"She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." ((Proverbs 31:13)

Sunday, July 31, 2011

"TOGETHER, WE CAN DO SOMETHING WONDERFUL!"

Recently, having celebrated yet another birthday, and perhaps because the years keep ticking past more quickly now, reminding me that I am not getting any younger!  Our children keep telling me, "but Mother, you are just getting older and much wiser!"  How sweet!  The other day I opened up a journal, in which I keep very special writings that have touched my heart.  One of them spoke to me so clearly that day, about this journey we are all following, called "Life"...  
" What I do you cannot do, But what you do, I cannot do.
The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things,
But we can all do small things, with great love, 
And together, we can do something wonderful!"
(Mother Theresa)


Every day is a blessing, just to wake up each morning and be able to say, "I'm still alive! I still have another chance to make a difference in someone else's life today!  I sweetly recall a scene from Anne of Green Gables, when Miss Stacey, Anne's teacher, said to her, "Today is a brand new day with no mistakes in it!"  


One of my dear stitching friends, Linda, made this really sweet little pincushion for my birthday!   Her thoughtfulness is genuine and brought a sweet smile to my face when I opened up her thoughtful gift!  Thankyou, Linda!
I just love it!  It also happens to match Molly Bear & Raggedy Annie!  I love teddy bears too, in case you didn't know!


Among a few of my other favorite things are teapots and teacups, colored glass collectibles, vintage lace and buttons....Well, I think that these are among some of the greatest little treasures.  They make me think of special times I played in my Grandmother's attic, when she let me play with Mother's antique china dolls and tea sets, and showed me how to make beautiful button necklaces.


Imagine my excitement when we visited the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, MA on our little getaway!  We were able to watch a glass blower give a live demonstration of making a beautiful fluted blue and white dish.  It was fascinating.  


Miniature replica of a glass blower, preparing hot glass inside of the firing kiln.
Miniature replica of glass blower blowing glass.


                          Sandwich Glass "Cup Plates".
              Aren't these "Cup Plates"  just beautiful?


It was fascinating to read about the actual purpose of the little cup plates.


When the tea had been drunk from the little cup plates, the "dregs" of the tea leaves remained in the teacups.  Hence the art of "telling one's fortune" from the arrangement of the tea leaves....  In one of my favorite BBC Victorian Series, "Larkrise from Candleford",  one of the village older women is gifted with "reading of the tea leaves".  So fascinating, although I do not subscribe to reading one's fortune in my tea leaves!

                          A lovely blue "cup plate"

I recall seeing one of these crystal rolls on my great aunt's dinner table and thinking how beautiful it was, but never saw it being used.  The carving knife and fork are to rest on it at an elegantly laid table.  Lovely!  

  Ruby red crystal plate....it looked like sparkling diamonds!

And the best for last...   "Caroline Ewer" Sampler...Aged 14

                          "Hannah Jones" Sampler  (1830)

I apologize for the poor photography, but the sampler was inside of a glass case with lights above it.  I believe that Hannah was aged 12.  Amazing!

In my opinion, every really special outing should end with a lovely cup of tea and a special treat, so we stopped at a wonderful little tea shoppe!
                      
                         Beautiful artistic display of tea cups,
                         teaspoons, and other little things...

    "Grandma Loves Me" ... such sweet sentiment!

Thank you for allowing me to share with you today.  I appreciate your visits with me here, and  I treasure all of  your sweet comments too!

Blessings in Stitches! 



11 comments:

  1. Wow, Kathy, lots to see today. The pincushion is lovely. How great is it that it matches your bear!!! And all the glass plates are beautiful. They are so colorful!! Love the tea shop pics too. They're lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That museum looks so interesting! Such pretty glass pieces! I've been watching a PBS series called Craft in America -- some glass blowing is shown on one of the episodes. Really cool stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sweet pincushion!
    Love the glass - reminds me of the glass blowing at Jamestown in Virginia.
    Beautiful samplers!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Belated Birthday Kathy! Sounds like you had a wonderful day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kathy: I love this posting so many wonderful things to take in, Mother Theresa was a very wise knd and loving women a true Saint in many ways.
    God sends Angels in many forms, she is perhaps one of my favorite true life Angels.
    the display of tea cups teaspoons and other things are lovely, your your new pin cushion is adorable, so are the Bear and Raggedy Ann.
    Thank-you for sharing.
    Catherine

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kathy, I am so glad that you enjoyed the Sandwich Glass. Have been there many times and always see something new. I have been to the tea shoppe as well. Glad that you had a wonderful birthday.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love sandwich glass!

    The sampler of the 12 year old girl was amazing. Stitching isn't taught anymore and that is so incredibly sad to me. My momma is almost 80 and there are still things I have yet to learn from her. I'm sorta panicked...feel like I'm running out of time to learn from the best.

    Sweet post~

    xoRebecca

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lovely post just full of beautiful things.
    I love the quote from Mother Theresa.
    Happy belated birthday to you! Such a pretty pincushion Linda stitched for you.

    Margaret

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm very late in reading and commenting. All the tea plates are lovely as are the samplers. You found such neat things on your trip. And a happy belated birthday!

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderful post! First off, Belated Happy Birthday wishes to you Kathy! I hope you had a great day.
    I loved seeing all the coloured glass and china tea cups. I have just started to pick up pieces of coloured glass. My interest came about because of a pink depression glass child's teaset. I had a few pieces of the tea set from when I was a child and I have managed to pick up the remaining pieces on Ebay.
    I also have quite a few china tea cups which were given to me as gifts at my bridal shower. People actually used them then!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Belated birthday wishes to you Kathy

    A truly lovely post to read, an inspiring quote from Mother Teresa

    Beautiful glass work

    ReplyDelete

Consider the Lilies of the Field

Consider the Lilies of the Field
"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the Lilies of the Field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." Matt: 6: 28-29)