Time for Tea

I'm in a small group which has agreed to make a journal quilt each month this year using scraps from what ever we have been working on that month - today is reveal day for the January journal quilt and I have just confessed my failure to the group. I have failed to make a journal quilt of the required size and instead come up with a Journal Tea Cosy!

It was inspired by the ideas behind my 'Friday Morning Coffee' quilt - sharing friendship over a cup of something, whether that be tea or coffee. It uses an old piece of stitching on the back that I recently found in a op-shop while on holiday - it really is the oddest shape so this seemed like a good way to use it.

I'm sure that the germ of the idea for this lies with the very talented Tara Badcock, who is an Australian textile artist and self described teacosy revolutionary. I found an article about her recently in Textile Forum (Issue 1, no 85, 2007) which led to me searching for her on the Internet - isn't it a wonderful thing! And there Tara was complete with blog and lots of wonderful tea cosies. Do have a look - its really special. How I'd love to have one of her creations to grace my dresser!

And here, for you enjoyment, are two vintage tea cloths which are well on target for the tea theme of this post. Boil up the jug, make a brew and enjoy.