fabulous hair. In fact, it's so amazing it ought to have it's own blog! When I saw this sweet hair bow on Mollie's blog, Wild Olive, I HAD to make one for Pam. You can see Mollie's tutorial here. It's so simple and so dang cute! I need to make more of these. I think my nieces would like one in every color, shoot, who am I kidding, I want one in every color!

Pam is wearing this bow in her hair today, I saw picture on facebook, eeep!

One hair doo-dad wasn't enough, so I made another one, this just clips right in.

I also made her a little ornament, just for fun. I saw one like it on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make. Pretty cute, aye? 

Of course no Valentine would be complete without some sweets, so I packed some of those in too, and a great big mug to boot! This sucker would be terrific for ice cream.

So there it is, a fun little package for a fun little lady! I wrapped it all in heaps of hot pink tissue paper and lots of stickers, it was a neat package to put together. And it's it nice to get something in the mail that isn't a bill? Pam is so sweet, she took pics as she opened the box, you can see that set of pictures here, if you're interested.

Oh hey, I almost forgot, Pam has a brand spankin' new Facebook page, come on over and "like" it!

Wishing you all a sweet day!

oxo,

Lisa



Be Mine - Or Else!

Hello Lovies~

Just a fun little thing I stitched up for my hubby for Valentine's day tomorrow, hope he likes it... or else!

Be Mine - Or Else!

Like he has a choice, teehee!

This was a free pattern from Gina Matarazzo last Valentines Day, you can still download the pattern for free here. I had printed it out last year, and just couldn't get to it in time, this year I made sure to get it done!

Anyhoo! I'll be back tomorrow, I have more sweet Valentines goodness to share, so come on back... or else!

Just kidding, but seriously, come on back m'kay?

oxo,

Lisa



Creativi-Tea

Hi All!

As promised here are a few snaps of the Creativi-Tea I hosted recently. We had a great time, so great in fact, that I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did... you know how that goes, right?

I really enjoyed pulling out my teapots and tea cups, I haven't seen my little beauties since before we moved, almost a year ago.

My food coloring Modge Podge jars came out really cute, thanks again for the tute, Pam!

Jill brought cookies!

(Photo courtesy of Little Nest Studio)

We ate yummy food, too but you'll have to take my word for it, because I forgot to take pictures, d'oh! After we had lunchies and talkies, we got to play.

Jo & Lorna

I see stitching, beading, felty owl construction, and sketching. This makes me happy!

This is the necklace that Lorna made this afternoon, isn't it beautiful?

Mom was feeling stabby, woohoo needle felting!

And some more tea of course, always more tea.

We had a really nice afternoon, I'm looking forward to doing this again, maybe even semi-regularly, I love hosting tea parties, and I love being creative, so this is like heaven for me.

♥♥♥

I hope you enjoyed this small peek, I'm a little bummed that I didn't get better pictures, ah well, next time!

Have a great weekend, sweeties!

oxo,

Lisa

Oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?

Hi All!

Oh my goodness where have the last couple of weeks run off to? I'm so behind on blogging, both in posting and reading. I feel rather out of the bloggy loop at the moment. I need one good rainy Saturday and a large cup of tea (or several) and all will be right again, le sigh.

Today I thought I'd share one last thing I made for my family for Christmas (yep, I know, we're a week into February) but they only recently received this, so it's finally safe to share.

For my brother, his wife and their two kiddos.

I traced their hands the day they moved to South Lake Tahoe a few months ago. An exciting, new beginning for them, bringing them one step closer to their dreams.

Like all families they're entwined, and so their hand prints should be. Everybody's hands are touching or over lapping somewhere on this piece, in those places I did a little intertwining of my own.

Normally I don't show the backs of my embroideries...(i use knots, shhh!)... but I really liked this one, its clean, flat, and like all families, perfectly not perfect. I left it unfinished when I sent it to them instead of covering it in my usual way. I just trimmed the fabric close and glued it neatly to the inner hoop.

I hope they like it, I liked making it for them.

I made a few other things for the kids, but nothing earth shatteringly rad, so I'll just post those in my Flickr, come on over and have a peek if you like.

I'll be back soon, I want to share a few pics from last weeks Creativi-tea!

I hope you've all been well, I miss reading your blogs and will catch up soon!

oxo,

Lisa

Buntings Make Me Happy

Here's a little one I whipped up for a very special tea party I'm hosting this weekend.

I'm hosting a Creativi-Tea!

I've invited several of my girlfriends over and asked them to bring what ever it is their working on, or something crafty, sew-y, stitchy that they'd like to try and we're going to have a tea party then we're going to get our craft on! A crafty~tea party, is there anything better? I'm really excited about the whole thing!

I made this paper bunting to hang on the porch and welcome the girls as they come to the door. I used my favorite die cutter, and paper from my stash, printed and colored some fancy letters, and mashed the whole thing together one evening last week. I think it's kinda cute!

I also whipped up some pretty jars to use as vases to add some simple flowers to the tables. I used my friend Pam's tutorial. Only difference is that these are vases, not lamps... but I used all the same steps. Super easy and great results, and as an added bonus they're completely free as all of these jars would have otherwise have gone into the recycle bin. I like to use what I have and these little beauties were mayo, pesto, jam and bruchetta, jars in their former lives :) I also already had the other three components, food coloring, Modge Podge and twine.

The color of the jars are actually quite a bit darker than represented in this photo, I'm usually not a big fan of blue, but I'm over the moon with these. I'll make sure to get some pictures with flowers in them (and of all the goings on!) this weekend.

Can't wait to see what kind of creativi-tea results from Saturday, my only regret is that I can't transport all of YOU here for the afternoon, how fun would that be?!

Have a great day, lovelies!

oxo,

Lisa

The Scarlet Tea Room

Hi All~

It's been busy, busy here! I just got back into town last night after spending a wonderful weekend with my best friend. We somehow managed to simultaneously do lots of fun things, yet have an unhurried, mellow weekend, it really was the best of both worlds. One of the highlights was my friend treating me to an afternoon tea at an elegant tea room in downtown Pasadena, The Scarlet Tea Room.

You already know how much I love to take tea, this was such a treat! We had a long afternoon of tea and much needed talk. Of course like a goober, I took pictures of everything... what. I had to share with you guys, right?

It all starts with a pretty cup.

We chose the 5 Course Afternoon Tea, it was wonderful and started with a delightful strawberry sorbet, which was so refreshing!

Oh, how I love a tiered tray!

Delectable tea sandwiches. Each one was unique and equally scrumptious. The Scarlet Tea Room offers more sandwich choices than I've ever seen at one tea shop. The scones were wonderfully fresh and soft too (but I didn't get a decent picture of them, drats!)

 Pretty deserts, cake & petit fours.

 Tea ~ magic.

 Fresh Berry Romonoff, ooooh baby. Let me tell you that this was one of the most delicious things ever to cross these lips.

Look at that sassy business card! I love it.

Here's a quick shot I managed of another part of the dining room. The Scarlet Tea Room was great, elegant, but not stuffy. It was comfortable and welcoming, a great place to wile away the afternoon.

Oh, and check out this bling! This gorgeous chandelier was hanging in the main dining room. I love the small touches of scarlet red though out the dining rooms, just enough to make a statement without being too much, scarlet is a power color after all. I have to say, this picture doesn't do the chandelier justice, it was so pretty and sparkling!

Taking tea at a pretty tea room is (to me) one of life's great joys. Seriously. If only every day could be filled with such splendor... oh my!

I have more tea related things coming your way this week, so stay tuned!

oxo,

Lisa



Girl. Camera. Cuppa.

Hi Guys!

I've started a new adventure! Well, more like a challenge, but it'll be an adventurous challenge!

Girl. Camera. Cuppa.

It's a 365 day photo project, the one I mentioned here. I thought about it for a good couple of weeks, then settled on Blogger as the platform for this project. I already know how to use Blogger, and I can post from my phone, bonus! I'm two weeks into the project and going strong, I look forward to seeing what kinds of photos I'll have at the end of each day.

 

 

The photo blog will in no way take the place or precedence over A Cuppa Tea With Me, this blog is home. It's where I cut my blogging teeth, and where I've met so many wonderful people, both online and in person. I've chosen to do a separate blog for the photos because they're not always going to be crafty, pretty, or tea related and I don't want to spam anyones dash who isn't interested in newbie photography.

 

 

Anyhooo, I'd be pleased as punch if any of you decided to pop over and follow along. Maybe we can learn some spiffy new photo stuff together!

 

 

Be back soon with more crafty goodies to share!

oxo,

Lisa

A Quilt For Mama

Hi Everyone,

This post has been a long time coming, I started this project last January. You know how that goes, right? Some projects take a few hours, some take 11 months (mostly hibernating), but I digress.

Just before Thanksgiving this year, I pulled this out and got back to work, I wanted to get it finished and quilted for my mom for Christmas, and I still had a long, long way to go. Now, I've only made one other quilt, and it was just a bitty little thing, simple patch work and diagonal stitching, easy peasy. This one though, it was a horse of a different color, but such lovely colors they are.

A quilt for my mom. 

 Here's the quilt label I made, I incorporated it with a little bit of piecing (scraps from making the quilt top), right into the back of the quilt. The pattern I used was called "Turning Twenty Again". From what I understand this is a fairly well known quilt pattern, named because it's made of 20 blocks that can be turned any way you like that pleases the eye. The finished size of the quilt is 70"x84", big enough to lay over a queen size bed.

God willing, this quilt will outlast both my mother and I, and some day someone might wonder who made it, and why (I always wonder that when I find a quilt in an antique or thrift store), so I included that information on the label.

  Can you see this beautiful quilting?

 I had this quilt professionally quilted by the wonderful and talented, Shannon Freeman, I just found this morning that Shannon has set up a Facebook page for her business, This Chick Stitches. Shannon is awesome, and funny and kind and boy howdy, if you're lucky enough to have something quilted by her, you will be thrilled with the results!

Shannon quilted this quilt using a dense, edge to edge meandering daisy pattern... freehand!! I'm telling you, she's amazing, in the picture below you can get a better look at the overall quilting.

Ooof! I love it so much. This quilt would not be what it is without Shannon's considerable skill & talent, thank you Shannon!

Here's a better look at the entire back of the quilt.

(Oh, and see that guy on the mower back there? He thought it was funny to zoom past me on his mower while I was trying to get these pictures in my neighborhood park, and kick dust, dry leaves and broken acorn bits all over me and my quilt... why I oughta! *shakes fist*)

Hey look, binding!! I'm not afraid of it anymore, guys! And I have to say, I'm pretty proud of those corners! My skills at that particular task have definitely improved.

 I did all of the binding in one marathon day. Done in the traditional method, sewn to the front by machine and the back by hand... 11 hours, non-stop y'all!

Eeek, so proud about that darn binding!

Oh, these colors! I love all the jewel tones mixed with the neutrals.

One last shot of the quilt... hanging in a tree by the river.

Happy to report that mom loved her quilt, I gave it to her on Christmas Eve. It was a surprise, she had no clue this was what I had planned for her, yay surprises.

Now... will I make another one like this any time soon? I'd like to say not bloody likely! But you never know... I've already got two more quilts in the works, so we'll see how long these take to get finished. Joy!

Sew, what do you think, friends? Did any of you guys make/give quilts for Christmas? Please, do tell and point me to them, I want to see!

oxo,

Lisa