Thursday, October 21, 2010

New Calendar



Hooray, my new calendar is here! This calendar is being produced by Current and is available for $6.99 from their catalog and website. Putting a calendar together is a lot of hard work, but I am proud of how this one came out.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Teacups and Tobies



Here is the china pattern for today: Waterlilies by Gladstone. This is another set from Mum; these were given to my grandmother for a wedding present. I included the sugar tongs just for fun, as the sugar basin is quite large and is obviously made for sugar cubes.


Here you can see the maker's mark on the bottom of the cup. This mark was used between 1924-1942, but I haven't been able to find anything else out about the pattern.

The last time I wrote about Toby jugs, there seemed to be a lot of interest, so I thought I would post some more. These are from Mum. The handsome fellow in the middle is the one that started it all, as he belonged to my mother's mother. He isn't a proper Toby, as he doesn't have legs, but isn't he lovely?

This photo shows Mum's only Japanese Toby, the pink fellow on the left. You can see the difference in art styles. The Japanese started making these for export in the 1930's. This one is stamped "Occupied Japan". Japanese jugs in general are worth much less than English ones. I'll post more Tobies on future teacup tuesdays, but I think this is enough for now, don't you? As always, thanks to Artful Affirmations and Martha's Favorites for hosting!







Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Guess What Day It Is?

That's right, it's Teacup Tuesday! I have neglected it for the past few weeks, what with one thing and another. Since I have just come back from visiting my mother, I decided I would showcase some of her beautiful china for a couple of weeks. This cup is made from glass and gilded. The photo doesn't really do justice to the lovely teal green of the glass. The spoon is gilded to match.
My parents bought this set in the south of France early in their marriage (this was long before they emigrated to the States).



As you can see from the shape of the pot, it is actually a coffee service, but I like it very much. When I was a little girl I thought it was the most glamorous thing I could imagine! The set is handpainted; Mum says they bought it from the artisan who made it. She said it cost more on the duty to bring it from France to England than the actual set cost!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

I'm Back!

I'm back! I just had a wonderful vacation in Austin, staying at my mother's house. When you are tired and stressed, there is nothing so refreshing as a little TLC from mom! We stayed pretty close to home, making short trips to neighboring towns. My favorite was Salado, which is full of little galleries and boutiques in historic buildings. Everywhere had nice fall displays, like this pretty window.


I love Fall, and the weather in Texas turned very mild when I got there, thank goodness! Most of the time when I visit there I just melt! We went to great restaurants, and I visited my niece at UT, which has a lovely campus.


One of the best things was visiting my sister. She has been rather unwell, unfortunately. Do you see the missing "E" from the drug store sign? And see how big it is compared to the people below? Well, one very windy day, that E blew off the wall and frisbeed right into my sister, who was in the parking lot! It crashed right into her leg. She is very bruised and sore, but is gradually healing.
Now I am home and refreshed and ready to get back to my paint!