Thursday Tea Things And Talk, Union Jack Mug, History of Stay Calm And Carry On

Hello and welcome to Thursday Tea Things And Talk, and I am joining Vintage Thingie Thursday with Coloradolady and Miss Spenser's Teacup Thursday. Today I have a Dunoon, England bone china mug that is the Union Jack, or flag of Great Britain that I have in the shop Time Was Antiques.

This is one of my favorites, but then I'm prejudiced! It's the perfect size for a good cuppa in the morning. Sometimes my honey has coffee in it, but it's usually tea. PG tips is my favorite morning cuppa at the moment, rather mundane but its starts the day well. Green in the mid morning and back to a nice strong English black blend for afternoon tea. Lovely!

The reason I chose this as my Thursday Tea Things post was because of this:

 I know we have all seen this poster, and variations of it in the last few years, but I came across a YouTube video about the refinding of the poster and it's renaissance as a culture icon in 1999 which I have added below.  The poster was one of 3 designs from World War II. My husband and I were really interested in the video. Now that's vintage! Here is the video:

This is the version I have on my sidebar!

And please remember Sandi's Tea On The Titanic on April 15th:

 

Have fun visiting the other blog parties and have a cuppa and Keep Calm and Carry On!

 

Royal Stafford Edwardian Teacup, Downton Abbey and the Darning Mushrooms

Welcome to our Thursday post. I am joining

Miss Spenser ~ http://missspensersblog.blogspot.com/

Teacup Thursday

Coloradolady  ~ http://coloradolady.blogspot.com/

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Because I want to talk about Downton Abbey again (see my last post for a Downton Abbey quiz and Dpownton Abbey paperdolls) I have chose an Edwardian period teacup by Royal Stafford, England that I love.

I love the pattern...and it's blue and white, which I love. I can just see this at afternoon tea at Downton. For more info on the cup and saucer at Time Was Antiques, click on the photos.

 I don't know if any of you noticed this scene while you were watching Downton Abbey, with ex housemaid Ethel cradking her son Charlie. Sorry the photo isn't very good, but it was the best I could do.  Charlie had a toy he was playing with through most of his scenes, but did any of you guess what it was? Because it wasn't a toy but a common Victorian and Edwardian domestic gadget. Can you guess what it's for?

These are what are called a darner or darning mushroom, and are used to mend socks...you know, like you do every day, right???!!! Well, in the Edwardian and Victorian times you did mend them. The USA preferred the egg shaped darning egg but England has always favored the darning mushroom. Over the years, I have sold them made of ebony, ivory, sterling silver, celluloid, maple, oak, mahogany, china, rosewood and one of my favorites is below:

 This mushroom darner is made of confetti bakelite. Cool!  Darners were even featured in the March 2012 issue of Country Living magazine. How fun is that! 

 

So if you re-watch Downton Abbey, look for Ethel and baby Charlie and his toy!  The darning mushrooms above are from (all except the 1930s red painted one like a real mushroom) the Time Was Antiques archives. To see our current stock (what's left since the Country Living article, that is) here is a link to our DARNING MUSHROOMS.

Have fun visiting the wonderful teacups and Vintage Thingies!