news from La Butte Montmartre

Saturday afternoon,
thought it's the right moment to pass by and say hello.
No breaking news of any kind, much household and some sewing on the hexagons, and i cleaned the powder room from ceiling to floor!
YES!

A few pics from the neighbourhood,
the dramatic decor you see here is a shoe shop, and a former theatre.
The huge painting is a caterpillar on the scene, throwing out shoes.
The quality of the picture is rather poor, because they forbid me to take a pic..........

A film crew was busy this week in this lovely courtyard, close to my home.
I'll try to go back there soon, the steps are nice and very authentic.


The next three pics are decors from the film they are making, it's about the second world war.

Another filmcrew the same day, only a few steps away from the other one.

Saturday morning in the area:

a fanfare band from the Béarn, close to the Spanish border.

I went to a yardsale last week and bought this Japanese tablerunner.

The money went to Amnesty International, so i didn't haggle and spend a little more on it than intended.

But only 20cts for this darling little pochette, hand embroidered, how could i resist????

This log cabin is from, let's say 1994.

Somebody gave me a bunch of velveteen samples, all i did was separate de lights and the darks!

I like the way the light shines on this fabric, very different from normal cottons.

The quilt has been published in a book called Patchwork Basics, edited by That Patchwork Place and is now in a private collection.

I was invited for lunch at the owner, so i had the opportunity to make some close ups.

No plans for sunday, another yardsale maybe, but the weather forecast is nasty.

Next week Dh and i are going to Normandy to see little Elisa, and i will show you where she lives, a beautiful harbor in the St.Michel's bay.

Happy quilting ladies and a good, quiet weekend,

Will V in Paris

This quilt came home lately after a long stay at a friend.
The story behind is a little special: as i worked for long years in a Paris' quiltshop, i had the opportunity, while staying at Houston Quiltfestival, to go to Market and assist my boss when she chose the new fabric collections.
Then David Peha asked me to make a quilt for the next market with Roberta Hortons fabric collections.
I really enjoyed this and was amazed he trusted me to that point, allthough he had never seen a single quilt of mine!
I could chose whatever i wanted and this came out.


Roberta Horton then chose the quilt for her book SCRAP QUILTS, the art of making do, and thereafter AQS decided to make gift wrap paper with it.
It was a lovely adventure for me and a nice souvenir from Quilt Festivan 1995.


You might think this is the block, but no, only the quarter part of it is!
RH called it a lend and borrow.

Yesterday DH and i went to a vide grenier ( empty your attic) in the 19th.

It was a very poor one filled with a sad kind of junk.

Not a single piece of interresting kind of fabric or some buttons,

But all of a sudden i saw this:

an ARABIA RUSKA fire proof porcelain casserole.

I payed 3 euros for it, a misery.

The thing is that when i came to Paris in 1970, a had a nearly complete service of this, but you can imagine that after all those years...........

And even last week i broke a little plate among the leftovers, so i'm more than happy.

Progress on the little hexagons,

this week i will make only hand piecing, no sewing machine on my table.

Weather is grey and sad here, and will stay so for the rest of the week.

Happy quilting ladies, and welcome to my new followers,

Will V in Paris

A little doll quilt, machine pieced and machine quilted.

Two antique quilts i saw in Nantes:
crazy blocks with a more intricated center, i just regret i did not take more detail pics. i think it's also a good project for a group quilt, with the crazy block nobody can't go wrong.
Then let the best quilter of the group make the center, LOL

A star of Bethlehem, i made one too , long ago.
Will show you one of these days.


Vive la France!
We had a gathering at Sylvie G's, she lives outside Paris , has a real garden and we all love to go there, and most of the time we also go to a fleamarket.
I bought buttons this time, for a snip and when back home i separated the mother-of-pearl buttons from the rest.
As you see at the pic, there were quite a lot of them.



This is my friend Gérard Lemire, a joiner who lives in the neighbourhood.
He directed me to Mr. Lopez, who brilliantly restored my found chair, you see below.
The reason i present you these two guys is that there are less and less artisans in town.
They have a hard time to find affordable workshops, and as soon as one closes, it is replaced by trendy garment brands, small restaurants,chinese take aways, you name it!

So hoorah for these unsung heroes, who do a wonderful job!

I went to a fleamarket last sunday and found this:

black fabric with a zest of purple for grannies aprons, no longer made.

I payed 15 euros for it, not exactly cheap, but very hard to find and never used.

Allover 2 yards i think.

I appriciated your comments, you'll hear from me soon, tomorrow i will meet some good quilting friends.

Will V in Paris

My lovely chair, i had to walk a few miles with, but it was worth to suffer a bit!

Passage Pommeraye in Nantes:
certainly the most caracteristic spot in this town.
It goes from one street to another, but as there is a big difference in the levels, you take the stairs.
( oh my, this is broken english i'm afraid...........)
The glass ceilings guarantee the daylight, dark wooden floors and the cast iron details make a unique atmosphere.
Small shops are all around and it is in the heart of town.

On saturday morning i've been with Joelle to a little fleamarket, place Viarmes.

We met these ladies at the Congress Center, they were digging in ols white linens and lace remnants.

This was sooooooooooooooo cute!

It's one of Yoko Saito's quilts, darling little hedgehogs playing around.
Unfortunately difficult to picture.

A little house, framed, made by a Japanese artist.

Two pictures from Joe and Mary Kovals booth.

I think they have a wonderful flair for antique quilts, and always giving you their time and kind explanations, allthough they must have been tired and fighting against jetlag.

Next post will be the very last one on Nantes, it's time to switch one something new i think.

If you have some time left over for lurking on blogs, go to Corey Amaro's TONGUE IN CHEEK.

She is American, and lives with her French husband in the south of France. She is passionated by antiques and talks about living in France like nobody else. Go and see her, you won't regret it!

All of you, have a nice weekend, Will V in Paris.