Tuesday 5 August 2014

Winning Tea Cosies

How about this for a tea cosy?

My mum's winning tea cosy

No, I didn't knit it myself - my mum did. However, I did make her add the garden gnomes. She used a pattern for the tea cosy itself, but the flowers and other finishing touches are all her own. Mum bought the flower buttons when she was last in Wellington, and I happened to see the gnomes and made her add a few of them too.

Don't get me wrong here - we are not 'gnome people', and mum's always said that if we ever bought her one she would kick it each time she went past it, but you've got to have gnomes on a novelty tea cosy right?

It must have appealed to the judges, because mum just won the best novelty tea cosy at her local craft shop - The Ribbon Rose - a great embroidery, quilting and knitting shop in Auckland, New Zealand. They're on Facebook too. Mum's going in to get her photo taken and collect her prize tomorrow. We don't know what the prize is yet, but the competition was sponsored by a knitting wool company.

Here are the other entries:



Strangely enough there was a tea cosy competition going on in Sydney too. This one was run by The Tea Salon, a tiny little Tea Shop in one of the central city arcades. They served all types of tea in beautiful fine bone china. I didn't stop for a cuppa because I'm a coffee drinker, but I did snap a few pictures of their tea cosies. Sorry the pictures aren't great - they were all in glass cabinets.

The winners.
The winner was a pineapple, second a very fluffy white cat, and third was a bunch of daffodils.



In this group I like the cockatoos (Australian native bird) on the top shelf, and the plate of cakes on the right in the middle shelf.





This was my favourite. It includes a lacy doily, a club sandwich, and five different cakes. Fantastic!

The last one in grey features a lot of tea bags.

There are so many tea cosy patterns available now. It's a good thing tea drinking is coming back into fashion.

13 comments:

margaret said...

Well done Mum a lovely cosy, as are the others you have shared from both places.

Oops-Lah said...

What an adorable tea cozy and I agree, those gnomes are the perfect addition.

Raewyn said...

I do like your Mum's tea cosy! Well done to her. Great to see all the other interesting versions too!

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

So fun! Congratulations to your mum :)

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

how wonderful they are - I do not knit so I just quilt together fabric and batting - the knitting is so cute though

Helen@Till We Quilt Again said...

Way to go Mum!!! Congratulations This look like such a fun competition. And you are right the gnome adds that special touch!

Gina said...

I love your mum's tea cosy. Those gnomes are adorable. I am a gnome person and have a few in the garden. I can't resist them xxx

Lorraine said...

I agree, well done Mum! Will look forward to hearing what her prize is AND what she creates with it too! The gnomes are adorable and a great enhancement too. Love the variety of cosies - who knew...

Granny Maud's Girl said...

Tea drinking us just coming back into fashion? I have obviously been out of fashion for years, then.
I love your mum's cosy. The gnomes are just right. I have my fingers crossed that her prize is something lovely – like more wool!
Tea cosies are great fun to make, but I have not yet matched the skills of these knitters.

Ruth said...

Very cute - we don't have a tea cosy and we are big tea drinkers - must remedy that!

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

Congratulations to your mom. I hope she enjoys her prize!

Anonymous said...

They are all really great... so colourful and unique. Thank you for sharing that and for the inspiration.

LA Paylor said...

oooooh the color, the whimsy!!! So cute.
LeeAnna at not afraid of color