Back in the Tea Cosy making saddle!

 I've finally completed this tea cosy for an Opera singing friend who luckily loves pretty pink-ish things! I've had so much fun making this cosy, using blocks I cut for the second collection of home-wares I created for STORY online store, adding extra blocks and hand & freehand machine embroidered text that reads continuously "Home is where the heart is there's no place like Home".

These first two photos show the two largest sides and the following two images show the short ends...

I haven't stitched anything into the edges to add support, its just the thickness of all the fabrics and wool inter-lining that give structure when stitched right through. Its a very 'rustic' house shape and I love that its very personal and wonky...as if the inside furnishings of the house have turned themselves to the exterior of the house!


Nice detail of a pompom tassle....

Detail of hand embroidered text...

I love this photo, the shadow the cosy has made is really nice...

I think a tea cosy ought to have a 'body' and a personality to make it special. This is what I'm always hoping to achieve whenever I make a cosy. Its a way of endearing such an object to a person, especially if that person has no real love for things like tea cosies (This Opera singing friend has a passion for them too, so I have no concerns there!)-  in my attempt to make tea cosies part of a person's everyday life in a meaningful way, I invest a lot of humour, humility, grace, fortitude & warmth into each cosy I create...I hope they bring joy and long-lasting pleasure!

Going back through my archives of tea cosy history...

I have been meaning to upload images for months, of the second tea cosy I ever made, a crazy-patchwork number I made to use up a bundle of fabric scraps from art projects and patchwork projects (that are long defunct and never really suited me in the first place!)

I've also posted an image (possibly a very naughty thing to do without prior permission form the publishers), of the tea cosy that inspired me to make this crazy patchwork cosy in the first place. The book contains a huge project in northern Tasmania which my artist mother, Claire, worked on and we all helped from time to time as well. Its called Yarns Artwork in Silk, and represents the four seasons in the Deloraine area.






This tea cosy was my everyday cosy when I lived in Battery Point, Hobart seven years ago and I haven't used it since then! I didn't take it with me to France when I went to live in Paris, so that's a strong reason why I started making very different cosies in Europe and gave birth to the Revolution!

Its a nice thing to do to go back and look at what has come before, and to asses what the future can hold...