I decided to create this piece when I was essentially un-invited to a tea party hosted by someone I had not met, but we had a mutual friend who extended the invitation to me and her niece because she was encouraged to bring guests. The invitation read, "Lady Friends of Ladies Always Welcome."
When my friend was unable to attend after all, I wrote to the host and asked if I might still come, along with my friend's niece, because we had been excited about coming and meeting local artists who would be in attendance at this annual event. The host wrote back after many days, and replied, "Unknown people don't come! ...unknown to anyone else present!" She also said my request made her feel "weird!"
I used photo copies of the invitation I had received, altered a bit with different colors and printed on lightweight interfacing which I ran through my printer, backed with freezer paper. I also printed text from her letter to me the same way, and constructed layers of paper photocopies, (the tea cups) and the interfacing copies merged together on a base fabric with gel medium. The tea cups image is from a previous painting I had done many years ago. I turned them upside down for this piece. Making the quilt was very satisfying and although I made plenty of mistakes, I learned a lot from doing it.
My 'free motion' quilting is horrible, but I think it adds to the piece anyway! In many places, it is jagged and I tell myself it looks like broken pieces of china! LOL! I enjoyed making this piece and enjoy looking at it now.