Showing posts with label needle felting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label needle felting. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Tale of Two Teapots

My family is a tea drinking family. We love coffee too but I have more warm memories about tea and teapots than coffee. The song "I'm a Little Teapot, Short and Stout" brings back memories of my teen-aged aunts and me being about 3 years old. My grandmother served me tea from her yellow Hall teapot like this one when I was visiting her as a child. I remember Bigelow Constant Comment, still a favorite, and Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger, not a favorite but I loved it then!

The yellow teapot is one I found in an antique store and bought because it is just like the one my grandmother, who is 91, still uses.

This large white teapot was given to my grandmother by my great-great-aunt. My gandmother gave it to me because it is so big and she thought I could use a big one; I have 6 children and we use to have frequent "tea parties." This is a BIG teapot. It holds 1/2 gallon or 2 liters of tea and measures 7 1/2 inches tall, 12 from handle to tip of spout!

I started my children with "cambric tea" giving them a little tea with copious amounts of milk and sugar cubes. Cookies, scones, or some other sweets usually went with tea in those days and still do!

Tale of Two Tea Cozies


I was inspired by a piece of soft gray felt that I bought off a remnant rack to make a tea cozy for my large white teapot. I decided to make it fairly simple to go with the simplicity of the teapot. I had a desire to do some hand sewing but also finish a project in a day or two. Naturally one project inspires another, usually before the first is finished! I thought of making a tea cozy to send to my grandmother out of some squares I started last August. This was a nice last day of '07 and first day of '08 project - two tea-cozies finished in two days!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007





I found time to pull out yarn, wool, and fabric Friday evening when a friend came over to play. She had seen some of my raw edge applique picture quilts and had a desire to make a fall quilted hanging with pumpkins. I showed her how to use needle felting and fabric on a felt background. I did a little color blending but didn't seriously work on my own project being more interested in enjoying the visit. I finished these little experiments the next day.








Saturday morning I went to an awesome huge charity garage sale. I stood in line to wait till it opened at 8:30 and made a bee-line to the "notions" area where I found a beautiful supply of wool tapestry yarn, embroidery floss and pearl cotton. Then I looked at the neat bundles of fabric for wool to felt and found 2 yards of creamy off-white wool knit and a yard of woven wool fabric. I plan to dye these to use in doll making and art quilts.








I looked for wool sweaters to felt but there were none to be found! I don't know if they had been purchased the previous day. I did find several garments to wear.

I saw such a wealth of discarded items that I am quite inspired to do more without buying new from stores! Of course that garage sale is not available year round and going regularly to small garage sales is time consuming! Oh well, I have enough now for a lifetime of art and crafting!