SNOW & SEW WINTER DAYS

Now ten o'clock in the morning the outside temperature is just approaching 32 degrees meaning that the 'melt down' may begin by noon or soon thereafter. When winter storms hit North Carolina we are housebound until the snow melts and after the first couple of days, the temperature is watched hourly.

When will it get above freezing? How soon will the frosted layer break up? How long will it take to get out of the drive? And, assuming we could, where would we go? Normally I could care less but DH is not a house-bound kind of guy. Tomorrow will be the fourth day and just about his optimum confinement limit. Meantime what am I doing?

Sister Jan remolded her the kitchen of her Elon NC house recently and subsequently bought new kitchen linens. For that reason the tea cozy I made several years back no longer fits the color scheme and she asked if I could make her a new one. With some excess fabric cut from a too-long apron and a hot-pad to work from scraps and sample pieces of fabrics were selected on Friday, strip pieced on Saturday, pattern cut on Sunday and today I am beginning the top quilting.

True, Tea Cozys are not that big in size but the details are demanding in time and attention. The lemon print is the fall-off from the apron to which I auditioned a collection of prints and cut strips of various sizes.
Given the color scheme of golden yellows and muted greens I could not help but feel I had gone full circle. Remember the harvest gold and avocado greens of the '60s? My career as a paint color stylist began in 1968 and for the next three years I was saturated in golds and greens until the next color trend took root. Forty-plus years later can it be that the trend is are heading back to yellow-gold-sage-avocado? Must there be reminders of how old I am getting?

Next concern is structure. Like architecture any fabric construction intended to have volume (or fit over a tea pot), and needs to keep its shape. That problem is solved partly by stitching as each stitch makes the textile stronger. But adding a jumbo cord covered in slightly gathered fabric around the bottom edge augments the support for the cozy. Once interior volume is ascertained to fit a big tea pot the final step is to create a top knot that can be easily grasped to lift the cozy.




And you thought this was easy!
Outlined with a gathered, golden piping side one is the 'monochromatic' side while the opposite side sports some fruit, more color and repeats the accent green stripe.


The last step is the top stitching, here a detail of the pear surrounded with echo quilting. This step is done by hand and much as I avoid hand sewing this will be my 'fill-in' work when I need to sit down or have a cup of tea. And it may take the rest of the week!

While the cozy may be approaching the final stitches, the last few scraps are being joined to make a scrappy hot pad to complete the tea cozy set. And if you are asking why go to all this trouble instead of heading to Kitchenwares and buying a commercial cover, ask yourself where in the world will you find another one like this? Originality is the first law of textile arts.

Back to stitching, bb