Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Spill the tea! and OMG

When I was teaching, I was right on top of pop culture thanks to my students. Nowadays, my daughters and grandson keep me informed, along with social media, music, and TV to some extent. It was on Molli Sparkles' blog where I first heard the expression 'truth tea' several years ago. Then my daughter Brianne was using the expression, 'I've got tea' to mean I've got some juicy news/gossip, and 'Spill the tea' which means, tell me all. She it was who asked me to make her a tea cosy. Remember this is my non-quilting-loving daughter. Over the past year or so, she has been requesting quilts-(but not quilty, mind you) related items, or giving me suggestions for Etsy shop items. With the Alberta frigid temperatures of a week ago (and today they're balmy out there; welcome to life on the prairies) she was drinking more tea. Instead of making it in a cup, she was using her teapot, and requested a cosy to keep the tea warm. She had the idea to put these tea sayings on it and sell some in my shop. So of course, instead of continuing, wait, going back to, working on my magazine quilt (remember Pumpkin Season interrupted it) I chased this very tempting squirrel over this past weekend. And caught it.

It isn't often that I chase two squirrels within one week and catch them both, but I did. This one is a true DrEAMi! (Drop Everything And Make it!) because I literally did, even delegating vacuuming to my most-accommodating husband.


I started with a sketch, which I sent to Brianne to see what she thought of my addition of a teacup.
She loved it. 
Yaass
I had the thought to make 'tea' out of bubble letters. I loved doing them as a teen. Ran it by her.
No bubble letters

So I thought, okay, I like my fancy writing, but to make it more uniform and professional in appearance, maybe I should trace a font. So that's what I did, placing the grey batik over the computer screen and tracing it with a blue line marker. Then I layered the batik with Hobbs 80/20 cotton/polyester  batting and FMQ-ed the letters, going over them 3-4 times to thicken them up. I did a French knot by hand and buried all the threads on the back
I used Aurifil 28 weight thread, mmm, so good.

Again, instead of my rather amateur teacup drawing, I went into EQ8 and pulled up appliqué blocks. Printed out the templates, used Heat n Bond and some more batik scraps and made the teacup. I FMQ-ed the edges to secure everything and quilt it at the same time, steam rising and all, such fun!
Sent it to Brianne.
"I'm literally obsessed."

In keeping with her 'not-quilty' request, I did simple straight line quilting with Aurifil 2600 on the front (tons and tons of thread burying) and back. I nearly did some flow quilting on the back, still in the Island Batik October challenge frame of mind (thread-painting), but opted to keep it simple.
"Yaasss"
"So so good"

I'm glad she liked the binding and lining fabric, a piece from the Nouveau Soul line which I used for Avril's new cover/coat. It varies a fair bit from turquoise through lime to yellow and orange. It's called 3 Tulips and the colour way is Pond Moss. I used the 28 wt turquoise to stitch down the binding.


I have two more on the go, (since I wrote this post, one is done; see below, and it's listed👏) so getting them both done and listed is my November OMG. The one below is here in my Etsy shop. I think they would make great Christmas gifts!


Quilt Stats: FOR SALE
Pattern: original design in collaboration with Brianne
Size: 12.5" wide by 11.5" high
Fabric: Island Batik scraps and grey solid yardage from stash
Backing: Island Batik grey solid
Batting: Hobbs Batting 80/20 cotton/polyester
Quilted: on my Bernina
Threads: pieced with Aurifil; quilted with Aurifil 2600 and 28 wt, 50 wt in the bobbin

Linking up
mmm quilts for the November DrEAMi! linkup right here!




18 comments:

  1. Quite lovely! I love the lining fabric, it's so cheery.

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  2. What a fun squirrel to chase; those are fun and came together beautifully. I bet someone is going to be thrilled to get it as a gift this year (smart item to list in your shop).

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  3. Yay for two squirrels! This is just so fun and so lovely. Makes me wish I was a tea drinker. ;-)

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  4. "not too quilty" Ha ha ha... Daughters... the only ones who both have the nerve to, and can get away with saying such things to us!

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  5. I haven’t heard these expressions, so thanks for flying me in. I have a pattern and fabric for a tea cozy that I bought about 10-15 years ago and still love it.

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  6. A tea cosy what a nice idea and yours' is perfect!

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  7. Love the tea cosy and I'd never heard those expressions at all; but I'm no longer near youngsters so don't know all the latest sayings. Of course they could just be North American sayings but we usually follow along; albeit a few months later. Now being British to me your 'tea' pot is actually a coffee pot :-) A tea pot is not so tall and is rounder, and let's not get into the whole how to make proper tea (or coffee). :-)

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  8. Love the tea cosy Sandra!
    As Michelle says our teapots are rounder here in Britain! I’m always a sucker for teacosies and I have three at the moment. I was only watching a programme talking about how to make tea a few days ago!
    I didn’t know the saying, interesting! Nice to keep up with the young people!!!
    Hugs,
    Barbara xx

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  9. Well done & I'd never heard that saying even though I always read Mollie Sparkles column, which I do miss from the magazine, but then everything changes all the time. Although we are tea drinkers, I've never found a decent teapot that doesn't leak these days, so have resorted to teabags in mugs. Take care, stay safe & huggles.

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  10. Hi Sandra! This is crazy cosy great! What a fun idea - I'd say the two of you make a creative cosy team. The understated quilting is just perfect as is your choice of IB fabrics. Love this all the way around. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  11. That is so much fun, a squirrel and a request from your daughter! Fabulous job on the lettering, applique and quilting....all for the perfect cozy!

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  12. Super cute! I was not familiar with the expression but I love it! Love your cup of tea on it, too.

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  13. "I'm literally obsessed" made me laugh. I hear that in my niece's voice. Very cute cozy! I love the way the batik pattern looks like wafting steam on the tea cup :)

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  14. Such a fun squirrel! And what fun to have your daughter involved in your creative business, at least for inspiration. P.S. I am w-a-y behind on my own knowledge of pop expressions. I have to Google certain phrases from time to time to understand. At least we have that, eh?

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  15. First I read - Spill the teal. Of course the teacup is aqua/teal so it makes sense too. The tea-cozy is beautiful and I understand the obsession completely. I am obsessed with tea as well. Lots of truth tea to spill but not as many takers as we'd like :-) And if you can read the tea leaves there is a storm brewing... OK, I'll stop now. Have a great weekend.

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  16. What a cute idea! I must confess I've never used an actual teapot, just teabags in the mug for me. I had never heard 'tea' used to mean gossip before. Interesting!

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  17. These are great! Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.

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