{tea for twenty}

A long time ago, while waiting not-so-patiently for Tilly to arrive, I sewed twenty tea cups to a big bit of linen, which has hung, framed, for a few years. I've actually never really liked how it came out -- the fraying edges and bumpy linen just didn't seem to belong on the wall. With garden tea-party season upon us, I thought it might be enjoyed a bit more turned into a quilt for Tilly and her friends and toys to sit on.

This is the first time I've used linen in a quilt, and I just loved it. I don't usually use a lot of yellow, but it's so trendy-Japanesy next to the linen.

In other news, I've spent the last five days trying to fix my broken Internet -- turning everything off and on again, on the phone to customer service, at my wit's end -- before discovering today that I had been messing with the wrong box. So sorry to the lovely Indian fellow who tried so hard to find out what type of modem I had, in vain, (uh, it was a hard-drive) and was so helpful to such a moron!

And because I've been Internet-less for almost a week, here are a few others things that I've been filling my time with. 

• Planning for the New Year. What, you're supposed to do that in January? Well, I just discovered Susannah Conway's printable (free) workbook recently. Great for dreamers and self-analyists, and those of us who get to things a bit late.
• Baking and sharing honey-comb cookies (that's when you squish too many on a sheet).

• Listing (and numbering) everything I get rid of as I organise and simplify. Yes, it takes a bit longer, but is so satisfying, and will no doubt make quite amusing reading in retrospect. A few favourites from the list so far: 46. a bag of four-year-old jelly beans, in flavours I don't like.   78. five half-finished felt rabbits.   95. crusty chocolate lip balm (9 years old) which I bought at Heathrow airport the first time I flew to China alone to see my family. 
• Sewing yellow-and-linen potholders for friends who recently moved into the most amazing modern house, and believing that if something I've made lives there, part of me gets to, too!

Cheeky Chocolate Mousse

The situation: it's four o'clock, and you've got people coming over at seven for dessert. The cupboards are bare. And these people know their food -- picking up a box of Betty Crocker isn't going to cut it.

What do you do?

It's Nigella to the rescue, with her super chocolate mousse recipe. While most mousses take four hours plus to set, this one is firm and ready after barely an hour in the fridge.

Here's what you need:

• 3 cups mini marshmallows
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 9 ounces best quality semisweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 cup hot water from a recently boiled kettle
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan.

Put the saucepan on the stove, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt, stirring every now and again. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile whip the cream with the vanilla until thick and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture.

Pour into 4 or 6 glasses or small dishes and chill until you want to eat. (About an hour)

Serving mousse in tea cups is a little something I picked up from my favourite dinner party guru, The Fable of the Table. I love the idea of eating out of tea cups, and these mini polka-dotted ones just give the mousse an extra bit of sweetness!

Start Now and Be Ready for Advent

{update: If you'd like to join in with the tea swap 2011, check out this post!}

My family have always been big celebrators of Advent -- whether we were scoffing chocolates out of a Cadbury's calendar, or opening beautifully wrapped bibs-and-bobs that my Mum had collected in the previous months, my brother and sister and I could always expect the twenty-four days before Christmas to be exciting.

Perhaps I've matured a bit, or lost my sweet-tooth (um... no), but Advent is no longer all about the sweeties. As the nights get longer, and the last-minute preparations come together, those twenty-four days are a time to reflect on family, friends and community, and to connect with the people that matter most.

And in the spirit of connecting, this year I have a plan for something extra special. I was inspired by Kojo Designs' wonderful tea wreath (above). But, rather than going out and buying twenty-five types of tea myself, I thought, why don't we have a little swapsies.


The plan: You send me, and twenty-three others, one bag of your favourite tea (and keep a bag for yourself). Meanwhile, twenty-three others and I are sending you a bag of our favourite tea. Voila! Twenty-five teas to sample over advent. (And it doesn't have to be your favourite. Maybe there's a wacky tea you've always wanted to try, but didn't want to drink a whole box of yourself? Share it with us!)


The lovely thing is that a teabag won't cost very much to send, so this shouldn't break into your Christmas fund too much. And just think of all those exotic envelopes heading towards your postbox...

So, if you'd like to join me in brewing up a tea-rrific advent calendar from around the world, please leave a comment below, or send me a quick email to: astrid@redredcompletelyred.com. We need twenty-four people, so don't be shy! Family, friends, old and new readers are all welcome!

(source)

P.S. For more advent calendar ideas, have a look over here.

You're Just My Cup of Tea

And the teapots are done...

I really enjoyed the freehand, raggedy-edge style of embroidery that gives the teapots definition, while letting the fabric have a bit of character. Thank you, thank you, Tine Wiggens, for the inspiration.

Of course, while stitching, it only felt right to have non-stop tea on the go. De-caf, yes, but it still somehow manages to keep me going. Perhaps the energy boost is in my head.

I pulled out my lovely "Rainbow of Stitches" book to find a manageable alphabet style for the lettering. Their art deco script --just using back-stitch, so easy!-- was perfect.

I searched for a long time to find a suitable quote. Originally, it was going to say "Tea Time", but I thought I'd get a bit bored of that after a week or so.

There was a lovely saying I found, "Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea," which almost won out, but that did seem like quite a lot of words to squeeze into a small space, so we ended up with the simple, romantic "You're just my cup of tea."

Or, as my dear husband likes to read it: "You're Justin my cup of tea!"

A quick iron, and Justin got them up and hanging on the wall just in time for our friends coming over last night. Team work!

And one of the loveliest things I'm finding about a project that uses so many different scraps of fabric is that it recalls all of the other things I've made. There's a bit of material from Justin's tiger quilt, a bit of Remington's shirt, a bit of Felicity's boots, plenty of Tilly's playmat, our placemats, a couple of our positive-thinking hearts, the family heart, and lots of well-loved clothing from both Justin and I. It's like a little display of memories in tea cup form!

My Weekend in Numbers

Number of babies delivered: 0

Number of tea cups cut and sewn onto linen: 20

Number of times I've felt it might be time to go to the hospital: 0

Number of episodes of The Office watched: 9

Number of teapots cut and sewn: 2, with the third in progress right now.

I keep thinking that the next crafty project I start is the one I won't be able to finish. I'm not supposed to finish the teapots, or the tea cups. I wasn't supposed to finish the scrapbook of Tucson. And before that, I wasn't supposed to finish the foxes or the fabric hearts or the mobile. And though I'm rather glad to have all these lovely finished things, rather than having them piled in progress around the house, I am really looking forward to the project that I'll have to put aside and leave in pieces while we rush off to have Tilly.