Miniature Tea Cozy

Just finished putting together a tea cozy after stitching it twice.  The lesson here is to double check the count of your gauze, as it may not be the size it's labeled to be!  After stitching the front, and being unable to find a backing fabric that was the right color and thickness, I decided to stitch a back.  I quickly stitched it up, but when I went to sew the front to the back, they were different sizes!  Well, since the back was larger than the front, I experimented thinking I might be able to trim the excess off the back.  Nope.  Then in the process of ripping out the stitching, I cut both the front and the back.  Sooooo, back to the drawing board, stitching both pieces on the same piece of gauze.  One important note - since silk gauze is not exactly even weave, it is important to orient front and back in the same direction (parallel rather than perpendicular to each other).

Here is the finished tea cozy.  The back is plain yellow with the scalloped blue border at the bottom.  The blue splotch above the border on the back is really my initials.  I can't get a good picture to save my life - my camera used to take wonderful mini pics, but it's become crotchety in its old age.  If anyone has suggestions for a new camera, I'm interested!  This one is a Fugi Fine Pix, and won't work with Windows 7, another reason to get a new one.  Downloading pics onto my old slow desktop and transferring to the new laptop is not worth the effort for such poor results.

The tea cozy, when stitched on 48 count silk gauze, is a perfect fit for a Christopher Whitford 1:12 scale teapot. This one is the Blue Net Lomonosov pattern. It also works well on the slightly smaller pottery teapot I have that was made by Jane Graber. Her tea pot is about the same height, but smaller around.

More on my Dick Van Dyke Show house

Last fall I received this wonderful painting done by Karry Johnson for my Petrie house.  She is a joy to work with and did an amazing job!  I have two color still photos taken during rehearsals, and Karry used those to choose the colors.  The painting was not shown in those color photos, but she took colors from the rest of the room to coordinate.  The painting measures 2 inches by 3.75 inches.  Now to frame it....  http://www.karryjohnson.com/

Wise Words from Keeper of the Fire

Eileen Campbell-Reed was one of my teaching assistants at Vanderbilt who is now a leader in academia and a fine example of ministry.  She has an exceptional talent for blogging, and this is a post from her archives that is directed to women considering a vocation in ordained ministry, but there is much practical advise here for anyone who is concerned with living well.  Click on the 'advice' tag of the blog if you're interested in reading follow-up posts that flesh out each of the numbered pieces of advice.

Wise Words from Keeper of the Fire

Thank you, Eileen!

Life goes on.... Nashville 3 Blind Mice Show

It's hard to believe that so much time has slipped by since the last time I blogged. It's been a sad year - my mother died suddenly on Feb. 16, and my dad's health has been up and down. We have managed a few happy times in between the sad ones. As he puts it, we've been "motoring about the countryside" in his convertible, and we've been able to spend some happy times with his brother and family. I also adopted a new baby named Albert - what a terror he can be, but so sweet too!  He teases the other cats mercilessly and has been known to wrap himself around the dog's hind leg.  Rosie doesn't even try to shake him off.   I was able to attend the Three Blind Mice Miniature Show here in Nashville and came home with several treasures. It was a well-attended show, so I'm hopeful it will return to Nashville next year. A few pictures....



Maria in her newly found hiding place



Baby Albert

Albert - He thinks my leather recliner is his.







1:12 scale Roger Gutheil chair - another treasure from the miniature show

What I'm Reading

My sister asked for Merry Hall for Christmas, so I gave it to her and borrowed it to read.  ;-)  Beverley Nichols has written many books, and this the first of his second trilogy - am I confusing you?  Anyway, it's hilarious.  It's set in post WWII England, and is the story of his experiences restoring the garden of an old estate he's just purchased.  I've ordered books 2 and 3 for myself...

The other book I've just finished is Jeanne M. Dams' latest Dorothy Martin mystery. These are set in England in the present day. She is also working on a series of Hilda Johansson mysteries, set in South Bend, IN around the turn of the twentieth century.

A New Car!

This is my newest toy!  A 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air in a beautiful turquoise blue.  It's 1:12 scale and came from the Danbury Mint.  I haven't had the courage to try putting the top up yet - I'm so afraid I'll break it!  I'll take some better pictures in a day or two, in the daylight, but here I'm trying to show off the lights that actually work.  The headlights switch from high to low beams with a dimmer switch on the floor.  Pressing the brake pedal turns on the brake lights - what a concept!  :-)

Maysville Guild Study Program

In Oct. I attended the IGMA's guild study program in Maysville, KY.  It was held at the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center which houses the Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection.  I can't begin to describe the amazing exhibits and the wonderfully warm hospitality offered by Kaye Browning and the museum staff.  The class I took was taught by William (Bill) Robertson - a 1:12 scale tiger maple chest of drawers, about 5 inches tall.  The biggest challenge was the hand cut dovetails.  Bill is a born teacher and an unbelievably talented artisan!



On the last night, we were invited to dinner at the home of Kaye Browning.  These are views from her back yard.



Maysville is the hometown of Rosemary Clooney and a great place to see a wide variety of historic architecture.  This is a shot of one of the flood wall murals, taken from the parking lot of the French Quarter Inn where I stayed.