Tea with Genevieve : Another Quilt Finished

 

 I'm not quite sure where the name came from.  The Genevieve I know prefers coffee!  ;-)  All the years I've been working on this quilt, I've just referred to it as Tea Leaves. 

I am pleased to say that my new free-motion setup works very nicely!  Thanks to my Sweetie for making the custom-built table for me earlier this year.   No struggling with the quilt getting stuck on the edges of the table either.    ;-)

Here it is with no quilt to cover the table.  It gives me a big flat surface to push the quilt sandwich around on.  Also on the left, you can see additional surfaces to support the weight of the quilt-in-process.  It's a big improvement over it dragging on the floor. 

Here are some close-ups of the quilting :

 

 

View from the back.

I love to use Hobbs  Heirloom 80/20 cotton poly batting, because it puckers up and makes my quilts look antique after washing them that first time.  It's the moment of truth when I pull it out of the dryer -- all warm and  puckered.  Delayed gratification finally fulfilled!

This quilt has been in the works for about 8 years.  It's one of the first ones I started after I learned to quilt.  It was around that time that my sister got married and moved to Japan.  The fabrics are mostly Asian-style 10-in squares.   I could easily cut 2 tea leaves from each "dime."    Every time I would finish one stage in the making of the quilt, I was so tired of looking at it, doing that task, I had to put it away for another year.  Now I think one of those die cut machines would make cutting out all those leaves (and corresponding interfacing leaves) a lot easier.   I thought I had a post about how I appliqued the tea leaves, but it doesn't look like I ever wrote and posted that entry.  Another symptom of being so tired of each stage that I couldn't even write about it through the years.  It was the interfacing applique method.  Maybe I'll write that up over the weekend ... 

The pattern is Tea Leaves from More Quilts from The Quilt Maker's Gift by Joanne Larsen Line.

 

The Quiltmaker's Gift  by Jeff Brumbeau and Gail de Marcken

They also have a website where you can see many of the quilts as illustrated in the storybook. 

Quilts from The Quiltmaker's Gift and More Quilts from The Quiltmaker's Gift by Joanne Larsen Line.   I thought there used to be a website where the author posted corrections to the patterns etc., but I can't seem to locate it now ...

These quilt books are still some of my favorites for classic quilt patterns.  Beautiful quilts tied in with a beautiful story of creativity and generosity.