The is my newest piece and is being made for another book challenge. This one is based on The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. Tea takes center stage for the main characters in the book and the title is a direct quote. One of the characters is a Japanese gentleman who mentions a blue porcelain tea cup. I decided to make mine out of this indigo dyed Japanese fabric, but it's very hard for hand sewing so I probably won't use it again for this sort of thing. That's too bad because it's beautiful.
Right now I'm adding stitching to the top with just a harem cloth backing. I'll add something else for the back later. I love the walnut colored cloth I used on the outer border. It's very rustic looking, but I don't remember what the fiber content was. I do remember that it wasn't like a regular cotton. I like it so much that when I put the middle section on I did a turned applique stitch around and then cut out the walnut fabric behind so that I could save it. The double gauze Japanese print in the middle section is so soft and really lovely to stitch on.
I have discovered several wonderful videos in the past few days and really wanted to share them here.
First is Susan Shie, the amazing art quilter and painter doing an interview at the Birmingham Festival of Quilts in 2010. Video link
Next is the story of the Fibershed Project (akin to watershed) and Rebecca Burgess. Video link Oooh, there's a blog too!
Lastly, I have been a fan of Salley Mavor for years, but just found her blog along with this wonderful video about her work.
Enjoy!