Once in a while you come across something that makes you go WOW.

I am always on the lookout for “princess” or “fairy” theme products and ideas that would compliment my own products. Recently I came across a blog with the most wonderful Princess Tent that I had to share it with everyone.

Isn’t this the CUTEST!

Check out the details,
the flowers and windows are just darling….

She even has a print out that you can download, so if you are feeling especially creative you can stitch one up for your little princess. Unfortunately my princess is far beyond the princess tent stage but here’s hoping a grand princess comes along. She will be one spoiled little princess.

While you are visiting ikatbag check out all the other great projects and visit her tutorials, they’re fantastic.  Thanks for allowing me to share this with everyone.

Well, the calendar says it is supposed to be spring, but some of us are still shivering, brrrr! No worry, the warm weather will be here soon and the flowers will bloom and all will be joyful.

Isn’t it fun to celebrate holidays ,birthdays, and anniversaries?

One of the special spring celebrations is in May, Mother’s Day,a celebration of those wonderful people who gave us life and love and cherish us, no matter how old we grow.

In 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday. Although it began as a simple celebration to honor one mother it has grown into a day of food, fun, flowers, cards, and gifts celebrating the hard work, love and sacrifice of mothers everywhere.

Quilted To A Tea would like to honor moms by offering FREE SHIPPING on all our beautiful aprons and our apron kits for the entire month of April. So stop by and do your Mother’s Day shopping a little early.

Don’t forget to stop here and pick up a pretty tea cup card to go with your gift.There’s a tea bag in each card, it’s like two gifts in one!

Do you have a mom, grandma, aunt or sister that likes to sew? How about an apron kit? The apron kits include everything they need (except thread) to make a unique, original apron for themselves. They can personalize their apron with ribbon, trim or how about a monogram? Better yet, you could stitch it up for them and deliver a gift that they can’t find anywhere else, a true one of a kind gift.

The apron patterns from The Apron Lady are fun and soooo easy to stitch.You will love them!

A tea party is not a tea party without a proper tea set and at Toadstool Tea Parties we have a tea set for any little hostess.

The newest arrivals from Mud Pie are pretty porcelain tea pots and tea cups, just the right size. All come packaged in pretty hat box style reusable boxes.

For outdoor tea parties we have darling tin tea sets.The flowery set has everything needed for a party under the trees.There’s even cutlery and a serving tray.

AUNT MARY’S TEA CAKES

2 sticks butter * 2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour, sifted * 1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda * 3 eggs
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
Sift together sugar, flour, salt and baking soda.
Put sifted dry ingredients in a pan, then place all other
Ingredients in center of dry ingredients.
Mix lightly and roll out dough.
Cut with a round cookie cutter and place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until light brown.
Sandy’s Tea Society -Sandy Lynam Clough

Tags: apron kit, Aprons, Mother’s Day, Tea, theme aprons

I really love my girlfriends and when we get together there is so much laughter and talking and support. It is just wonderful, so after weeks and weeks of snow, travel, holidays and just life it was time for the girlfriends to meet and catch up.The emails started darting back and forth, first a day was decided on, them a time, then a place. It took some doing but soon 5 of the 6 of us were able to make a date. We don’t usually exchange gifts but since it was two days after Valentine’s day I decided a little token was in order.

The pattern for the little bag was a freebie from a very creative young ladies blog. I’ts an adorable little bag that holds a gift card or in my case a tiny Whitman’s sampler and some tea bags because my girlfriends and I know, a cup of tea and a little chocolate can do wonders for the spirit.

Aren’t these adorable? They really took very little time to make and very little fabric. I added a little lace on the top edge, a tassel and a tiny teapot charm. The great thing about this little pattern is that you can personalize it so very easily. Be sure to check out all the photos on the Halcyongreen blog for some great ideas for these little gift bags.

So, gather your girlfriends whenever you can. They are so important as we navigate along our life path. I wouldn’t trade mine for anything!

In my humble opinion, January is a double whammy of delight. The entire month is devoted to the wonderful beverage of hot tea and then add to that on January 23 the celebration of National Pie Day . Does it get any better?

According to The American Tea Council, tea is the second most popular consumed beverage in the world, only water outranks it. But of course tea is made with water soooo, in my book it’s a tie! Now I know that drinking tea, especially green tea, has great health benefits. It can help in the battle of the bulge, it can make you feel better, look better and a cup of hot tea on a cold, snowy day is just the perfect therapy. (Here in PA we have had LOTS of cold snowy days this year so I have needed LOTS of thereapy). But…. on one day this month, January 23, forget about the health benefits and just enjoy that cup of hot tea with a slice of your favorite pie. You deserve it!

National Pie Day was created by the National Pie Council to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Crisco. There’s no hard and fast rule about how to celebrate this holiday. The choice is yours. Make a pie for a friend, make a pie for yourself, just make a pie. Or if you’re not a baker it’s ok to buy a pie. Just have pie! What’s your favorite? Mine is pecan, must be my southern heritage. I’ve seldom met a pecan pie I didn’t like. Of course, chocolate anything pie is a very close second.

Gifts are so much fun to make, whether they are for me to give or for one of my customers to give to that special someone in their life. I’ve had so much fun this holiday season making a variety of gifts and I thought I might share some of them with you.

One of my very special friends really loves dupoini silk and when I saw this piece of chocolate brown silk with pale blue embroidery I knew it was perfect for her. Since she is studying French I decided to add a Parisian touch with a darling Eiffel tower embroidery motif purchased from Embroidery Designs.

Another fun apron project that was requested is this contemporary style Chef’s apron. A sleek monogram and a set of two abstract martini glasses make this apron very crisp and contemporary, just like the customer requested.

Another very special friend of mine wanted Chef’s aprons of another style for her wonderful family.

One popular project this past summer was to take t-shirts and add a skirt. It’s a very simple project so I thought why not try it with a sweatshirt. I think the results will keep the recipient toasty warm this winter.

This is just a small sampling of the projects that have passed through my workshop this season. All in all it’s been a busy, productive, fun and creative season. I wish all of my customers and readers a very Merry Christmas and a Joyous Holiday Season. Be sure to keep watching for new and exciting projects in the New Year.

It’s almost time for the annual Tie One On Day. What is Tie One On Day? It is the delightful brain child of one lovely lady, EllynAnne. She is also the author of a very lovely book, Apronisms, filled with photos, and stories about the humble accessory, the apron.

EllyAnne conceived the idea of Tie One On where on the day before Thanksgiving she encourages everyone to pause in the preparation of your own bounty, wrap a loaf of bread or other baked good in an apron, tuck a prayer or note of encouragement in the pocket, and tie one on…an apron, of course! and deliver the wrapped bundle to someone in need of spiritual or physical sustenance.

You can read more about her and her beautiful collection of aprons here, http://apronmemoriesabout.blogspot.com/
I think Tie One On Day is a fantastic idea and I encourage everyone to participate. What a wonderful activity for moms, grandmas and daughters of all ages to share in.

I love my tea cozies! I love how they look on my tea table and I really enjoy the wonderful job they do of keeping my tea pot nice and warm. It’s so delightful to be able to have a nice warm cup of tea and curl up with a good book.

The new tea cozies feature the beautiful Tea For Two prints from the Quest for a Cure line by Ro Gregg for Northcott. There is the ever popular pink color line and the new green color line. Both are equally pretty and feature pretty roses and teapots and teacups. There is also a lovely tapestry print for the new cozies. This is a medium weight fabric (even better for that warming effect) and features scences of a darling tea table all set for a tea party.

As always, the cozies are hand crafted by me with great attention to detail. I hope you enjoy these new cozies as much as I enjoyed creating them. If you need a different size or you have a fabric you would like stitched into a cozy just let me know. I would love to create one of a kind special cozy just for you!

World Alzheimer’s Day is September 21 and in honor of loved ones who have or have had this disease Virtual Quilt Patches are being created by quilters everywhere.

My first patch is in honor of my mother-in-law Helen who lost her battle to Alzheimer’s on a beach in beautiful Hawaii surrounded by two of her daughters and new found friends. Helen was an amazing woman who raised 6 wonderful children, the youngest of whom I am married to. She was a woman of enormous strength and compassion and she is still very much missed.

The second patch is to honor my step-father Robert who is currently battling Alzheimer’s. He lives in Tennessee with my mother and next door to my sister who does a wonderful job of taking care of them. Robert came into our lives when the four of us were already adults and beginning our own families but he has become a very special part of our family. He has good days and bad of course but he always seems to be smiling.

The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative is a wonderful organization, totally volunteer, that continues to raise awareness of the disease and raises funds for continuing research.

If you would like to learn more about Alzheimer’s, the AAQI, or would like to participate in the one of the fund raiser quilt auctions check out the AAQI site here. It’s amazing how much we can accomplish if we all work together!

Tags: Alzheimers, Quilts

Oh, my goodness the first tree in my neighborhood has turned! The orange and yellow leaves were a surprise to me this morning as I walked the neighborhood, but I guess the time has come. Now we begin the process of packing away our shorts and sandals and begin to haul out the sweaters and turtlenecks. You know what else it means? It’s time to do some serious work on all those Holiday projects or better yet, GO SHOPPING.
Boutique Cafe, the world’s first boutique podcast for moms and momprenuers on the go, has begun presenting their Holiday Gift Guide. It’s a terrific collection of fun and trendy shops filled with fashion, home accessories, beauty items, jewelry and lots, lots more. You are sure to find lots of great gift ideas for even the toughest person on your list. Drop by and get a jump start on your shopping, you won’t be disappointed.

Do you love purses/handbags/totes? I would like to present to you the Winner of the “Inspired by Amy Butler” Contest.
The amazing Tremendous Tote gets rave reviews wherever it goes and if you act quickly you could be the owner of one of these limited edition bags.

The Tremendous Tote is very roomy, approximately 20 inches wide by 15 inches tall (not including handles).
It has loads of convenient pockets inside to keep all your necessities neatly organized.

There’s a handy hidden outside pocket for things you need to access quickly, a large interior zipper pocket for security, and great slip pockets for your cell phone, blackberry, ipod, etc. The elasticized side pockets are perfect for a water bottle.
Even your keys will be easy to find with the attached key keeper. A zip top makes sure everything stays inside.
As an added bonus there is a matching Mini Stuff Stasher that clips inside for all those little items!

If you would prefer to make your own Tremendous Tote there’s an easy to follow pattern.
The designer of these bags is a very creative young lady and yes, she’s my daughter. A scientist by day and by night a designer with an environmentalist’s heart. A very talented young lady and very easy to work with.

For more information or to purchase one of these limited edition bags visit Kim at Halcyongreen Designs.