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May
15
Tea Time For Good Friends
Filed Under Appliqué, Friendship quilts, Teapots to Appliqué | 2 Comments
Over the weekend I finally had the pleasure of seeing a quilt that I had been anticipating for a long time.
Denise Martin, a member of my guild and also of the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association, had been keeping me posted on a Round Robin project that she was participating in. Denise had used designs from Teapots to Appliqué as the center of her project, and had sent it with the book on its way through the round robin process with four other quilting friends.
Almost a year ago, Denise wrote to say that one of the participants, Cheryl Booton, was working hard on the last border and was doing some beading. Denise pictured her friend doing some embellishments on top of the teapots. When Denise picked up the completed quilt top, this is what she wrote to me:
“OOOOH Kay! You will not believe what she did on the last border. It’s of a very pretty yellow/gold print. Then, on that border and overlapping onto the squares of the previous border, she took motifs from your book and really ran with them.”
I’ll say she did! Here’s Denise’s Round Robin Teapots quilt, outer border by Cheryl Booton, which was displayed at the SCVQA show last weekend. It is very special.
Continuing in Denise’s words, “There a ‘Lancaster County’ teapot with your motif, but the flower is ruched. My mother and a neighbor took a class years ago on Pennsylvania Dutch painting and I still have some of the things they made. How did she know?
“AND, on the top, she needleturned italic letters that spell out Tea Time For Good Friends… I used to teach calligraphy but I don’t think she knew that! Below that there’s a ‘Broke the Lid’ teapot with a bouquet of ruched flowers with beadwork in the centers.
“There are five teacups, each on a crocheted or cutwork doily. And they’re SYMBOLIC of the five people who worked on quilt.
“There’s a rectangular cutwork doily on the bottom with the sugar and creamer on it. And, there are three plates, one with cookies, one with chocolates, and one with lemons.”
Denise concludes, “I am totally overwhelmed. Every time I look at it I notice something new. Kay, you are going to LOVE seeing it. It is spectacular. Thank you for writing the book that inspired us, and thank you again, Cheryl, for all your work.”
I do love it. I love the story behind it, the spirit of friendship that it embodies, and how it is such a demonstration of what good friends do for one another. I love how excited you are with it, Denise, and how it touches your heart in so many ways.
I am so happy that Denise loved the quilt. This quilt just said to me that it needed a border to tie Denise’s original theme, the center block of tea cups. I really enjoyed working on the Round Robin and Denise’s quilt was the last one I worked on. It seemed that as I worked on each quilt the borders got more complicated. I always wanted them to carry through with the themes which each quilt had started with. Denise’s was the most fun because my love is applique and I was dying to try something new. I ended up trying several. I found the gloves and pearls at the Good Will Store and the Doliys came from my stash of linens which I have been wanting to use. The lettering came from the computer. I picked the script and then just kept printing unitl I got the size I wanted, yet again something new. This quilt was a labor of love both for Denise and Quilting. I am so happy to see that it is up on the web since I never took a picture of it before I gave to Denise. Now I can see it whenever I like and remember all the fun and new experiences I had making it.
Cheryl Booton
Hi Cheryl! Denise does love her quilt, and I’m so glad that the blog can serve as a scrapbook for you.