Isn’t it gorgeous? Nancy says,

You can quote me: “I couldn’t remember doing applique before and had avoided it for some time. I wanted to do the teapots, so I read your directions for back basting applique several times and dove right in. I love the technique and am very pleased with the results. I realize I need to practice more to get the tiny curves right, but this sure beats other applique techniques which I have tried since doing the teapots. Thanks for such great patterns.

Yay! Another back-basting convert!

Notice how the teapots are all set up for a left-handed pour. I haven’t seen one like that before, and it’s a refreshing change! Back-basting takes a reversed pattern. Nancy chose not to reverse them, my husband the lefty would be so proud.

So glad you are enjoying appliqué now, Nancy. Thanks for sharing your beautiful creation.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Teapots by Jane Adams

Look at this cheerful gem!! Jane says she used all types of fabrics to depict holidays, different cultures, and fun designs. I love how she added her own little touches to the blocks and put the milk and sugar pitchers in the corners.

Jane used the fusible applique method with a blanket stitch around the designs for this 68 X 68 project. It was quilted by Erin Gonzales at The Calico House in Placentia, CA. Jane crows about Erin’s quilting, saying, ” She did a fabulous and creative job, even quilted different names of teas in the inner border and steam coming out of the teapots!”

Great job, both of you!!

Jane shared that she will be teaching a teapot appliqué class at The Calico House! Check out their Classes page in case you live in the greater Los Angeles area and would like to stitch some teapots with Jane!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

“I worked on the BOM sponsored by Flying Geese Fabrics in Albany during the past year. It was led by Pat Cunningham. I jumped on board in March when two of the ladies who signed up never claimed their first two blocks. So I was a little behind throughout the process. I managed to stick with it and I was able to finish it this past November. Eight months in all.”

Look at this gorgeous rendition of “A Little More Tea” from Teapots 2 to Appliqué!

Pat Cunningham at Flying Geese Fabrics chose the block of the month and coordinated the fabrics. This beauty was quilted by Janis’s cousin, professional quilter Teresa Fabozzi of A&T Home Quilting.

Janis continues, “I did follow your applique tips in your book where by I used a heavy thread to outline the shapes making it easier to turn under and stitch.” Janis is referring to the back-basting method of preparing shapes for hand appliqué, a fabulous method explained in Teapots 2.

“I stitched them with a SIL. I thoroughly enjoyed every step of the way. This is actually my first applique quilt and I’m interested in doing more. I am generally a piecer and won a yellow ribbon last year at the Vermont Quilt Festival. That was very exciting.” Congratulations, Janis!!! And a hearty welcome to appliqué.

“Anyway, I love sipping tea and it is a cherished memory of my mother who passed away fourteen years ago. This quilt is dedicated to her. I am planning on photographing one of her teacups, then scanning it onto fabric and then using it as a label.”

How nice to learn that this quilt has so much added meaning for you. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.

Janis is an art teacher. She gave me the link to her blog, Dream Draw Create.

Janis shares another nugget with us, a little quilt shop in Brooklyn called Fiber Notion that she and her daughter enjoyed visiting.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Here’s the project from the class, photo courtesy of Quilter’s Paradise.

LOVE the exotic fabrics. Thanks gals for being fabulous neighbors and for using my teapots!!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Teapots 2 to Appliqué!

Tea With Jane, 51 x 43

Isn’t it beautiful? I especially love how Marion mixed scale in the teapots. Dynamic!

Marion told me that the colours in the quilt were inspired by the tiles in Jane’s new kitchen.

That’s my kind of comfortable, lived-in kitchen, complete with funny kid! And does Marion’s daughter not look like Victoria Beckham??

Marion was visiting America at the time of the Lancaster show this year and bought the fabric from those vendors.

Thank you, Marion for choosing Teapots 2 for your daughter’s kitchen. It’s a beautiful project and I hope you all will enjoy it for years to come.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

The story of this bright, beautiful quilt, which uses patterns from my Teapots to Appliqué:

My quilting bee was asked by by son’s girlfriend, Lyndsay Benson, to help her DAR chapter make a teapot quilt. The name of their chapter is the Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

We began this project in October of 2008. My bee, which is part of the Quilters by the Sea Guild of Wilmington, North Carolina, attended one of the Tea Walk meetings to show them how to applique and quilt. Each person in my bee and each lady in the chapter were given a choice of the teapot patterns and then made their block from material that was chosen for the project.

The quilt will be used as a raffle to make money for the projects that the chapter does for the community. As you can see there was hand quilting, machine quilting, hand applique, and machine applique as each person did their own thing. After getting all the blocks back, I then put them together and added the teacups in the corners and the border. It was really a fun quilt to do.

Ann, this bright quilt is brightening your community in so many ways. Your bee took time to teach appliqué and quilting to the chapter, and you all collaborated to benefit the good programs of the DAR. I love the fact that all kinds of appliqué and quilting come together in this way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing my teapot patterns for this wonderful group project. I hope it raises lots of $$ for the cause. By the way, did you know that North Carolina is my home state? I grew up in Chapel Hill.

I think those are picnic ants making off with a chocolate chip cookie.

Teapots to Appliqué, which was my first collection of teapots, is now out of print, but an unbound pattern pack is available on my website. Teapots 2 to Appliqué is still in print.

Still smiling at the cheerful teapots,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

I’m so proud.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Lo and behold, there’s an absolutely beautiful teapot quilt made by Pat Besenhofer, and I recognize it as being from my Teapots 2 to Appliqué. What an internet find! Pat and Nancy both graciously agreed to let me use the photos and put up a Show & Tell of my own.

Asian Teapot quilt made by Pat Besenhofer, quilted by Nancy Gambrel.

Look at the elegant quilted frames surrounding each teapot, setting them off just so.

Pat writes,

This is so cool. My quilt is indeed based on your book Teapots to Applique 2. I would be thrilled to have my quilt shown on your website. And to think it isn’t even bound yet! I’m glad that Nancy and I spent so much time exchanging ideas about the quilting, I think the frame she did works beautifully with the teapots and the corner diamonds.

I’ve been a tea person all of my life, and I get so tired of patterns featuring coffee, espresso’s and latte’s, etc., so I snatched up this book (as well as the first one) when I saw it at the all-the-quilt-books-in-the-world vendor at the Rosemont, Illinois, Quilt Festival a a year or two ago.

This is the first quilt I’ve made with a definite location in mind; it’s going to go in my kitchen. I’ve been second-guessing myself on the pattern, wondering if I should have placed one or more teapots going the other way, or adding a teacup in one spot for a bit of whimsy. I’m happy that you like it as is.

Pat told me that the quilt was done with fusible raw-edge applique. In order to get the teapots facing the ‘correct’ way, she copied the positive images, then flipped the paper to create a reverse image to draw on the fusible web. Pat, that’s just the way I do it. Nancy stitched down the edges of the fusible applique with clear thread.

A beautiful job, both Pat and Nancy!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

That first collection is now out of print (though you can still get pattern packs over at quiltpuppy.com, but when I contacted the shop owner, Judy Hansen, she told me they carry Teapots 2 to Appliqué now and sent me a picture of their shop sample.

Teapots 2 to Appliqué banner

Wow, eh what? Check out teapot number three… it’s the same one that’s shown on the cover of the book, but what a difference a really groovy fabric choice can make! That’s what I love about seeing my designs done up by someone else.

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs