Teapots make delightful collectibles. With fabrics that mimic the look of real china, and a great pattern, a whole collection of teapots can be made into a quilt. Plus, teapot quilts remind us of the joys of tea parties, tea ceremonies, and tea for two. We've been collecting tea-themed quilts and fabrics, and have been dying to share them with you. As they say, life is like a cup of tea... it's better when shared with friends!
China, 50 x 50, by Laurel Anderson, at Whisper Color
The gorgeous "China" quilt, by Laurel Anderson, displays a complete tea set in Delft blues, surrounding a blue floral platter. Laurel explains that the quilt was made in honor of her grandmother, Charlotte, who loved beautiful things: "Her life was dedicated to caring for other people, so her splurges on glassware and china were at the second-hand store. Her beautiful things were mismatched and a little chipped. The flying geese triangles and multiple background fabrics reflect these ideas." The quilt is made on paper foundations except for the hand appliqued plate and platter. The pattern can be obtained at Whisper Color.
TeaTime Floral III, by Holly Holderman, at LakeHouse Dry Goods
TeaTime Floral III is one of Holly Holderman's glorious designs; it has teacups in pale blue or ivory, hydrangeas, roses, and a songbird with speckled egg. To admire the collection on the LakeHouse Dry Goods brochure, click here (just take a peek; the bird illustration is worthy of John James Audubon). The pattern for the Star Maker quilt, above, can be downloaded at the LakeHouse project page. The collection is available at independent quilt stores, and online; we found it at Fat Quarter Shop. Just last week Holly previewed "Penelope", a luscious Paris-inspired collection with red roses on a black background, teacups, and pastries reminiscent of la pâtisserie française. It'll knock your socks off! You can read about the collection on Holly's blog.
Cupsey Turvey, 45 x 56, by Karen Brow, at Java House Quilts
Can a quilt be both beautiful and whimsical, at the same time? If the quilt is "Cupsey Turvey", then the answer is 'yes'. When you first glance at this quilt, you notice the graceful appliqued cups and saucers in shades of lilac, blue and pink; see the delicate butterfly cup, above. The next thing you notice is that not a single cup is sitting still. All fourteen cups are dancing, sliding and tumbling around the quilt, and some are even upside down! The cups are flanked by tossed spoons and the occasional flying teabag. "Cupsey Turvey" reminds us of this proverb: "A wise husband will buy his wife fine china, so she won't trust him to wash the dishes." For the pattern (quilt, not china) click here. The designer, Karen Brow, was recently featured in "Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks From Today's Top Designers". She worked as a professional graphic designer and cartoon illustrator before channeling her energies into quilting and designing unusual patterns. We can't resist pointing out a few more of our favorites: Muchas Poochas, Infrognito, and Bad Hare Day (after viewing the images, click on the Back button on your browser to return to this post). All the patterns are available at Java House Quilts.
Tea With The Empress, 40 x 40, by the owners and staff of Always Quilting
We love "Tea with the Empress", above, which features 16 shapely teapots from Kay Mackenzie's bestselling and definitive book, Teapots 2 to Applique. The teapots are rendered in peacock feathers, lotus flowers and Japanese maple leaves in jewel tones of teal, purple, and garnet; the fabrics are from the Empress Garden Collection by Hoffman. The diamonds that tie together the blocks are like little gems. You can see the original quilt and read about the teapots at Kay Mackenzie's website, here. Right now, the quilt is part of a block-of-the-month program at Always Quilting (the book is included with the BOM).
Corner Tea Shop, 32.5 x 28.5, by Connie Cerdena, at Jenny Creek Designs
Connie Cerdena's classic and classy "High Tea" designs are inspired by her own collection of teapots; she began collecting at age 15. "Corner Tea Shop", above, replicates the cheery windows of an English tea shop, with its chintzware-like background and checkered tablecloth... notice the steam rising from the spout of the teapot! For more inspiration, see High Tea, Sweet Violet Tea, and Tea with the Earl. Jenny Creek Designs recently partnered with Northcott Silk to introduce "Tea With the Earl" in the Cambridge Square fabric line by Ro Gregg; the cool blue-and-white florals create the look of English transferware teapots (see the quilt on her home page, here.) All of the patterns are available at Jenny Creek Designs.
Teapots, as seen in Royal Dutch Tea, by Liz Schwartz & Stephen Seifert, at eQuilt Patterns
If applique is not your cup of tea... (get it?) ...then you'll love this versatile collection of six different teapots designed by Liz Schwartz and Stephen Seifert. The teapots were featured in two different wall hangings, "Royal Dutch Tea" and "High Tea", in Quilts With Style. The patterns, which are cleverly designed for foundation/paper piecing, are available at eQuiltPatterns. Use one, or mix and match them to create a teapot quilt with your own fabric stash.
Full Bloom Collection, and Garden Tea Party quilt, by Bari J™
Full Bloom is Bari J. Ackerman's debut line... and what a debut! The fabrics remind us of a garden that is both cultivated and wild, with ranunculus and hydrangeas, fox glove, pussy willows, cherry blossoms, and a bramble vine. We're smitten with the "Garden Tea Party" quilt, above, which has a border decorated with collaged teapots and flowers. View the complete collection, and download the quilt pattern, at Windham Fabrics. The fabrics have been so popular that many vendors have sold out already. If you can't find them, Bari J™ has some of the prints, including the teapots. Visit Bari J Online, and for additional inspiration, see her blog.
Dancin' Teapots fabric collection by Sharon Yenter at In The Beginning Fabrics and Dancin' Teapots II quilt by Virginia Anderson
"Dancin' Teapots II", above, is one of our all-time favorite teapot quilts. It won a blue ribbon in the small wall quilts category at the 2006 AQS show. To learn about Virginia Anderson's teapot obsession, read the interview at Quilters Anonymous. A larger quilt, Teapot Obsession VI, was featured in Quilters Newsletter in 2006; for a downloadable foundation piecing pattern, click here. (Note: As of this writing the Dancin' Teapots pattern packs are still available from In The Beginning; search for locations at Where to Buy.) Dancin' Teapots II has inspired many quilters... see the brightly colored Funky Teapot quilt with its piano keys border. The Dancin' Teapot fabrics were designed by Sharon Yenter at In The Beginning Fabrics. The fabrics are no longer in production, but a few yards of the various prints can be found here and there... we found some at Tennessee Quilts and The Virginia Quilter. You can see the fabrics in Sharon Yenter's Afternoon Tea quilt; it was published in Fabric Trends in 2008. "Afternoon Tea" has appliqued teapots and a patchwork setting based on the English Floral Checkerboard pattern.
Oriental Teapot, 15 x 20, by Verona Flint and Kay Mackenzie; and Delicious Tea, 24 x 10, by Kay Mackenzie
"Oriental Teapot" and "Delicious Tea" are two of our favorite little teapot quilts. "Oriental Teapot" reminds us of a Japanese tea house, with its hand-appliqued batik teapot, Asian-inspired fabric and decorative quilting stitches. To read about the quilt on Kay's site, click here and scroll down the page. "Delicious Tea" features adorable apple teapots surrounded by apple fabric; it can be seen in Kay's quilt gallery. The teapots are based on the 2008 book, Teapots 2 to Applique. Kay also maintains a comprehensive site called All About Applique, which is loaded with tips and tutorials (check out her fantastic tutorial on back-basting hand applique!)
Little Teapots, by The Cloth Shop
The whimsical Little Teapots quilt, above, is an original Cloth Shop design that uses white and black fabrics for the background and lattice, and wonderful hand dyed Bali Batiks for the appliques. Teapots are shaped like a beehive, a house, and a strawberry, among others, and the teapots are surrounded by stacked teacups and little cupcakes ! The quilt is part of a block-of-the-month project that uses fusible web and a hand or machine button hole stitch around the teapots. For more information on the quilt and BOM, visit The Cloth Shop online (or in person if you are in Vancouver, B.C.)
Garden Tea Party fabric collection, as seen at Studio E Fabrics
The charming Garden Tea Party fabric line includes a panel with stacked teacups and coordinating fabrics in shades of violet, lime green and ivory, including purple pansies. The "Tea Words" include Chai Tea, Chamomile, Darjeeling, Ceylon... and Green Tea, of course. The fabrics are based on the Antique Victorian Pansy collection, designed by Audrey Jeanne Roberts. To read her post about the collection, visit her blog. You can see the complete fabric line at Studio E Fabrics.
Tea Party collection, by Diane Knott, for Clothworks
This brand new Tea Party collection by Diane Knott for Clothworks is coming out in August 2010, so this is just a preview. To see these pretty fabrics in a sample quilt, click here. You can view the whole collection at Clothworks, and read more about Diane Knott and her designs on her website. And while we're on the subject of tea and china, check out the new Hungarian Blue collection by Sue Zipkin - the blue and white fabrics would be lovely made into teapots. Clothworks has a fat quarter competition this week at their new blog.
Teapots and Teacups fabric panels, as seen at Grubers Quilt Shop
Hard to find! These fabric panels are direct from Holland, and feature 20 different teacups and 21 different teapots in realistic detail. Each teacup and teapot is 4.25" wide; we're imagining them in quilted medallions, decorative pillows, tablecloth borders, and other projects. Available at Grubers Quilt Shop (after clicking on the link, scroll to the bottom of their 'panels' page).
High Tea Collection and other tea fabrics, as seen at eQuilter
eQuilter has one of the best selections we've seen of coffee and tea-themed fabrics (108 of them, as of this writing). Who knew there were so many? Quite a few of them are out of production, and hard to find elsewhere. The High Tea assortment, above, features 10 different fat quarters. Other fabulous finds include Chinese Take Out, Chopsticks Please - Tea Ceremony, Asian Tea Sets, and Bridge & Tea Party. To browse all fabrics with the theme "coffee break and tea time", click here!
Image credits and links: Quilt images are shown with the kind permission of the artists.
