I'm Drinking More Tea

My friends and family know me as an inveterate coffee drinker.  One of my very favourite gifts is a package of coffee beans from some unusual independent roasterie, or a Starbucks gift card to use whenever I'm in the City.

For years I've maintained that I only drink tea when I have a cold.  I drank tea exclusively when I was in university -- until I fell in love with coffee on a trip to Italy in my early twenties.  I moved from coffee with hot milk (50-50), to coffee with regular milk and sugar, to coffee completely black, and the darker the better -- and I've seldom returned to tea.

That said, I do keep some green tea bags in the bathroom to use when I soak in a hot tub.  Green tea and Epsom salts make a very soothing hot soak after a slog mowing the lawn or shovelling the walks and driveway!

But drink it?  Not so much.

Until the last week or so.  Until I watched what Libby Williamson does with them, in the episode she recorded with The Quilt Show.  You see, she uses tea bags in her art work.  Used tea bags that is -- ones that have been steeped, dried, and carefully cut open to empty out the leaves, preferably into a compost pail.

Now, Libby had had an article about this work published in the June/July 2017 issue of Quilting Arts magazine, and I'm a subscriber, but I'll admit that what was shown therein didn't capture my attention.  It was...ummm...a bit fanciful for my taste.

But what she did on The Quilt Show -- that was something that intrigued me.  I love rough edges and layering is very much part of my landscape work.  I also love quirky pieces inspired by an unusual thought (like her piece, "Call Wendy").

On top of Libby's inspiration, I've been wrestling with my challenges to make collages; to whit, Cas Holme's latest book, Textile Landscape, which I bought with a birthday gift card a couple of months ago.

Having managed to get back into the sewdio for the "Fire Moon" piece, I hankered to do some more playing to break up the hours of Christmas knitting that's taking up most of my days right now.


A couple of weeks ago I tore apart a dusty old book -- it was falling apart already -- and painted some of the pages, using a sponge.

The book's cover is interesting too...

Actual cover 

So I made a 'contour drawing' of it in my photo program...

"Contour Drawing" of the cover

But in the end I got stuck again.  I just couldn't get a feel for how to go farther with paper.  In the process I was digging through sheers and silks and flinging fabric around trying to find something that would call to me.

I came up with a piece of rust-dyed silk charmeuse I've had for a while, and suddenly I could see IT!

There were two pieces right off the bat, and I know there'll be more.  I didn't photograph the process, but I did take some pictures of the finished pieces, each mounted on painted 10" square stretched canvas, each about 1/2" thick.  I do believe I'll have them framed but for now...

She Thought He Hung the Moon (C) 2018
Rusted silk charmeuse, recycled tea bag,
machine thread painting,
hand stitching.

She Thought... Detail of moon, stitching

Where Do I Go from Here? (C) 2018
Rusted silk charmeuse, recycled tea bag paper,
machine thread painting, hand stitching

Where Do I Go...? - Detail of moon, stitching

Yes, these tea bags are round.  I no longer have the box (I store them in a tin with a tight lid) so no idea what brand this is, but the bags hold black tea.  I also brought home a couple of roiboos tea bags (also round) that I used at The Shop, and I've also collected a few rectangular bags (black tea) for future use.

Yes, I drink the tea.  I've rediscovered the soothing nature of tea, to which I've taken to adding powdered ginger and a teaspoon of raw honey.  I don't know how long I'll keep it up, but I've just received an Air Miles coupon  for a box of Tetley Tea so...

I think there'll be more tea bag paper in future pieces.  After all, I still have more of that lovely silk charmeuse...

Stay tuned -- and thanks, Libby!  😊

Linking up with Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- and hoping her internet wobbles right themselves soon!

Pour yourself a cuppa and...enjoy!

WIPs That Work

Every once in a while (which, for some of us is not quite as often as for others!), one has a day of sewdio time that just....flows...

3" hexagon background -
English Paper Piecing

Today was one of those days pour moi.  Some time ago now, I posted about the background I was creating for my next 15 x 15 Group piece with the theme, "East Meets West".  It was a series of 3" hexagons, English paper pieced.  Until some time in the middle of last week, I was pretty certain it was going to take forever to create!  I needed to cover at least 16" square to allow for quilting and trimming, and I began to wonder...

"Japanese" print backing (stash)

But by Monday, all had come together.  First I sandwiched the quilt with a great "Japanese" background.  Then I quilted it, tone-on-tone, with straight lines top-to-bottom only.  After that, I was ready to plan and work out the foreground.

I knew I wanted tea pots.  I'd collected photos of a variety of styles, purportedly 'English', 'Chinese' and 'Japanese'.  From these I traced the shapes...and from there I planned to create them in fabric.

But...what colour?

Enter "Inspiration" in the form of Linda Kemshall, and one of her latest DMTV videos, in which she's doing a sketchbook study on the colour RED.  Aha!

Based on her suggestion that one research one's colour, I looked into the significance of red for the Chinese and the English (I couldn't find much re: the Japanese but perhaps I wasn't looking in the right places).  Regardless, RED has served as a colour associated with royalty (Imperial China), revolution (as in the rise of "Red" China) and the military -- as in the English "Red Coats" who fought (in vain) in the American Revolution.  Those same "Red Coats" played a part in Canadian history...and then there are our RCMP "Red Coats"...and red is the dominant colour on the Canadian flag...not to mention the Japanese flag... (sorry; I can't seem to draw a 'border' around that circle to clearly delineate the Japanese flag...nonetheless...

I rest my case.

Today, I auditioned three batiks (from Hamel's Fabrics' Show Special in Red Deer last year -- thank you!)...traced the tea-pot shapes I'd found...and auditioned them in place using a Teflon sheet, because the plan was to fuse each grouping and then fuse the grouping(s) to the background.  I'd not used this technique in a while so have to confess...this is the first time I really got the concept!  Who knew?!

Pieces fused together on Teflon sheet

Next I placed them on the pre-quilted background. fused them down and quilted them -- using machine applique on the raw edge and a tiny blanket stitch (1.5 long by 1.5 apart on my Husqvarna Lily 555).

Tea, Anyone? - Detail 1

Tea Anyone? - Detail 2

That's all you'll see until the 'reveal' at month-end...but that's a pretty good "hint" as to what I've created, don't you agree?  ;-)

I just love it when everything comes together...especially on a Wednesday, generally the "odd day out" in my week.  What about you?

Linking up to WIP Wednesday over at The Needle and Thread Network...

See you later!

Time for Tea

I've spent much of this past week thinking about tea: its origins in China; its migration to Japan and from there to England via India.  

I've not drunk much tea since I "discovered" coffee on a trip to Italy in my early twenties. Nowadays I generally drink tea only when I have a cold -- because when a cold happens my taste buds reject coffee entirely in favour of tea with honey.  So why is this 'royal' libation, soother of nerves and calmer of coughs, currently on my mind right now, when I am -- to all appearances -- hale and hearty?

Blame it on my 15 x 15 Group!  :-)  Hot on the heels of our latest "Reveal" ("Mono-print"), we have our next theme (deadline: the end of March) -- "East Meets West".

What arose first in my mind was TEA...a beverage believed to have been first developed in the Orient, in China, thousands of years ago, that made its way Westward in the seventeenth century A.D. (or C.E., if you prefer) to the British via Japan (which had imported it from China even earlier -- in the ninth century).  The Brits introduced it to India (we won't go into Imperialism and all that!)...and India is now one of the largest growers and exporters of tea in the world.  (For a long time, India out-stripped China in this; in recent years, China has reportedly regained its supremacy.)  

Tea at the Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C.

In Canada, due to strong British influence, tea was the hot beverage of choice for a very long time...but after World War II, Canadians as a whole began to drink more coffee...apparently under the growing influence of their neighbour to the south (the U.S.)  There are still, however, many tea-drinkers among us -- whether of British, Chinese, Japanese or Indian heritage and others -- and I suspect that even those Canadians who are avowed coffee-drinkers are hard-pressed to pass up a "true English tea" -- meaning the beverage and all the attendant goodies -- when invited!

In recent years I've witnessed the rise of tea shops in malls in Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton.  There one can purchase a hot cuppa (to stay or to go), and/or all the equipment and accoutrements to make one's own perfect pot at home.  My son has developed a taste for Japanese tea (indeed, he has a fondness for all things Japanese), so for his birthday a few years ago I bought him a cast iron Japanese-style pot (similar to the one in the photo at right) and some tea for brewing.  

For years, along "Gasoline Alley" at the southern edge of Red Deer, there's been a shop that's a favourite with tourists:  "Cindy's Tea Room & Gifts".  When I needed to replace my only tea pot  --purchased by a long-ago suitor in Montreal's 'China Town', its top had been broken -- I went there and found my "Blue Betty" (cousin to the traditional "Brown Betty" and, I think, prettier!).  This is a very British-looking pot, eh?!  I may no longer be an avid tea-drinker, but I love this pot's curves and it's classic over-all shape, and its beautiful deep blue colour.

Blue is a colour that, in part, symbolizes peace and healing.  In the stash of fabrics I've been using for the Japanese-style taupe quilt I'm making I have some lovely blues, blue-greys and greys that I don't plan to add to the taupes and browns in that quilt...so I decided to use them for the background of my 15 x 15 piece, which I wanted to piece.  

As to the type of piecing, I've decided on hexagons -- and English Paper Piecing.  Though the piece is relatively small, I'm using 3" hexies -- in part to make the handwork go more quickly.  In another effort to streamline the process, I decided to use freezer paper as the template material so I could simply fold and press the edges of each hexagon prior to stitching them together.  First, though, I drew out a schematic for the layout:

15" square; 3" hexagons

Then I traced the shape onto freezer paper and ironed it onto the back of each fabric:

Next I reversed the freezer paper to make it shiny side up, and pressed the edges over:

I think they're so pretty -- in a tranquil sort of way...

Finally, I laid them out "in a pleasing composition" on the original schematic:

That was Wednesday.  I've now begun to piece them together, which is equally soothing,  and to ponder exactly what I'm going to place on this background once it's finished.   True to the original inspiration, it will have something to do with tea...

Meanwhile, let's both grab a cuppa (make mine decaf coffee, black, please!) and head on over to see what Nina Marie and friends are doing at Off the Wall Friday, eh?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

How Far Did I Get?

Another Wednesday's rolled around.  How far did I get with last week's list?

Here's what I had left on the list as of last Wednesday's post:

• Mark on the Body (MOB): stitch for Tuesday (that would be yesterday) and Wednesday (that would be today);
• 15 x 15: make sleeves for the two pieces that have to go to France -- sooner rather than later - cut out and pressed; not sewn or attached.
• Start to blind hem the binding on L's Magic Tiles quilt.

Since then, a week of MOB stitching has happened.  I caught up last week, and find myself in the same spot again today -- having to stitch for yesterday and today.  This happens often on Tuesdays and Thursdays because my work at The Shop interrupts my stitching.  :-)

The binding on L's Magic Tiles quilt was finished...and the quilt was laundered and delivered.  :-)

'Magic Tiles' (Kathleen Bissett) in 'Red Hat' fabric

And the pieces destined for 15 x 15's Guest Exhibition at Quilt Expo en Beaujolais, France?  They're in the mail!  Here's how I prepared them for their trans-continental travel:

• Urged by Caro in France to keep it as simple as possible, I hunted down a cardboard box and cut the two sides to fit:

• Then I wrapped each piece lightly in plain white tissue paper:

• Having sandwiched the pieces between the two sheets of cardboard, I used duct tape to seal all around the edges, with special attention to the corners.  I printed off the address label on each of two sheets of paper, encased them in plastic envelopes (one with a zip-lock that can be opened) and secured one to each side with more duct tape...

...and mailed it off!  

Canada Post offered me two mailing options based on the size (although thin, it was too large to go by letter mail):  

• "Surface International" (read: 'slowly, by ground to a coastline somewhere and thence by ship' -- $40 CAD, insured but not tracked);
• and "Xpresspost International" (read: 'speedily by air' -- $70 CAD, insured and tracked -- "guaranteed" delivery in 5-7 business days).  Wanting it to get to France by March of this year, did I have much choice?!  

I leave you now to return to my quilting...with a major focus on finishing Section 1 of the Japanese Taupe Quilt intended for my son and his fiancee as a wedding gift.  Even with an extra day this month/year, July will be here before I know it!

Photo from 2014 -- this is now sandwiched and being quilted!

I have another 15 x 15 Group project under way...but this post is already long enough, Gentle Readers!  While you await the next installment, enjoy the link to WIP Wednesday over on The Needle and Thread Network...Pour yourself a cuppa and see what Canadian quilters are up to!  ;-)

P.S. For those of you who 'follow' this blog on Facebook:  I am "off" FB through Lent -- starting today (Ash Wednesday) and not returning till Palm Sunday (March 20).   This blog post will continue to link to my personal page, to the 15 x 15 page and to my business page (3 F Creations) on FB, but I will not be stopping by to view comments.  If you wish to comment on my posts during the next 40 days or so, please do so here.  And thank you for your support!  

More OBMQ...

72 Blues

and an invitation to tea.

Today I finished (1) my murder mystery; (2) my 72 strip-pieced on paper foundation 3.5" squares for Part 2 of the OBMQ; and (3) six cranberry loaves for the Mirror Library's Annual Christmas Tea and Bake Sale to be held at the library on Saturday (Dec. 3) between 1 and 3:30 p.m.

The reason you see only 5 loaves in the photo is that these are the ones to be included in the sale.  The sixth will be sliced up for sampling with the tea.  Short-bread biscuits will also be available -- but I have to make them yet!  However, I can rest easy now that my Mystery Quilt squares are finished, and I can get on with the baking -- and my Christmas card writing!

P.S. If you're in the area on Saturday, the tea will be at the Mirror Library, Main Street (50th Avenue, across from the Railway Liquor Store), starting at 1 p.m.  Tea, coffee and goodies to be served, and more goodies will be available for purchase.  :-)