Teatime Tuesday 1

I wanted to share with you something I'm trying this summer. In a way, it's not all that different from what I usually blog about...a beautiful table, delicious food, and lot of great friends. However, there is a slight twist. Instead of inviting people into my home, I'm asking them to invite themselves! What do I mean? Well, I am planning at least six tea parties this summer, and I have no idea who's coming. At least not yet!

I have been listening to Sally Clarkson's podcast, "Teatime Tuesday", for about a year. In fact, I've been following Sally for several years. She has written a number of books that I love about everything from entertaining, to homeschooling, to raising children, to deepening your faith. Although I've never met her, she is definitely a kindred spirit. She just launched a new book called "Teatime Discipleship: Sharing Faith One Cup at a Time". One of the things she encourages the reader to do is carve out time at least once a week to sit down with someone and share a cup of tea. If you're around me much, you know my phone timer goes off each day at 2:00 pm. If I'm home, that's my signal to stop whatever I'm doing and make a cup of tea. I take about 15 minutes to sip and enjoy my tea (and some kind of little sweet to go along with it!) and a little quiet time. If the kids are home, they join me.

I decided I wanted to combine my love of entertaining and taking tea and invite people into my home this summer for some time to sit down and get to know them. Instead of inviting the ladies I always have over (don't worry girls! you'll still be invited regularly!), I have posted the dates and time on my Facebook page and asked who would like to attend. I've gotten a lot of great feedback, and I hosted my first Teatime Tuesday last week!

Let me tell you about how I planned my tablescape. I had hosted a baby shower the weekend before, and this lovely impressionist floral tablecloth was the basis for that party. As I was washing and putting it away, I thought I would go ahead and use it three days later for the tea and see how I could change it up. Both were very feminine tables. I'll blog the baby shower soon, and you'll be able to compare the tables.

Pink, gold, and cream was my color story. I used a white tablecloth as the base. My table is a dark wood, and without the white underneath, the floral topper would have been too muted. The floral topper is actually a piece of chiffon I purchased at Joann's. It was already finished very nicely on the edges and was longer than my table, so there was no extra work in using it as a topper! The creamy linen table runner is new. I was killing time in Big Lots a couple of weeks ago and found it. I had been wanting something neutral that I could use under my decorative trays on my kitchen table. I like that it breaks up all the floral.   

I didn't have anything blooming in my yard, so I picked up a mixed mum bouquet from Walmart and put them in small pretty vases. I didn't want anything too formal, or anything that was too tall in the middle of my table. I added some Nandina from my yard to give some movement and interest to the little arrangements. Of course I added candles! The votives are an opaque white with gold trim. They came from Dollar Tree several years ago.

I served two tea blends, both by Harney & Sons. First was my favorite, Paris. I always take one brown sugar cube and a tiny splash of milk in mine. I like to display the tea tins on the table. The ladies can see what the flavor notes are on the side of the tin, and they can even take a little sniff of the tea itself as they decide which they want to start with! 

Peaches and Ginger was the second blend. It's a black tea, so I put milk and sugar in mine, but I also offered lemon and honey from my daddy's bee hives. Either would work since it was a fruit blend in black tea.

I found this tea set several years ago at a thrift store. It's so pretty! The flowers are beautiful pinks, yellows, and blues, and it's so cheerful! I have eight sets - tea plates (perfect for scones), cups and saucers, and a creamer and sugar bowl. The pattern is "Belinda" by Paragon. I just use two white teapots since I don't have a matching one.

I'm getting bolder when it comes to mixing metals. I have gold chargers, but I thought the rose gold ones picked up the pink in the table topper. I did choose to go with gold (amber) stemware. These are vintage "Jamestown" by Fostoria.

Here's a long view...

If you look closely, you can see that there is a texture to the china tea cups. Sort of a pleated look. They also have a gold trim. That worked nicely with the stemware, as well as the flatware, which was "Abigail" by Hampton Silversmiths.

I try to choose seasonal recipes whenever possible. It's peach season, and we are about an hour away from Clanton which, in my opinion, grows some of the most succulent and delicious peaches you'll ever eat! I happened to be there a day or two before, so I picked some up. We had Peaches and Cream scones with lemon curd and clotted cream.

I'm sure you all know about Temu by now. I found some beautiful small gold knives and spoons that are the perfect size for spreading jelly on scones! They're not necessary, but they sure are pretty. And fun!

We also had pimento cheese sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, chicken salad cups, orange fluff, and a mini blueberry cheesecake bite. It was all so delicious, if I do say so myself! I'll share recipes soon. Since I don't have dinner plates with this set, I just used my everyday white. This pattern is "White Satin" by Nikko.

These three ladies responded almost immediately to my Facebook message asking who would enjoy coming to tea. It was nice to reconnect with one mother and daughter, and it was a chance for me to get to know another that I attend church with but had never really had the chance to sit down with. Exactly what this tea time was intended to do! Of course, Jewell was my co-hostess. I am enjoying having here home for the summer. We had a wonderful time! It was a dark, humid, and rainy day, but we were cool, dry, comfortable, and spent the afternoon getting to know each other better! I hope you find some time this week to enjoy a cup of tea and the company of a friend!