Twirly Skirt for Madelyn

It's hard to believe that my niece, Madelyn just turned 2! I was fortunate enough to fly out to Arizona to spend time with her during her birthday weekend. She had a ladybug birthday party and enjoyed every minute of it! To see more of Madelyn's birthday pictures click here.

Steph gave me the idea to make this tired skirt for Madelyn. She made one for her niece and it turned out so cute that I wanted to make one for Madelyn too. I fell in love with some pretty coordinating fabric that had teacups on it. The problem was that I couldn't find a shirt to match. The pink is too mauve, and the white is more off white or cream, so I'm still looking. I'd like to applique a teacup on a matching shirt, if I ever find one.
I love how the skirt turned out, and fits her well too. Thanks, Mom for getting me the measurements!

The pattern for the tiered, twirly skirt came from this blog.

Valentine Tea

Last week I hosted a Valentine's tea for a couple of my friends.

I recently fell in love with and bought a vintage tea set that was perfect for the occasion. There were two things that really made me fall in love with this tea set, the shape of the teacups, and the painted flowers on the inside of the cup. Most of my tea ware is blue (my favorite color) so I also liked that these had painted pink flowers, something different. I don't often splurge on these types of things for myself but I couldn't resist this set.My only disappointment was that I wasn't able to get the teapot. Or so I thought! I was completely shocked when my friends gave it to me as a gift at the tea!Since I was having a small tea party, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out some new recipes. So I started off the tea with a champagne cocktail that consisted of a sugar cube, a couple dashes of bitters, a 1/2 an ounce of brandy, and about 4 ounces of champagne.
I made tarragon chicken salad on croissants, cucumber sandwiches, tomatoes filled with couscous, and smoked salmon with sprouts on endive. I served a special peach-ginger tea -- that my aunt gave to me before she died -- with the sandwiches. The second course was orange cream scones made with oranges picked from my parent's backyard. They were accompanied by homemade strawberry jam, and cream.The tea pastries included chocolate covered strawberries, heart-shaped sugar cookies, raspberry-almond financiers, and chocolate mousse tartlets. It was a lovely afternoon shared with my closest friends and tea-mates. A special thank you to Steph for helping with preparations, and for also taking these awesome photos!