First Stitches on my boutis ....

First, meet Winston, our daughter's cat.  He came to spend the weekend with us,  he is beautiful and sweet, also a cat who likes quilts and helped me yesterday .....

All the fabric cutting was tiring, so he chose a piece to rest on .....

And finally, this afternoon I went outside and started stitching my beautiful boutis.  As you can see, it is a glorious day and perfect to start a big project.  I am sitting on our terrasse under the palms.

Et enfin, apres un long delai, j'ai fait les premiers points dans le grand boutis.  Aujourd'hui il fait un temps parfait, je suis assise au dehors sous les palmes.  Les points ne sont pas tres jolis, pas assez petits,  mais j'espere redecouvrir le rhythme - c'est bien longtemps depuis mon dernier boutis.

January 2013

A rather belated Happy New Year to everyone !  I hope you all have a good, healthy and happy year, with plenty of stitching time.
I have been setting up some new things to stitch, and have made a little progress on older projects.  I received some lovely gifts from afar which I want to show, and my new project for the year is a large boutis of an original design which I commissioned.  I have finished tracing it and basted it yesterday, and I even enjoyed doing that because I looked at the design more closely.
Hiromi send me a lovely gift of a silver sewing set from Ireland, plus some Japanese fabrics and beautiful little pins.  She bought herself and Lou the same, as she says the 3 boutis sisters !  I love that since I don't have a sister ......
Lou sent me an antique handkerchief with an elaborately and finely stitched monogram.  It is amazingly fine, and I am in awe of the ladies who stitched these fine pieces in candlelight or daylight, without the benefit of the superfine needles we have today.

Looks like I will have to post the photos later, blogger won't let me access the photos on my computer .....Update:  I am still not getting the option to upload photos from my computer - Monika told me that others have had this problem.  How did you solve it ?  For now, I made a Picasa album and uploaded from there. 

Boutis - Vanne 19th C

Vanne boutis, this style of boutis was frequently made for a marriage and is intended to lay on top of a bed.  To my very great pleasure, this one is now living at my house !

Each corner has the same basket depicted

There are wonderful garlands with flowers along each side

Here you can see the oval borders with channels stuffed

The central oval motif with straight channel filling

Recently I acquired a boutis which has been on my wish-list for a long time:  a vanne size approx. 143 cm x 161 cm, with my favorite kind of motifs and style.  I would date this about mid 19th Century, but it may be a little earlier than that.  It is cotton, the cotton on the back is a slightly looser weave, and you can see some remaining "holes" from passing the cotton yarn stuffing.   The straight edge is finished with a hem, and it is in excellent condition.  I still need to spend more time studying this quilt, but for now, here are some pictures.  The overall design is symmetrical, with each corner motif repeated 4 times, oval garlands surrounding oval borders.

Boutis - Prize at Jacksonville Quiltfest

In a previous post I showed some photos of my recently completed vanne - and I am delighted to say that it won 2nd place in Other Techniques at Jacksonville, as well as the Judge's Recognition ribbon. I am very grateful, especially as I hope that others who saw the piece will be interested in learning how to stitch boutis, and discover more about this delightful art of the needle.

Courtepointe aux Oiseaux

For the last two and a half years or so, I have been working on a boutis from Francine Nicolle's book Symboles dans la broderie au boutis.

It is a beautiful adaptation of an antique, and really the only way to own a piece like this, is to make your own ! I learned a lot along the way, and some of the stitching is not how I would like it to be, as well as the stuffing, but the next one I make will benefit from the learning curve.

TODAY it is finally finished !

I did not count the hours, but there must have been many, many hundreds. In the last few months, having set myself the goal of finishing before this year's trip to France, I worked on it in earnest every day. In every spare minute.

My husband, patient man though he is, and used to threads around the house, asked me quietly recently if I thought we could start going out at the weekends again soon. Well, I suppose we can until I start the next project ......

Anyway, here are photos - couldn't wait to show you in the daylight, I will add some tomorrow. Let me know what you think. As always, a big thank you to Lou http://www.blogger.com/www.boutisetcie.blogspot.com my first boutis teacher !

Waehrend der letzten 2 1/2 Jahre habe ich fleissig an einem Boutismuster aus dem Buch von Francine Nicolle, Symboles dans la broderie au boutis gearbeitet. Es ist einem alten Muster nachgemacht, und wenn frau so etwas will, muss frau eigentlich ihr eigenes machen. Ich habe dabei recht viel gelernt, die Stickqualitaet ist auch nicht ganz was ich mir wuenschen wuerde, aber das kommt wohl dem naechsten Boutis zugute.

HEUTE ist es fertiggeworden !

Die Stunden, die ich dabei verbrachte, habe ich nicht gezaehlt, aber es muessen einige Hunderte gewesen sein. In den letzten Monaten, habe ich es mir zum Ziel gemacht, das Boutis vor unserem diesjaehrigen Urlaub fertigzustellen, und habe wirklich jede freie Minute damit verbracht.

Mein geduldiger, an Faedchen gewohnte GG, fragte letztens leise, ob wir vielleicht irgendwann mal wieder am Wochenende fortgehen koennten ....na ja, vielleicht bis ich was Neues wieder anfange ...

Also, hier gibt's die Bilder, ich konnte gar nicht bis zum morgen warten, ich mache bei Tageslicht noch einige. Was meint Ihr denn dazu ? Und wie immer herzlichen Dank an Lou http://www.blogger.com/www.boutisetcie.blogspot.com meine erste Boutislehrerin.

ENFIN, mon boutis du livre de Francine Nicolle Symboles dans la broderie au boutis. Je suis si contente qu'il soit enfin termine, apres plus de 2 1/2 ans de travail/plaisir. Je me souhaiterais d'avoir une plus belle qualite, mais je dois dire, pendant ce travail j'ai beaucoup appris, et tout sera mieux pour le prochain ouvrage. Et comme toujours, un grand merci a Lou ma premiere professeur http://www.blogger.com/www.boutisetcie.blogspot.com ainsi que toutes les dames qui continuent en respect de la tradition.

Progress on stuffing

I have been making progress on stuffing my big vanne, but it is slow work ! I think the best way is just to set aside a certain amount of time each day and do it then, but I have been busy the last couple of weeks and haven't done anything. There is a great deal more to do and my plan was to have it finished in a couple of weeks, but unless I don't sleep between now and then, I won't make it !

Fortschritte habe ich beim Stopfen der Motive gemacht, aber es geht sehr langsam. Am besten plant man einfach taeglich dafuer etwas Zeit ein, aber ich hatte einfach viel zu tun in letzter Zeit und habe nichts gemacht. Es gibt noch jede Menge zu tun und ich wollte es bald fertig haben, aber das klappt nur, wenn ich nicht mehr schlafe !