Teacup Tutorial

Once again for the [3x6] Sampler Quilt Mini Bee, I decided to modify some ideas into a block of my own design.

The advantage here is that I don't have to worry about making the same blocks as anyone else. The disadvantage is that, when someone compliments the block, I can't just toss them a link to some tutorial. Until I write said tutorial myself, that is.

So here's an attempt to help you make your own 12" teacup block.



A couple of notes:

• I didn't take pictures of every single step. So sorry! Rest assured, this is a simple block.
• Some tea cups will "change color" throughout the post. This is the unfortunate result of me being a tad late with my blocks this round, and having to snap pics during a furious assembly line process.

For your tea cup and handle, you'll need:

• 1 print rectangle, 4.5" x 5"
• 1 print rectangle, between 1.25" and 2" wide, at least 4" long
• 1 white (or background) rectangle, 2" x 4.5"
• 2 white (or background) squares, 1 7/8"

Use a pencil or water-soluble pen, draw a line from corner to corner across each 1 7/8" square. Place the squares on the bottom corners of the 1 print rectangle, 4.5" x 5", as shown, making sure edges are aligned. Pin if desired. Sew carefully along the pencil lines.



Using a ruler, trim off both corners .25" from the seams. Fold down the white fabric and press. You have just created the curved bottom of a tea cup! See?



Take the remaining print rectangle and fold it longways with the right sides together. Sew .25" from the raw edge to make a tube:



I like to make the tubes varying widths.



Mostly because it's easier that way. Use a turning tool to turn the handle so the right sides are facing out, and press to get nice, crisp edges.

To attach the handle to the rest of the cup, line up the 2" x 4.5" rectangle to the right of the pieced cup unit.



Fold the handle piece into a "u" shape until it resembles a cup handle of your liking. Pardon my (lack of) manicure.



Pinning would be fiddly at this point, so I just stick the handle to the background rectangle with a bit of masking tape. As long as you keep the tape out of the seam allowance, it won't interfere with sewing.

You can see how I kept excess handle fabric to the left of the background rectangle, where it will get caught in the seam and can be trimmed later.

Sew, trim, and press, and TA-DA!



To turn four 4" x 6" teacup units into a 12"-block, arrange them into two rows and attach them like so:



To EACH of these units, sew one white (or chosen background fabric) strip of fabric 1.5" x 12.5" to the top of the unit, and a strip of the same size in your chosen shelf fabric to the bottom of the unit.

Then, stack the units and sew them so they look like this:



Of course, you can make a 6"-block by adding 1.5" x 6.5" strips to the top and bottom of one cup unit, but I was aiming for a 12"-block, and the appearance that the cups were together in a cabinet or on shelves together.

Handles can be appliqued down, tacked down, quilted down, or left to flap freely in the wind!

Please leave a comment with any questions or concerns!

Busy Bee

Okay, the truth is, I haven't posted because I was on vacation. And then I got back, and I had to get busy. See?



Tutorial coming soon!

A dreadful miscalculation.

Or not. I'm still deciding.

The good news is that my squirrel embroidery is finished! Or, at least, I've completed the pattern.



As you can probably see, this was supposed to be a round design, but it's a little, um, oblong. That's because the fibers in the linen I used weren't totally even - it was a home dec fabric, not one designed for stitching.

Live and learn.

So the design is an inch wider than it is high. Which isn't bugging me too much, except I'm not sure how I want to finish or frame it. I had originally envisioned it in a hoop, but I'm not sure I can find one in the correct shape. Should I add a border? Make a tiny pillow?

One of the toughest things about stitchery is finishing. I definitely understand the appeal of tea towels today - pre-cut, pre-trimmed, and you can never have too many!

An hour a day

A couple of years ago, I bought some awfully cute patterns from superbuzzy, but didn't start on them, or even plan to start on them, right away. I have a tendency to burn out on projects, and I didn't want to start on something without a clear plan for the end game.

Recently, I got some stitchable linen for a good price, and I've been itching to embroider basically everything I see. So it seemed like time to get started on my cute patterns.

My technique? I can only work on it for an hour a day. Preferably while listening to This American Life. Does that seem counter intuitive? Maybe to crafters who don't binge, and then burn out on, projects.

Every time I put this down, I feel sad. I can't wait to pick it up again. So progress, if not speedy, is steady. Can I stay interested until the end?

Let's find out.

Martha, Martha, Martha!

Hey, check out this passage from Chapter 28 of Little Women:

Like most other young matrons, Meg began her married life
with the determination to be a model housekeeper. John should
find home a paradise, he should always see a smiling face,
should fare sumptuously every day, and never know the loss of
a button. She brought so much love, energy, and cheerfulness
to the work that she could not but succeed, in spite of some
obstacles. Her paradise was not a tranquil one, for the little
woman fussed, was over-anxious to please, and bustled about like
a true Martha, cumbered with many cares.

Okay, thank goodness Penguin was good enough to include a footnote reminding me of the Biblical story of Mary and Martha, because as I read this last night, my first thought was "WHAT? Martha Stewart is so powerful she could go way the eff BACK IN TIME and make Meg March Brooke feel inferior about her domestic abilities?"

We already, for reasons that still elude me, have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Why not Meg March Meets Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia?

Tea Towel Time

I'm trying to work throughout the year to get some holiday gifts made. I always have huge ambitions for Christmas gifts, since the hunting/gathering/making is my favorite part of the year-end festivities. But these ambitions get thwarted by the realities of trying to run a business during holiday times.

One of the things I never seem to have enough time for is embroidery, because it's tough to correctly set aside the hours to finish all the ambitious, detailed projects I dream up. So I decided to start a tea towel and measure the time it took to stitch up in units of good books and a combination of both quality and crap tv.



Photo 1 shows phase one of stitching, which I completed while listening to a chapter and a half of Edith Wharton via librivox, and while watching an episode of Treme. I would have loved to take a pic during the break between listing and watching, but it was nighttime, and this really does represent a continuous stitching session - bodies and faces.



Here's what I managed the following day while watching the William and Kate Lifetime movie: beet greens, arms, and legs, plus another arm and a femur/shin combo. This was a useful exercise, because these are the little details that I never think will take very long, but, in these case, they took a two-hour tv movie, minus commercials.



Since I was on a little bit of a roll, I finished up the tomatillo limbs and the knife handle while checking in with the Real Housewives.



This required a bit of brain cell replacement therapy, so I revisited Ms. Wharton while finishing the knife blade.

So there you have it - a gift finished in under five hours.

Now, to decide on the recipient.