English Gardens

Last week I had the pleasure to spend a few days in London with my family. Contrary to popular belief LOL England is not always rainy, and we had a dry and sunny week. I love English gardens, and it is always a great pleasure to me to see hanging baskets, mixed borders, window boxes etc. as well as the baskets hanging from lampposts in just about every village, as well as London suburbs.
We also spent a day in Deal, a small seaside town about an hour's drive from my parents' house, and I couldn't resist photographing the wonderful baskets hanging outside a pub and guesthouse. We even walked (well, staggered) on the pebbly beach, and put a toe in the water - not warm enough for us spoiled Floridians ! Mum likes whelks, so we took some home for her, and I felt that I had spent a summer day back in my childhood - windy, pebbly beaches, ice cream and a walk on the pier.

Gift from Angelika

Angelika knows that I love old needlework tools, and has sent me this wonderful marking wheel she found recently for my birthday. She is a person who makes beautiful pouches and cases for things, and so the wheel came with its own beautiful case. Thank you so much, it is a great birthday gift which I really appreciate. Visit Angelika at http://www.onlyangelika.blogspot.com/ especially if you like knitting, Angelika knits beautifully. As a matter of fact, I think she is good at everything she does :-)

Magnificent Mary

I have spent just over a week in London, starting on my birthday. So I did not see the magnificent gift Lou made for me until this morning - I got back last night and was too tired to open mail - even the "interesting" looking stuff !

I did know that this was in progress, as Lou had asked me to choose the color. I have not seen a Mary "live" and so was not prepared for the beauty of the piece. Although I have been following Needleprint's blog, and have seen many photos, it must be said that the "real thing" is many times more beautiful. Lou has added her own personal touches, my initials and those of my family, and has made it a treasure which I will always cherish. Thank you from the bottom of my heart :-)

Accomplishments of Friends - Catherine's Innocent Love

Catherine is a member of our small boutis group here. She has made several very attractive original ornaments in boutis and recently submitted one of them to Piecework magazine. And .... drum roll please !!!! ..... Catherine's boutis ornament won an Honorable Mention and is featured in the newest edition of the magazine. Catherine tells me she was able to get a copy of the new mag today, so we can show her contribution. This is what she says about the design:

"The heart and daisy in the boutis stuffed heart ornament "Innocent Love" was designed in Electric Quilt 6. The daisy has 13 petals on purpose so the game "He loves me, he loves me not" ends with "He loves me". In the boutis tradition this ornament has symbolism. The color white means innocence, the daisy means innocent love, and the heart symbolizes love, not to mention the game "He loves me". The daisy is backstitched to give the motif a continuous outline. It is made entirely by hand".

I love the fact that Catherine incorporated symbolism, so important to boutis pieces, and piqure de marseille in her stitching. Congratulations and may you continue to make many more award-winning boutis !

The Accomplishments of Friends ......and a surprise

The lovely surprise this week was an envelope from Hiromi in Japan containing the newest Patchwork Tsushin. This is a very special edition for the boutis, and not only is there a beautiful and colorful report about the Maison du Boutis in Calvission and Francine Nicolle, but also lovely photos of Mme Gaussen and her work. These two ladies were pioneers in the renaissance of the boutis, and we have a lot to be thankful to them for.

Hiromi and I both learned the boutis from Lou (please visit her blog boutis et cie link on the right). She is a patient and diligent teacher, and you can see that Hiromi has gone on to make her teacher proud !

The center photo shows you the beautiful original boutis cushions that Hiromi made which are included in the magazine. Her work is exquisite, always elegant and delicate, and I am so proud to see her work published. I have asked her a few times if she will have her patterns published. The picture on the right of the cushions is not very clear (sorry poor photography skills here !) but shows a larger and very beautiful boutis. Please visit Hiromi's blog (see bar on the right) for more of her work.

The last photo is of the cover of the magazine, in case you can find a copy for yourself...... there are some interesting patterns for small boutis in it, as well as detailed step by step instructions.

And on the 6th July, I will be able to post about Catherine's accomplishment ..... Catherine is a member of our boutis group and has had a lot of success recently with her boutis designs.

Happy 4th to all here in USA

Exhibition in Langlade, Gard

I have received an invitation about an exhibition in Langlade, the heritage day at the local windmill. I wish I were visiting next week when this is to be held ! For textile lovers, there is a collection of traditional shawls in cashmere, there is a market of local products and of course meals and music. If you will be nearby, go if you can ! Langlade, 19 and 20 June 2010.

Provencal Scraps

I had a small bag of scraps of provencal fabrics bought at a quilt show, none of the pieces were very big and I wanted to make the best use of them. I pieced a top hardly cutting the fabrics at all, just rearranged them to make the most of them. I used the top a few times to transport my boutis, and yesterday I decided to finish it. Simple quilting, because this quilt is only going to be used to roll up and protect the boutis !!!!

Boutis Finishing CLass

Yesterday we had a finishing class in West Pasco, with 10 delightful ladies participating. While I did take my camera, I forgot to take any photos.
As I was setting up the handouts for the class, I realized how very many options we have for finishing a boutis, much more than I had originally thought. I enjoyed the class a lot and hope the ladies who participated will continue on with the boutis and love it as I do. We had one lady who had made another version of the beginner class project stuffed with colored yarn, which gives a soft shadow effect on the finished piece. It was very pretty and she had done such a good job !

Pour nos amies en France, je vous souhaite une bonne fete des meres - j'espere que toutes les familles sont ensemble et vous passez une bonne journee.

Happy Mothers' Day Bonne Fete des Meres Beste Wuensche zum Muttertag

Happy Mothers' Day to everyone ! Not much blooming outside just now, but these flowers are for all of you. We have all experienced a lot of joy with our children, and some heartache too. I hope yours have all remembered you today, and I wish you a wonderful day with your families.

Procrastinating Quilters Retreat

Every year our quilt guild spends a weekend down at Dayspring in Ellenton for two days of fun, stitching, eating ......you get the idea. This weekend we were wondering just how long we have been doing this, and I think it is at least 8 years. I set up the first one when I was guild president, and I am pleased to say that the tradition has continued

We are spoiled, we stay in little cabins, and have three meals a day cooked for us. No cleanup necessary ! We have a large meeting room to set up our sewing, and we can sew to our hearts' content.

Here are a few pictures of the projects that were finished, and some of the ladies busy at work, so you can get an idea. I am already looking forward to next year !

Oh, the red quilt center is what I was working on - this is just the center, I have made many more blocks but did not have time to put them together yet.

Hearts from Pierrefeu

With great delight I received the hearts from Pierrefeu. Thanks to Lou, who collected the hearts for us and sent them over. Some of them have wonderful Provencal lavender inside, they smell heavenly.

I really enjoyed doing this, so if Henriette plans on it again for next year, we will certainly participate. There is nothing happier than the sharing of a hobby, as I am sure all you quilters and boutisseuses will agree LOL

Un grand merci a toutes les dames qui ont fait un travail superbe. Nous allons conserver precieusement les coeurs que vous avez fait pour nous.

Mystery Quilt Day

The quilt guild I belong to has a mystery quilt day each year, one Saturday in the spring. I have not always been able to go, but have always enjoyed the ones I attended. This last Saturday was the mystery day this year, and here are some of the photos of the finished tops (some of them are even quilted too !) The mystery is planned by a group of ladies in the guild, and this year's theme was "waste not, want not" - the idea was to use up fabric you already had in your stash. I used lots of different blues, and will show you mine when it is finished (I hope you are prepared to wait LOL !)

Anyway, I am sure you will agree that they came up with a great idea, and it was a fun time.

Boutis Show Pierrefeu du Var

This past weekend, the association Lei Roucas dou Barri had a wonderful boutis show in France. I wish I could have been there ! The next best thing though, has been to look at the beautiful photos of fantastic boutis pieces. We are lucky that www.boutis-et-cie.blogspot.com has provided us with a lovely album to look at. Go to Lou's blog and click on the link in the text for "Exposition Pierrefeu". Nini also took lots of photographs, and she kindly made an album for others to enjoy - go to her blog at www.ninipetitsboutis.blogspot.com and click on the link "ICI quelques photos" and you will find her pictures.

It is so inspirational to be able to see such exquisite work, imagine how many hours went into making these pieces ! As I looked at them, I decided to try harder to make my work as exquisite - it's good to have a goal !

We participated in the heart exchange (you will see photos of the many hearts on the red wall in some of the photos) and I hear that there were 170 hearts ! These were then exchanged, so we are waiting excitedly to see what comes back from France for us here ! It was such a great idea of Henriette's to do this, now we will have contact with other ladies in France who share the same passion.

Merci a toutes pour l'inspiration, je suis completement eblouie par ces ouvrages, tout si parfait et original.

Boutis Class

Last Saturday I taught a beginning boutis class at the West Pasco quilt guild. They have been very supportive of my boutis efforts, and welcomed Nicole to teach there last year (it is almost a whole year ago - amazing). I enjoyed the class a lot, the ladies were interested and were doing very nice work already - it is such a pleasure to teach a motivated and talented group ! Thanks to Anne for the photo.

In a couple of weeks I will be teaching a finishing techniques class. It seemed to me that finishing techniques are often ignored in beginning classes, as there is very little time to cover everything and get some stitching done in one day. I have developed a notebook style class in which we will cover about half a dozen different, interesting finishes.

So if you are in the area and want to take a class in boutis, let me know !

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).