Finally done!

Tea With the Queen

When Pattilou asked us to consider "color" in Step 3, I was stumped.  Already had quite a bit of color.  Black and white didn't seem right.  So I went to the stash and came up with a funny little cup fabric I'd picked up somewhere.  It had the orange and purple, but also dashes of other colors. I'm still not wild about that green, but keep telling myself that a bit of tension color-wise is not a bad thing.

Then came Step 4, and Jan's advice to look for "the gift of Serendipity".  It happened to be the weekend of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and I was thinking that those cups wanted to be tea cups, and how there seemed to be some crown-ish shapes in the center. I've been in a London state of mind, since a good friend has been living there for 18 months and I had the chance to visit in December.  And with the Olympics on the horizon...

Anyway, what do you think I found in my embellishment box that day?  A little charm with a picture of Big Ben on it!  Serendipity for sure. Did you know they've renamed it's tower after the queen?  It's "Elizabeth Tower" now.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18592966  So my little quilt has a story!

Can I show you one more thing?  I saw this on someone else's blog and this is the first time I've tried it. I cut two squares that I folded in half and stitched into the top corners on the back along with the binding. Now, a dowel will fit in there for hanging (mine hasn't been cut to length yet in the picture).  I liked that.  Easy peasy for a small piece.

Thanks to the hosts for their inspiration.  And to everyone else here, too.  I love seeing how your pieces have come together!

First Two Steps - Margaret

Hi there!  I'm a bit late getting started, but jumping in anyway.  Dug up some strips I'd made as part of a Shop Hop quilt in 2001!  Each of the 10 shops had designed a strip. After 3 strips I got bored and didn't want to waste any more time on it. Here are the three strips.

I decided to use the middle strip to begin with. Parts of the others might join in eventually.  We'll see.  So here's how those blocks went together after they were liberated from the strip, chopped up, and stitched back together freestyle.

Stuck with purple for the Round 2 crumbs. Since the middle was already pretty crumb-ly, 

I tried to contain it with a small orange strip but added a few orange teeth in the border just for fun.  

Waiting on Round 3 to trim it up.  Can't wait to see what's next!