Savour The Moment ~ Tea-Time Tuesday

 



It was a surprisingly sunny day on Cedar Pond, and very cold. Although it looked like a work outside in the garden type of day, the immediate cold to the bones set in and I decided it was really a work inside the house and look out the window type of day. As I worked I was reflecting on Sandi's* theme for today and knew I would take time to truly savour the moment.

 



 The table-covering is an old wool rug my husband's Aunt Marion made many years ago. I remember visiting her apartment in Everett, WA . She invited us for dinner and to watch her alma mater's football game on t.v. The U of W Huskies against her team, WSU's Cougars. This rug she hooked herself was one of many covering the hardwood floors in her apartment. Her home was filled with her handmade rugs, wall-hangings, quilts, and special mementos of her many travels world-wide. Aunt Marion was an independent single woman in a time many years ago when being a single woman was considered a handicap. She was well educated and became a teacher.

 I decided it was a perfect day to spin up another skein of wool yarn and savour the moments of a quiet time at home doing something I dearly love to do. The wool rug my husband's aunt hooked from sample books of wool fabrics that were sent to the school where she taught home-economics was probably a project she worked on in front of her t.v. on the many cold and rainy days Everett, Washington is known for. Do you think she savoured the moments she spent in her cozy apartment with a view of the Everett waterfront ? Nearby you can see my spinning wheel. I was finishing up the plying of another skein of wool yarn. ( This means I was combining and twisting together strands of wool yarn I had already spun up . I combined 2 strands of yarn making this a 2 PLY yarn)

 In the center of the table on the rug Aunt Marion hooked sits a basket full of my hand spun wool yarn. The basket was woven by a local basket weaver. The basket weaver told me she sat down in a forest , picked up the branch handle and wove the basket there. Do you think she savoured the moments she worked in a forest and quietly, probably reflectively, wove this basket ?

 The longer I look at this rug the more I appreciate Aunt Marion's choices and flair for design.

 The wood bowl once belonged to Aunt Marion. I wonder if the person who made the wooden bowl savoured the moments spent in a shop filled with beloved tools and the scent of wood shavings, thinking about this bowl and the many creations to be carved out of precious chunks of wood surrounding the work space.

The last little bit of two-plyed yarn is done and I am ready to transfer my yarn to a winding reel.

 This winding reel was given to me by a friend who's job requires her to crawl under people's homes. She found the winding reel and an old home-made spinning wheel I hope to restore someday outside an abandoned home. The winding reel has been an amazing help to me. I did not know I needed one until I used it. I simply wind my newly spun and plyed yarn onto this reel. Each wind around to the peg ( inside the reel where a small strand of  the yarn is tied) measures 2 yards. I count the winds thus giving me the yardage of each skein of yarn. Do you think the person who made this winding reel savoured the moments crafting it? Do you think he ( it was most likely a man) was thinking of the person he was crafting it for and savouring the anticipation of excitement and appreciation he expected?

The teacup is a lovely blue lustre-ware with a honey gold color inside and was made in Japan many years ago. The chocolate cake was made by me from scratch and I added everything the recipe called for. Real butter, sour cream, real vanilla, fine- ground good quality chocolate ,fresh eggs from my own flock of chickens, and love. I also made the chocolate buttercream frosting.Do you think I savoured the moments making, baking, and frosting this cake? Do you think I savoured eating this piece of cake? Yes indeed . Savour the moments of your life! If you don't, who will? Learn to savour the moments with a grateful heart.

I am joining Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for this day to Savour The Moment* and the rest of the Tea-Time Tuesday ladies.

• Terri at Artful Affirmations*
• Martha's Favorites*
• Bernideen's Tea Time Blog*
• Antiques & Teacups*

Spot on Torquay Pottery ~Accidental Collection

This is a post about accidental collections. Yes, accidental. I never set out to collect Torquay pottery. We were given a few pieces of this pottery . A beloved Great Aunt of my husband's thought we would like it. She never said much more about it than that she bought it on one of her tours to England. I thought it was cute and kept it safe in a cupboard for a time when our kids were growing up. On a trip back from a visit to family in Oregon my sister Joni and I stopped at a garage sale in a very small, by-the-way town. The garage sale was one of those many would pass by quickly. Lots of plastic stuff , lots of junk. However, against my better judgment my sister encouraged us to stop and lo and behold, there was a piece of Torquay pottery for sale~ 75 cents! I knew enough to know this was a good deal! Joni paid for it and gave it to me. ( What can I say, I had no change on me at the time!) Joni began collecting Torquay pottery and later sold me her collection. So you can say this is an accidental collection. A happy , cheerful little accidental collection! Thanks Joni and Aunt Marion! Each piece of pottery has a little motto , or saying on it. Hence it's other name "motto ware". "The Devon Motto Ware is by far the most popular of the Torquay wares in the united States and Canada." ....The patterns, quaint rhymes and proverbs have attracted public attention in the twentieth century and still into the twenty-first century the pottery continues to delight visitors seeking souvenir items." "early Motto Ware carried inscriptions written in normal English but later on an exaggerated Devonshire dialect was adopted to appeal to the tourist trade. Motto Ware got the reputation as being the "bread and butter" of the Devon ( England) pottery industry. Each piece is unique in its' own way even though many bear the same decoration, because each is "custom made" being hand-made and hand-decorated." Torquay Pottery by Gerry Kline