mardi 14 avril 2009

baskets and the canal St.Martin

We had a lovely walk, DH and i, on Easter monday.
The canal St.Martin starts just 4 subway stations away from our home, but we hadn't been there for years.
Just walking along the water, people just sat there, for a pick nick , reading, or playing with the kids.
The 10th is becoming a hot spot for bobo's as you see on the pics, but it's not hectic there and being in the neighbourhood of water always makes me happy.

The 10th is not exactly a touristic area, but there are some lovely archtectural elements to see here and there, like the black shop, early 19th cent.


Strong contrast with the green and yellow:
Antoine et Lily is a sort of post hippy shop and more ( small restaurant and bookshop too) bold colors but all the stuuf comes from China and India.




We stopped a while to see the perfomance, but it was pretty poor, and the guy fell several times, what made the kids hilarious.







Take a closer look to this:
a remnant of a big industrial complex from the late 19th cent.
I'm dreaming of a big workshop in such a place...........






I started a basket quilt last week, a bit ambitious maybe?
But i'm not alone with this, i have help from my friends.
Not the ones from the Creuse Convention, but quilters i know since more than 25 years.
We are all from very different horizons, but quilting makes strong ties, and we all make traditional quilts ONLY, so that makes things easy.
It was my turn this time to decide for the project i like and it will be entirely hand made.
I'm preparing the blocks to take with me this summer.






The reason i make the handles with red rick rack is that i'm lazy, and appliquéing assorted handles is such a long job!
It's not my idea, i saw it on a very rustic antique quilt, but it was with much bigger baskets.
I'm happy with what i've made until now.
















Monday morning, Place des Abbesses, these guys played jazz, 40ties and 50ties music, lovely









These guys are American, jazz and a zest of klezmer, the dancing lady is dressed in thirties cloths, but that's hard to see on the photo.
Elder people, but still going strong.






















7 commentaires:

martine a dit…

Leuk weer mooie voor mij onbekende plekjes in Parijs
Ga ze onthouden voor als ik weer een keer daar ben.
Mandjes worden mooi en een slimme oplossing voor de hengsels want dat is een tijdrovende klus.

Gretchen a dit…

Hello! I just found your blog and love your reproduction quilts. I am looking forward to following your projects, especially the baskets.

Clare a dit…

Is St Martin on the way to Pere Lechaise? If so, I think I saw part of it when I was in Paris with Tonya. Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.

Colette a dit…

Tu es trés douée pour faire découvrir les richesses cachées de certains quartiers de Paris. Avec une telle guide, on s'y proménerait sans se lasser !
Trés étonnée aussi par le résultat donné par les anses en croquet...j'étais sceptique au départ et c'est joli et inhabituel.

Karen a dit…

I love basket blocks for quilts. So much fun to make. Also, I like the photo of the little antique sewing machine.

Fabric Fanatic a dit…

Wil, thanks for the lovely photos of Paris. Now that Tonya has moved back to the US, I'm getting my Paris eye candy from you!

Rosalyn Manesse a dit…

April in Paris! Just like in the song. Wonderful. Your photos are so colorful. And I just love the idea of making ric rack basket handles! I would like to try it.