Leaving Paris

Leaving this morning.

New hair cut, new colour of nail polish, new ideas and new recipes

I can't wait to be with my family after two months away.

Antique Quilts Exhibit

Mona Bismarck, 1897-1983, married five times, acquired money from her 3rd husband and took the title of countess from her 4th husband, founded many institutions including the one in Paris named after her, created to strengthen ties between the United States and France.

Until May 19 at the Mona Bismarck American Center for art and culture, you can view an exhibit of 25 antique quilts from the United States.

Covering the window is a paper reproduction of the crib-size, pineapple quilt from 1870
made by Ethelind Amelia Washburn

I enjoyed seeing the minute(!) quilt stitches, the perfect appliquéd circles of the Cherry Tree Quilt, 1925, by Naomi Beckwith, the signatures of the makers in 1889 on the Drunkard's Path blocks, the embroidered stitches in the Crazy Quilt fans on a black sateen background from 1900 and the fine netting carefully laid over the damaged fabrics of the pieced quilts.

Union Quilt, 1885.
The majestic eagle has been a symbol of  the USA
since the late 18th century. In this quilt, the artist's
interpretation of the eagle is more "like a
common farmyard fowl". (quote from curator)
Still nice though.

My favourite quilt in the exhibit was the hot pink velvet, 6-inch squares set on-point, mixed with green velvet squares with the long, uneven quilt stitches in white coloured thread, going in no particular direction. It was free and unconstrained. It was a Gees Bend quilt with personality and interest. Not copied, not reproduced. Original.

Exhibited in the second gallery, gouache works by American artist, Zoe Pettijohn Schade, continued with the geometric form found in the antique patchworks. Since curating a few exhibits, I am becoming more aware of curators' choices. The paper works provided a contemporary counterpoint to the quilt exhibit.

And now for something completely different

I noticed this artwork on the way out of the Chanel No. 5 exhibit at the Palais de Tokyo.

John Giorno, Just Say No to Family Values, 2012, paint.
Graffiti by Lek and Sowat.

WHAT!!

Velvet Colours

The stain glass windows at the Cathedral in Tours are stunning!

They say they are some of the best in the world.

Cathédrale Saint-Gatien de Tours, classical Gothic façade, built between 1170 and 1547.

The façade has lost its ornate statues which were
destroyed by the Protestants during the religious wars.

There is some Renaissance architecture as well seen in one of the towers (right).

What an inspiration for a patchwork design.

Look at the colours and shapes of the glass.

The red windows reminded me of Austrian quilter's work, Birgitt, that I met recently in Vienna.

Birgitt's quilt was made for her daughter. It is entitled, "Life is Colourful".
She designed it herself.

Her quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted.

detail

The label on the back was embroidered.

The embroidered design is an angel
in a tree.

Train Travel

Paris- Montparnasse...

to Tours...

and back.

La Petite Échelle

In Tours, there is a lovely quilt shop, La Petite Échelle, owned by Christiane Memain.

Medieval houses in Tours, France.

We have been communicating by email for several years...maybe 6!

Standing in front of the quilt store, La Petite Échelle.

Whenever I am in Tours her shop is closed. But on this trip, I got to meet her, finally!

A warm welcome from Christiane.

 She had time to show me some of her quilts.

Her scrap quilt made using basically two colours,
brown and blue. She brought in many different
browns and blues, some that you may not
 normally put together,
 but that added interest to the quilt. 

An interesting way to design a corner.
Notice the inside border and the outside one.

She added a "directional" image
to help her remember which way is UP.
 Smart!

While we were there, a jewellery designer walked in to purchase some fabric which she incorporates in her pieces.

Christiane's shop is lovely. I miss touching fabric since I have been away from my studio for some time so today was a real treat for me!

Place Plumereau in Vieux Tours

Her shop is close to Place Plumereau. If you are ever in Tours - about 1 hour south of Paris with the TGV (fast train), I hope you stop in and visit her.

Austrian Quilt Gruppe

I spent a lovely day with Austrian quilters Lilo and Dani last week while I was in Vienna.

Daniele Samec's work, detail.
Hand dyed fabric and free-motion quilting with her long arm machine

 They took me out for lunch. They gave me some presents!

A present from Lilo, taken from her collection of antique,
hand-made lace and doilies.

Pins from their guild and the Austrian Association,
which I promptly pinned to my sewing bag.

They took me back to Lilo's apartment for coffee and a little 'show and share'...

Lilo and Dani's favorite block is
the log cabin and all its variations.

Lilo's piece was selected
for an exhibit in Houston in the mid-2000's

Work by Lilo Wesely and Daniele Samec.
Their version of a Dear Jane.
It is made using a combination of
quilter's cotton
and other very interesting fabrics.

...and a glimpse of her stash!

I felt at home in this room! She was very brave to show me.
Yes, well, we all have a stash don't we!

Later in the afternoon, I met many of the quilters from their guild.

What impressed me the most about the group was the way they all create works together!

"Blick über Wien" created by the group in 1998.
You can see the Vienna Woods on the left, the agricultural fields,
the Heurigers (Austrian vineyards),
the Prater Wheel, The Stephansdom steeple,
and a tiny bit of the Danube that flows through the city.

This week's project was a scrap quilt. Every member made one very large block. Those were cut in half and the job at the get-together was to decide on a pleasing design for the quilt top.

Everyone helped and made suggestions and in the end one of the ladies took the blocks home to sew them together.

A work in progress. Blocks pinned on their
 vertical design wall.

It will most likely get quilted by Dani who has a long-arm machine. She told me she is a beginner but I can tell you she does amazing work, all free hand and all without marking the quilt. She uses the seams as an indicator when drawing with thread.

The back of the group's raffle quilt quilted by Dani.
I love the way she used dark thread!
It makes the back of the quilt very interesting.

It really was a lovely day! Thank you to all the Patchwork Gruppe Wien members for welcoming me so warmly. Vielen Dank!!

The Best Ones

I was asked to be part of the jury for Verona Tessile's international exhibit, "E Lucian le Stelle...". It was a great theme as the Arena is celebrating 100 years of opera this year.

One of the Verona Tessile exhibits, "E Lucean le Stelle" at San Giorgetto 

The jury first selected the works via photographs.

First prize winner. Star Circle
by Verena Giavelli

I cannot stress how important it is to have your work professionally photographed for these types of juried exhibits. I remember the selection that was made for the Mineral's exhibit. There was one work that received the appropriate number of votes and we had to accept it. I was so worried about that piece and for no reason at all because when we actually received it, it was fabulous! The picture did not do it justice.

detail, Star Circle
She used the Hawaiian technique (Hawajano)
with a contemporary spin.
The base is one piece of fabric instead of a patchwork.
The appliqué part which is over that base is made of
 one piece of felt which was folded and cut
(remember making snowflakes
out of paper by folding and cutting?).
That creation was modified using a soldering iron
 and embellished with metallic fabric paint.

Some works were easy to choose and some were difficult.

detail, Star Circle

A few weeks ago, while all 4 jury members were in Verona together, we chose the prize winners from the selected works. That selection was done seeing the work LIVE and not through photographs.

It is interesting to view works from the perspective of a juror.

2nd place winner from an italian maker, Laura Di Cera, entitled
Il Sogno di Euterpe
She is a musician by profession and that
came through her interpretation.
The work second from the left is by Canadian maker
Gail Marmoreo from Ontario

Terry Abate, is the oldest member of Ad Maiora (she's in her 80's!) and her work was awarded 3rd prize, traditional category.

Terry (left) standing in front of her work
with one of the Canadian travellers

All works were packed up and picked up by the shipping company. Artists are always eager to get their work back! Because they are made by our hands we become so attached to them. It's nice to see them come home.