Stitching a Tea Cozy Garden

A few months ago, I (Teri) joined the local chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America. Each month at the meetings, an embroidery project is offered; at my first meeting it was a cute little tea cozy, made with buttons. I love tea, and I have a vast collections of buttons, so I gathered some fun buttons and threads and set off on my new adventure. 

I love to challenge myself to learn new stitches or to make them with different threads or applications. For this project, I chose to focus on using Painters Threads and floss by Weeks Dye Works. I had a wonderful time experimenting and just playing, without a real plan. The tea cozy went together pretty quickly, and I think it looks pretty happy sitting on my counter. I had intended to make it as a gift, so it will be a bit difficult to part with it! 

We were given a lovely kit that included the cut pieces of linen, the liner, and the insulating fabric. The butterfly buttons were available for us as well. This is how I created my button-embroidered tea cozy garden.

Choosing the buttons and arranging them was my biggest challenge.
Once I was pleased, I took a picture to follow as a guide.

Stems were lightly drawn with pencil and stitched with a stem stitch or chain stitch.
I used Painters Threads pearl #8, Turner. I then sewed all the buttons on with Weeks Dye Works floss, two strands of Saffron.

From left to right, these are the stitches and threads I used for each flower.

Picot stitch with Weeks Dye Works floss, Grenadine

Pistil stitches with Painters Threads pearl #5, Van Gogh

Colonial knots with Painters Threads pearl #8, Grandma Moses
and lazy daisy stitches with Weeks floss, Grenadine

Lazy daisy petals with Painters Threads metallic braid #4, Grandma Moses;
 ribbon stitch leaves with Painters Threads 7mm ribbon, Turner

 

The bee is made with DMC pearl #12, a bullion knot made with one strand each of black and yellow, with wings of loops made with Painters Threads metallic braid #4, Longan. To see a tutorial on making the bee, read our Garden Gate post by clicking here.

Drizzle stitches with Weeks floss, Autumn Leaves

Colonial knots and fly stitches with Weeks floss, Grenadine

This button is ringed with cast-on stitches that overlap to create the petals,
made with Painters Threads metallic braid #4, Van Gogh.

Left leaf—fishbone stitch, right—stacked fly stitches
Painters Threads pearl #8, Turner

Leaves, left to right: lazy daisy stitch with 7mm ribbon, stacked fly stitches with pearl #8, stacked lazy daisy stitches with Weeks floss, ribbon stitches with 7mm ribbon. Straight stitches with metallic braid #4 makes the flower. (All but floss is Painters Threads.) 

Pekinese stitch with Painters Threads pearl #8, Grandma Moses

Bullion stitches with Painters Threads pearl #5, Van Gogh

I changed the position of the butterfly button from my original plan; it seemed to be more balanced amidst the flowers. And the bees just completed my garden. As I write this, the weather is dreary and damp. I think I will go make some tea! Won't you join me?

A Quilt Shop Stop and the Inspirational English Countryside

As a child, I (Kara) lived in England while my father was stationed there with the Air Force. Our family had a bright, orange Volkswagon van that carried us to the many wonderful places throughout the island for our holidays. Ever since that time, I have always loved Britain—the cities, the countryside, and especially the people.

My husband often has to travel there for work, and anytime I can tag along, I will. On one of our previous visits, I visited the shop Bee Crafty and met some wonderful ladies (you can read about that here), so I decided to visit another quilt shop on this trip. This time I went a lovely shop called the Poppy Patch, located in Great Doddington, Northamptonshire. This friendly shop is located in a converted barn in a quiet little village. The owners, Mary and Sam, couldn't have been more welcoming! The store may not be large, but it is well stocked with some amazing and tempting things, and there is an open, well-lit space upstairs for classes and workshops.

The delightful owners, Mary and Sam

Glorious fabrics to tempt anyone

Liberty quilting cotton tempted me to break
the bank!

In addition to fabric, Mary and Sam stock a wonderful variety of embroidery and quilt patterns and also exclusively carry a lovely selection of hand dyed flosses from the Australian company, Cottage Garden Threads. Sam gave me one to try, and I am looking forward to using it, as the color is divine.

Some of the many embroidery and quilt kits

I really should have taken more pictures of the shop, but I was busy spending time upstairs for one of their Social Sewing days. There are three during the week, and I happened to be there for one of them. Again, I was warmly welcomed and enjoyed spending time with the lovely and fun ladies there. 

It was wonderful day spent with new friends

Lots of laughter and fun!

My stitching for the day—our Marcia's Flowers pattern.

Of course, I didn't leave the shop empty handed. I had to restrain myself as I only had so much space in the suitcase, but I did bring home some wonderful fabric from a couple of the many Australian fabric designers the Poppy Patch carries. This bird kit also found some space in my suitcase:

I am a sucker for birds of all kinds, and this kit was no exception.

I can't wait to dive into this!

I love to meet quilters from other countries and especially visit the local quilt shops. It is so important that we support our local quilt stores, as so many are having to shut their doors. There is no online substitute for seeing beautiful fabrics right in front of you and choosing just the right ones for what you need—or maybe just want! I wish I could have spent more time in the shop, but I certainly hope to return and maybe teach a little wool appliqué. Thank you to Mary, Sam, and the lovely ladies at the Social Sewing day for a warm welcome!

After my visit to the quilt shop, my husband and I traveled to the beautiful, Devon coast. The southwest part of England offered up some beautiful sights that were so inspirational—I may even make a landscape quilt or two! Please enjoy some of the beauty of the English country and coast.

The harbor in Clovelly, Devon

The top of this planter made me think of quilt border

Carved wood door front in Clovelly but made in Oberramagau, Germany

Embroidered postcards from Oundle, Northamptonshire

A hidden cottage in the Salisbury countryside

I love birds, but mushrooms are a close second—this stone one was amazing!

Not an inspirational country scene, but one of my favorite things in England—Sticky Toffee Pudding!

One of our stops this trip was to the American Museum in Bath. The Kaffe Fassett exhibit there was amazing and deserves its own post, but that will have to wait for a week or two. Here is a little tease:

I hope you have enjoyed this little trip to Britain and a glimpse into a splendid quilt shop. Stay tuned in the coming weeks to see some outstanding quilts both old and new!

Still Crazy...

When pondering the title of this post, a number of familiar songs came to mind, and I (Teri) have a bit of Paul Simon, Heart, Van Morrison, Queen, and Patsy Cline bouncing in my head as I write. (I guess that dates me, doesn't it?!) Kara's Crazy Mittens post last week reminded me how much fun we have playing with stitch combinations when doing a crazy quilt-style project. A couple of months ago, Kara and I found a group of three "Victorian crazy quilts" in an online auction and thought we would bid on the lot. To our delight, we won the quilts! What better way to be inspired to play with embroidery stitches than to study the stitching on old crazy quilts? 

Even quilts benefit from some vitamin D!

Alas, when the quilts arrived at my house, I was deterred from admiring the stitching by the strong aroma of mustiness that permeated the room. I quickly packed them back in the plastic bag until we could figure out a solution to the smell. As the quilts were predominantly silks and velvets, washing them was out of the question. I purchased some bags of activated charcoal and put them in the plastic bag with the quilts for a few weeks and awaited a clear. sunny day for airing them. They need a bit more of both, but I am happy to declare that they are MUCH improved, and I was able to lay them on the bed to study them! Yay!!

The first of the quilts is a modified chevron pattern (I think), and has a wide variety of fabric samples. There is a mixture of prints and solids, with many silks, but also some brocades, velvets, a ribbon, and a painted piece. It is hand-pieced, but the backing and binding are machine sewn.

  

In the first picture, notice the ribbon from the Pontiac High School Alumni Association Reception. I found Pontiac High Schools located in a number of states in the U.S. but couldn't find anything relating to this piece. The flowers in the second photo are elaborately painted onto a piece of silk or satin, the only painted piece in the quilt. It is not uncommon to find event ribbons and painted motifs in Victorian era crazy quilts, so it was fun to find them in this quilt.

  

There is an eclectic collection of different fabrics here. The fuzzy black and white checked fabric was a surprise, stitched among the silks and velvet pieces. I have been unable to ascertain whether they were sample bits of fabrics, or perhaps pieces from ties or dresses. Or possibly, both.

  

The stitching combinations in this quilt are not overly elaborate, but they do add some interest to the patchwork of this quilt. This is not a typical crazy quilt, but it does combine some "crazy" characteristics to this pieced design.

A stitch combination with four colors 

The back: if you look carefully, you can see stitching in parallel curves,
almost like a clamshell design. It appears that the back is stitched to a piece
of thin batting or flannel, and then those are tacked to the front with small stitches.

  

The  combination stitches are all done with pearl cotton thread, but sewing thread is used to tack the quilt top to the other two layers of fabric, and those stitches are camouflaged amongst the decorative embroidery. Note the tacking stitches circled in yellow.

This second quilt is not crazy at all. It is a fun combination of a tumbling block and star design, full of secondary designs.

 

The star designs are showcased with a plush red center, surrounded by black velvet diamonds.

  

Each star is made with three tumbling blocks.

This star includes some fun fussy-cutting.

Some shattered silk reveals a cotton batting.

Evidence of fine hand-piecing

Braided cording is used to bind the quilt,

  

The plush star centers are repeated on the back to hide the tying of the three quilt layers.

To be continued...

The smallest of the three quilts is the winner when it comes to elaborate stitching. So much so that it deserves its own post, so you can enjoy the exquisite combinations and be as inspired as I am. So stay tuned!

We have not gotten these quilts appraised and are not experts in dating fabrics, but I feel pretty certain that these are not "Victorian crazy quilts" as described in the auction. My best guess is that they were made sometime in the mid-1900s, with either fabric scraps or samples. Unfortunately, we know none of the stories of these quilts, so we will just have to make up own. What I do know is that a lot of work was put into them, and I can certainly appreciate that!

P.S.—Do you have a crazy song stuck in your head?  🎵😄🎵