Tea Rose Home in a Bed and Breakfast

Posted by Mr. Tea Rose Home on behalf of Mrs. Tea Rose Home.

Hi everyone! I know I usually update my post on Fridays. Today's post is a little boring, so bear it with me. I went in to the hospital to get a procedure done this morning. Even though I'm home, I can't do much right now. For those of you who are new to this blog you might be wondering, "What procedure?".... No I didn't get plastic surgery or anything like that to improve future pictures of me. If you want to find out go here, it will explain a little of my condition.

The procedure is pretty routine for me, so I am OK. Besides, Mr. Tea Rose Home is taking good care of me. I should be able get up and resume my regular schedule sometime next week.

Meanwhile, It is the perfect time for me to catch up on my reading and I might be having a breakfast in bed. So I can't complain.

So Everyone, Have a nice weekend and see you all next week!

Mr. Tea Rose Home: Well that's it folks, I guess I have to try and figure out what to do for breakfast. "Honey! Where do you keep the milk!?"

White, Silver and Wood

With Hubby out of town all week, I decided to paint our kitchen walls. But let me just say (in case I've implied otherwise), that I absolutely dread painting. I think by far the hardest part for me is just getting started.

For example, I put on my calender "Paint Kitchen Tuesday." Wednesday came and about 5pm, I called my Mom and said, "ugh, I have to paint the kitchen today...at some point." It was 6pm before I started and almost midnight before I finished.

I painted the walls Simply White (eggshell finish), which is the color we used on the cabinets, shelves and trim (in semi-gloss). With a fresh clean slate, I then experimented with creating a not so kitcheny kitchen!

Jennifer over at The Newlywed Diaries inspired me with this post! As I began gathering up some not-so-kitcheny items, I started to gravitate towards all things white, silver and wood.



I added a clock, some candlesticks, an alabaster bud vase that I put toothpicks in (to add some wood) and my sweet little owl figurine.

I didn't spend very much time on arranging things - can you tell? I sort of began with the basics of all the whitewear dishes and drinking glasses we'd be using on a regular basis. To balance out those kitchen items, I added my Grandmother's old candelabra, her big silver tray and her old little lamb print...oh, and her old owl print that I reframed. xo

I tried to break away from my previous tendency to create too much symmetry. I still tried to balance things out, but in a more irregular way.

I like how the light reflects on the silver things.

I also really love my owl figurine.

And look, here we are...I think this will be Hubby's favorite not so kitcheny addition to our shelves. xoxo

A DAY IN SAFFRON WALDEN ..........

The other day, I went to a town about 40 minutes away from me, called Saffron Walden.

When the Doomsday Book was compiled in 1086, Saffron Walden consisted of 120 households. It's a little larger now !

The Saffron crocus was being grown here in the late 1300's and by the early 1500's was the centre of the saffron industry in this country. Saffron was in great demand for the woollen industry and brought wealth to the town.

This is part of the market square. The town market is said to be one of the earliest markets, starting around 1141 and the town grew up around it.

Malt was another commodity which Saffron Walden successfully traded in the 1870's. Conical shaped roofs of the malting's dominated the skyline and there were once as many as 15 pubs in the town of which only a few remain today, the above pub, The King's Arms, being one of them.

The Sun Inn.

Pargeting is the ornamentation of plastered and rendered building facades that would otherwise be smooth. The term was once also used to include internal decoration.

Pargeting ranges from simple geometric surface patterning to exuberant sculptural relief of figures, flowers and sea monsters. English plasterwork became increasingly elaborate in the 16 century and there are some lovely examples in Saffron Walden. The Sun Inn being one of the most elaborate.

The original raw material is called Parge.......... a mixture of sand and lime with a binder like hair. Many additional ingredients are recorded including urine, loam, soot, tallow, road scrapings, cheese, dung, blood and salt !! YUK !!
It's a bit of a worry of how and where they got some of those ingredients from !!!!

A quaint old English town with a great deal of history.... and, I've only just scratched the surface of the history of Saffron Walden.

Jackie

Tutorial~ Sweater to a Make Believe Tweed Jacket~

Before I show you this tutorial, let me talk about myself and clothing a little bit.

As I mentioned before, I like clothes. In fact, I like so many different styles that it is hard for me to say, "this is my style". Although there is one thing I have noticed about myself and that is after I experiment with many differnt stlyes, I always go back to the classic feminine stlye. There is a reason why.

I was in Junior high at that time, It was one late night. I could not go to sleep. (I was a night owl back then too). I decided to watch TV for a little bit and flipping through the channels, I found an old Movie. The actress was so beautiful and the clothing she wore in the movie was so classy and captivating.

Later I found out that the actress was Audrey Hepburn, and the movie was called "Breakfast in Tiffany's"... After that I watched "Roman Holiday", "My Fair Lady", "Sabrina", and "Charade". A few years ago on Valentine's day, my husband got me a bunch of Abdrey's DVD's!

I love how she carried herself (always with a great posture and smile) in those movies, and the clothes she wore had class. Not too revealing, yet very feminine. I must say, whenever I watch her movies, they are always fresh and inspiring. I never get tired of them. To me, Audry and the clothes she wore will never go out of style.

Lateley I have been wanting a tweed jacket. Perhaps, something like you see in Audrey's movies. No collar, fitted, it is so beautiful that, as I wear it, my back will straighten, I might feel I could be like Audrey...classic beauty...

But, hey, do I live life like that? Hmmm...maybe not, first of all, where am I going to wear it? I can't cook, clean and drive around like a maniac (sometimes) to school, to after school activities, to the groceries, etc. I should get something more real for now.

So, I went shopping IN MY CLOSET. Then, I found this old sweater I haven't touched for several years. Then, the idea came to me...


For those who read looong intro, THANK YOU! Ok, I will show you what I did.

You will need:

One old sweater (mine was cotton and spandex combined i think...)

Less then half a yard of knit fabric, and thread that matches

If you want to make your own button, a button making kit

How to:

1. Draw a line in the middle and cut! There is no turning back at this point...


2. I found the knit fabric in Joann's clearance section. It is a little darker than the sweater, but it goes well together.


Cut 2 pieces of 2" x whatever the length of the edges of the sweater. Fold the strips in half, so you will know the center of the fabric. Cover the edges, pin them and sew.

3. Measure the length of the front openings and around the neck. Add those numbers to figure out how long you will need the strip to be to make ruffles. I recommend to have at least 2-3 times its length.

Cut, 2-3 pieces of 2" wide x width of the fabrics strips to make ruffles. Piece the strips together and make a long strip.


4. Make ruffles. (If you need to see how to make ruffles, go here)

5. Pin the finished ruffles all around the edge.


6. Sew the ruffle on both sides of the big stitches. It is ideal to sew 1/8" next to the line. So, both sides combined, it will be 1/4" wide. Pull out the middle stitch from the ruffle.


After this you can say you are done. If you want to add more details to the sweater, keep reading.

{BUTTON}

I got carried away and decided to stitch and make my own button. You can buy button making kits at Joann's, or, you can buy button.


Also, I cut 1" x 8" fabric and made a rope to close the button.





{Pocket}

I also added a fake pocket opening to each side.

1. Iron a strip of interfacing in the back of the area you want the fake pocket.


2. Pin a fabric(1" X 4") in front (make sure that it is on top of the interfacing).


3. Sew in the middle


4. Fold the top half to the bottom edge, pin and sew the sides and the bottom.




{Sleeves}

1. Measure the circumference of the sleeve opening. Cut 1" x (whatever the lengh of the opening X 2 or 3) to make the ruffles for the sleeves.


2. Pin it, and sew. I must say that it was a little tricky since the opening is so small, but if you do it slowly you should be fine.


My Jacket is not quite like Audrey's but I like how it turned out.


It is pink and ruffley, I like to pair it with jeans or cargo pants so it won't be overly feminine. It is very flexible and comfortable, since it was a sweater before. Perfect for someone like me... I will take baby steps on the path to become like Audrey.

Petaled Friends

I'm thinking spring. It's hard not to (despite the snow) when you see bouquets of tulips and daffodils in the grocery store. So I've gathered some photos I took of the flowers we enjoyed last year to tide me through the next couple of months of winter.

The first spring flowers that grace our land are the blossoming fruit trees - they are absolutely breathtaking.

These were the first peonies I clipped at the flower farm. They were so gorgeous and delicate and their pink blossoms enormous!



We have some very old lilac bushes that probably need some serious pruning. They are a bit tattered and worse for wear, but still produce the most fragrant smelling flowers. I take this as my cue to gather them up in bunches and spread them throughout the house.

This was the bouquet I was most proud of last summer as it was the very first clipping from our newly planted rose and peony bushes.



These are the first clippings from the Little Lamb Hydrangea bushes I planted.

These are also Little Lamb Hydrangea but were clipped towards the end of summer, after they turned from milky white to a blushing pink.

And these were the last of the rose clippings before the frost came and lulled everything to sleep.

I've missed my petaled friends and can't wait to see them again this spring.

Family Night Dessert

I blogged about some baking molds I found at a thrift store about a month ago. I used the molds and made a dessert for my family.

I have to admit, that, I tend to do more when we invite our friends over and entertain. Cleaner and neater home, prettier setting on the table and perhaps prettier dessert too.

I thought why not do a special dessert just for our family. I want them to know that they are very special to me.

They loved the desserts, and we had a fun night.


Note: The new tutorial I have been working on is coming up on Wednesday be sure to come back and check it out!

Have a blessed week everyone!