St. Marie-aux-Mines

Jimmeny Cricket!
I just can't seem to get it together with blogging with all else that's going on, but I hope that will settle soon so I can blog more often!

I went to the 15th Carrefour Europeen du Patchwork in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, France.  What an experience!  Together with my friend Nanda, we spent a weekend seeing beautiful quilts, meeting wonderful people, and shopping, of course!  The fact that it was impossible to see everything (unless we ran ourselves ragged like chickens without heads remembering this trip as only one long blur) wasn't as important as focusing on what we wanted to see, and really learning about the quilts and their history.  We took our time, and enjoyed every moment, leaving us inspired, relaxed, and joyful of the experience.

So without further ado, some photos...

Lecture and discussion of the Quilts of Gee's Bend presented by Rudolph Dittrich, Phd. 

Exposition of the Quilts of Gee's Bend in a beautiful chateau in Ste. Croix-aux Mines
I have the book, The Quilt's of Gee's Bend, and was so struck by their power, but seeing them "live" was a whole other ball game! Can you belive it that we were told that some visitors were outraged (yes, that was the word they used) that such ugly quilts were hanging here? Ok, well, we all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder....

The towns are beautiful to stroll through with their little stands filled with local products...

 

 

In the theatre of St.Marie-aux-Mines was the Amish and Mennonite quilt exhibition...

...and it was a pleasure to see the 30 years work of Yoko Saito ( who was present together with her students) and The Ottoman quilts and costumes of Elizabeth Strub-Madzar....

 

 

After seeing so many quilts, and doing "a little"  shopping, what better way to relax than to find a spot on the grass and share experiences and treasures found?

This was absolutly the most wonderful quilt event that I've been to in all the years that I have been quilting, made better by not only the sun, the kind and friendly people that we met, but also  going with a good friend!  Should you have the chance to go, I would really recommend it, it's worth it!

preparation...

I'm off to the European Patchwork Meeting in St.Marie-aux-Mines, France. It's just for 3 days and for the first time. It'll be a 6 hour drive or so, and whirlwind weekend where I'm sure we won't get to see everything, but hopefully, a lot of some things.

Next to packing P.J's and checking my playlist on my iPhone, I prepared some Cathedral squares to have some handwork on hand....

I did these by machine to save some time, and will finish them off completely by hand from here on in. Now to see if there will be time to actually get some stitching done!

It almost makes you wish for a traffic jam, doesn't it?

(ah...maybe not.....)

little treasures

Two little old quilts found in the attic during the "Purge"...



I bought them years ago in New York and somehow they got lost during the many moves.

I'm a happy clam!

not far to go...

It's been a hectic few weeks with birthdays, what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation get-togethers, and the continual purging and deep-cleansing of the house to free up some of that positive energy. In between these events however, I did manage to keep on my minimum of a 2 block per day schedule to keep work on my log cabin going. Long chats with friends on the phone, did help a lot; what better way to use that time than to sew up some extra blocks! It never ceases to amaze me how much I get done while on the phone..lol!! Plus, I think my friends are getting used to hearing the background humming of the machine....

Yesterday I laid out the blocks to check to see if all was in balance, and if any bits of light or dark needed to be added here and there. Last night I got stuck in and finished the last five of the 60 block that are green and brown. Now just 30 more to go in the brown background color.



This is to become a wall quilt for our living room that has soft greens and neutral beiges and white as the main color. The dark brown will add some contrast and warmth to the room, at least, that's the idea....

There's all sorts of fabrics in this quilt, Civil War reproduction fabrics, batiks, lots of Japanese woven and textured fabrics. They may not have worked together in another quilt pattern, but with these small 1 cm strips, it's all about the colors and one of the reasons I keep returning to log cabins because they never stop fascinating me.

If all goes well, I hope to have this puppy sewn together today ( I just can't wait to see it in one piece ) and pick up sewing on the background blocks next week.

So, off I go to roll back the carpet and play with blocks!

have a wonderful weekend all!

happy birthday to me

“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life
in your years.”

- Abraham Lincoln

textile noodle soup

It feels good after working hard to finish the Quaker samplers to get back into quilting. I hadn't split my time between the two as I had intended, but somehow I feel a little less pressure now that some major projects are done. Now it's time to relax at my machine and sew away, catching up on some quilting podcasts I'm waaay behind on!



40 blocks done, 50 to go!

Watching Beckham bend it

I know, I should be focusing on the guys in orange in this Netherlands v. England match, but hey, can a girl enjoy some eye-candy during a game?





Here a shot just before the game. Cool huh, all that orange, no?
Current score: Holland 1 -England 0

Edit: great game, end score: 2-2

-- Post From My iPhone, Amsterdam Arena

Morocco

Some images to share with you while I unpack ...



spinner - Dyer's Souk, Marrakech



crocheted caps, Medina, Marrakech



drying scarves, Dyer's Souk, Medina, Marrakech



Terrase des Epices, Artisans Souk, Medina, Marrakech
a restful place to eat, cool off. and relax - beautiful use of color



drying scarves, Dyer's Souk, Medina, Marrakech



a place to hide from the Scirocco's hot wind...
Cafe Clock, Medina, Fez


A wonderful trip, my senses are saturated with sound, color, scent and spices.
Inspired again, I'm eager to try out new things, new colors, new ideas, and in what form, who knows...?

Commes les serpents

.... And that's exactly what we are doing. Like the serpents in the desert, we are keeping very, very still, sipping water, not moving until the worst of the heat passes, after five, six o'clock.





-- Post From My iPhone: Fez, Morocco

cheerful little tumbler quilt

Another reason for the silence here at my blog: not only was I hard at work on my Ann Grimshaw sampler (now complete), but made together with my quilting friends a quilt for our good friend who's getting married in Paris. This post is therefore post-dated, as our Parisian friend also reads my blog and this quilt had to remain a surprise, even though I really wanted to share this with all of you!

As the the three of us live in different parts of the country, it took four weekends of driving quite a few kilometers north, south and east, late-night sleep-overs, and early morning breakfasts to get this accomplished. We moved living room furniture, crawled on floors, fought and won small battles with irons and sewing machines. We could have gotten this done a lot sooner, if it weren't for the fact that we only had one template to cut all the pieces with, so each of us had a task in order to keep things moving along. One would cut, the other laid it down, another would choose and iron fabrics for cutting.

When all the pieces were laid out, rows were made and numbered, and I took the quilt home and sewed it together. The next week I returned with the top, and we sandwiched it, and spent until past 2 am in the morning knotting each and every corner. I took the quilt home again, cut and made the binding, popped it into the washer and dryer, and it got that wonderful vintage look we were looking for. I would have loved to quilt it, but since the wedding was planned very quickly, we had to move quickly as well.

Oh yes, and then the label...it's still a bit of an after thought for me, making a label, but the day before departure, I managed to get that done as well.

This little quilt was made with lots of love and so much laughter - lots of positive energy!
It's a large lap quilt, with the basis of muslin, and lots of little scraps of fabric and charm squares from our collection. Many of them are bold bright colors, matching our friend's personality. There's lots of fond memories in those scraps, and while making the quilt we shared those stories together.

We were so busy, that there were not many photos taken of the process, but you'll get the basic idea.



Laying out the pieces



sewing the binding

I think I would have to say, this is my favorite part of quilting: stitching down the binding. The quilt is just about done, and you can just sit and stitch snuggled under the quilt.

The quilt was completed on time, label and all, and presented in a basket of other gifts, goodies from Holland. Here's a picture:

edit: We've returned from a whirlwind weekend of celebration and fun, and the quilt was very well received.