The Teapot Quilt Hop

It was a beautiful, sunny day! After days of torrential rain, it was wonderful to see blue skies. Karleen invited me to drive to take a day trip with her to a lovely town in the midst of wheat and wine country. She was running a simple errand; taking a quilt to a shop for machine quilting. She asked if I would like to ride along, and of course that meant the teapot too.

Karleen's quilt is vibrant and colorful! Blue, yellow, pink, and green create a kaleidoscope effect in fabric.

There was a Sunbonnet Sue quilt on the quilting machine, but they spread Karleen's quilt on the edge where it perched all pretty-like. There it was measured and much figuring was done.

It took awhile to figure out which pantograph design to use for the quilting. The little traveling teapot was stuck in a bag, just waiting for permission to peek out and see all the action.

Finally the time was right and the teapot made her appearance. She posed so beautifully on that colorful quilt. And she waited patiently while the ladies went through a bin of thread colors as they tried to find just the right thread for the machine quilting that would stitch the fabric sandwiching the cotton batting.

A choice was made and it was time to move along.  We decided to go to lunch, but discovered another little quilt shop along the way. Of course we dropped in!

The traveling teapot was dutifully introduced and a student learning to sew quilts perked up her ears and said "I'm a tea lady" and gave a happy smile. Her name is Elizabeth and she has a collection of more than 100 teacups. She shared about a recent afternoon tea that she enjoyed in the Bahamas and talked about how much she enjoyed tea at The Empress in Victoria as well. She was so much fun to talk to!

The shop owner joined right in, telling about a wonderful tea event she attended in Indonesia. She loved the tea and the sugar cubes they served with the tea so much that she stocked up and brought packages of it home with her. It's amazing how "tea" influences so many and how the little plum teapot becomes the impetus for sharing and discovery of common bonds.

Eventually we arrived at our lunch destination. Amber, immediately after being presented with the traveling teapot, offered to take the teapot to the kitchen and fill it with tea for us.

She was quite interested that the house teapots were exactly the same as the traveling teapot except smaller in size. She brought one out to pose with our little plum teapot.

After lunch and tea...

 ...we decided to hit one last quilt shop before heading home.

This shop was a busy place with all the latest trends in fabrics and patterns. After introduction, the plum teapot was given permission to pose wherever she wanted. She was very serious about her task as ambassador of tea.

While the shop keepers worked...

...and serious quilters sewed

...the little plum teapot was finding places to perch and preen. 

Eventually the plum teapot found her comfort zone on a stack of Moda charm packs and next to a delightful quilt design book called "Tea Party". Quite appropriate, don't you think?

It was such a relaxing day. Textiles provide beautiful colors and amazing textures. They inspire and help one create so many pretty things. The little plum teapot enjoyed serving tea and listening to conversation all along the way. Teapot decided that going on a quilt hop made for an interesting day.