Who Needs Words When You Have Teacups?

I am at my desk in the windowed Study nook,
brilliant sun in my eyes through the matchstick
blinds, and two dogs snoring behind my chair;
a peaceful Tuesday morning.

But my computer keyboard has gone haywire on me, spelling

words such as "Emily" in this manner: Emiiillylyiim.

Really, truly, I am not tipsy.  But perhaps my keyboard is.

At any rate, this is going to be a post short on words,

and long on pictures. 

In fact, I pretty much need just one word: Teacups!

At That Old House, we got lotsa them.  Here are some.

Colclough's Amaretto Rose:

Deep cobalt and gilt cups, from Japan.

Aynsley's Tatton Hall pattern:

Johnson Brother's Indies Blue:

Who hasn't bought Birthday Month tea cups?

This one, February, for daughter Alida.

And July, for daughter Anne.

Wedgwood's Patrician ware, painted in the Bognor pattern:

And except for the birthday cups, which I think we

bought years ago at Disney World,

all of these tea cups were ferreted out at flea markets,

thrift shops, Goodwill, or Ebay.

Pretty and cheap.  My favorite combination.

 Go ahead, put the kettle on. 
And invite me!  -- Cass
If we are lucky, someone else will do the cleanup!

Link Parties for Tuesday

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage, and Tea Time Tuesday.  Click here!

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life -- it's Tabletop Tuesday.  Click here!

At Linda's Coastal Charm blog, it's Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays.  Click here!

Terri at Artful Affirmations is hosting Tea Cup Tuesday.  Click here!

PS  I think I managed to find all of the wacky keyboard typos and boo-boos.
       Please excuse some spacing and other odd copy crazies -- it's the Keyboard, it's not me!

Tuesday Teas

I am very good at making lists.

My To Be Done By Thanksgiving List is necessarily shorter than normal this year.

Because I've got another list in the works.  It is my To Be Done For The Booth List.

(What booth?  Click here.)

I need to get to work on that today, because if my booth is empty I probably won't sell much.

But I wanted to do a tribute to my old, fallen comrade -- my Canon Power Shot camera.
It took some good pictures in its time, and here are some of them, mostly '09 and '10.

In the Parlor, a quiet tea for one.  That would be me.

I think these shots show that my old digital camera has been failing, as recent pictures are not as good.

A few of these pieces may end up in the booth.  But not my Meissen tea pot!  A gift from my in-laws.

This tea set is from Nepal, a gift from our daughter Alida to her sister Anne.

Felicity's cup.  Who has a colonial American Girl doll?  I do!  I do!

In the parlor, again, this time with Wedgwood, and a big wild sunflower tea pot, a gift from my girls.

Patrican pattern, with Bognor decoration.

Still going with the Brits on the china ... this time, Aynsley's Tatton Hall.  Tea pot from Windsor Castle gift shop.

I think this china, a thrift shop find of mine a few years back, will go to the booth.

I rarely use it.

And that's it for today, Tuesday, or Teas-day.  -- Cass

Link Parties!

Marty at A Stroll Through Life hosts Table Top Tuesday.   Click here.

Diane at A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words hosts 2nd Time Around Tuesday.   Click here.

And those Tea Parties:

Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage, and Tea Time Tuesday.  Click here!

Wanda Lee at The Plumed Pen, and Tea For Two Tuesday.  Click here!

Wanda and Pam of A Breath of Fresh Air host Tea Pot and Tea Things.  Click here!

And ... it's also Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations with Terri.  Click here!

Lady Katherine is hosting her Tuesday Tea Time Party.  Go!   Click here.

And now it's time for me to get my kiester off The Yellow Chair and start

really getting ready to stock my booth.  Tomorrow . . . a final acquisition adventure!

And now for something completely different -- a drunken perspective on a sober tea scene.

A Table 'Scaped With Thrift -- It's Lunchtime!

You know those nightmares where you just can't seem to get going?

That has been my Thursday -- trying to get some time at the computer to get my Tablescape and Thrifties post up with Howard working from home, at my computer. (Da nerve.) Talk about late. . . .


Finally -- done. I'm hopping on three blog party bandwagons -- Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps On The Porch, Vintage Thingies Thursday over at Coloradolady and Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville. Click on the blog names to visit, and read more. Thanks to our charming hostesses; they must be very organized to be able to do this!

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Ebay, Dollar Tree, T.J.Maxx and some old free stuff have all conspired for this Tablescape, Vintage Thingies, and Thrifty Thursday post.

There will be three of us for lunch, and it's a simple summer menu:
cold tomato soup, crusty bread, and iced tea.

A simple menu calls for a simple table.

Three Dollar Tree dishclothes -- woven cotton in different black & white designs -- are our placemats.

Atop them, the basketweave-bordered plates, also from Dollar Tree.

I love these plates, and since I'll never cough up the cash to buy the similar patterns
in Wedgwood or Aynsley or whoever else has it, I'm very happy with these.

Then, the bowls. T.J. Maxx -- $2.99 each.

I love how the black design climbs over the rim into the interior.

The bread plates are Wedgwood. I found them in the beach house kitchen a few weeks ago;
I have no idea where my Mom got them -- probably a church rummage sale.

I actually bought the Lenox wineglasses retail, years ago from the now defunct and much missed Fortunoff's.

They will be just right for cold iced tea, and I've put coasters underneath to catch condensation; a single layer of cotton toweling won't protect the table well enough from that.

The coasters were a thrift shop find a few months ago -- 8 of them for a couple of bucks.

Napkins. . . I was going to use these old linen lovelies:

But for soup they are just too small. So instead of luncheon sized dainties,
we have great big old linens that can do the job.

For Howard, a huge German damask napkin -- smooth linen, and nearly 30-inches square.

For me, an old huck towel, not so huge, with wide hand faggoting along the border, and a big "C" monogram.

Not officially a napkin, but it will work. (Table linens don't belong to unions;
you can force them to work out of their job descriptions.)

Anne gets another piece of old huck, also monogrammed, and soft from many years of laundering. I think this monogram is a "C" also, but you never can be sure; some of those old monograms are pretty funky.

All the "napkins" are from Ebay; none cost more than a couple of dollars.

The flatware is my trusty old Georgian plate, and amazingly enough most of it even has the right monogram -- "L" -- considering I've collected this flatware piecemeal on Ebay with a wacky variety of monograms.

This pattern was introduced in 1912.

Great big soup spoons and little butter knives -- that's all we need today!

A few daisies and some blossoming hedge branches from the yard (thank you, Howard!) --

. . . and it is time for lunch!



Cold tomato soup -- that's goat cheese plopped in the middle --
slices from a baguette, and iced green tea. Yes, it was good.

On Friday I am blogging about how I hunt on Craigslist, and I'll show you some amazing bargains currently available here in North Jersey; I've got some beauties for you!

Join me on a Craigslist Caravan on Friday, and you will see why I am addicted, and why half my house is decorated in Craigslist bargains.
-- Cass

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PS... a special note to Keetha of Keepie's Eclectic Stuff -- you wanted me to find you someplace to keep dining room china? How does free and gorgeous sound? You just have to come to New Jersey and get it. :-) Check in tomorrow!

Wedgwood Writes To That Old House! And: A Giveaway Winner!

Wedgwood wrote to me! Well, to my blog, anyway. . . .

Just to prove that you never, ever know who is going to read your blog.... on Friday afternoon, the 20th comment on my 2/24 blog post, Rescuing Waterford and Wedgwood, turned out to be from ... Wedgwood itself! You can click here and read it at the bottom of the comments.

Wedgwood commented on my blog post. Wedgwood! I am impressed at their customer relations; that is very responsive! Smart brides can still put Wedgwood in their registries, the company isn't rolling over yet.

Plus, they liked my pictures. Aw, gee, shucks! :-)

And the winner is . . . (drum roll, please!)

Now... in a smooth segueway into my next announcement. . . did you know that Wedgwood owns Johnson Brothers? Who knew? And it is a Johnson Brothers "Old Bradbury" ironstone gravy boat that Shelia of "Note Songs" blog won in my "Tablescape Thursday and a Giveaway" post.

Congratulations, Shelia! I know you will give this nice ironstone piece a good home.

By the way, those of you who have done giveaways... do you find it nerve-wracking to find that "random number?" Or am I the only whackadoodle who does? My gosh, I was as nervous as, well, something that is nervous.

Have a grand weekend! My husband and daughter have season tickets and are off to the Metropolitan Opera Saturday, for Il Trovatore, and as for me? I will be painting a bathroom vanity. What is wrong with that picture?

But I will take time out to look again at this slide show, about a
278-year old cottage-style house in Newport, Rhode Island. Take a look here!

I like that the homeowner, John Peixinho, is a professional decorator who is self-taught. I could move right into that house, and not change a thing. Well, not much. Maybe a few things, here and there. . . .

Rescuing Waterford and Wedgwood

It is Three or More Tuesday, graciously hosted by Tam at The Gypsy's Corner. Click here to visit and read more Tuesday tales. Thanks, Tam.


What to share? I considered my big white ironstone pitchers -- I have three -- but two of them are 'way up high on a breakfront, and I don't feel like clambering up to get them, so it's Wedgwood today.

I love dishes. One cannot have too many of them; who knows when 683 people will show up on your doorstep, and clamor for their chili to be slung out onto pretty plates?

I have, I think, 7 sets of dishes, not counting my Christmas china, and not counting this sweet but very incomplete set of Wedgwood, a gift from my in-laws some years back:


It's the Patrician mold, which is not too hard to find, but until today I haven't found it with just this exact floral design. Found it today on Ebay! (Wish me luck; I'd love dinner plates in this pattern.) I don't have much of this pattern so far:

I've got a small platter . . .

Six luncheon, or dessert-sized plates. . .

And six cups and saucers. . .

These pieces are not valuable, but they charm me, and that's what counts.

Wedgwood is an endangered species; its parent company, Waterford, is bankrupt and looking for a Sugar Daddy to rescue it. Waterford owns not only Wedgwood but Royal Doulton as well (oh dear, what would Hyacinth Bucket say?).

Thomas Wedgwood (yes, one of those Wedgwoods) fished the loose coins out of his sofa cushions, intending to make an offer to buy back the family biz, but a U.S. private equity fund nipped in ahead of Mr. Wedgwood and is closer to sealing the deal. Waterford, Wedgwood, and Royal Doulton, soon to be owned by a company from the upstart colonies.

Royal Worcester and Spode are in the same boat, also having filed for bankruptcy protection. Why? It seems that today's young buyers just aren't interested in fine china and crystal, and don't buy much of it. At least, that's what the news reports say. Too bad. Waterford went belly-up in the 1850s but returned a hundred years later to dominate the cyrstal field, but Wedgwood has been around for 250 years.

I'd love to buy it myself, but we're cutting back on our purchasing this year. :-P

Let's keep our fingers crossed for these venerable companies, and their many employees. I don't want to turn over my next piece of Wedgwood and read "Made In China."