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 !

Favorite Books and a New Project

Here are some of my favorite books on boutis, mostly in French and all gorgeous. I love books, and never get tired of looking through all the patterns, thinking about how to combine the different elements to come up with something new.

I also recently gave in to temptation (ok, didn't resist too long !) and bought a boutis pattern online, it was during a promotion where the batiste was offered free along with the pattern (if you want to be tempted too, go to http://www.boutis.fr/ the promotion is over but there are still very pretty things - no affiliation, etc). It arrived today, and is very beautiful, and I am already thinking about how that one will be stitched .... my big courtepointe is stitched now and ready for stuffing, it has taken a long time. With the big pieces, you really have to be disciplined and do some every day, but of course that's not me, so it has taken longer but has been a real pleasure to stitch. I will post some pictures when the stuffing has progressed.

Sharing our Passion / Leidenschaft teilen / Partageons notre passion

I would like to find out if anyone else would like to meet others interested in the boutis. It would be so great if people stitching on their own could find someone in their area also interested - before you know it, other boutis groups would be born ! I am looking for a French club wishing to exchange with our small group Loose Stitches here - please write to me via the blog. Anyone in German speaking countries ? Let me know - I would love to make this blog an international meeting point :-))
Ich moechte herausfinden, ob es Boutisbegeisterte gibt, die gerne andere ebensolche kennenlernen wollen. Ich faende es toll, wenn einzelne Boutisstickerinnen Anschluss in ihrer eigenen Region finden koennten - wer weiss, es koennte neue Boutisgruppen geben ! Ich suche auch einen franzoesischen Club, der gerne einen Austausch mit unserer kleinen Gruppe hier machen moechte - bitte schreibt mir ! Auch fuer deutschsprachige Laender - hat jemand Lust, mitzumachen ? Lass mich es wissen, es waere super, wenn dieser Blog zu einem internat. Boutistreffpunkt sich entwickelte :-))
Je cherche pour notre petit club ici en Floride un petit club boutis francais avec envie de faire un echange avec nous ici - soit pour les idees, soit pour les experiences, les astuces, et peut-etre meme pour une visite ? Qui a envie ? Nicole nous a fait appetit avec ses stages, nous voulons plus apprendre. Ecrivez-moi ici, merci.

Happy Mothers' Day !

I just added the link http://www.boutis.org/ which is a wonderful selection of boutis photos from an exhibition at Pierrefeu du Var end March of this year. There are several pages of wonderful photos, interesting ideas and fabulous work quality for us to aspire to ! When you get to the bottom of the first page, click on "cliquez ici ......" and then for subsequent pages on "suivante" (for those non-French speakers !)

And also, send me your comments ! Ask questions, send me links to interesting boutis sites, add some history, that would be great !!

Boutis Exhibition in Generac France

I have just added a video link of a wonderful boutis exhibition in Generac, France, where France Boutis (see link at right) was the guest of honor. Please take a moment and view the video, it really is wonderful ! (By the way, it is the clip with the smiling Annie Noual !!)

New Techniques

We learned a lot during Nicole's classes, and what I most enjoyed was focusing on new techniques and updating methods. I was not very good at making the Rosette de Petite Camargue, but now I have to say things are much better ! I set myself a goal of practising 10 at a time, which didn't take as long as I thought, and now my work has really improved.

Wir haben von der Nicole viel gelernt, und was mir am besten gefallen hat, war die neuen Techniken zu lernen, und bessere Methoden auszuprobieren. I habe die Rosette de Camargue einfach nicht gemeistert, aber nun geht alles viel besser. Ich habe mir ein Ziel gesetzt, 10 auf einmal zu ueben, was nicht allzu lange gedauert hat, und die Arbeit faellt jetzt wirklich besser aus.

A wonderful visit

On Friday we went to Homosassa state park to look at the manatees - sorry about the picture quality, the manatees don't always look at you when you want them to ! It was such a pleasure to have Nicole here for two weeks, we enjoyed our vacation and especially meeting all the ladies taking the boutis classes.

I hope everyone will continue to work on the boutis and learn more about it. I am trying to make some progress on my large "vane".

Danke an Angelika fuer die Kommentare - hier siehst Du mich endlich ! Ich lasse mich aeusserst ungern fotografieren - hier hat mein Mann mich erwischt.

Je voudrais aussi essayer d'ecrire quelques mots en francais. Surtout, un grand merci an Nicole d'avoir fait ce voyage, si loin de sa maison, pour partager sa passion pour le boutis avec nous. Sa gentillesse et patience avec les stagiaires etaient tres appreciees. J'espere que nous arriverons a echanger plus avec les filles en France, ce serait un bonheur pour nous toutes :-))

Nicole's Boutis Class

Today we had our first teaching day at the Veteran's park in West Pasco. It was a glorious day, we had a great classroom with perfect lighting for the class. The ladies all worked hard and we wondered sometimes why it was so quiet :-)) Anyway, just like yesterday, here are some pictures:

Presentation West Pasco

We had a great day today at the West Pasco Quilters Guild meeting. Nicole and I drove up this morning, full of trepidation that all would go well. Everyone was very kind and welcoming, we are very grateful for that, and Nicole did a great job with her presentation. The boutis were so fabulous, they spoke for themselves. After the presentation, some of the ladies went with us for lunch. Mary had the great idea of eating at the beach in Hudson, and we loved it - lunch outside with a view of the Gulf of Mexico, what could be better ! AND we tried "gator" thanks to Mary - I would never have chosen this on my own, even after living 19 years in Florida !

So here are some pictures to share - et bonjour a Jean-Paul, David, Laeticia et Thomas - un grand merci pour m'avoir "prete" Nicole pour ces deux semaines.

Fantastic Boutis Day for the Loose Stitches !

Today we gathered at my house for Nicole's private class for the Loose Stitches group. I won't write too much, I just want to let you see some pictures - didn't take many because I was busy ! The ladies very kindly brought food to share so we enjoyed a very nice lunch too. Everyone learned new things, and we laughed a lot.

Nicole is coming soon !!!!!

Yesterday evening the Loose Stitches gathered here at my home to enjoy some stitching and packing up of kits for our upcoming classes with wonderful French boutis teacher Nicole Carre. The excitement is getting high. We have two full classes on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st March, with Nicole giving a presentation at West Pasco Quilters Guild on Thursday March 19th.

The founding members are having a private class here with Nicole before that, with a wonderful pattern she has designed just for us. And the classes will enjoy another original pattern, designed just for the class, with options for more experienced stitchers. It will be wonderful and I can hardly wait !

Stitching and Friendship

Beautiful log cabin heart from the Quilters Workshop show in Tampa today.

I have been thinking a lot about how stitching and friendship do seem to go together. I started this blog on the subject of boutis because I wanted to see if anyone else shared this passion, and if we could encourage exchanges of interests and experiences. I have been lucky to find a few other blogs with beautiful boutis to show and encourage us as well. Our small group here is ecstatic that next month we have a wonderful teacher coming from France to help us learn, a private project that I have been working on for a very long time, and which has been a source of great joy. I hope that the friendships made through this exchange will continue and we will all be the better for it.
Ich habe in letzter Zeit viel ueber Naehen und Freundschaft nachgedacht, weil beide irgendwie zusammengehoeren. Ich habe diesen Boutis-Blog angefangen, weil ich erfahren wollte, ob andere auch diese Leidenschaft teilen und ob man sich auf dieser Weise austauschen koennte. Gluecklicherweise habe ich auch andere Blogs gefunden, die wunderschoene Boutis zeigen. Unsere kleine Gruppe hier ist uebergluecklich, dass wir naechsten Monat eine fantastische Lehrerin aus Frankreich hier haben, um uns mehr beizubringen; ich habe an dieser privaten Initiative lange gearbeitet, sie ist eine grosse Freude. Ich hoffe, dass die dadurch entstehende Freundschaften lange waehren und wir uns alle deshalb wohler fuehlen.

Thimbles

After I saw Dany's collection, I thought I might show you my mini collection of silver thimbles. Yesterday I only had two, but a happy hour at a collector's market enabled me to purchase a few more yesterday for a reasonable price. Amelie our kitten thought this was all for her, so helped me by sitting on everything and eating the flower.

Nachdem ich Dany's Sammlung gesehen habe, wollte ich Euch meine Minisammlung von Silberfingerhuete zeigen. Gestern hatte ich bloss 2, dann eine glueckliche Stunde an einem Sammlermarkt hat mir einige weitere zu einem guten Preis beschert. Amelie das Kaetchen hat dadurch geholfen, sich auf alles zu setzen und die Blume zu kauen.

New Year's Eve

Wishing you all a very happy New Year, thanks for reading this blog, see you again next year !

Ich wuensche allen einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr und wir sehen uns naechstes Jahr wieder !

Avec les meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle annee

Boutis Link - Go Look !

Just by chance I came upon danyl.canalblog.com and saw her beautiful boutis. Her pieces are absolutely stunning, and give me another reason to keep working on my "vane". I am making some progress, but it is slow. I am trying not to be impatient, to make everything as well as I can, and to "enjoy the journey" as Mary always says .......

Zufaelling habe ich danyl.canalblog.com entdeckt. Sie hat wunderschoene Boutis genaeht, und das Betrachten hat mich etwas motiviert, an meinem grossen "Vane" weiterzusticken. ich mache schon Fortschritte, aber es dauert. Ich gebe mir Muehe, nicht ganz so ungeduldig zu sein, und alles so schoen wie irgendgeht zu machen, um die Reise zu geniessen, wie meine Freundin Mary immer sagt .....

Merci beaucoup a Dany pour le plaisir de voir les jolis boutis :-)
(If you find the links above no longer work, use the one to the right under Inspirations)

Work in Progress / Mon en cours / Woran ich arbeite

I have neglected this poor blog too long, my only excuse is too much work .... so here is a picture of what I am currently working on. It is the "courtepointe aux oiseaux" from the pattern Symboles du Boutis. It took me more than 12 hours to trace the design, and I am not counting how long it will take to stitch, I am just going to enjoy it !

Ich habe leider mein Blog in letzter Zeit vollkommen vernachlaessigt, meine einzige Ausrede ist, dass ich zuviel Arbeit hatte. Also, hier ein Photo von meinem jetzigen Projekt, das Courtepointe aux Oiseaux aus der Musterkollektion Symboles du Boutis. Zum Abpausen brauchte ich mehr als 12 Stunden, aber ich habe mir vorgenommen, die Stickzeit nicht zu zaehlen, da ich einfach Freude daran haben will.

And just for fun, a couple of pictures of our Thanksgiving table, in various stages of completion - I did not get a picture of everything finished because I was in the kitchen ! My daughter is in the picture saying Do you HAVE to take a picture .......

Happy Thanksgiving !

I hope everyone will have a wonderful Thanksgiving day to share with their families and friends. We will be sharing dinner with our neighbors later, I have a nice big turkey to roast, my daughter is making the pies, and we are looking forward to a peaceful and happy day. If I am lucky, I may get to stitch later - I have been neglecting my blog, and am planning to remedy that this weekend !

Jacksonville Show

Many people stopped and were intrigued about how the boutis is actually made - so I answered many questions and I hope that we will have more interest in the future.

Look at this group of ladies ! They are (most of) the members of the Clearwater Boutis group Loose Stitches and were my traveling partners in Jacksonville. All of them are accomplished stitchers and we had a great time. We ate, shopped, shopped and shopped. Three of us now have the lovely basket from Ghana that Robby is carrying - and we all bought the same fabric to make a liner for it. I am working on everyone to make a boutis each for the show next year so we can have our own category - wouldn't that be great !

Here is my petasson that won the 3rd place in minatures at the Quiltfest. I was so grateful and excited !

Exciting News !

This week I got some exciting news ! The small boutis I entered in the Jacksonville show (taking place next week) has placed 3rd in the Miniatures category. I am soo happy, I do not enter things in shows usually (this is only the second time ever) and it is so encouraging to have your work recognized. Scroll down to my last post, it is the small one on the yellow fabric.
Next week a group of us are going to the show and we will have lots of photos to share afterwards.

Our VERY exciting news is that we have a teacher coming from France in March 2009. The wonderful Nicole Carre will be teaching here at the West Pasco Guild on March 20, with a presentation on March 19. I am also looking for another venue for her to teach, so contact me right away if you are interested. We can go pretty much anywhere in Florida. She can teach at all levels so if you have already done some boutis, we can move on to more advanced levels.