Tiny Teacup ~ Blue Willow

I found this tiny teacup at an antique store yesterday,and the price was $5.00. I had $5.00 in my purse and decided I would be sorry if I left the store and did not take this little teacup with me. Blue Willow is one of my favorite patterns, and this particular blue is one of my favorite colors. Have you noticed how many different shades of blue there can be in Blue Willow dishes , depending on who makes them, and where & when they were made? To show how tiny this is I placed it next to my favorite tea/coffee cup, another Blue Willow cup & saucer I bought in an antique store years ago.See the difference in the color of the two ?

The tiny teacup fits inside the standard cup.

"Maruta, Made in Occupied Japan "

Today, after I am done with my chores, I am going to sip some tea from this cup and ponder something that has been on my mind, the need to PRACTICE kindness. This summer it finally penetrated my thick skull that good and noble things, be they art, writing, stitchery, music, sports,keeping a home, cooking & baking, (the list goes on) all get better with practice. Why not good character qualities too ? "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. " Mark Twain ~ " Kindness is in our power , even when fondness is not." Samuel Johnson ~ When I was young I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people." Abraham Lincoln

I am joining these ladies of the teacup this Tuesday for a celebration of all things tea, come along, you're invited too .~

• Lady Katherine * at Lady Katherine's Tea Parlor
• Pam * at Breath Of Fresh Air
• Wanda Lee*At The Silken Purse
• Martha* At Martha's Favorites
• Terri* at Artful Affirmations
• Sandi* at Rose Chintz Cottage

Blue Willow Ware , Tea Time Tuesday

Blue Willow Ware is one of my favorite patterns of china and I have been collecting bits and pieces of it since I was in my teens. Usually I would buy a saucer or bread plate found in thrift stores and the great quantities of Willow Ware seem to vary quite a bit in quality and price. I am very pleased and thankful for the Blue Willow Ware teapot my Father-in-law gave me recently. He knows I love the pattern, thank-you Dad ! Blue is my favorite color and I never tire of blue and white on my table. Blue Danube, Blue Willow Ware,and any other pieces of blue china that find their way to my home will also be used frequently. Many of the pieces shown here are gifts given to us with love from family members. My husbands' sister Judy sent me a box of lovely blue and white plates and saucers a short while ago, some of them pictured here. I was not expecting any packages in the mail, and when I got the package home and opened the box ...oh my, a true surprise and delight to my heart ,thank-you Judy! This is a tea/coffee cup I have shown before. It is my favorite tea cup and I use it often, drinking ONLY tea from it. My sister JoAnn and I spotted this tea cup in an antique store in a mountain logging town in Oregon a few years ago as we were driving home after visiting our Grandmother. See, a favorite teacup with many fond memories attached. I googled Willow Ware in researching it for this post and google alone pulled up hundreds of thousands of articles about the pattern. The pattern is commonly believed to portray the story of two doomed Chinese lovers meeting on the bridge and after death they are turned into birds. The story on Blue Willow Ware is supposedly Chinese but Blue Willow Ware was first made in England in 1780. It is still being made today. "The pattern would prove so popular it would be copied in a dozen countries by hundreds of manufacturers. Even the Chinese copied it in their hand-painted decoration." Wayne Mattox The options for collecting Blue Willow Ware are endless, thrift stores, garage sales, and even newly produced Willow Ware are readily available. The most beautiful Willow Ware I have ever seen was a child's tea set displayed in an antique store. The little tea set was in perfect condition, and the cups and saucers were egg-shell thin. The little set took my breath away. The price was very high and of course I could not justify spending so much money on a toy tea set and if I had I know I would not actually ever use it. However, I DO use all my Blue Willow Ware, and enjoy it every time I sip tea from the cup and saucer, or eat cookies and sandwiches from the little plates. Pour yourself a cup of tea in a favorite cup and visit the ladies listed below:

• Martha at Martha's Favorites*
• Lady Katherine and Lady Katherine's Tea Parlor*
• Terri at Artful Affirmations*
• Wanda Lee at The Silken Purse*
• Pam at Breath of Fresh Air*
• Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage*