The Companion Pieces

I've enthused on and on about my perfect teapot, and I'm still getting a kick out of it, and the 'sweater' (cozy) I crocheted for it. But this summer I also was on the hunt for a nice sugar and cream to go with it. I've been using a melamine sugar bowl that just felt too 'summery' and picnicky, if you know what I mean.

I had some guidelines: the sugar was most important, so it had to be perfect. The creamer, not so much, since I rarely use it; unless I have company, I usually use milk out of the fridge for my tea. I don't care for matchy-matchy, so I didn't really care about a set. Vintage was preferable, but I had to love them both. I'm cheap, so I didn't want to pay a lot.

That last bit is why I didn't end up buying the cream and sugar I really love, which is a vintage Pyrex Snowflake set, hard to find, even online, and horribly expensive if it comes complete with the sugar lid. By horribly expensive I mean twenty plus dollars, plus shipping. That's pricey, to my cheap li'l ole heart. 

 Anyway, I found both a cream and sugar at an antique mall, the sugar is vintage (I believe) but the cream isn't... not really. They are not a set, but I think it all looks kinda pretty 'shabby chic-ish' together.

So, the sugar is a vintage piece with no markings... I just love the colors and the shape. It was five dollars, cheap at twice the price! Not! I like it, but I wouldn't have paid more than that fiver.

If you look in the photo, you can see one of my cats peering over the edge of the picnic table at it, wondering why I'm not letting him up on the table! LOL.

The creamer I got was only two dollars, and it is Wedgwood Tigerlily! Amazing... this piece is worth ten times more than I paid, and that's the kind of math I love.

So... do you prefer 'sets'... things that match? Or do you, like me, have kind of oddball tastes and like variety?

   

This last photo is just because she's cute... my friend's cat, and I call the photo 'Reba Wants Cheese' because that's what she's beggin for!!

Happy September, everyone!!

The Perfect Teapot

Some time ago I blogged about my hunt for the perfect teapot, and this summer I found it! I knew I'd know it when I saw it, and I saw it and knew it. It was in a little shop in a town called Sparta, in Southwestern Ontario. You can find wonderful candles - the smell of the place is out of this world -  there too, and rooms and rooms of fascinating stuff! http://www.spartacandles.com/

My day trip to Sparta was a lot of fun, and we had tea at a great tearoom. The owner, an Englishwoman with a lovely accent, is an avid collector of teapots, and in the following days I'm going to share some of the photos I took of her fabulous collection! I'm envious to the max, but I'd never have room for her 350 beautiful teapots.

Anyway, on to my own acquisition... isn't my new teapot lovely?

What makes it perfect? Well, it's new, so I don't have to worry about hairline cracks or fractures in a vintage or antique pot. It's an oblong shape I like, it is capacious. And dang, but it's pretty! The pattern is kind of an Indian scene typical in English porcelain.

It's so pretty, I crocheted it its own sweater! Check out the tea cozy I made up. Now I just have to finish it off with some cute dangles from the ties, some teacup charms, or something. I was going to do pom poms, but then I thought, I'm going to need to wash this at some point, and poms have a way of disintegrating.

However... the cozy doesn't really keep the tea warm for long. I'm considering going on to create another layer on the inside. I'll debate that, while I go on to other projects.

So, does finding the perfect treasure makes you want to redo your decor, or find a special spot for your lovely acquisition??

Antiquing... what's the vintage equivalent?

Well, vacation - such as it was - is over. Too hot to do much, so what time I did spend doing anything was either in a friend's pool, or vintage-hunting. I know people call it 'antiquing', as in "I'm going antiquing with the girls this weekend", but I don't buy many antiques, mostly vintage. So what to call it... 'vintaging'?

Anyway, in the weeks to come I will be photographing and writing about my various finds - not that many, really, because of small space and low budget - but some pretty little things. I don't worry much about being 'matchy-matchy', so my new teapot, sugar bowl and creamer are all different patterns! But so pretty together... kinda shabby chic!

See you soon!!

The great teapot hunt continues...

I think I MAY have mentioned that I am hunting for the perfect teapot ever since my big one broke a few months back. I never liked Big Blue anyway, (hated it, actually, but it was a gift from my mom, and I would have kept it 'til the day it died... luckily its life was short) so it falling off of its handle was a godsend. But here's the thing; I can't decide what kind of teapot I want.

I already have one like this one, a Corning Ware 'Cornflower Blue' Six Cup Teapot, (This one is for sale apparently  - not by me: http://tinyurl.com/3fpzs7q) But mine has a metal lid, not the plastic one, so I'm thinking mine may be older. It was given to me by a friend, and I believe it was her late father's.

The problem with it is, while it says it is six cup, it is not truly six cup in the mug sense. Six teacups, maybe, but my guests usually drink from mugs, and it holds a scant two or three mugs. Sometimes I need a lot more tea than that.

My main character, Jaymie Leighton from 'A Deadly Grind' (Vintage Kitchen Mysteries Book 1 - May 2012) has a Brown Betty teapot that was her grandmother's. This Brown Betty image is from Mrs. Bridge's British Bakery online: http://www.bestbritishfoods.com/results.cfm?category=10&secondary=74

In the near future I'm going to do a blog on the fascinating history of the 'Brown Betty', the ultimate English teapot. But I don't really want a Brown Betty.

A china teapot then? Maybe, but they can get pricey. I was looking in a thrift shop the other day and saw a Sadler one that was not too bad, and a Meakin one I liked, but there were condition problems with both.

So, for you fellow tea drinkers out there, what kind of teapot do you use most? Do you like china, glass, pottery... what? I'm looking for advice, here... what makes the best pot of tea? My grandmother never washed her teapot, just rinsed it out. She was English, and her tea was strong enough to corrode a spoon. The build-up of the tannin in the bottom of the pot (the brown staining) is supposed to, some say, make a better tasting tea. True or false?

Cool link: The Teapot Shoppe http://www.theteapotshoppe.com/
The Expert Opinion on 'How to make a Perfect cup of Tea': http://site.theteapotshoppe.com/blog/2009/03/24/how-to-make-the-perfect-cup-of-tea/