Afternoon Tea

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

Have you ever been to a tea room, or had a look inside one? The tea rooms I like the best are ones at special events, such as quilting shows. I always stop and take a peek. My eyes go straight to the tables. I just love to see the mix of teacups and what tasty treats are being served. My own small collection of teapots, teacups and sugar bowls, always put a smile on my face.

For a couple of years now, I've been collecting tea related patterns. Many of them free Internet finds. Inspired by a wonderful little tea room, in the basement of a one room schoolhouse, I thought it would be fun to make a bunch of, mismatched, tea related blocks and piece them into a quilt. I think I will call my first block, Elegant Teapot.

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Can you guess what this tea related item is?

I double posted today. If you are interested in going a little greener in your quilting room, see posting below for some Eco-friendly quilting products. Also, how-to dye your own fabric, the natural way and a couple of Internet sources for crafty people and quilters.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

Green Stuff

How is your Going Green quilt coming along? You still have time to make one. Earth Day is not until April 22. It doesn't have to be a large quilt. Wall size or even postcard size will do. Organic quilting products are still hard to find and I don't expect your quilt to be totally green. Maybe you can try one of the new products on the market or incorporate some recycled fabric into your quilt. The purpose of this challenge is more a visual statement, which sends an environment message. Using Eco-friendly products will certainly add to the message. I recently started working on mine. The prep work is done and piecing has begun.

It appears that batting has taken the lead, for going green, in the quilting industry. I look forward to testing out the new Bamboo Batting, by Fairfield. Made from 50% bamboo fibre and 50% organic cotton. Other earth friendly batting's available are: Mountain Mist Eco-Friendly Batting Blend made from 50% cotton and 50% pla (corn base) fiber and Quilter's Dream Green Batting made from recycled plastic bottles and Hobbs Heirloom Organic Cotton Batting. Recycled flannel sheets, regular sheets or light fleece blankets can be used as an alternative batting.

Marcus has recently introduced some organic and Eco-friendly cotton. Robert Kaufman's Kona Organics, although limited to white and natural, could come in handy to test out some earth friendly dyes. Robert also has a line out called Bermuda, which is 100% bamboo fabric and Sea-Tiva, which is 25% seacell (seaweed) and 75% cotton. Also, fabric called Panda Wash, which is 60% cotton and 40% bamboo. Andover Fabric is testing out vegetable dyes on non-organic cotton. Hoffman of California has an Eco-Friendly collection made from 65% bamboo and 35% cotton. How about a little Hemp Muslin. Made from 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton. That may work for stitchery projects.

Take a step back in time and make our own natural dyes. Purple cabbage, purple onions and yellow onions, for example make great fabric dyes. Bring a pot of water to a boil and simmer the veggie, until the leaves have lost all colour. About half a cup of veggies to four cups of water, simmer for an hour or two. Strain and cool. Presoak your fabric in tap water first. Wring out and then soak in your homemade dye overnight. What else makes great fabric dye? Blueberries, marigolds, turmeric, purple grapes, coffee, paprika, tea, cranberries, beets and leaves and I'm sure you can come up with plenty more. Something to keep in mind.....tea dye is semi-permanent and in time will wash out or fade from the sunlight. Also, tea dyes only works on natural fibers. Before you dye a piece of fabric, you may wish to first soak your fabric in a dye fixative. Salt (1/2 cup salt to 8 cups cold water) is recommended when using fruit for your dye and vinegar (4 parts cold water to 1 part vinegar) for dyes from flowers, leave and plants. Simmer fabric in salt or vinegar fixative for approximately an hour, then rinse and wring out before putting the fabric in the dye.

Other earth friendly finds, NearSea Naturals sells organic cotton thread. The colours are limited to white, black and natural, but it's a start. Also, YLI and FiberActive Organics have partnered to sell 100% organic cotton thread. Available in white and natural, with more colours to come. And have you heard of QuiltCare? It is an "earth friendly" liquid wash for quilts and contains no phosphates, no bleach and is biodegradable. Lastly, some interesting (green) Internet sites to keep an eye on, Crafting a Green World and Forever Green Quilts.

I hope you can find a way or two to make an environmental statement in your quilting room and maybe we can improve the earth one fiber at a time.

P.S. I will be double posting today. Watch for a second post.

Marking Applique Placement

When I first started to applique, the big question was, how do you get each piece positioned correctly on the background fabric? So, I went to my quilting books for the answer. One method was tracing the pattern to your background fabric, with a faint pencil line. I didn't like that idea, because there was always the chance that your applique shapes may not perfectly cover the pencil marks.

The second method was using a light box. I didn't like that method either, because it was not very portable. Each time you need to add another applique piece, you have to take your project to the light box, place it over the pattern, position and pin down the next piece.

I wanted portable and no chance of placement marks showing. So, this is what I came up with. I take all my freezer paper templates, that I used to prepare my pattern pieces and I position them correctly, on the background fabric. Then, I iron them down. Next, I do a basting stitch around the pattern pieces. Remove the freeze paper templates and I am ready to applique. It doesn't take anymore time to prepare then, tracing with a pencil or getting up and down from your chair to go to the light box. Any basting stitches (not covered by applique) can be removed as you applique or when you finish the project.

Recently, I tried the clear upholstery vinyl overlay method. I will use this method again, mainly because I have a very large piece of upholstery vinyl left. It takes some getting use to and there is a chance of the vinyl moving, as you are trying to position the next piece. I did feel more comfortable with it, as I went along. This method is also portable. Robin did a wonderful job, using vinyl, on her airplane.

Even more recently, on my January A Tisket, A Tasket basket, I used a Fine Point Mark-B-Gone Pen to trace the pattern onto the background fabric. A good substitute for the faint pencil line. I didn't trace the whole pattern onto the background fabric, just the key points. For example, the corners of the basket and the points of the stars. Once appliqued, I use a small paintbrush and removed any blue marks. This pen does come with a warning. It is not suitable for all fabrics. It may react with the finishes or dyes (red and pink in particular) of some fabric. I have also heard stories about blue reappearing on the fabric, sometime later.

I am very happy with my basting stitch method and I like the Mark-B-Gone Pen, but will use it sparingly and with caution.

Just one thing to show you this week. Under the Willow, the first block of the Veranda Views BOM. Such a beautiful pattern.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

BOM Week

Firstly, I would like to thank Robin, from Crafty Musings, for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Robin is a busy little quilter. Her Jane Stickle blocks are fantastic and the Autumn House BOM, she recently started, is right up my alley! I look forward to seeing each block. Thanks again Robin.

What's that? More free BOM's! Have you seen, Baltimore Bliss, Season of Grace and Geese in the Forest. Sadly, I will have to save these for another day, as my project boxes are full. Or, maybe I could purchase a few more project boxes!

Last week, I did a little more organizing. Once I found out the shelf life of DMC floss, I decided to better organize mine. I'm still working on it, as I have about 250 older skeins. The new floss can wait. Because the skeins unravel and lose shape, I decided to transfer them to bobbins. They will be stored in DMC's floss organizer boxes.

Last week was also BOM week. I finished January's A Tisket, A Tasket block and The Bugs, from Noah's Ark.

Then I completed the February block of Country Calendar.

Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart. ~Author Unknown

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen

A Week of Preparation

Last week, I decided which of the free BOM's I was going to make. I selected Red Delicious, A Tisket, A Tasket, Veranda Views and Country Calendar. My goal for the week was to prepare the project boxes.

Fabric was selected and background blocks prepared. Muslin was cut to go behind the stitchery and also some for the Polka-Dot Girls, so I can get back to stitching them. Next, I cut out my applique pieces for the first block of Red Delicious and A Tisket, A Tasket. Then traced the first blocks of Country Calendar and Veranda Views onto the background fabric and gathered together the DMC threads to be used.

Speaking of DMC threads.........I wondered what the shelf life was for cotton floss, as I have a large stash left from my cross-stitching days. I was unable to find anything on the Internet, so I sent an e-mail to DMC and was told that 25 year old thread has the same integrity it did when originally produced. So, that's good news. I also found this information, about spools of cotton thread. Bob Purcell, President of Superior Threads said, he would not hesitate to use a spool of cotton, good cotton quality thread, 50 years from now. So, that answers my other question, about my large stash of quilting thread.

Even though most of my quilting time was spent doing prep work, last week, I did get a little stitching done. January's Noah's Ark block, The Bugs, is half finished and my first Red Delicious block, Lovebirds, is complete. I have yet to put eyes on the birds. Tiny black buttons will go on later.

I also completed the January Country Calendar block. My background fabric is a nice knobby textured natural cotton. The muslin, behind the stitchery, worked out great. As you can see from the photo, I did all the stitchery on one block. I decided I would make a Calendar Quilt, instead of individual monthly calendars. In keeping with the country theme, my completed quilt, will have a scrappy patchwork look.

Until next week.....happy quilting!

Karen