Tea Room Quilt--post 3

Background quilting on teapot and couched yarn

When my neighbor, Barbara borrowed my machine, Joi, I started quilting this project on Bernie my 1630.  I began quilting around the applique or in some cases on the applique. For most of the quilting, I stitched with a 100 weight invisifil thread produced by Wonderfil.

The light lavender thread color blended well into the background to add texture. I added some trim around the teapot that couched on by hand because the background and the teapot were too close in value. I liked the dimension the trim added to the piece.

Love example with tight stipple and two background fillers

I wish that you could see the bird on the tea pot. My plan was to make the bird stick out against the pot. It does and the tea pot has great depth. It reminds me of pottery that the artist has applied clay to the outside of the pot in a creative shape.

I decided to divide the background

Sample filler stitches

into five sections and label each section that was an underlying issue in the book, "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" by Helen Simonson. I chose the words: Love, Tradition, Culture, Family and Friendship which I drew on the top and then stitched in a brown Floriani polyester thread. I often draw the lettering on my piece so I have less of a chance of misspelling! I stitched a shape around each letter. Later, I filled in the shape behind the letters with a tight stipple to emphasize the letters.

I stitched a different filler stitch in each section that I thought represented the word. I also stitched the fillers in about the same density. I had quilted three of the backgrounds when Barbara returned my 790 Bernina, Joi. At that time, I switched projects and worked on the leaves quilt for my daughter.

"Steam" against four of the filler backgrounds

When I returned home from our London trip, I picked up this project because I needed to finish it at the beginning of January as that was when the reveal for our book club was scheduled. However, we had the threat of bad weather (snow and ice) so I moved the reveal to the end of January.

I thought that I could finish the quilting in about four days. . .hah! I sure underestimated the time frame! I found an hour a day quilting was all my body could handle. I hadn't factored in jet lag!

About three days after we returned, I came down with the flu--I was fortunate it lasted one day. It was another three days before I felt like myself. Interestingly, I have had the flu vaccination. Perhaps, I could have felt awful for several days without it.

Shape quilted

I had started quilting the border a couple days before the flu hit. I had quilted the flower shape with my templates and followed up with echo quilting around the outer edge. It could have been enough to stop there. I decided to add dimension with pebbles and some loop quilting fillers.  I liked the dimension.

Shape after quilting the dimension

In the book, I decided the dimension fit the story line. The major was born in India and raised in England. His love interest was born and raised in England. Her parents were Pakistanis who had immigrated to England. The motif made me think of designs I've seen in fabrics made in India or fabrics worn by Pakistani women.

The echo quilting represented the waves at the base of a cliff at the end of the book. The book is a delightful read and worth savoring each page! While I wouldn't quilt another whole piece with a layer and a half of the wool batting again because the loft was too high, it did create some wonderful dimension in the border in the bird on the tea pot. I estimate that I spent about thirty hours quilting this piece!

As I write this post, the piece is ready for squaring, applying the facing, sleeve and label. I almost have a finished project. The reveal is in nine days. . .surely, I can finish it by then. I guess time will tell!