Tuesday Cuppa Tea Here Comes Christmas! Victoria 1991, Apricot Prune Tarts, Johnson Bros Christmas Bells

Here comes Christmas...as Scrooge put it...breathing down your neck with plum pudding scented breath! And I love it!!!! It's time for Tuesday Cuppa Tea here and I am joining the wonderful Tuesday tea themed blog parties, some of which are listed below!

Because Johnson Brothers, England is such a homey favorite, here is a teacup in a Christmas pattern to share. Not fancy, but perfect for a cup of tea or a little peppermint hot chocolate! This set was made in the 1970s in a pattern, as far as I can tell, is called Christmas Bells.  So cute!


For more info on the teacup at Antiques And Teacups click on the photos.


Because I am joining Kathy at Victoria Return To Loveliness I decided to share a few things from the December 1991 issue. Please forgive the photographs...I haven't mastered taking a photo of a glossy page!

I treasure all the issues and go through all the Christmas issues every year as an inspiration and a joy. My favorite thing to do while sitting in the winter afternoon for a tea break from my business. Ahhhh! 


In this issue, they also gave a tutorial to make fabric stars.

If you are interested in it...let me know and I will scan the page an email the directions to you.


And a recipe from the issue...

Apricot-Prune Tartlets

12 to 16 dried apricots

12 to 16 pitted prunes

1 cup boiling water

1 (17 1/4 oz) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed (2 sheets)

1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place apricots and prunes in separate small bowls. Pour half the water over each of the dried fruits tp soften. Let stand 5 minutes. Drain

2. On floured surface, unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry. Press together seams to seal. Using a 4 inch biscuit cutter, cut pastry into 4 rounds. Repeat with remaining pastry sheet.

3.  Arrange pastry rounds on cookie sheets. Top each round with 3 or 4 dried fruits. Sprinkle with sugar.

4.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden, and fruit is glazed. Serve warm. Makes 8

I have made them and they are lovely.

Here are some of the lovely tea related blog parties I am joining. Have a wonderful time visiting them and getting some inspirations for the holidays!

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday 
Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Wanda Lee~  http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Pam~  http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Wanda Lee~  http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/ 
Tea For Two and Wednesday Tea For Me and Thee

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Lady Katherine~  http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/ 
Teatime Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Ruth  ~ http://timewasantiquesfamily.blogspot.com

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

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Teacup Thursday Rosina Painted On Transfer

Thanksgiving evening. Hope you had or are having a wonderful day. Just dawned on me it is Thursday! And that means Teacup Thursday with Miss Spenser! Thanksgiving can do that to a girl!!! So here is my choice today by a favorite manufacturer, Rosina England from the 1940s.

You probably know how I love hand colored on transfer pieces, and this one certainly qualifies! The coloring is just so individual on all the teacups. Rosina began in 1941 by devolving from a split in G. Warrilow & Sons at the Queen's Pottery in Longton, Staffordshire. Warrilow had begun in 1887 and included Queens China. Rosina and Queens continued until 1983 when the pottery was closed. Sigh...


For more on the Rosina hand colored on transfer teacup at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.

A last 2 photos for Thanksgiving. The first is an English harvest decoration and the second in from the November/December 2009 issue of Victoria magazine.  We had our Thanksgiving dinner with 200 folks at our church, Sequim Community Church, which is a tradition. Our kids are several states away and with in-laws so we love to get together with friends for a potluck Thanksgiving in the fellowship hall. Always fun!


Have a wonderful evening with friends and family. And don't get up TOOO early tomorrow!

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at Antiques And Teacups

You know about Black Friday, this is your blog friend coupon called BLOGFRIDAY!

$10.00 off coupon with code BLOGFRIDAY on any order of $25.00. May be combined with free shipping coupon THANKX on orders over $50.00 Shhh! A blog secret!

Happy Thanksgiving to All My Dear Friends

Autumn is the mellower season,

and what we lose in flowers

we more than gain in fruits

Samuel Butler

Wishing you and yours a Thanksgiving of love, thankfulness,  friendship and good food...

with a little time for reflection

about our many blessings which are so easily forgotten

in the noise of daily life

and the tyranny of things clamoring to be done.

Peace

Ruth

Tuesday Cuppa Tea, Victoria Thanksgiving, Red Transferware

Hello and welcome to Tuesday Cuppa Tea. We are also joining the blog parties at the bottom and other tea related memes.


I got my inspiration today from the November/December 2009 issue of Victoria Magazine.

The feature was about red, white and green and made me decide to do red and white transferware.  

Instead of a teacup, and in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee year which has begun, here is a red transferware mug made for her 50th Silver Jubilee in 1977 by Mason's, England.

The ironstone mug has the Queen's profile on one side and Prince Philip's on the other side. These were made in several different transferware colors.


And for a teapot, here is a red transferware coffeepot which can be used as a tall teapot:

This is by Villeroy & Boch, Germany in Rusticana. And to put your biscuits and crumpets on....

a vintage red transferware plate from Palissy, England from the 1950s of Eton College in it's Thames River Scenes line. I LOVE red transferware.


And here are a couple of Thanksgiving related pages from the issue that I loved:

To see more info on any of the red transferware items at Antiques And Teacups, click on the photos.  We are having a Black Friday special exclusively for my blog friends/followers coming up...I will blog about that later.


Please use the linky if you would like to link up to Tuesday Cuppa Tea and visit the other tea related blogs below. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to thankful for. We are truly blessed!

Martha~  http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday 
Terri~  http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/ 
Teacup Tuesday

Wanda Lee~  http://silkenpurse.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Pam~  http://breathoffreshair-paperbutterfly.blogspot.com/ 
Teapot and Tea Things Tuesday 
Wanda Lee~  http://theplumedpen.blogspot.com/ 
Tea For Two and Wednesday Tea For Me and Thee

Trisha~  http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/ 
Tea Party Tuesday

Lady Katherine~  http://ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com/ 
Teatime Tuesday

Sandi  ~  http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com

Teatime Tuesday

Ruth  ~ http://timewasantiquesfamily.blogspot.com

Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Kathy~  http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Victoria - A Return to Loveliness

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A Laugh for Sunday Morning, News From Local Business For Twilight Fans

I just had to share this cute comic from our newspaper from the comic strip called Tundra. A new Far Side I think:

Gave me a chuckle before we went to church.


And on a totally divergent note...this is for fans of the Twilight books and movies that are set here locally on the Olympic Peninsula. The fans are known around here as "Twihards" and have been a tremendous boost to the local economy and visit from all over the world.


In the book apparently Edward and Bella go to the Port Angeles restaurant Bella Italia for dinner and Bella has their mushroom ravioli.  Well...Bella Italia announced in our local paper that Bells'a Mushroom Raviloi is now available frozen for take home.

To read the article in our Peninsula Daily News, click on the photo.


Have a lovely day, and have a cuppa tea with a friend!

Pink And Pine Cones For Pink Saturday, Thanksgiving Tables, Pecan Upside Down Cake

Hi and welcome to my post for Pink Saturday with How Sweet The Sound.




I didn't have anything to share that I could think of that was pink, but then went to holiday bazaar Friday at a local church and found....Taa Daa!!!

This is a cool PINK teacup with a pattern called Pine Cones by Salisbury, England from the 1940s. The company was started in 1927 and taken over by Thomas Poole in 1961. The pin cone design is hand colored on brown transfer with sponged gold trim. I fell in love with it! And...it's PINK!


And with the season being fall it made me think of other things I have with pine cones, and came up with a couple...but no more pink!

My husband was a jeweler and diamond setter for 38  years until he had to change jobs because a major forearm muscle detached finally because of the diamond setting repititious movement in 1990. He did some lost wax casting during that his time as a jeweler including this lost wax sterling silver casting from an alder cone. I love it!

This is a little hand painted butter pat or teabag caddy by an artist called Barry in 1950-1957 for Weisley China by the Weissman Brothers China, USA. I think it is so cute!   So pine cones and pink! what's not to like????


  Here are some Thanksgiving Table suggestions from the Cottage Journal of Hoffman Media who publish Victoria, Cottage, Taste, Southern Living and Tea Time magazines among others.

And this is what I'm making for Thanksgiving:

PECAN UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
Makes 1 (9-inch) cake

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole buttermilk
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup pecan halves
Brown-Sugar Brandy Sauce (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, beat softened butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift twice.
4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chopped pecans.
5. In a medium bowl, combine melted butter and brown sugar, mixing well. Add cream, stirring until smooth.
6. Pour brown-sugar mixture into bottom of a 9-inch cake pan. Arrange 1 cup pecan halves in brown-sugar mixture. Spoon prepared batter over pecan halves.
7. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of cake pan to loosen cake edges. Immediately turn cake onto a serving dish. Serve with Brown-Sugar Brandy Sauce.

BROWN-SUGAR BRANDY SAUCE
Makes approximately 1 cup

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar, whisking to combine. Add brandy, whisking to combine. Add cream, whisking until smooth.
2. Cook, whisking frequently, until sauce is heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Sauce can be made ahead and stored in refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave before serving. 

Have a wonderful day visiting all the Pink Saturday posts! And I just want to mention that we have a FREE shipping on orders over $50.00 special at the moment at Antiques And Teacups. Stop by and visit!