A FINE ROMANCE for "Tea In The Garden"

On Sunday, September 21st, I flew home to Virginia to visit my step father.  September 24th would have been my Mom's 87th birthday and their wedding anniversary.  Since my Mom passed away last October, I wanted to be there during what would have been her birthday and spend the week visiting my family.

Yesterday I purchased this old Sadler teapot in  Denver - yes it has lots of crazing but I love it.  I am not a perfectionist.  I love old things which are well worn with time!  And it was cheap.

During my visit to Gloucester, Virginia, I took this opportunity to reread Susan Branch's 2012 journal and book about  her 2 month visit to England.  I have not been to England myself so this was my reread of her enjoyable book.  

Please help yourself to a cup of tea and one of these Krispy Kreme Donuts.  We love to stop there on our way out of Denver and eat them on the way home in the car.

 Lastly, I am sharing this old vase I also found yesterday.  My garden is winding down but a few blooms remain here and there.  

FRIENDS SHARING TEA

I look forward to a fall teatime

by the window today.

It seems we are passing through September so quickly and October will be here soon. 

 Some of you may have a copy of this book "The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady" which features sketches and journal entries by Edith Holden.

I have also been enjoying the recipes in the 10th anniversary edition of Susan Branch's cookbook called "Autumn".  If you love comfort food this cookbook is wonderful for featuring Farmhouse Biscuits and Iowa Corn Bread and homemade cranberry sauce - not to mention Gingerbread Cake and Cranberry Apple Crisp.  Are you hungry yet?

Because of such cool nights, we have a  few leaves beginning to turn here.  We haven't had a frost yet and I know that is what really makes the big difference.

GET OUT OF TOWN TO GEORGETOWN

Yesterday the weather was lovely and we decided to go up into the mountains west of Denver to Idaho Springs and Georgetown, Colorado.  First stop was Idaho Springs:

Old mining towns line the interstate and now attract tourists evading the fast pace and looking for a slowdown.

Most of these old towns have buildings now used for shops and restaurants.

Of course there are always old Victorian houses:

The next stop was our main designation:  Georgetown, Colorado where the movie "The Christmas Gift" with John Denver was filmed many years ago.  This little town is my favorite place in Colorado because I love that Christmas movie.

Georgetown is a small town with Victorian houses with the lovely "Clear Creek" winding through town:

Of course - I always look for this house where John Denver who portrayed an architect sent to Georgetown by his boss to see about developing the town  visited Susan McMillan who worked at the local post office.

Below is the hotel where John Denver stayed with Aunt Henny and her brother Buzz who ran the Busy Bee Cab Company:

The post office where Susan worked:

 Another tiny town where we stopped for a couple minutes - Empire, Colorado:

And a past post on Georgetown can be found 

HERE!  The second issue of Victoria (if you have old copies) was a feature on Georgetown. If you ever see the movie it is wonderful!

TEA IN THE GARDEN with the Sunbonnet Ladies

Hello blogging friends and 

welcome to Tea In The Garden. 

 I have heard some different names for vintage ladies that are embroidered on old linens: sunbonnet ladies, crinoline ladies, etc.  I have a definite passion for them!  Last week I sewed a piece using different linens that fits on my bench and it would also fit on a deep mantle to form a large scarf.

As you can see I put the biggest lady in the center as focal point:

I also recently found a fun apron someone had embroidered but never finished. 

 All I had to do was sew on the pockets.

I don't crochet but someone sure could

when they made this basket doily:

Our nights have turned quite cool and we have had more

 rain than usual all summer here so that is nice.  

As you can see, I have some tea towels

 and runners with Sun Bonnet Ladies.

I also have 3 cups and saucers with the ladies on gold filligree backgrounds.

  Perhaps you have seen some of these from the 1930's - 1940's?

Please pour yourself a cup of tea!

Later note from 2022:  As I look back at these

old photos I see many items - such as the teapot

that I no longer own!

TWEAKING IT ON THE BUFFET - AGAIN

The problem with pulling out fall is where do you stop.  After doing my buffet my picture of roses on the wall just didn't work.  Also, some of the rose plates had to go till this season is over.

I also decided I needed to put more of the shabby chic pumpkins I made last year on the buffet:

So I had to change that picture that is usually above with the roses and in the den I found this card 

which was in a frame that had the right colors. 

 I also switched some plates for the fall season:

Have a great weekend!

GETTING SHABBY CHIC FURNITURE TO WORK FOR FALL

One of the things I have been trying to figure out is how to marry shabby chic pink with fall colors.  I have a buffet in my kitchen and since last year I picked up some of those fun English and Japanese Cottage tea time pieces:

The piece on the left is an English lidded biscuit box without it's handle and at the right is a Kensington Price English teapot.  It is from Japan.  I didn't pay much for any although I have seen some that were very expensive so I passed them buy.  In order to make this work - I had to change some of those plates on the wall and I need to hunt for a more fallish picture to replace my pink rose picture that I am hiding here.

I am using lots of beige frilly

 doilies in various shades.