Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone ! I hope that whatever you are doing today, you have a moment to be happy and joyful with someone you love, whoever that may be ;-)

One more heart !

Here is Catherine's heart for Pierrefeu - hope to get two more tomorrow and then I will mail them all. Catherine made a little map of Florida on the back of her heart, it's very cute.

Boutis Owl

Here is another beautiful boutis made by another lady in our small group, Catherine. She entered this lovely little owl in a local show and won three blue ribbons ! Congratulations to Catherine, who is at home now recuperating from surgery.

Hearts in Boutis - Part Deux !

I received these lovely photos today from Sharon - she is one of the earliest members of our little group here and does glorious, careful work. The second photo is of her completed piece from Nicole's beginner class here in March 2009, which she entered in the Manatee County Fair - and you can see that it won first prize ! I am very proud, because I feel that the work we are doing in our little group is of very high quality and in respect of the tradition.

The first photo is of Sharon's heart for the Pierrefeu exchange - another beautiful piece of work. Congratulations to Sharon for her prize and her lovely heart - she has big plans for her next pieces so I look forward to showing those !

Hearts in Boutis

Our little group here is participating in the exchange of hearts for the mur d'amour at the boutis show in Pierrefeu du Var next month. We have to get ours ready early because of sending them to France. I did post about the show a few times, but you can also visit the link at right (mame83).

These are the first two, Janet's and mine, and I will post photos of the others as I receive them - we are planning on having 6 to send so keep your fingers crossed that everyone has time to finish !

Unsere kleine Gruppe hier beteiligt sich an der Auslosung von Boutisherzen bei der Ausstellung in Pierrefeu naechsten Monat. Wir muessen natuerlich eher fertig sein, weil ich sie mit der Post schicken muss. Ich habe schon ueber diese Ausstelling geschrieben, aber wer moechte, kann den link rechts besuchen (mame83

Diese sind die ersten zwei, von Janet und mir, ich werde Fotos von den anderen zeigen wie ich sie bekomme - wenn alles planmaessig laeuft, werden wir 6 schicken, also drueckt uns die Daumen dass alles zeitig fertig wird !

Voici les premiers deux coeurs pour l'echange du mur d'amour a l'exposition Pierrefeu du Var. Nous voulons envoyer 6 coeurs, j'espere que tous seront bientot finis !

Fil Blanc (White Thread) of France Boutis

In the latest issue of Fil Blanc (No. 9, 15 Jan 2010) Annie Noual of France Boutis, and Claude Pasquie of Loisirs en Garrigue, were kind enough to write articles about my visit last October. I wrote about this when I got back from France, and the pictures are there (Oct 2009 - check it out) It was such a wonderful time, and so much fun to share a common interest with the ladies who have done so much to keep the boutis alive and growing. As Annie says, I was a little apprehensive about learning how to make the lampshade, but under her expert tuition, I was able to complete it and hand-carry it all the way back to Florida - it only suffered *slightly* when I sat on it in the plane :-) Lou at http://www.boutis-et-cie.blogspot.com/ got everything ready for me so I wouldn't have to bring so much (and she didn't sit on her lampshade ! - and even made by hand the beautiful pottery base for it - go and look at her blog).

Spoiled even more !

We have just spent a long weekend on a cruise from Tampa to Cozumel - here are a few pictures for all of you buried in snow still. It was a quiet few days, and great weather until yesterday, where we had a long and rainy day at sea. What this has to do with the boutis ? Nothing, except I did spend the rainy afternoon working on my heart for Pierrefeu - got most of the stitching done, too !