More Feather Princess photos ....

 I loved this little mouse on the cat quilt !

Blogger stopped me loading pictures on the last post, so here are some more ....

Fabulous Feather Princesses !

Yesterday I went to the Feather Princesses Applique quilt show in Tampa.  This is a show I always look forward to because of the wonderful organization, fabulous applique quilts, and just overall very high quality show.  I really enjoyed it and took a lot of pictures.  The group currently has about 170 members, and I was a member myself for several years,starting on the group's 1st anniversary.  However, they meet during the day and I could not attend meetings.  Dorothy and Laura have been co-presidents since the start, and have consistently had an ambitious and quality program.

No, this is not bad lighting - the quilt is made in neutrals !

Judge for yourselves !

Quilt Show Season !

It's quilt show season here on the west coast of Florida.  This morning I went to the Tampa show of the Quilters workshop.  They had some nice quilts hanging, and everything was very well organized.  I took some photos, but unfortunately I had some trouble with my camera and most are out of focus, but I will show a few.

I also did a little shopping ..... half  the fun of going to a show !  I met the delightful owner of an online quilt shop Worn Threads and bought a kit and a surprise for Lou.  Here are a couple of pictures of her very pretty booth - just my favorite style !  Funnily enough, after the show I met some friends and of course, we found that we were all complimenting the same booth (where they had also done some shopping ...!)

Next week - next show !

Basket Class

Yesterday I took a basket class at Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater.  Susan has been teaching these for a long time.  My friend Janet and I have so often said we wanted to learn, and so Janet came up with a great Christmas present idea for me - this class !  Here is the intrepid Susan teaching us ....

I did not quite finish my basket in the class, so did the last couple of rows this morning.  The fabric I used was a old blue and yellow print.  The appearance of the fabric changes a lot with this method, so as long as you like the colors, it doesn't really matter what fabric you use (you can get rid of old stuff you no longer like).  It was interesting to see the different effects people got with different fabrics.

Here's a view of it turned over ....

Janet spoiled me with the gift of this lovely little strawberry wool pincushion.  She is so good at making (and actually finishing !) small projects.  I love it !

And I also picked up my PQ challenge quilt from the quilter..... just need to put on the binding now.

 Hope I can get that done today

This whole quilt was made using scraps and things that I already had - I only had to buy fabric for the backing.  I am making it a goal this year to sew as many quilts as possible out of things I already have -I have collected fabrics I really like, and it is time they were used !

Boutis exposition Lei roucas dou barri .....

In March each year, the wonderful ladies of Lei roucas dou barri have a show at Pierrefeu du var.  On alternating years, there is either a swap project (last time it was small pouches or purses), or a challenge with certain rules.  The project challenge for 2013 is to create an original design on the subject of the sea, a bag,  all in white, completely stuffed.  Henriette has shown hers today on her blog.  She has made a charming bag to store slippery scarves which otherwise fall on the floor !
You can also see what Marie made on her blog.  I am sure there will be many more elegant examples.

Here is the poster for this year's exhibition.  There will be 20 exhibitors of boutis, 2 stores, and one bookshop.  If you are in the area, go !  You will be assured of a wonderful exhibition and magical welcome from warm and talented boutisseuses.

Henriette  says that she works on a smaller project while also keeping a big project going.  I was thinking about that this morning, so I decided to set up a small and simple boutis to get me up to speed with my large project.  Since it is Superbowl Sunday here, I will get some stitching time later LOL !

Pattern is Magali from the book Boutis Traditionnel by Christiane Vignal

 Swiss batiste front and back, cotton handquilting thread.

Henriette also has kept a memory book where she records all her projects, when she started them, how long each step of the process took her, as well as photos of the finished item.  I have not done this but find it a wonderful idea and I am starting today !  I will also go back and take pictures of my other pieces, both collected and made myself.  No one else knows their story, so I am thinking about keeping this for my daughter.    The small petasson took me 2 hours to trace and baste.  I will keep a notebook in my sewing basket now to keep track of how long I work on each thing.  It will be especially important to look at for my large vanne !

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.