Of teapots and postcards

I went along to the Saviour of the Lost Arts Craft Fair held in King George Square in Brisbane yesterday afternoon. I had a good poke around the stalls, did lots of admiring of all the lovely things on sale, and had a nice chat to a few stall holders.

I made one purchase - a tea cozy.

Now there are several sectors in my life that will wonder what on earth I bought a knitted tea cozy for, and I dare say it won't get much use, but its so fun! Just look at it being all cheeky and flaunty over my red enamel tea pot. "Look at me, look at me! Want a cuppa?" it says to me. I passed over more conservative stripey options in favour of this number.

In my jet lag induced sleeplessness last night I got to pondering about the tea cozy and its origins. I had a rather scientific conversation with myself about the properties of the materials that tea pots are generally made of and how glass and metal are really bad thermal insulators and how porcelain is much better at keeping the heat in. My conclusions were that tea cozies came about in times when regular folks had metal tea pots and porcelain ones were not that accessible...then I went to sleep.

A lady who knows all about tea pots and a good cup of tea is Beth from Do what you love- Love what you do. She has some pretty detailed instructions on how to make and drink the perfect cup of tea. She's also the organiser of the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap. I have never made a stitched postcard, or a postcard at all, so I am going to join in with her.

Do you do postcards when you holiday? Or do you consider them daggy? Or maybe they are great just for the reason that they are daggy. Maybe you look for the most daggy ones to send for a laugh. I have to admit I didn't write one postcard the entire time I was away. Sometimes we still get them from friends and family, we even have a draw in our filing cabinet for the ones we don't want to throw away. I always remember my husband blowing my mind with his postcard technique, he used to write one sentence only and post it, done. And there was I labouring over a whole holiday commentary in a tiny space and not forgetting room for the stamp. No wonder I gave up on it all, daggy or not.