Tea & Tasties
TEA & TASTIES
Join Us April 18th – 23rd from 2pm to 4pm for
$8 – Includes Tea & Tasties
10% of all proceeds go to #likeagirl Event sponsored by Mayfield Graves Co Tourism.
Want to reserve your day and time? Call or email us!
Mrs. Pat has been busy pulling together her best and most favorite recipes for this special occasion. She’s special ordered organic teas from Numi, which are the perfect compliment to her yummy tasties. (see Menu here)
All are welcome to this Tea & Tasties and we encourage making reservations. It’s the perfect opportunity to treat so many people in your life. How about an Office Party – treat your staff for the afternoon, why not reserve the whole room for one day!! Not only are you giving back to your staff and creating a great experience for them, but you’ll be giving back to a great organization – #likeagirl movement, with 10% of the proceeds from Tea & Tasties going back to this cause sponsored by the Mayfield Graves Co. Tourism Commission. It’s the perfect chance to create a special memory for Mom’s and Daughter’s or Dad’s and their little girls. No matter what the reason or for no reason at all, it’s a good idea – we can all use a little more sweetness in the middle of the afternoon, right?!?!
CELEBRATING PURE TEA
Mrs. Pat picked the perfect teas for this afternoon gathering. At Numi, they let nature speak for itself, hand-picking premium organic teas and herbs and blending them with only real fruits, flowers and spices. Since they use real ingredients and high quality teas & herbs (not tea dust or fannings), there is no need to apply “natural” flavorings or fragrances to create flavor. This means you can pronounce the ingredients, know exactly what you’re sipping and savor true gifts of nature.
“There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.”
Henry James
THE HISTORY OF AFTERNOON TEA
Afternoon tea was introduced in England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o’clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o’clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter (some time earlier, the Earl of Sandwich had had the idea of putting a filling between two slices of bread) and cake be brought to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her.
This pause for tea became a fashionable social event. During the 1880’s upper-class and society women would change into long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o’clock.
We look forward to seeing you and hope you’ll join us for an afternoon of Tea & Tasties!!
In case you were wondering: Here’s a few Etiquette Tips for Afternoon Tea . . .
Sew Many Ways to Quilting
Quilting has such a rich and deep heritage. Telling stories, sending messages, symbolizing love and depicting family lineage, are just a few ways that quilts have made and have a lasting impression on us today. The Grand Home is filled with quilts passed down from other family members and ones hand made especially for the Doughty family.
According to their website, The American Quilter’s Society is the largest quilting membership organization in the world. For 30 years, AQS has been the leading voice in quilting inspiration and advice through a broad suite of products: magazines, books, live events, contests, workshops, online networks, patterns, fabric, and catalogs. At AQS, they believe that with inspiration and advice, creatively minded individuals can take quilting projects beyond anything they have previously imagined. That is why inspiration is central to everything they do. The leading authors in quilting choose to publish with AQS, the best in quilt artistry select AQS events to display their work, the newest quilters learn from the knowledge and inspiration of AQS members.
AQS celebrates the art of quilting by hosting a QuiltWeek in many different locations. We’re lucky enough to be near one coming up very soon in Paducah, KY – April 22 to 25th. The world of quilting is bursting at the seams with masters in the quilting arts at QuiltWeek. You can experience firsthand the techniques, the color, the heart, and the infinitely creative minds of some of the world’s finest quilting mentors. For more information about the Paducah QuiltWeek, click here. And of course, The Grand Home is the perfect place to stay!! Book your room soon though . . . click here!
But before we get too far ahead, let’s take a look back at the history of quilting. The history of quilts began long before European settlers arrived in the New World. People in nearly every part of the world had used padded fabrics for clothing, bedding, and even armor. With the arrival of the English and Dutch settlers in North America, quilting took on a new life and flourished.
The term “quilt” comes from the Latin <i>culcita</i>, meaning a stuffed sack. The word has come to have 2 meanings. It is used as noun, meaning the 3-layer stitched bed-covering. It is also used as a verb, meaning the act of stitching through the 3 layers to hold them together.
A quilt is a cloth sandwich, with a top, which is usually the decorated part, a back, and a filler in the middle. Under the general term of patchwork are of 3 different types of quilts: (1) the plain or whole cloth quilt, (2) applique quilts, and (3) pieced or patchwork quilts.
The quilt, as we know it in America, was originally a strictly utilitarian article, born of the necessity of providing warm covers for beds. Quilts were also used as hangings for doors and windows that were not sealed well enough to keep out the cold. The earliest American quilts, made by English and Dutch settlers, were so intimately connected to everyday life of the early colonists that no record of them exists. For more details and info on the history of quilting, click here.
Quilts being typically woven in block patterns have a history and meaning as well, including hidden meaning for aiding slaves in finding passage through the underground railroad. The Blocks have names and here’s a source for seeing what they mean – click here. For the amazing history of the quilt code patterns for the Underground Railroad Quilt Code, click here.
The history of America can be seen in the history of quilts: in the rich heritage left us by those thrifty, self-sufficient women who helped settle this land, in the families whose history is sewn into quilts one patch at a time, and in the legacy of the quilting arts passed on to children and grandchildren so they may carry them forward to the future.
All the photos here are pictures of quilts at The Grand Home. Feel free to stop by for your tour!
The Beauty of Stained Glass
Library Window at The Grand Home
The Grand Home is adorned with a few stained glass windows. No matter what the weather is outside, these works of art are the literal definition of looking through rose colored glass. They offer the most amazing patterns of reflection when the light comes through, constantly changing shape and color – a continual creation of art. Besides being stained glass, the artisans who created these windows incorporated the use of beveled glass making these stained glass windows even more unique.
The term stained glass can refer to colored glass as a material or to works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings. Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture.
The earliest known man-made glass is in the form of Egyptian beads from between 2750 and 2625 BC. Artisans made these beads by winding a thin string of molten glass around a removable clay core. This glass is opaque and very precious.
Grand Dining Room window at The Grand Home
Glass making was the first industry set up in America in Jamestown, settled in 1607. The English were running out of wood to fuel their furnaces. The endless forests and sand in the New World dictated the choice. To reassure his English investors, Captain John Smith wrote that the glass-making venture was a success, but the operation was very short lived. Bottles and window glass were the primary glass products of this venture.
In the nineteenth century, William Gibson began the earliest known glass business in America around 1834 in New York City. This venture did not last, but he tried again several decades later and would promote himself as the “father of glass painting” in the United States. For a detailed history or stained glass, click here.
Besides the traditional church stained glass, there’s vast array of design and architectural stained glass represented globally. Here are the 10 greatest stained glass windows in the world – click here.
The stained glass windows of The Grand Home are not only inviting to passers by, but truly a treat when you walk through and are able to appreciate the detail and craftsmanship of over 100 years ago. Oh, and if you’re wondering who still does this type of art or where you can get your own stained glass, Jack Wallace is actually a local artisan who has been crafting these windows since 1971 an is one of a few nationwide can repair them. (FYI – he’s also the genius behind the hand carved bed in The Grand Home’s Master Bedroom, but we’ll leave that story to another day.) So, come by The Grand Home and see for yourself!!
Master Bath window at The Grand Home
The Grand Home
The Grand Home was lovingly restored by Mel and Pat Doughty beginning in 1974. This grand Victorian home was truly a family affair. Every inch of beautiful oak wood was stripped and restored to it’s glorious detailed luster by not only the home owners, but the grandparents also put in a great deal of work helping the family bring this home back to what it was originally intended. With ceilings a minimum of 12 feet high, some areas well over 20 feet, you can imagine the scaffolding and care that was required.
During this renovation, the Doughty’s had two young girls who enjoyed almost every minute of it, except when their parents miscalculated a bit and decided to refinish the hall and parlor floors at the same time. Why a big deal? Well that meant that during the time the floors required to dry and cure, the girls had to be carried outside the front door of the house and around to the back door in order to get breakfast and then back again to get ready for school. Lessons learned for sure, but more important than that, memories that endure for a lifetime.
As life does, it moves on quickly and now the home has been made available for everyone to cherish and enjoy. Imagine waking up to a 12′ Christmas tree surrounded by gifts! The Grand Home is a place for creating memories that last a lifetime!