Tea Time Wall Hanging - SOLD !!

Woo-hoo!!!!!!!  And when I got home from an unusual afternoon at work (because I usually only work mornings), I saw that the Ebay auction for the Tea Time Wall-hanging I had donated to CQI had ended.  This 20 x 26” piece brought in $228.49!!!!!!!!!!!!   All 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  I am so thrilled!!  (can you tell from all my exclamation points?)

What a day!  I also lost 2.2 pounds at my Weight Watchers weigh-in, and NOT because I have been sick for two weeks.  I still ate, ya know.  I love food!  I just stayed on plan...

TEA TIME! Wall-hanging on Ebay & RR Block Done

It’s too bad that with all the stitching I’ve been doing lately on tea-themed things, that I don’t like tea, LOL.   (I’ve explained THAT before a couple times).  But I love the ritual and accoutrements, and the genteelness of it all.

So, first of all, my Tea Time wallhanging is listed for auction on Ebay.  It has been donated to Crazy Quilting International (the online presence of the International Crazy Quilters Association) to raise funds for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  All proceeds from its (hopeful) sale, along with those from three other quilts listedby CQI, will be donated to Charity.

Check out my quilt on Ebay here.  OMG,  in creating this link, I just checked it out, and it already has 7 bids on it!!!!!!!!  Woo-hoo!!!!!!!

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Yesterday I worked on Ritva’s block for the Tea Time II DYB (Do Your Own Block) Round Robin that I’m participating in at Crazy Quilting International.  

The design of the bunny in teacups is not mine; I adapted it from the pattern by the ever-so-talented Bumpkin.  Check out her cute Etsy shoppe, too!

I felted a chocolate-covered strawberry to match the one printed on the fabric, repeated the floral vine pattern on the left, added some trim, stitching, lace and other goodies.  I wanted to keep it light and light-hearted in feel.  Did I succeed?  Regardless, it sure was fun!

Tea Time Finished!

It has been awhile (over ten days) since I blogged because I’ve been “down for the count” with a nasty viral bug that has hit.  My DGD London gave it to me (if Grammy here could just refrain from kissing her all the time, I might not have succumbed!)   It seems to get a bit better, then the air quality in the Salt Lake Valley goes to hell in a handbasket.  Every year, the valley suffers through temperature inversions, where the warmer air aloft traps (like a blanket) the colder air down in the valley.  All the yuck and muck from auto exhausts and fireplaces get trapped too, until you cannot see the mountains.  Really.  And if you want to know how close the mountains are, check out my first January post!  Breathing that air is not healthy, so we try to stay indoors until the next storm blows it through.


Anyway, my flu ebbs and flows with the clean and dirty air.  Finally lost my voice totally on Wednesday and took most of the week off work.

But when I feel well enough, I’ve been stitching.  As you may remember, the top of Tea Time was finished.  I’ve now added the sashing, backing, a bit of quilting, a beaded bottom edging, a pleated rod pocket, and a label.  IT IS DONE!

Tea Time - Finished!

Upper Right, when resurrected from UFO pile

Upper Right, complete

Upper Left, when resurrected from UFO pile

Upper Left, complete

 After most of the piecing fixes were done

Complete top before finish work

This will go to Crazy Quilting International to be auctioned off on Ebay.  Proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Research.

I also have an old wool quilt top (see post here) from my UFO pile that I’ve donated to CQI for auction. In this case, the proceeds will go to the scholarship fund of the ICQA (International Crazy Quilters Association).  And that, I believe, knocks off two of my UFO’s for 2011!  One more to go, but then I have 11 1/2 months left, LOL.

I’ll have more stitching to show you in a day or two.  Take care!

Tea Time Progress - Top is Done!

This weekend I finished up the stitching on the Tea Time wallhanging that I’ll be donating to Crazy Quilting International.  We will be listing several wallhangings and quilts to auction off on Ebay.  Proceeds will go to the scholarship fund of the newly-formed ICQA, International Crazy Quilt Association.

This is the finished TOP.  I still have to back and bind it, and quilt it in some fashion.  Haven’t been thinking about that too hard up until today...   Right now it measures 20” across and 17” high.  That will change, of course, with a border/binding.

In the upper right, I added some freshwater pearls to the crocheted motif and bead flowers to complete the seam treatment.  I also beaded around the teapot  with blue seed beads.

The big teapot got some organza steam, the seams were stitched, and the meandering ribbon got spiffed up a bit.

This was the crocheted rose motif I added last month.... “before"

This is the “after”.  I stitched along its border, secured the ribbon, gave it a pearl center and added some neighboring embellishment.

A silk ribbon flower cluster in the lower left

Gold trim and ribbon roses for the teacup

The blue floral motifs were added to cover up some of the busy print.

A mother-of-pearl button serves as a plate in the place setting

As part of my commitment this year to reduce, reuse, recycle (de-clutter, use up, make do, upcycle, etc. etc), I did not go out and buy the perfect fabric to back and bind it.  Instead I will use some burgundy moire that I have, and it will be fine.  Maybe not THE BOMB, but certainly adequate.

And speaking of making do, I planned a trip to JoAnn’s yesterday.  I ran out of white thread, and it was the last day of their 50% off thread sale.  I really didn’t want to go because of all the temptations to buy stuff I really don’t need.  But I went, and when I checked out, the only things I had in my shopping bag, besides 4 rolls of white thread, was a red polka-dot cotton remnant (half yard for $1.25).  It was not a planned purchase, but is a great blender fabric for some cute red farm animal fabric I have to make London an outfit out of this year.  Plus it could go in Valentine things, too.  Yes, I am justifying it (LOL), but it was only ONE thing!  I passed up at least a half dozen fabrics that the old Cathy would have bought, not to mention some yarn (also on sale).  Must finish the afghan I am working on first.  

And the clean-out of our library begins next week.  I told DH we need to empty the big bookcase, because it is coming down to my studio to replace the smallish, tilt-y one my fabrics are on now.  This will give me room to place more stuff - like the fabrics in that rolling bin I want to get rid of.  What doesn’t fit into existing studio storage goes into the pile for the next Stash Dash at the CQI Retreat in September.

So many projects, so little time!

Blocks Pieced for Tea Time Round Robin

I have been packing and preparing to leave on vacation for a week - to Arizona for Thanksgiving with DH’s family.  We love going down there - and usually do every winter - but this year we missed our annual visit because of Bruce’s back surgery in February.

I’m taking the Tea Time wall hanging along to work on (and finish up!), as well as a block for the Autumn Round Robin I’m in.  And in January I have a couple other round robins starting.  One is a Tea Time DYB (where every participant pieces six 6” blocks, and every person stitches one complete block when it comes their turn).  Anyway, here are my six naked Tea Time blocks.

I found the batik cotton while rummaging through my stash.  It became my inspiration piece and stepping stone for the color scheme.  Of course, a lot of the block is covered as it is stitched, but I think it has the potential to be very elegant and different.  

So, I’ll be gone for awhile.  In the meantime, Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Autumn Blocks and Other Project Progress

Just a quick post to show you the blocks I posted for the Autumn II Round Robin (it’s a DYB or “Do Your Own Block” where each participant completes a 6” block for the others).  These are my six naked blocks:

The Tea Time wall hanging is on hold until later in the week.  But here are a couple details that I finished over the weekend.   Below is some ribbon embroidery around the teapot image.  I  still need to do some sort of stitching along the basted edge.

This is a vintage crocheted piece, probably meant to be an insert on to a pillowcase.  I laced it with edge-dyed silk ribbon, and used it to cover an awkward area with too much busy-ness in the way of bright images and strange seamlines.

Finally, below are Gerry K’s blocks for the Art Nouveau RR, which is about finished.  In fact, I’ll be the last one to stitch, and the block I’ve chosen (one of only two left unstitched) is in the upper left.

Gerry loves Art Nouveau and requested that we do some sort of representation of the old vintage Art Nouveau tiles (if you Google “Art Nouveau Tiles”, you’ll see a plethora of beautiful images).  Since I know that Gerry loves daffodils, and there are lots of good daffodil tile images to adapt, AND the colorations would look good with her block colors, that is what I have set out to do.  Stay tuned to see how that works out.  The good news is that if I flub it up, I’ve got most of her fabrics in my stash! (we share alot!!).

Hugs,

Tea Time Progress - A Problem Solved

I have been working on my Tea Time wall hanging, and wanted to show you how I solved one of the problem areas.   In the last TT post, we saw how the piecing issues were fixed.  It still amazes me how much tastes, preferences and styles evolve over time.  


Anyway.  The Victorian Lady silkie was voted off the island, but left a big white hankie (with remaining pinholes from stitches) behind.  What to do? I auditioned vintage millinery, thought of embroidering over it, adding lace, and killed a good afternoon deliberating.  Finally, I thought I’d try a teapot applique.

First of all, here’s the area in question, before:

And here is the “after”.  Yes, I drew the teapot all by myself.  As proof, I offer up a spout whose proportion is too heavy for the handle, LOL.  Oh well, this is my Tea World, right?  LOL

And in my Tea World, pink floral teapots pour pink floral sequined tea into floral cups.  And vintage millinery mingles with dyed lace, velvet leaves, crocheted flowers and vintage crystal earrings.  


Meanwhile, some of the dark patches are getting their florals enhanced. Nothing too exciting there, but overall it just adds a bit of zip.  HA!  This piece is zipping all over the place!

And now it’s time for me to zip off to bed.  I’ll show you some more progress in a day or two.


Hugs,

Tea Time Piecing Tweaked

I’m going to try to make this a short post .... it’s late.   I finished “fixing” the Tea Time piece.  When Gerry mentioned that it was the dark blue that would lead the eye, that realization hit me like a ton of bricks.  OF COURSE!  I already knew the two things I wanted to get rid of (the gold velvet embossed teacup and the Victorian lady silkie) and the two things that needed camouflage (the hot pink and bright blue).  I covered the pink with lace and replaced the blue with light blue.


Then I broke up the two big blocks near the bottom, getting rid of that straight line (which would’ve been covered anyway, but this STILL looks so much better).

Those vintage millinery flowers I have pinned on the hankie in the upper left are not permanent.  You can see that I WILL have to cover (stitch over or whatever) that area.  The 90 degree angle of a hankie corner was not right for that spot, so I tucked it to get a tighter angle.  Either way, it’s a white area that will need to be covered, so no big deal.


And I hope to get some time to really make progress on it this weekend in order to have a progress photo to post on Monday.  We have family coming over tomorrow.  Bruce’s daughter Stacy, her hubby and son are coming over.  DGS Hunter (age 18 months) is the only one of our grands who hasn’t been through the hay and corn maze at Wheeler Farm.


And that leads to my visit with my DGD London yesterday.  We had a great Girls Day Out, and here are a few quick pictures from our visit to the Farm.

Grammy and London visit with friends at Grammy’s office.   

(notice the WTWW Art Bra Calendar hanging over my desk?)

This is fun!

  

 Grammy says I’m way too nimble for 14 months old! 

 Studying the decorations 

 Some Quality Time on the ground 

My Pumpkin and an Orange Pumpkin

Ready to go home and take a nap!

  

 * * End of Shameless Grandmother Showing-off Pictures * *

Hugs,

Dusting Off a UFO

Lest you think from the title that I’ve been off doing housework with aliens, I will clarify right up front that a UFO, to those of us in the needle arts, means “unfinished object” or project.   And I must admit that after I dug this old project up, it did seem rather alien to me.


At Crazy Quilting International, we do an annual charity project, and this year’s project is once again for the purpose of raising money for breast cancer research.   I originally started this CQ wall hanging in 2001, a year or so after I began crazy quilting.   On another list (Quiltropolis, I believe), I had hostessed a tea-themed swap.  Although I loathe tea in any form, I love teapots, teacups, tea cozies and the whole ritual of “taking tea” .  I can’t help it if my mother felt the best way to get rid of nausea when I was little was to make me drink tea.   It worked in reverse, and now the smell makes me gag.   

Back to the story - I pieced this wallhanging with snippets (machine embroidered teapots and fabrics) received in the swap, except for those that I used in this tea cozy.  

Top Left

I usually try to stay away from the color blue, but too many of the fabrics had a predominance of blue, so I thought a pink and blue (with variations in intensity) would work.  And then somewhere in there I started adding gold.  Sigh.  I wanted to use that velvet-embossed teacup.  

 Top Right

So, after piecing, I added tatting and lace and began stitching basic seams.  I even added a doily over which I planned a silk ribbon floral arrangement.

Lower Left

And in the big gold patch in the lower right, I planned to embroider a quote about tea.  It was a four line verse and I ran out of steam on the first line and just frogged it (today, LOL).   Now I don’t think I want a verse there anyway...  And that doily has got to go, or at least be moved...

Lower Right

I took these pictures so I could see on the computer what it looked like overall at this stage.  I know, I could’ve just used a reducing glass or design board.  But by doing it on the computer and posting it to my blog, I am committing myself to work on it.   (OK, no jokes about me needing to “commit" myself, LOL).

So, this is the overall “before” shot, and when I finish, I’ll do an “after” shot. 

My feelings at this point are that I can work over the two navy floral patches.  With silk ribbon, I can probably bring the flowers forward and cover or let the background recede.  Perhaps I can do that as well with the loud pink and blue patches, but I think they’ll need to be covered with lace or tulle to tone them down.    

And Lazy Me wants to keep the gold teacup patch, but Artistic Me thinks it’s gotta go (and speaking of needing to be committed...) .  I want flowers coming out of that teacup on the pink patch near center right.   And I do plan to add more layers to the stitched seams (at least some of them) - layers that will include threads, ribbon, beads, etc.  Maybe even sequins. Maybe.  

And then I ran across this picture I took at Anthropologie last summer and began thinking of getting rid of the Victorian silkie on the block and perhaps give it more of a country spin.  Less of a formal "tea-with-proper-posture-and-pinkie-finger-raised" feel and more of an "informal-tea-in-faded-overstuffed-floral-chair-in-Costwold" feel.  


So, is any of this making sense?  I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on it!  Not on my mental state, LOL, but on my “vision” for the Tea Time piece.