Tea Cups Travel the World.....

My dear friend

Stephanie

of 

The Enchanting Rose

has hosted another of her world famous

Tea CupExchange

Parties

I was partnered with

Mimi

of

A Tray of Bliss

She sent me a beautiful tea cup named

Clementine

embellished with exquisite pink roses

of the vintage kind - my favourites

Also in the package were

a gorgeous heart

and

the prettiest beaded lace collar 

both hand made by Mimi.

I just love the sweet card Mimi made

for me as well.

Thank you

Mimi

You have spoiled me with

all these pretty gifts!

I sent my tea cup to

Trisha

of

American Honey Home

and

it was my pleasure to find

the right tea cup for her

Stephanie had sent me an email

telling me Trisha's favourite colour was yellow

so when I spotted this bone china tea cup

in a little antique shop

I knew it would be perfect!

It is a Royal Albert cup

named

Primulette!

I hope Trisha loves it too.

I added some other 'tea related' bits and bobs

with a Kiwi flavour

to give her a taste of New Zealand.

Thank you

dear Stephanie for hosting another

of your lovely tea parties.

I know what a huge undertaking it is

and you run it like a professional!

Please visit Stephanie's blog here

I'm joining Mimi for

Five Star Frou-Frou

do pop over for a look!

Take care dear friends and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Tea cups and a Magazine Swap

I'm so grateful my dear mother lived in the days of

Tea Parties

this was the time of gracious living.

She gave me her precious china which she loved so much.

There is only one cup left in this particular set

along with four saucers and plates.

I have the plates on the wall in a bedroom!

But I use the cup quite often

it is such fine china and lovely to drink from.

The gold is fading in parts

this adds to the aged patina that I love.

It shows that it has been used

and not locked away in a cupboard.

This cup and saucer were made by
Hammersley & Co. Longton, England.

It's at least 80 years old, maybe even more.

I would love to know the name of the pattern,

 if anyone is able to enlighten me.

I googled Hammersley, but this particular pattern didn't come up....

 Now for some other tea time treasures....

Back in September

Judith of Lavender Cottage

Yes... Mosaic Monday Judith

and I had a magazine swap!

I initiated the swap after drooling over the gorgeous

photos of tea related magazines on her blog!

I've read the two lovely magazines from cover to cover

several times - thank you so much Judith!

We don't see these magazines in New Zealand.

You can read Judith's post about our swap

here

I'm joining

Judith of Mosaic Monday

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

and

Bernideen for Friends Sharing Tea

Take care and

be kind to one another

...oh just before I go it's Giveaway time

come back in a couple of days

and I'll tell you all about it!

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Pretty Vintage Finds

Last week I popped into our local Hospice shop

and I found two pretty cups.

Sadly, there were no saucers - only two cups.
I would love to find two matching saucers!

Meantime I've teamed them up with two floral saucers.

There is a stamp on the bottom of the cups

Royal Winchester English Bone China.

Can anyone enlighten me on the name of the design please?

I googled it, but couldn't find a match.

This pretty bowl belonged to my Mother

she used it almost every day and

it has very fond memories for me.

I'm joining

Judith for Mosaic Monday

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Bernideen for Tea in the Garden

I hope you all enjoyed a relaxing weekend

and wishing you a happy new week.

Sweet Wendy of Apple and Apricot
has created this darling heart as part of her
GIVEAWAY
beneath it is a dutch magazine 
"Petite Brocante"
and part of the giveaway too, it looks fabulous!
Just visit her blog and become a follower to enter!
Bonne Chance dear friends!

~~~~~

Oh and don't forget Marie's
GIVEAWAY HERE!

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Stephanie's Tea Cup/Mug Exchange

Have you met Stephanie of the delightful blog

The Enchanting Rose?

I would love you to pop in and become 

acquainted with her gorgeous blog

as she does so many interesting things!

For the past few years Stephanie has hosted

The Tea Cup/Mug Exchange

which has become very popular among 

tea loving bloggers!

I heard about this swap last year through another of my

dear bloggy friends Kitty of Kitty's Kozy Kitchen

(you must check out her blog - she has great recipes)! 

This time Kitty dropped me an email to tell me

that Stephanie was hosting another

teacup and mug exchange!

Thank you dear Kitty for keeping me in the loop!

Bloggers are such lovely people!

My 'giving' partner was Belle

who lives in Australia.

Belle doesn't have a blog yet but she tells me

she is creating one, so I'll let you all know when that happens!

I received such a beautiful parcel from Belle

with this gorgeous tea cup called 

'Christiana'

it is the softest pink bone china with a delicate

green criss-cross pattern around the edge.

She included more goodies in the parcel

some yummy Italian hazelnut chocolate biscuits

perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea.

Talking of tea, Belle treated me to a selection of 

Twinings tea in a pretty organza bag.

 There was also a sweet card with a note telling 

me about herself which was nice.

Thank you so much Belle, I'm totally

"over the moon"

with all your kind gifts!

The receiver of my tea cup gift parcel is

Alice who lives in Italy.

Maybe she hasn't received my parcel yet as there are

no photographs of what I sent her on Stephanie's blog post.

Unfortunately, Alice doesn't have a blog either, 

so I can't ask you to visit her

however, maybe I can encourage her

to get started as she obviously enjoys the interaction

with other bloggers!

Alice, if you are reading this post

please don't let language be a barrier to blogging.

I have two other Italian blog friends

plus Dutch, German, French, Finnish, Danish,

Swedish, Bulgarian, Polish and Russian bloggy pals!!!

Thank you dear Stephanie for hosting your

Tea Cup/Mug Exchange again this year.

I can see it is a huge undertaking.

Your communication was amazing - thank you.

I have been involved in other swaps where

the communication was not so good.

It's my first time joining the

Tea Cup/Mug Exchange

I will definitely do it again

 and I can recommend it to

anyone interested in all things tea!

If you would like me to tell you when the

next one is on, let me know in a comment or 

email me.

I am linking this post to
Stephanie at The Enchanting Rose
please click on the above link and you can see 
what others have received/given in their exchanges!
I'm also linking to
Diane for Beautiful Sunday
 Judith for Mosaic Monday

Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

and

Bernideen for Tea in the Garden

Thank you all for your visits and your caring comments. 

Work has been easier this week!

Take care and 

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane

Tea with Mary

One of my embroidery friends Mary
has an enviable collection of tea cups
most of which belonged to her mother.

This cup is  called Summertime
made by Royal Weston in Stoke-on-Trent, England.


I recently read that drinking tea in the afternoon
had it's beginnings at Woburn Abbey.
During the late 1800's Duchess Anna Maria
wife of the 7th Duke of Bedford
complained of having that "sinking feeling" 
in the late afternoon.
This was remedied by a strong cup of tea
which took her through until dinner at 8pm!

I'm joining 
Judith for Mosaic Monday
Sandi for Tea Time Tuesday
Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea
Bernideen for Tea in the Garden





Thank you all for visiting and for your kind comments!
Welcome to my new followers.

Merci à bientôt
please be kind to one another!

 Shane 

Tea with Friends

We had dinner with friends last night

and following a beautiful meal

we all enjoyed tea from this beautiful old tea set

that belonged to her mother.

I don't know the name of the china

maybe one of the tea cup experts will recognise it

and tell me!

UPDATE
My friend Ann from Eight Acres of Eden
Tells me the pattern is called
Provence by Tuscan.

My friend Elizabeth of the blog 
Cornish Cream
has put out a call for prayers.
Her husband has been taken to hospital
after a bad fall yesterday.
Please keep them both in your thoughts and prayers.

I'm joining these parties this week

Diane for Beautiful Sunday

Judith for Mosaic Monday

Ruth for Tuesday Cuppa Tea

and

Bernideen for Tea in the Garden

Thank you ladies for hosting your lovely parties.

Wishing you all a happy week

Take care and

be kind to one another

Merci à bientôt

Shane