High Tea Holidays

High Tea with Hailey

Mamacat and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Heathman Hotel for holiday tea:

Terez by the Tree

It might be after December 25th but the decorations were just as lovely, and the real tree we were seated near scented the air delightfully.

Treat Tower

The menu didn't change too much this year--old friends: opera cakes, scones with marscapone cheese, smoked salmon and chicken salad and cucumber sandwiches were back. As were our favorite treats, the mini jam and honey jars:

Mini Marmalade

We had to box up the top layer of desserts and bring it home.

Pink Dishes and Pearls

My niece is just old enough to be enchanted by the idea of a tea party. We decided to have our own this morning, complete with jam sandwiches, shredded wheat biscuits and tangerines:

Tea for Three

Lily Belle isn't quite ready to drink out of her own cup but next year I predict we'll have another one at our table.

Cheers!

XO and happy new year!

Terez

Walk to Work Wednesday

John, Andrew, Paul and Matthew

Sneaky Sunlight

The Breakfast Club

Beacon Street Water Works

Mini Mums

How did it get to be November already? Autumn this year has been less than spectacular--the leaves are stubborn and refuse to change or fall from the trees. We've already had a snow storm--and still many people are without power. As for the temperature change, I don't mind...too much. I sometimes wish the summer away--the heat and humidity are worse in my mind than the bone chilling temperatures we're expecting in a few weeks. Fall and winter means Mamcat's-Not-So-Secret-Anymore-Hot-Cider Recipe, pot roast, Jane Austen, knitting, purling, quilting, Baileys & Cocoa, snowy Sunday dinners with friends, the Nutcracker, down comforters, holiday handmade gift making and purchasing (and sometimes keeping!). By February I'll be through but for now I'm settling in with a mug of tea and already enjoying the incumbent holiday season. And finally...finally...my fingers are itching to create some new baubles.
XO Terez 

A Quilt for Grandpa-Grandpa on the Occasion of His 90th Birthday

One More Row to Go

Yesterday I spent some quality time stitching in the studio with the Norwegian Knitter. Now that the new window treats are up it is so much cooler and enjoyable to be back there this time of year and it's really hard to pull myself away.  For all of the hours I spend in there,  I can never seem to finish anything because I am too distracted/discouraged by the Black Hole Craft Closet.

This abyss holds all of my fabric...and most of my beads...and most of my carving materials...and all of my holiday decorations...and all of my empty shoe boxes I might need someday...and three unused yoga mats...and a broken Hello Kitty sewing machine...you get the idea.

At 7:30 a.m., after an hour of birding, I was fed up with the looming closet.  I was getting sucked in by the magnetic-color-wheel-explosion-pull and order needed to be returned.

I pulled everything out of the closet and was determined to regoranize so I could actually get to my fabric stash. That left me facing this:

Reality

What a mess! I post this to show you I am not Martha by a long shot.


And then I unearthed a real treasure.  Something I had started last summer.  Something that I had been meaning to finish and never got to after Hello Kitty gave out:  A Kaffe Fasset charm quilt.  I had five nine-patch blocks finished and just needed to complete four more to have a finished top. I dusted off and oiled the Singer 301 and got to work.

One More Row II

I kept sewing and sewing...and guess what? I came to the conclusion I am not a great sewer...yet.  My seams are crooked and I have no idea how to nest properly when I iron, but once I got the top up in the window to take a look, I was thrilled (big reveal in a moment).

I love how the colors and the prints play, and the way the rows trickle down like the seasons--pale winter/spring bursts at the top, failling into bright spring/summer patches and finally the saturated summer/autumn tiles complete the cycle.

I was pretty happy with my 81 patches. And then I got to thinking...Grandpa Grandpa is going to be 90 years old next Saturday. If I added one more row of nine patches, I'd have 90 squares. And I have been wanting to make him a lap quilt.

Bam! Brilliant! Of course--this will be a lap quilt for Grandpa-Grandpa on the occasion of his 90th birthday!

I got to back to work. Brewed a pitcher of Passion iced-tea for sustenance. Ate some yellow and chocolate cake. Got back on the sewing machine (oh how I have missed her!)

Passion Tea

A few more pins, seams, tucks and 'oh shoot' s later, I finished this:

Grandpa Grandpa's Quilt

Now: I have to beg Mamacat and HH to back and bind the thing, because I have no idea how to do that...yet. I've got to get to the Post Office and Priority Mail this sucker! I'll keep you posted. And for the record, I hauled down about 20 cubic feet of junk to curb-cycle, and it's all gone. But the studio is still trashed, and that's ok.

XO Terez

Crafty Valentine-ing

Valentine Mandala

The Norwegian Knitter joined me for a spot of Valentine Crafting before the windchill became to unbearable to make visiting impossible (or at least highly undesirable). We settled in at Chez Terez  and let ourselves become one with the chaotic-craft-plosion that is the back room. After a delightful brunch of chocolate and apricot croissants from Clear Flour (one upside about the cold weather: no line at the bakery!) we got to work.

Star/Heart

I finished doodling on the the 12" block of SafetyKut rubber and came of up with a few variations on hearts, points, bursts and stars. I love the Valentine Mandala (first photo)--it was taken from a section of a large doily I picked up yesterday. I also love the tiny Heartburst, from a different area on that same giant doily:

Heartburst

The Queen of Hearts wasn't such a bad task master:

Queen of Hearts tea towel by the Other Mother

And Alice was encouraging us to drink lots of warm liquids to keep up our energy, including an amazing elixir the Norwegian Knitter concocted from lemon, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon sticks, fresh ginger and honey to help kick the last of Super Head Cold 2011.

Drink Me

My carvings aren't quite all-the-way-finished but I couldn't wait to press out some test prints. Don't they look full of passion and heat in the afternoon sun on my hissing radiator?

Through the Looking Glass

Now the Chez Terez State of Affairs is in a much more Valentine State of Mind. I love it.

Chez Terez State of Affairs Valentine Style

Stay tuned I've got plenty of more love-ly tricks up my sleeve.

XO Terez

Be Mine Valentine

Can you, could you, might you, should you--want to be mine, Valentine?

High Tea at the Heathman with Mamacat

2010 Holiday High Tea Terez

Our Neighbor

Ready, Set

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright

Mamacat

Under a Glittering Tree