Just my cup of tea

A little while ago I spotted this tea trolley covered in dust and cobwebs and carted it home with me; and of course gave it a lick of grey paint. I thought it would be perfect to wheel into the parlour, laden with teacups and cakes when I play ladies and serve tea.

Aah yes......a tea party in the parlour, in front of the fire.....perfect! I can wheel my new little tea trolley anywhere my li'l ole heart desires! =)

But, as I don't host tea parties, or indeed serve high tea every day, (mores the pity) my little, tea trolley serves as a side table next to my newly, tarted up chair. It's a perfect spot to rest  the odd book or two which is being read to sit along with of course, a cup of tea......or two.

Usually there would be a lovely vase with an arrangement of over-spilling flowers sitting atop it, but alas, the flower kingdom on our little plot of earth has dived deep, deep down into the depths of terra firma  and won't show their pretty little heads until Spring, and I am afraid my little tea trolley is looking a bit bare.

I decided my tea trolley needed a lamp. As my newly tarted up chair is a comfy spot to read a book, it is a spot which needs a little illumination at night time. Not just any plebeian kinda of lamp mind you, but a lamp made from tea cups, a teapot and a lamp shade with a little bit of machine sketching, 'Kim' style.

But, before the teacup and teapot fancy in my brainpan could become a reality, I first had to hunt down the hardware for my lamp. An easy task one would think; after all I am not the first to fashion one of these pretties....there are a few of these teacup and teapot lamp follies out there. It took a while to gather my bits and bobs together and a little wear and tear on the soles of my favourite boots. Store after store, with male sale assistant after male sale assistant having said, "sorry maam but we don't have those parts.....go and try over at such and such.....though I don't like your chances".........!

So after encountering many a nescient, male look which really didn't get lost in transaction, (yes indeedy I could read their minds...."are you crazy woman, you won't be able to make this....why on earth don't you just buy an over the counter kinda lamp"). Many a sympathetic glance was cast towards the direction of my husband......"gee whiz mate, I'm glad she's not my missus!!" But not to be deterred, I remembered a light shop where I had purchased some lovely lights a while ago. I know, I know, one would think  this would be the first port of call, but to tell you the truth my good husband and I didn't give it a thought, as we had crossed the threshold of two light shops earlier that day and all we got were some more blank stares at our requests. To our delight, the proprietors of our last port of call were two ladies and glory be, had most everything we needed for my teacup and teapot folly; with a few other elements found at a plumbing outlet. Hallelujah!!

I gathered a few of my china pretties, a lampshade and the pieces of hardware needed to fashion my teacup and teapot folly.

Then my husband began to drill. With my eyes closed and gritting my teeth, my husband began to drill a hole through each piece of china. Although I have complete faith in my husband's drilling ability, I did wonder if each piece of delicate china would shatter to smithereens. Though I do have the odd pretty tea cup or two or three or four or............I didn't want my entire fine bone china collection  to be depleted in one fell swoop.

So far so good!

But then.........disaster struck! Horror of horrors!! My two prettiest teacups shattered to smithereens...oh no!! Yes indeedy, my pretty violet teacup (it had the prettiest shape) and my pretty forget-me-not teacup took umbrage at being drilled, and exploded into pieces! It appears there was not enough water in the cups when my husband drilled. The diamond tip, it seems, got a little too hot under the collar. Oh what a bother! Oh well, it looks like there are two more shattered pretties to go in the 'one-day-I-am-going-to-make-a-mosaic-out-of-that', bucket!!!

Handing two more teacups and saucers tentatively over to my husband, he once again proceeded to drill holes. This time all was well.

With my china pretties all sitting happily on top of each other, now 'tis time to enjoy a li'l machine sketching.

To keep with the theme of teacups and teapots, I decided to machine sketch teapots and teacups on a length of white fabric which I would later glue to the shade.

I had a lot of fun stitching these pretties. Doodles and squiggles, flowers and birds......it really was the best fun.

With my lampshade completed, a little ric rac added to the bottom and the electrics finished, my teacup/teapot folly is a vision splendid (well it is to me). Pretty, pretty blue. There is just something about the hue blue. The colour blue, always sings the sweetest song to my heart.

After thirty eight years of matrimonial bliss, I thought this little teacup/teapot folly could possibly be the teacup that brought 'the house of china' crashing down, but no......my husband said, (and you most probably will not believe this......I assure you I tell no porky pie), "I wouldn't mind making another one of these"!!!!!!  I do declare, it looks like this gal will be married for a little while longer!! This is a good thing as I am quite certain there is no other person of the male kind who would put up with all my 'bright' ideas, that I seem to conjure up on a regular basis!! =)

My teacup/teapot folly didn't turn out exactly how I envisioned. I really, really loved the two teacups that were sadly shattered, BUT......I am happy with my new lamp. Yes indeedy, this teacup/teapot folly is just my cup of tea.

I am filled with great joy.....delirious actually, with my teacup/teapot folly sitting atop my 'have-wheels-will-travel' tea trolley, which keeps my tarted up 'new' chair company. This little corner of the room is now the perfect spot to enjoy a cuppa and a good book, both day and night.

Hope you are enjoying a lovely week everyone. Until the next time...........