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I purchased this book, and picked this particular pattern for Diane, long before I started quilting. The two cups and two pots are very reminiscent of Diane and I. I gave the wall hanging to Diane when I visited her for her birthday in 2011.

The challenge piece at Hands Across the Water was to make a tea cozy. I’ve never used a tea cozy and, at first, I thought I would skip the challenge. But then I remembered that I had extra material from the wall hanging, and I knew that Brian and Diane were tea drinkers so, voila, I had a purpose for my challenge. I gave the tea cozy to Diane for her birthday this year.

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I purchased this pattern when we visited Victoria in the summer of 2011. I had no immediate plans to make it, but when we decided to travel to Saskatoon to spend Christmas with Kathryn and Dave I decided I should make it for them.I enjoyed the appliqué on this project – the big pieces were much easier to work with. I particularly liked the fabric I used for the outside border.

I used invisible thread (I won’t another time) to stitch around the edges of the appliqué and through the petals and leaves to stabilize the piece. I also used invisible thread to stitch in the ditch on both sides of the green inner border. I quilted the center using a meandering loop pattern, and I used a piano key border stitch for the outside.