Design Wall Monday 12-10-12

Another week and we're closer to the end of the year.  Here's what I've got going: 

My Easy Street units are growing.  Unfortunately I haven't finished Clue 2 yet.  I'm about half way there but as you know it isn't my primary project.  And, honestly, the rest of life is getting in my way. 

And here's a sneak peak of Scrap Squad #6.  Finally, all the units are done and I've begun piecing the blocks together.  In fact nearly 20 of the 64 blocks are done.  I'm trying for 10 blocks a day amongst all the other stuff I am doing this week. 



One of the "other" things I am doing this week is preparing High Tea for my neighborhood tea group.  Usually we meet in the morning for tea and a bit of food.  We've been doing some alternative things recently including a Halloween party with hubbies, going to the symphony's Decorator House and a lunch out.  I decided to do a High Tea so every one will be at my house on Wednesday for an early high tea (2pm rather than later in the afternoon).  So, I'm making cucumber sandwiches (and I don't even like cucumber) little cookies, fruit salad, chicken salad sandwiches and tea.  That's been the focus the last few days.  

Do you remember this post about attending a High Tea at Sweet Simplici Tea?  Scroll down to the tea pots in their cozies.  Yep, I finally made one.  It turned out very much like the one in the picture although it seems a bit bigger around the middle which could just be based on the size of my tea pot.  I'll be doing a tutorial to make your own tea cozy sometime in January.  

Now, how did I do on my weekly goals? 

Week of December 3

Get SS #6 into top form √ but not a top yet

Keep up with Easy Street √ help! I’m falling behind

Finish Fcq Equilter blocks and get in the mail blocks done and will be mailed today

Work on Natalie's Christmas present I don’t think I worked on this at all.

Week of Dec. 10

Work on SS #6
Work on Easy Street 
Finish decorating the house
Clean the kitchen, wash kitchen floor
Prepare High Tea for my neighborhood group

That's it for me.  I'm linking up with Judy's Patchwork Times and Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville's Quips and Snips.  I'm off to visit a few blogs and then I must get going on all the things I need to get done this week!  

Happy Quilting All!

High Tea

Thursday I spent with Sharon.  We were suppose to be stitching together but she suggested we go to tea out in Sykesville.  So off we went for our adventure. 


Sykesville is a cute little town with interesting shops on the main street.  Here's the outside of the tea shop we visited.  You can visit it online here Sweet Simplici-Tea.

It was a quiet day at the tea store so we enjoyed a leisurely tea.  The wonderful thing here is we could try as many different types of tea as we wanted to.  I started with Cranberry -- can't remember what other type of tea was in it but it was wonderful.  We also tried vanilla tea and Buccaneer tea.  We tried many more. We bought some Buccaneer tea that we split and I bought the cranberry. 

Here's the first two pots of teas in their fancy tea cozies.  I untied one to see if I could figure out how to make one.  Sure I can -- it was very simple.  I'll have to try to make one to see how well it fits my tea pots.  




There was a lot to look at also.  Definitely Victorian style with lots of little things around the room.  And, it was all decorated for Christmas.  I may have to "borrow" some of the ideas.  Except Raggs would probably want to "play with" (read that as eat) the decorations. 

Here's our main food. Yummy!  Do you see the little cupcakes on the second tier?  They are red velvet cupcakes with peppermint frosting.  The little red bits are actually miniature candy canes.  Too cute.  And I found some just like them at the next place we went to. 






After our tea we went to Columbia to shop at Ann's House of Nuts outlet store.  Cool.  I love nuts and the prices were right!  Sharon didn't get as much as I did but I bought a bunch of stuff.  If you live near Columbia, Maryland and you like NUTS it is well worth visiting.  



Sharon and I didn't have any time to sew at all Thursday. By the time we got home it was time for me to head back to Jen's.   One thing I am very careful about is trying to travel before or after rush hour.  So it was already an hour after I thought I should have gone back to Jenny's by the time I left.  The good news is there was no traffic the way I went and I didn't have to get on the Washington Beltway.  Made a world of difference that's for sure!   Of course, I didn't really do what  Gypsy (gps) suggested unlike driving up to Jenny's when I missed a turn and Gypsy sent me straight through Washington, D.C.  Luckily it was early afternoon and I didn't have a problem although it took me a good 30 minutes longer than it should have. Sigh.


Now to get some more work done on my secret project.  I have made a little progress and it is going fairly quickly.  


Happy Quilting All!    

Victorian Tea

Thanks to Judy for sponsoring the Victorian Tea.  She really got into the spirit by dressing in a costume... now if we knew whether it was Victorian or not....  The food was scrumptious.  Have you had clotted cream?  Or how about lemon curd.  I'll never turn either down in the future! 

Joan Strong presented some of her Victorian reproduction dolls and gave a brief introduction to dolls from 1870 to 1925.  Joan makes beautiful reproduction bisque dolls to order.  And, if you are so inclined, she can make soft-sculpted portrait dolls.  Joan doesn't have a web site but if you would like to contact her, her email is

jstrongdollmkr@aol.com 

 

 Here are some of the dolls she showed us with a little bit about them.  I believe all of these are Joan's reproduction dolls.  

The doll in the blue dress is based on Empress Eugenia of France.  She was Napolean III's consort.  She lived from 1826 to 1920.  She was a trend setter in fashion.  Dolls of this time period were often based on real people.  They were elegant and not designed to be played with by children.  This dress is based on a gown by Fredrich Worth. 

I didn't get full information on this doll in pink except that Joan used vintage fabrics for her.  The doll looks more child like rather than like an aristocratic lady. 

This doll was described as a character doll.  Joan chose to dress her in more casual style. But she mentioned that there were many dolls of color made with the same elegant dress styles as the blue one shown above. 

Perhaps the sweetest dolls Joan showed were these two dolls. These dolls were made to look like her children.  The boy doll on the left is holding a picture of her son with the a cute smocked outfit.  Joan made a smaller version for the doll.  The little girl is sporting some of her daughter's hair.  Notice how these dolls actually look like children?  Joan said it wasn't until the beginning of the 1900's that people began seeing children as more than little adults.  Thus, dolls followed that trend.  

If you are a doll enthusiast and live in the Mid Atlantic area, you might want to visit Parade of Dolls and Bears 29th Annual Show and Sale on Sun. May 3 from 10 to 4 pm in Easton, PA  (If you want more info please leave me a note and pass on the phone number.  Why don't these people do web pages??)  

Today was vacuuming day and the whole downstairs was done.  And not much else.  Slow and steady is my motto unlike my over-achiever DH who needs to have things done and then is sore and tired for several days!  Opposites attract!  Tomorrow will be a quilting day.  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie