Tea Quilt Is Finished--

Leaf filler stitch

Last month, I finished the top to this quilt. I began the quilting process with stitching in the ditch of all of the seams. I also stitched around the applique shapes. 

Next, I stitched about a quarter of an inch away from the applique. I added some other straight lines in the blue background so that I could quilt other motifs. At the time that I stitched the lines, I didn't have a vision of what I was going to stitching in those areas.

This project is a book club quilt. I read the book, "For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History" by Sarah Rose with my Thread Tales book club. The applique in the center is the Chinese character for tea. I quilted leaves in the background around the applique. I used a blue 100 weight YLI silk thread for all the filler quilting in the blue background.

Free motion sailing ship

Next I moved on to quilting the lower section of the blue background. I wanted to represent the ship that carried the tea plants and seeds to India. I looked at photos of Chinese sailing ships from that era. 

I drew my own version of the ship with three sails. I drew the shape on a piece of notebook paper. I traced it with my finger several times. Then I used a Bohin fine line marker to free hand draw the design. It is mostly a continues line design that I stitched about four times with a gold Floriani 40 weight polyester thread.  

Detail of quilting filler stitches

After I had completed the ship, I quilted a  filler stitch representing water around the ship. At the top of the piece, I quilted mountains using a ruler foot and ruler. Tea plants grow in mountainous terrain in China. I was stuck with how to quilt the sides until Gertie, my inner squirrel, reminded me that the tea plants were shipped in their own glass terrarium type container. She suggested circles with a couple filler stitches. 

I've wanted to learn how to stitch that type of circle. It took me a few minutes of drawing with paper and pencil before I determined a quilting path that I could do without having to apply my full attention to the process! I like the organic nature of the free motion stitching around the circles.

Label

The bold applique will catch a viewer's eye and encourage the viewer to step closer to the work. The reward for the viewer will be the texture of the background quilting. There will be a lot to see!

View of the pieced back

I added a facing, a label and sleeve. This was goal number one on my November list. It was goal number two on my fourth quarter list. It is my second finish for the second quarter of Devoted Quilter's 100 day challenge. It is my thirteenth finish for the year!

I used 2 3/4 yards of fabrics from my stash which brings the total of stash I have used this year to minus 19 1/4 yards.

Most of the thread used

I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework. Please visit the link. There is always a lot of inspiration at the link up!

Regarding COVID:

Worldwide: 253M cases; 5.1M deaths

Finished quilt

United States: 47M cases; 762K deaths

Oregon: 376K cases; 4,730 deaths

This week, the United States opened the borders for people outside of the United States for visit and for travel. 

My granddaughters, whose ages are almost eight and nine, will be getting their first COVID vaccination on Monday. I hope that they have no issues.  My husband received his Pfizer booster last week. Other than feeling extra tired for a day, he had no other symptoms. 

I plan to get my booster at the end of December. I've work scheduled until the winter holiday. I'd rather wait when I have a number of days off in a row to recuperate should I
need it!

The pool where I worked prior to COVID, is located on a community college campus. The pool remains closed to the public for lap swimming and lessons. I understand that swim teams are holding practice sessions. I have heard that the college has targeted January as a possible time to reopen to the public. I sure have missed swimming. I do plan to apply to be able to work there again after the pool opens.