not so zen-quilts in Paris

news from Paris

2011-12-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

I met Carol and Marie Claude at the craftshow in November and they had a delicious little booth with little quilts shown in the new magazine COUNTRY VINTAGE, sure i bought a copy.

Sylvie is working on this starquilt: DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE PATTERN JOES? and it turns out so sweet:yummy colors and nice quilting. We had a meeting at Michèle, she lives in an appartment in a suburb, with a view on a little lake, and the weather was as gorgeous as in early spring or fall, and with unreal warm temperatures.

The cold is on since only a few days, windy and some rain, but i don't complain, with Christmas in one week only.

Remember the serial knitter?She made a darling little bag and the brooch isn't bad too huh?

AnneMarie brought her latest top to show us, the double wedding ring with a stunning crazy embroidery.

One of Michèle's quilts hanging in the hall.

I'm currently working on this: a good friend gave me a tattered top, made from 16 patches blocks,some very damaged , worn out or stained.

So i saved the good squares, cut them into 2.1/4 inches and made four p, atches out of it.

The light blue fabric , very old too, fit nicely in with the little blocks, so see the result.

I'm not even sure it needs an outer border, but maybe some of you have brilliant ideas.....

Still loads of blue available.

This is one of the dollquilts i'm finishing,leftovers from a big bedquilt.

I'm not very much in the mood for Christmas, but i'll do the best i can and we're happy to see Elisa at the seaside.

Take care, Will V in Paris

Hexies in Quiltmania:

2011-11-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

What a surprise when i went this morning to my bookshop and saw they had received QM.

Heart beats and sweating i opened the issue and saw that once again they've treated me so well.

The quilt is beautifully pictered by Guy Yoyotte and girls, you can start straight away because all the explanations are available. The paper hexagons are from Paperpieces.com.

Isn't this a lovely reward for all the hours working on the quilt?

I managed to make three more nearly insane blocks and approach the easier ones.......

Greetings from Paris, with this piece of wall art, LOUISE MICHEL, a french feminist and anarchist during the Commune of Paris, long years in jail.

Found on a wall rue Lepic and rue Véron, just on the corner.

The fact that my sister died only a few days before the Quiltmania appeared and was longing to see it as much as i did, just breaks my heart....

Take care you all and happy quilting, Will V

Back home

2011-11-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a had a meeting with Randy D, my quilting friend from California. After a lunch rue des Abbesses, we went to my home and pulled out the latest ufo's and fabrics. I adore this kind of reunions, i'm fascinated by other quilter's points of view on technics, whatever. Randy comes about twice a year to Paris with her husband,lucky Randy, wish i could go to the US only once more .....who knows,.........

In the last period i made progress on NEARLY INSANE .

I do the most intricated and tricky ones first, i tell you, one some ones i worked several days.

QuiltBook one helps me greatly to choose the fabrics.

All the blocks are shown in this book.

While in the Netherlands after the sudden death of my beloved sister, i digged into family history with her daughters, finding 2 photo albums.The first is my great aunt Hendrina, her husband went to the US to found a family with better future, but he became so homesick that he returned back.

The second one was my grandma as a newly wed, she was the one who taught me sewing and knitting, she was adorable and always found time for me as we all lived in the same house.

She died when i was sixteen.

Thank you for all the messages, on the blog or mail , letters and phonecalls.

We felt surrounded with love, her daughters gave her a beautiful funeral and promised us we haven't lost a home in Holland......

Take care you all, warm greeting from Will V

IN MEMORIAM 1940-2011

2011-10-24T05:13:00.000-07:00

My dearest sister Hans, so happy she was at the quiltshow in Deventer.

She was a flamboyant woman and, as her husband who died only 3 month ago, so open to people in need....

Such a terrible loss to all of us...........

The australian quilts

2011-10-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

The absolute highlight for me were the Australian quilts, brought to France by Annette Gero. The wagga's, Australian utility quilts can learn us so much about recycling and make do: they had rather small sizes, and used by workers who went from farm to farm. The first pic is a wagga made from woolen samples.

The hexagons quilts was in a very derelict state, but i couldn't take my eyes off it.

An other wagga.

A feathered star medallion, maybe not the very best sample of Australian quilt, could be as well an American or a Dutch quilt, but while i looked closer to the fabrics, i noticed the fabrics looked very English, a gorgeous one.

The appliquéd quilt was my favorite, she really did with what she had, the stems shows they were made from all sorts of scraps, not matching at all,yet so charming ...

The pattern are in Annette's book... so if life gives me time, one day...

Framed hexagons, nice quilt , pic is from a poor quality, sorry.

Sort of Roman stripes or chinese coins? Bars? I like the framing, as if the maker just joined rows to get a surface she needed.

Very ornamental chintz appliqué with the dancing dollies as a framing, pattern in the book and also available through THREADBEARS if i remember well

The last pic is a détail from Edita Sythar's quilt. I liked hers for the perfect technical skills, but seeing them after the antique ones, i felt like a lack of emotion.....

Well ladies this was written on a very sunny sunday, the ALL BLACKS won from the French in New Zealand this morning , and oh boy, those rugbymen a such GOOD SPORTS, take care and my thoughts go to the quilters preparing a trip to Houston , hoping one day i can go back there..

Willyne Hammerstein in Ste Marie

2011-10-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

Look at her smiling face, while she is signing her book MILLEFIORI QUILTS at the Quiltmania booth in Ste Marie. And oh, you should have seen her quilts hanging there, sparkling and shiny, made from the most humble and unexpected fabrics.

I meet Willyne every now and then, and we talk about places where we hunt for stuff.if you look carefully at her pic you may notice that she seems to promote the book called HISTORY OF DUTCH QUILTS, but this is not hers.

MILLEFIORI QUILTS is edited by QUILTMANIA, it's a must have.

The border of this quilt was found by Willyne in southern France.

Aquilt from an Israelian quilter, carefully made and nicely quilted.

The last group of pics concerns the quilts from Brouage,beautiful copies of antique quilts. The last part will be about the antique quilts from Australia, brought to Europe by Annette Gero and her very supportive husband. See you then, take care , Will V in Paris

Ste Marie,some more.....

2011-09-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the lovely comments on yesterday's post,the top belongs to Petra, and here is one more block to see, i fell in love as soon as i saw it, and yes i will try to copy this top: that makes me wonder how a quilter from around 1860 made her designs, she had not necessarily the skills to make it perfect and i see on the block that is is a bit wacky here and there. Folding pieces of paper?

I will dig out Jinny beyer's first book and see what she wrote about designing intricated quiltpatterns.

Look at this marvelous antique palempore quilt from Holland,It's a family heirloom, belonging to Joes' mother, unfortunately you cannot see the backing, very nice , and a wonderful information about fabrics made around 1850

Here the original hexagonquilt i've copied lately, i once saw this quilt in Arnhem, think it was in the early nineties. The reds are from tickingfabric we call BEDDETIJK.

I was in shock, because if i knew this before, i could have used the same: i had a huge amount of this fabric, but used it for another purpose.....

That's the way things go, anyway, what a joy to see this quilt again.

I'm busy on finishing doll quilts at the moment, mess around in town and enjoy the lovely weather.

Look forward to another meeting with Randy and spend a few days with good friend in the Périgord,castles to see, wine to buy good meals and hope to find some junk...

Take care, Will V in Paris

Ste Marie aux Mines

2011-09-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hourray for fast trains: Paris Strassburg is hardly 2 and a half ours away, then a reginal train to Selestat and a bus to Ste M.

Gorgeous wheather, and ten minutes later Joes and Isabeau appeared after a much longer trip from Amsterdam.

Our hideaway is in the mountains, far from the madding crowd and one could imagine that the only important thing is silence and nature and good food in the evening with some wine and quilttalk...

Petra, Nel, Renée and Marie Claude came back at the end of the day showing us a stunning quilttop.

This is 1860 don't you think?

The old lady is worn out, but still so breathtaking, wish i could copy this, but it' really challenging.

Blogger does not allow me to set up more pics today, So i'll try later

, promised, i took a lot more pics.

Wish you all a quiet end of this day, wheather is beautiful here,autumn light and warm as in summer.

Take care, Will V in Paris

progress on several quilts

2011-08-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

Hello from Paris you all friends, i'm happy to show you the progress on tops i've started a long while ago.

I worked on the beach of Granville where we stayed four weeks in july, with Elisa.

The hexagons are made from french decoratorfabrcis and i put lots of Toiles in it.

The more of them, the more vibrant it becomes. The biggest part is done and the top will cover a french double bed. I think that an embroidered border would be lovely, or some applique, but in the mean time i suppose that this can be a very time consuming solution.....

I am very happy with the little baskets, 3 inches each. You may remember that i didn't want to applique the handles and yes, i'm glad i choose the red ric rac, fun and so easy to appliqué.....

The third one is very different: lately i saw an antique quilt and fell instantly in love with:

i made 50 blocks of 25 squares, 2 inches by2.

four of them in the middle of each outer row in off white shirting of conversation print and the one in the middle is RED, i mean RED girls. Don't do this by hand, it would be just never ending.

The intermediate blocks are from off white muslin of a very nice quality i found in my junk shop.

Most of the fabrics are repros of the civil war kind, from beige to dark brown, here and there some pinks, burgundy and dark brown.

Once more, easy peasy on the machine and the bold red in the middle seems to be Necessary.

The layout for the blocks was done one sheets of paper stocked in a pile, then i sewed in rows.

I can't tell you much about the vacation, but i must say this:

you know i'm not much telling about our private life, but on the 15 of July we lost our dear brother in law Henk B, who had a very important place in our lives, stood by us with my sister 42 years ago, when i introduced my future husband to my parents saying i would live in Paris and no longer in the Netherlands, leaving them scared and angry.

In his house was always room for strangers, refugees, homeless, old friends and traumatised cats.

His wife, daughters, sons in law, grandchildren and we will dearly miss him.

I promised another posting about the linenfestival, next time.

Take care, my thoughts go to the American coast, where people prepare for a scary meeting with IRENE.....

back to the CAUX region

2011-07-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

for the LINEN FESTIVAL, like last year, we were six this time and had a wonderful base in EU. We saw sweet little cottages like this one, and monumental housing is the villages, but more of the Normandy architecture in the next post.

Three pictures of MICHELE GLEIZER'S huge cross stitch panels.

She embroiders on old linen sheets, with silk threads.

This passionate woman is also a well-known actress.

She kindly shared a moment with us, and explained her work, telling us she's able to embroider 10 hours a day, taking care of her position on the chair, and having a counter especcially made for her.

She usually works more than 5 months on the larger pieces....

Michele Gleizer signing the catalogue of her exhibition in the church, where we also saw the little doll quilts, simply shown on the back of church chairs.

For some mysterious reasons, a few pics came out blurry, others better.

And the floor, we all loved the designs.

A few steps away we found the perfect pinic ground, vive la France for the food and drinks, i should start dieting straight away.....

The monumental altarToday i stop by showing you this little dollquilt i managed to finish lately, the little triangles are leftovers from a big quilt.

I will be back before friday with more from Normandy.

What a gorgeous summer we have this year, but he lack of water is dramatic in the country side.

Will V in Paris, wishing a happy 4th of July to my fellow American quilters.

2 month?

2011-06-21T07:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe i havn't showed up here for two month: i've been lazy, for sure, been reading books and have done some quilting on several pieces, and i've also painted four boring chairs. They were brown, varnished and the wood is not nice at all.

So i gave the a lick of paint, from Farrow and Ball, a shade between mint and gray , made some slipcovers from a piece of ticking a nd antique linen where necessary, i runned out of the striped quickly and did with what i found in boxes.

This red scrap is a remnant of a bigger one, given to me by Joe and Mary Koval as a token of friendship.In a bookabout Toile de Jouy from the public library, i found some documentation about it, interresting.....

I passed by this door in the rue the Rivoli, it's painted all over, strange, like a picture from India or so.

Any time i go to town i try not to forget my camera.

These two pics are from a company in the rue LAVIEUVILLE, next to Place des Abbesses.Something tells me that when the company will close, it will be replaced by one of those fancy garment shops, or souvenirshops, or a bank or a chinese take away....

I was told that this was given to the soldiers from worldwar one as a sewing supply.

It holds space for thread, needles, an awl, a finger protection.

I payed 4 euros for it in Granville, but i know they ask much more elsewhere.

The plate is from LUNEVILLE eartheware, eighteentht century, i love the design, payed 15 euros. May seem expensive, but i loved the design; and think it looks like Pennsylvania Dutch.

And if we went to Granville, it's because of her,she became 9 years already, where does time go? She's in love with horses, rides every saturday.We will spend July with her and her mum, hoping for sunny wheather.

Hope you're all fine, i enjoy your superinterresting blogs, and spend much time on reading them carefully, Will in Paris

A day with Randy

2011-04-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

and Mark in Montmartre, Randy comes to Paris regularly and we try to meet often. We made big plans for her return to France in September, and go to Ste Marie aux Mines with the other girls.

Look what she brought me: Bonnie Hunter's latest book and i'm tempted to start soon with the quilt on the page as shown.

I've got the cheddar , a big leftover from another quilt finished lately, all the rest is peanuts - i mean the gathering of the scraps......

And the little schoolhouse quilt is finished too, it measures 20 1/2 by 20 1/2 inches and was made with antique fabric purchased from Mary and Joe Koval.

Amazing what one can do with little amounts.

Mary will probably show this little quilt in Nantes, so if you're going, take a look , but not on wednesday, i'll come on thursday....

Wheather is gorgeous, sunny and warm, have a good weekend you all, Will V in Paris

a quilt for Japan

2011-04-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

Elisa stayed with us for a week during her last school vacation, she is nearly 9 now, showing her new pijamas, she is in her pink period and we have serious conversations. Until now she was scared of the Eiffeltower, but decided she was ready to climb it this time. Unfortunately there was a freezing cold, so we decided to have a hot chocolate in a tea room.

Next time we be the right one honey.....

On the first spring day DH and I had a walk along the Seine and explored some hidden corners of St Germain des Prés:

Ever seen the Cour de Rohan ?

Well hidden and so quiet, the houses haven't been changed for ages,you walk on cobble stones like hundreds of years ago, i don't dare to imagine the price of one square meter.......

Café Procope, supposed to be the oldest café in town

Just a lovely facade

on Boulevard St Germain

And here is the quilt i decided to donate for the Victims in Japan.The fabric from the blocks were given to me by a quilting friend, i'm sure she agrees with my decision. The suffering of these people seems unbrearable to me: the earthquakes, tsunami and the nuclear accident, UNBELEAVABLE;

I will be in Nantes on April 27 for POUR L'AMOUR DU FIL where Quiltmania will collect quilts for Japan and take care of transports.

This was a quiet weekend and i count my blessings

Love to all,

Will V in Paris

More street art and some

2011-03-03T07:54:00.000-08:00

poetry , who's the guy, or the girl?

A mystery for the moment, but it could be MISS TIC eventually......

This is one of the cutest little theatres in Paris, just around the corner. So if you are passing by, you're very close to me too....

I've started a new project, my version of NEARLY INSANE, planned a couple of years ago, and more or less forgotten until now: it took

days to cut and sew the first bloc, and i have the intention to make the most intricated ones first. I take my time, not in a hurry and want to make them neet and accurate.
My friend JOES from Amsterdam - dutch quiltcat - found out that the blocs from the original quilt were pictured in the 3 japanese quiltbooks shown on the pics, a truly great help.
Thanks Joes, you're a real detective.
Your comments on my last posting were surprising and i appreciate them very much, hartwarming support girls, be sure i follow yours attentively too, although i hardly leave comments.
Una, did you make progress on the English quilt with the mariner's compass as a center?
If yes, please show us something.....
Will in Paris, cold but sunny.

hexies, ready for quilting

2011-02-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

Nicole, who helped me tremendously with beiges and pinks , is holding the finished top.

I worked more than 3 years , the center was lost for several month, i started a new one, found the fist center again and went on with the first when i found it back.

The red background was bought at Joann's in Houston with a huge discount, so i bought ten yards.

Roughly a yard and a half are left over, as i appliquéd a border from the same fabric.

The paper hexagons mesure half an inch, and were baught from PAPERPIECES.com in bulk, that means 1700 pieces if i remember well...

So accurate those pieces that i consider too boring to make them myself.

I used them again and again, and hardly a few were thrown away.

The border from the original antique quilt was quite different as you see on the pic, but i don't like the sharp points, so opted for the more discrete small red border.

I've ordered a dark brown backing with oak leaves, and i'm waiting anxiously to start the quilting.

There will be no batting, i want the quilt to stay flat.

Only the red fabric will be quilted .

What more can i say?

These three years brought joy and scary moments and i recognise them in the flowers.

Last but not least, i thank Annemarie, Nicole and Joelle for their help by giving me small pieces of fabric, which helped greatly to get an endless variety.

I had all sorts of encouragement from many people,also non quilters.

I count my blessings for knowing them.

A bit of street art,modern poetry i saw this morning passage des Abbesses.

Will try to show you more of the kind. Have all a happy weekend, and thank you for passing by .

Will V in Paris

On the last pic you see how the border is fixed, time consuming but easy peasy, the paperpieces were pulled out in the very last moment.

TO THE CRAFTSHOW

2011-02-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

Carol and Michèle from QUILTMANIA eating her dessert: 4 hectic days and always smiling, real troopers and preparing POUR L'AMOUR DU FIL in Nantes as a next challenge.

The basketquilt in PP's booth is from Gerda, ( kijk daar is- her blog good job Gerda, what a lovely eyecatcher.

what a difference with last year, when the freezing blizzard blowed us over the place before the LA VILLETTE hall, sunny wheather and a pleasure to be outside , quiing up and recognize familiar faces, people in a good mood and happy to be there.

I should have adapted my clothes: i suffered from the heath this time. Right after the entry was the SELVEDGE booth: friendly girls from the UK selling back issues from the magazines and the stunning scarves from SOPHIE DIGARD, made in Madagascar.

I know i can never afford to buy one, and making one myself would just take for ages, but soooooooooolovely to see...

My old quilting buddy and partner in crime Joelle, and Valerie in Joe and Mary Koval's booth.

They brought antique quilts , tops and fat quarters from Mary's latest fabric line for Windham's.

You've recognised Petra Prins didn't you?

She's showing her sweet little woolen bookcover.

Luce Smits is a knitter: her creations a modern and without fussy details, she wrote bokks with patterns , DDlearned knitting with her first book.

Ever met the crew fromLA FEE PIROUETTE?

Nathalie creates embroidered quilts, they are in the mayor craftshows, Nathlie's shop is in the Alsace.

Joelle de Bailliencourt, Christine Meynier and Diane de Obaldia, we worked together in LE ROUVRAY, Diane was my boss for long years

We hardly meet each other now, t was good to see them.

FACILE CECILE, her blog is world famous, she also will go to Nantes. The exhibition this year inside the show was about lace.I'm not mad about lace and didn't take pics, most of the items could not be pictured. Stunning was, how much material was available for lacemakers and the modern twist in contemporary works.

With the help of friends i made pics from my latest tops, and i have also brocante finds to show, i will be back soon, take care,

Will V in Paris

A week in St.Jacut

2011-02-05T05:53:00.000-08:00

We had a welcome Januari break in Brittany, the beaches belonged to us only. Whereever we walked, not a human being at the horizon, and, even better, bright and sunny wheather all the time, just a little drizzle at sunday afternoon, while loading the car.

Joes and Isabeau came to join us from Amsterdam, very motivated, they drove 9 hours to join us.

You probably know them allready from Quiltmania's articles about their sewing rooms.

Isabeau allowed me to show her antique 1860 quilttop: a gem.

When you look closely to the tiny nine patches, you'll see that the size of a little sqare is half an inch....

The borders are stunning too: flock of geese and broken dishes.

Shirtings, madders, poison greens, chrome yellows, indigo blues, a touch of black also here and there.

Monique won the top she will have to assemble herself: lucky she was indeed and at the end she will have a bed quilt of a very generous size.

We used reproductionfabrics for the squares, the allover look will be anticky.

We all loved the dressed table with an embroidered tablecloth and dishes , all various DIGOIN.

We ate fresh fish, oysters, shrimps and various seefood, drunk white wine and cider.

The lovely floor was found in St. Malo, in a milk and cheese shop.

All of us are quilters, but some, like Dominique, are embroiderers too: so we arranged a mini expo to show you their sewing cases and other small items.

And here is the beach in winter,how fascinating it is to walk on a lonely seaside, far from the madding Paris crowd.

Thank you Monique to open your house for us, and for all the kind attention you had for each of us individually.

No work from me this time, but the hexies top is finished,i'm joining a small red border of 4 inches, i don't like the original one.
I ordered fabric for the backing and THOUSANDS OF BOLTS, and some smaller pieces of reproduction fabrics, it's the first time i ordered frpm them, hope the best of it.

Sorry for the chaotic setting of this post, via google chrome, windows will no longer upload my photos and i'm not yet familiar with it, but tremendously happy to be able again to post.

My thoughts go toAustralian quilters who suffered from the floods and then from thunderstorms, nature can sometimes give hard lessons;
Will in Paris, have a good weekend you all.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

2011-02-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

See you tomorrow........
Will

i can

2011-02-01T10:16:00.001-08:00

blog again after 3 weeks struggling with Bogger, BUT I CANNOT UPLOAD PHOTOS, mindboggling and will cry for help in the neighbourhood, i know some whizkids in my building.
Will in Paris humid and cold.

test

2011-02-01T05:22:00.001-08:00

test

My sister mailed:

2010-11-20T04:43:00.000-08:00

Hey, did you stop blogging?
A friend wrote: i'm fed up with the mushrooms, put something new on the blog and hurry up please...;
I was lazy, really, just lurking on other people's blogs, and spending a week with little Elisa, mostly at the covered swimming pool.
Luckily she swims very well now, so i took the little box with the hexies and sewed, taking a look at her every now and then.

Last sunday we had the first get together of the season at Monique's, who is a wonderful cook.
Take a look at her PETIT SALE AUX LENTILLES, and you understand what i mean.....
There was champagne and tariquet for apéritif and red wine for the cheese. We had cut before 50 squares light and dark in order to make the dutch quilt in QUILTMANIA, but i made a mistake: i forgot the seamallowancies, so i will start all over.
On december the 5th another gathering is planned at Dominique's.

The serial quilter-knitter-embroiderer made baskets for her DS, a Yoko Saito design.

We displayed some dark and light squares on the floor, and we are happy with what we saw, anothe amount of 50 are enough to make a generous size for a bedquilt.

The perfect harmony of Sylvie's pullover and her finger pincushion...

Wine and fire in the chimney did not make me very reactive in the afternoon.

Sylvie embroidered poppyseeds on her vintage sewing bag.

You can find the instructions on a blog called FACILE CECILE with a video.

I took my hexies with me, knowing i could picture the progress in good conditions, thanks for the help girls, not at last for the bits of fabric, the variation of prints is amazing.

With a bit of luck the top will be completed by the end of the year.

I'm moving my fabric collection into translucent boxes intead of the fabric covered vintage boxes.

Less romantic, but truly more efficient.

Take care,

Will V in Paris, sunny but chilly.

Ste Marie again

2010-09-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

We saw this the very last morning on the way down from the hill where we stay: not the best moment, nostalgis, because we know we have to wait for another year to come back, see the beautiful surroundings just waking up and open the doors in pijama's, an enormous breakfast waiting for us an NO dishes to wash.
Evelyne and Jean spoil us in a scandalous way and we drink a gewurztraminer spatlase before EVERY dinner......

Two more pieces from the Korean expo, they have such a know how, that even i, preferring far more traditionnal and antique quilts, have a deep respect for their artistry.

A crib sized straight furrow log cabin,mostly wool challis and etamine, just darling,

who would not like to have such a sweetie on the wall?

An antique honey comb quilt from Joe and Mary Koval, sold and gone, just time to take a pic...

An amish straight fuurow, bedsize, much look alike the other one i realize, wool challis.

In Joe and Mary's booth, from left to right: Anne Marie, Randy Danto from California, me and Valerie, she's a blogger and proffessional machine quilter, her blog is called JOURNEY OF A QUILT LOVER, go and see her.

Such a pity i couldn't take a pic of the entire quilt: there was such a crowd in front.. So many lovely details to see, the maker is Japanese, a fairy tale, really.

And my quilt hung there too,just plain pleasure to see the whole quilt in good conditions.

Will be back soon, there is more,

Will V in Paris

I just

2010-09-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

couldn't wait to show you : the little quilt with the antique fabrics,
it measures 21 by 21 inches, 55 by 55 cm
The houses made by hand, the borders and sashings by machine, pure fun.
I'm running strait away to my Carrefour grocery to put a decent meal on the table tonight.
Tomorrow boring stuff to do, but a new posting will brighten up the day.
Will V

Back home

2010-09-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

Lots to show you after ten days off to the Netherlands and the Elsass: there were beautiful Korean textiles to be seen, and also Miao costumes,the pojagis were sparkling of colors and seemed featherlight.
Small sizes, and i wonder what is the use of these items?
Maybe just to wrap up something, quite mysterious.

I spend onde day with my Dutch friends in the country side, and as the villages are very crowded in the wine region, we also went away from the madding
crowd, where we saw things like this: the fairy tale houses, the doors, the incredible use of colours, reds ,blues ,purple, quilted façades, a feast for the eye...

The gargoyle is a special greeting for TONYA ( Lazy gal this is a metal one Ton, gargoyles are mostly made of stone

You will hardly see a house there without flowers, mention the woodcarving on the corner, sadly i didn't make a pic of the detail...

We went to a brocante in Illkirchen on sundaymorning and i found this jersey pottery: apiece i would have payed at least 4 times as much as in Normandy,

i also saw some Quimper pottery for a very reasonable price;

The small pieces of fabric are destinated for a little doll quilt.

I bought them at MARY and JOE KOVAL, the kindest quilt dealers on the whole Planet.

I thought i would find my inspiration in my books, but nope, i made houses of it, sweet sweet sweet.

So, if you need help for reparing an antique quilt for example, go and see Joe and Mary, sure they will help you out.

The bigger piece with green and pink is just enough for the backing,that means that the little quilt is entirely made of antique fabric.

Come and see me tomorrow for a pic of the little top, and more from the Elsass.

Will V in Paris, chilly today

Another recent junkshop find: a velvet little vest for a child, embroidered with glitters.

Anyone there who has an idea about where this comes from?

Eastern Europe?

Maybe Hungary?

A broken harddrive

2010-09-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

Kept me away from blogging , but also a long vacation in Granville, with her.
She's eight and a half now, and i tell you, she's able to stay for more then 4 hours in the sea....
That means that you have to keep your eyes wide open all the time, but what a joy to do so....
No need to say we were exhausted and went to bed early.

Some piccs from Granville, in the St. Michel's bay.

Wheather was from gorgeous to correct for the more than 3 weeks stay, few rain or strong wind.

An entry in the neighbourhood with some quilt inspiration from a concrete tile floor: these floors can be seen in many old buildings , and the tile mitifs are endless, i've seen many many of them, but i do not always carry my camera with me.....

A thing i did during the vacation was taking care of Elisa's clothes, and repair some of them like this little cardigan, some liberty fabric and a bracelet with the leftover and 3 buttons.....

She's very girly,and likes to be dressed up.

The biggest job was done for the eight pointed strars: the last will be to put everything together.

I think this will be a spectecular quilt from a technical point of view, i'm glad i gave it a scrappy look by taking several greens , reds and blues.

These are the leftovers, amazing .

I've cut he exact amount as mentioned on the pattern, and it turned out is was FAR TOO MUCH.

It's not a drama though, and it will probably end up as four patches or nine patches.

The reason you'll have to wait for the reportage about the linen festival is because i'm leaving tomorrow morning for a little trip to the Netherlands.

I will stay at my sister's, and we may go to the Dutch Quilters Guild exhibition in Deventer.

From there i'll go to Amsterdam to see my quilting buddiesand go to the Elsass to Ste Marie aux Mines for the yearly quilt festival over there.

I'm exited, i have not be out on my own for quite a while.

I've missed you dearly when my computer was out of order, but a whizkid from the neighbourhood helped to transfer stuff from the old hardrive on the new, so a have my bookmarks back.....

Definitely not a job for elder ladies.......

Will in Paris, take care.

Progress on the starquilt

2010-07-09T06:09:00.000-07:00

A welcome escape from the nearly unbearable heat in Paris:
a day in Dominique's garden,, but even here we had to go inside for lunch and the rest of the day.
I didn't work at all, looked at the girls goin'on with their projects and passed time reading D's scandinavian decoration magazines VAKRE and JEANNE D'ARC. Whow, the kind of homes i just LOVE!

The stars are in steady progress, and i have the number required for the little ones.

I made little mistakes, partly due to the lack of space necessary for machine piecing and rotary cutting, and the mess here........ shame on me!

I can live with the little imperfections you may notice here and there.

Yestrday night, unable to sleep i started cutting in order to make the bigger stars.

I still find it difficult, but glad i did the experience, learning lots about machine piecing .

The machine pieced quilts i made until now were simpler ones, and the problem here is inserting little squares and triangles with a 45 degrees angle.

I found these absolutely perfect boxes in the street in front of the whole food store: small and easy to put away, the only thing i had to do was to open my eyes and i will save them for another project.

Come back this weekend for more from the linen festival.

I'm not at all a football fan, but sunday evening i'll go to a café with a bunch of Dutch for the grand finale!

Will in Paris, hot hot hot!

Out of town!

2010-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I went to the Normandy coast last weekend, with Sylvie, the serial knitter and Pascale.
They have a wonderful hide away in EU, only minutes away by car from MERS and LE TREPORT, and as the weather was ideal, after the suffocating heath of last week, we were ready for a day at the linen festival near Dieppe.

The white cliffs of the Normandy coast gives you a feeling of being in England, the beaches are stony instead of sandy, night fell at 10 30 so we enjoyed every minute.

People spend the days here and have a shelter for rainy days, but it's forbidden the stay over at night...

Here another kind of escape.

I'm a bit bored with the hexies, and strted a week ago to make this top and let me tell you, i find it difficult!

i've nearly finished the little red stars and i consider myself an expert for doing them on the machine.

As you see, i do with what i have at home, but went out this morning for greens, totally runned out for poison greens!

I won't even think of how much time it takes to make such a quilt by hand, ages i suppose.........

The scala of reds were baught last year in St Marie aux mines, the pinks to i believe, and i have the blues for many years.

I promised you an interresting walk in my last post: WHAT A FLOP!

Too hot, i was tired, and the Avenue Daumesnil, which was rather prestigious a couple of years ago, looked derelict in my eyes, i was there on saturday afternoon, much shop were closed!

i entered the embroidery shop, but they had only very formal stuff and uninspiring quiltfabrics.

Next posting will treat the Linen Festival, see you then,

Will V in Paris, a little cooler today.

A bit from this, a bit from that..........

2010-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

A shop in the rue St. Honoré,
i love that area, the historic heart of Paris, beautiful shops filled with stuff i can't afford, but love to look at.
It's close to place Vendome .

Anne Marie in the serial knitter's garden , far from the madding crowd.
Wheather wasn't so nice and at the end it started raining, but i always enjoy the green and lack of noise..........;

The little Adirondack chair in a corner,

the overall smell of honeysuckle,

and the bow withe the Ronsard roses.

Last sunday we had a gathering at Monique, and Françoise joined us for lunch and a marvelous give away,

She empties her attic!

The gorgeous tea cosy was for me, and i'm still under the shock.

I had also some linens,,hankies, you name it!

Anne Marie nearly finishes her Kaffe Fassett copie of a Vand A quilt, HUGE

I've beeb busy with the silly tapestries, made a floorcloth and a bag,

fun to make, but i broke 6 needles, and the Bernina did a good job after all.

I've runned out of material, but go on looking for these items, the bold colors do really well.

If you google on FREDERIQUE MORREL, you can find more, she coves couches, chairs and footstools.

The bag is made from 22 squares of 14 cm.

The little dollquilt was made in an afternoon, the red triangles are leftovers of a bigger quilt.

Working on the hexies is a bit slower now, and i will save she sewing for summer while a way from home, but basting goes on.

Vide greniers is in high season, and the last one i visited was just around the corner:

lucky me!
A wooden jig saw puzzle for 1 euro, never used and complete, the new ones will cost you an arm and a leg!

a little porcelain jug with a blue mill, how coul a Dutch girl far from home resist?

This is an older find, but not shown yet, a lace cushion, still in good condition.

I will never use it, but it's soooo cute.....;

Next saturday i will take a day off to explore the surroundings of Gare de Lyon and the shops under the arcade so stay tuned, i promise to make an interresting report.

Keep on quilting girls, i love your blogs and spend several hours each day to follow yours!

Love

from Paris, Will V

TONYA made my day!

2010-05-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

A sunday at Dominique, do you remember her sewingroom,

This is the serial knitter's fancy sewing case!
She is a serial crocheter at the moment, Quilting's a bit abandoned !

Anne Marie is quilting her copy of an english quilt you can see at the VandA until the end of June,

and also explained in Kaffe Fassett's MUSEUM QUILTS.

I'm tempted to make one with fabrics from Den Haan En Wagenmakers.

Back to the hexies.

I made quite some progress, and i work on this quilt every day for a few hours at the moment.

Did i talk about the size of a flower?

Maybe the best way to show is showing it on my hand.........

Last sunday and monday too the Champs Elysées were closed for traffic, an incredible experience!

Weird to HEAR people talk and walk where normally have traffic make the noise nearly unbearable!

There were plants to see, and vegetables, and fruits and seeds and trees, even cows.

We were there early in the morning, but half an hour after the opening the heat was on and the crowd very very dense,

People moved slowly and everyone appriciated the silence....

Look what i found in my mailbox this morning:

Tonya, LAZY GAL, spoiled me with fabric and GWEN MARSTON's Abstract quilts in solids, AND fabrics!

Most of them will be used straight away for the hexies.

Thank you Ton!

I adore and take care in Florida!

Léa Stansal in Nantes, more antique quilts and Sue Spargo

2010-05-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

Lea Stansal has a very personal approach of a combination between quilting and ribbon embroidery.
She is the author of three book and i'm sure she is secretly working on a new one.
Her skills of embroidery is incredible and her classes are always fully booked and there is a waiting list.
Lea travels whenever she can , went sevaral times to Istanbul and the US.
She found it difficult to be a teenager:very early she was attraced by fashion, politics, filosophy and decorative arts.
She tells in her first book: i went with my father to one of his wholesalers and asked for a brown woolen fabric...........
" But that's not fancy for a young lady" the two guys said .She insisted and went home with her dark brown woolen.
A few days later the wholesaler called her dad saying she was a real trendsetter, all of a sudden browns
were much sought after, could she read in a crystal ball?
"My family insisted to marry me" she tells.
Finally she enters a graphic school and then meets her husband , the painterPierre Desson.

LE MONDE DE LEA is her first book, and also the one i prefer.

The next four antique quilts are from the QUILTMANIA collection

Sue Spargo was able to come to Nantes personnally: one of her book came out in french, with nice photos of her personal world.

I love the fabric choice: woolens, and the bright colors.

This one lay on the ground, like a floorcloth.

The pics are over exposed, too much light came in from the high windows.

Soon more!

Nantes and a week with the princess

2010-05-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Back to Nantes for POUR L'AMOUR DU FIL:
I just had to go back there after last year's first edition:
it's the easy peasy thing when you live in Paris, only 2 and a half hour with the TGV, and the convention center is just a few steps away from the railway station.
The sad thing was, that many people could not come because of the Iceland cloud, so i missed Mary Koval, Sarah Fielke, The Japanese quilters and many others.
This is Mary Kovals booth, empty, but Petra Prins and her helpers took good care of it.

Many unquilted tops to discover in Jane Lury's booth.

I want to copy these quilts!

I don't know the name of this block, should i say Lady of the Lake variation?

The quilting was very intricate, the condition excellent.

My favorite one, high on the list of soon to do..........

The one on the left, with the greens, is an english quilt.

Jane and her husband are holding up the quilt that was bought by a friend.

Very sweet and i am tepted to make this one also.

Here is a part of the Morrell quilt that came all the way from Australia.

It hung in Petra Prins' booth and she sells patterns and fabrics as a BOM.

I never saw before such a perfect machine quilting, so regular, so well balanced.

Petra Nel and Elsbeth, ready for four hectic days.

Another Morrell block

And one more!

The entire Morrell quilt, or nearly

Elisa came to Paris for a week, she's nearly 8 already and is now fond of horse riding and swimming.

We spend 4 hours a day in the swimming pool next door, and i worked on the hexies.

Astonishing how much energy kids of that age can have!

We celebrated DH' birthday in our favorite Italian restaurant

AL CARATELLO, crowded all the time, and good food and drinks.

Take care you all, keep quilting.

I'll be back soon with more stuff from Nantes.

Will V in Paris, chilly and windy today.

La rue St.Paul and back to the hexies.

2010-04-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Alix and i had a walk through rue St.Paul , where is a high concentration of brocantes and antique dealers.

We popped in and were allowed to make pictures of some items:

We both fell in love with two breathtaking cashmeres, 19th century.

Unfortunately the quality of the picture is rather poor, but this map is EMBROIDERED!

Hard to believe huh?

It's behind glass, to much of reflections.

What a job !

On first sight it's a print, but when you look closely, you will see this is embroidery too, all over with only a minor reparation.

Good lord, it's a munument of patience!

Rue des Abbesses, in my area:

The shop seels wine, and still has the old decoration of the kind that disappears in a very quick tempo.

It's also in a derelict state and i wonder how long it will last.

The big letters are hideous by the way!

I have now finished a little bit more than a quarter of the hexagon quilt, what gives me a clear idea of the finished one, i'm happy with this.

I worked a lot on it during easter, still have reds and flowers to go on and a little box with flowers to make while i'm out of town and travelling.

Like next week, while going to Nantes for POUR L'AMOUR DU FIL.

I'm happy to go back there, the program is as sweet as can be, and i hope to meet SUE SPARGO there.

Keep quilting and take care,

Will V in Paris, still cold, but some sun.

Hot news from the hexagons

2010-03-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

Thank you for encouraging me to change the center of the hexies.
I really did the right thing and it didn't take me that much time and effort:
just 2 hours!

I also managed to make about fifty flowers, but runned out of paper hexies, also had some fabric from Anne Marie, to varie and the more i make, the more i'm pleased......

Making the reds was BORING, but had to be done to, that's all i can say about the reds, i worked on this behind my computer, looking and listening to missed programs on the Dutch TV.
I follow a Dutch blog, www.hexabee.blogspot.com/

this girl is working on the same quilt,let me know if you're doing the same!

I payed 50 cents for these darling little boy shoes.

Defenitely made for the working classes, and with wooden soles!

I'm afraid those shoes were painful for kids , and how did the parents check out if they were too small??

These were never worn, so old and still brand new..........

This is my favorite bag at the moment: vintage, a Hermès fake of the Grace Kelly model.

This kind of ladylike handbags are very hot this summer..........

Some household to do and soup to make for dinner, still cold and rainy, back to the hexies ladies, take care!

Will V in Paris

The shoe hoarder i am

2010-03-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

sometimes feels ashamed, i know it's rediculous, so many shoes when you live in such a small appartment?
All that space lost for hoarding fabric?!?!?
I love shoes since i was a child, and my parents always bought us the shoes of the very best quality.
Later, when i was a working single i bought at least one pair every months, and sometimes two......
I realised that i have only one pair high heeled know, and most of them are just flat and made for walking.
I think that shoes tell much about one's personality.
The baby shoes at the last pic are my baby shoes, my daughters also have their first pairs saved.
That's about shoes, handbags are also a big thing for me so in a couple of months.........
Do i share the love for shoes with somebody here in blogland?

I made these blocks lately for my friend CB, and she will receive them next tuesday.

We're five to help her with this quilt.

A repro of and antique one , 1850-1870 from the International Quilt Study Center, Nebraska Lincoln.

Hope she"ll like it

Let me tell you about a weird thing that happened to me last week.

Maybe you remember me taling about CoreyAmaro and her blog TONGUE IN CHEEK.

I had spend an afternoon with quilting friends and embroiderers, who came for a fabric shopping tour in my area, and we sat down in a café, exhausted and i had a good look on what happened outside.

And look: thre was Corey and a friend just coming out of the Sacré Coeur gardens!

But it was already too late to run after them and say hello bla bla bla.

I left a message on her blog and yes , she confirmed being there at that very moment.

Go to her blog and see by yourself how she deals as an American women with life in France, her flair and elegance, her love for people and brocante;

I know i will meet her again, we're all tied together with invisible threads.........

A little less cold her now and next week will be a little warmer over all, i'm really longing for spring now.

Take care, Will V in Paris.

Last but not least, Lucy, QUILTING WITH THE PAST, has her stunning tulip quilt in the latest issue of QUILTMANIA.

After a long wintersleep.........;

2010-03-03T05:52:00.000-08:00

This quilt came home yesterday.
My quilts are sometimes adopted for a while by fellow quilters or just quiltlovers, but this one stayed for a couple of years in a french quiltshop in Bry sur Marne, at Patricia's FIL A LA PAT, as a support for selling her paperpiecing sheets.
All hand made, english paper piecing method, for a double bed.
Inspired by an antique dutch quilt, as the one i showed a while ago, and i started the same one with a red background, and smaller pieces.
The thing i love in paperpiecing is, that i can take it with me everywhere, while travelling or waiting for boring appointments, just have to carry a small box with me.

Claude L, a long time quilt relation gave me a bunch of remnants from one of her projects,

and i could make the amount of blocks for a single bed quilt.

Thank you Claude, all the string blocks were made with your little stash without losing a tread!

The intermediate four-patches came from my own stash, the turqoise fabric is an African batik.

I've put freezer paper on the bach of the string blocks, for easy proper sewing.

A recent junkshop trophee:

Vintage flowerpots and nasty olé olé angels.

The background is an utterly ugly kind of salmon pink, but i'm sure it is the good stuff for a fun quilt, yeah!

And here are the goodies Patricia gave me for using the hexagon quilt.

Thank you Patricia, it fits in perfectly with the kind of fabric i bought the last few months...........

I've been silent and lazy this winter: just reading blogs, and hardly sewing.

Winter was cold , dark and very long in my mind, but with the growing days and sunlight coming back i hope for more energy. I will be back very soon with my coming out as a shoe hoarder, i made pics of all of my shoes until my very first pair as a baby in 1946, i'm a real baby boomer!

My DS stayed with us for a week, and she took home 5 pairs, we have the same size and we LOVE good brands!

Do i share this dark side with other people??????????

Will V in Paris, take care you all!

2010-01-13T05:35:00.000-08:00

Goodmorning America, and hello to the rest of the world, no matter where you are, and also a very happy new year, with love, health, and energy for making beautiful quilts!

We went to Normandy for Christmas, to see the little princess Elisa, the wheather was still fine then, not to cold, but snow was already on the way, and only today it's less cold and even a glimpse of sun this afternoon.

We're no longer used to such hard winter conditions, but the snow gave us also some magic moments, even in town.

Do you remember Gérard, the joiner from la rue Véron?

He came to the New year's party with his friend Roberto, a very seductive Sicilian. Françoise dressed a lovely table and we had a wonderful night together!

I made a little quilt for ELLIOTT, born in December, hope you like it Elliott, and your parents too!

It's made with fabric from my stash, tried to make it not girlie, morely soft but not too pastel, knowing his mother likes bright colors..............

I digged in the UFO's and picked up these hexies, rather big ones, one side is 2 inches, so it's growing again.

I use decorator fabrics, some of the very sturdy, and i took pics from the toiles, some of them are very rare.

A good friend gave me the sewing box from her mom in law.

Some reparations were done by Gérard, and i covered the inner part with some dutch chintz, i'm really happy with the result.

A 2010 resolution is finishing this appliqué panel and improve in the same time my appliqué skills.

Not really my cup of tea, i admire quilters who finish big quilts of the Baltimore kind.

Aint sh cute?

She is the eyecatcher of a huswif i started ages ago.

Must be finished in 2010 too, sigh.........

I've been lost in reading blogs the last weeks, the cold made me appriciate more then ever the comfort of home.

One of the things i discovered, were blogs and video's about people who live in very tiny houses, some of them because they had to downsize for economical reasons, others want to save the planet.

We live in a little more than 500 square feet, that is 47 square meters, and that was quite a challenge when the 2 girls were young ,but somehow we just did it.

I just feel an incredible sense of luxury just knowing that i never had to deal with war, hunger, or the fear of not knowing where to sleep at night.

And, oh my, clean sheets on my bed WHENEVER I WANT!!!!!

So my question to you is:

What is the ultimate sense of luxury for you?

Will V in Paris.

My Christmas present to you

2009-12-23T05:33:00.000-08:00

Take on your walking shoes and follow me through the covered passages in Paris, hidden secrets for those who go to Paris for a very short stay, but a must when the wheather is very warm or very cold, like yesterday.

We'll start at Passage Verdeau, rue du Faubourg Montmartre.

Little shops on both sides, many bookshops, both antiquarian and recent editions, sometimes specialised in art, stamps, or traveling.

This shop had dressed a Chrismas table and yes the ghost with te camera is me......;

Another shop, with nothing but embroidery , kits, books and all sorts of needs for embroiderers.

It's called LE BONHEUR DES DAMES.

Then simply cross the street to enter the next Passage, JOUFFROY
Same atmosphere, i stayed quite a while to look at the books outside, beatiful art and travel books.

Then a few decorator shops, the cosy stuff with Toile de Jouy.

Hotel Chopin is very much saught after by an American clientèle, Paris lovers who want to avoid the big hotels that look all the same whereever you are in the world.

Pain d'Epice is nec plus ultra for doll house lovers.

Everything neccesary to construct your very own, it's a goldmine, wish i had the space to have one.

The cookie store, i resisted! yes!

Now we cross the Boulevard, just in front.

More interresting shops, a framing artisan decorated with teddy bears,

a nice and cosy bistro-tearoom.

A very special shop front with a wood carved deco over the front door

But the end is less lovely, and ends up frankly gloomy.

This is Place des petits Pères, close to the entry of GALERIE VIVIENNE.

Always when i passed by, the passage was crowded, now the shops were empty and silent, hardly a human being around, and allthough the archtecture is beautifull, i just passed by and did not want to stay.

Strange, really strange...........

I ADORE the little toyshop on the right, they sell all the sizes of a french doll brand, PETITCOLLIN.

The Palais Royal garden looked frozen and empty too on the shortest day of the year.

Let's end our walk with a glimps of the ceiling from the restaurant LE GRAND VéFOUR,

and i wish you all the best for the holidays, a happy new year, with a very good health, love, friendship, and peace in your mind and lots of energy to make stunning quilts.

LOVE, Will V in Paris

Christmas is coming, and it's jumping!

2009-12-14T04:58:00.000-08:00

This is a sneak preview for C, who lives in the middle of France,and she will leave next wednesday at 4 in the morning to take her train and join us for a quilting bee.
Hope jou'll like te blocks C!

Anne Marie made us a baekeofe last sunday for the last quilting bee of the year,whow, french women are really good cooks!

My first Christmas present of this year, a lovely tree ornament as a Chrismas card, and the envelloppe was beautiful too!

Michèle is working currently on a sampler, as well as a pine burrow, and both are awesome!

A sampler from 12 cm blocks, no directions.

The overall blue shade is pure hasard.

Sylvie is working on schoolhouses, 40 cm

And drumrolls please for the other Sylvie, who's experimenting with woolens.

You know her already as a serial knitter and as she will spend Chrismas in the Alps, se her sweater she's knitting on:

She creates her own models, but the Aran motiv was found in a Japanese book.

She will definitely steal the show in Megève.

I think i have found a Christmas gift that will enjoy each and every one, so stay tuned!

Will V in Paris, bright and sunny but freezing!

2009-11-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

PAMINA likes the quilt top i showed some days ago and asked if she could start one too :
YES Pamina, because i will never claim an original design.
I consider that all the geometric figures or designs have been invented thousands and thousands of years ago.
I strongly believe that every quilt lives its own life through the choice of fabric.
So go for it Pamina, and have fun like i had , but please show the result on your blog!

I also have a request:
On so many of the blogs i follow i see the fellow bloggers in the side bar, you can see if there is a new posting through a little picture, i would like to install my favorite blogs too, BUT HOW?
Your help will be much appreciated.
This posting is as boring as the wheather in Paris, windy rainy and dark............
Sorry, i'll do better next time!

2009-11-21T06:03:00.000-08:00

I went to the craft show and came home with this:
a small piece of fabric with an angel, and a bigger piece, one meter, of dark brown decorator fabric, some olé olé ladies, kitschy, but how nice for a medallion quilt, and a dark brown back ground is very hard to find!

There was not much available for me:
to much of glittery christmas stuff,
jewellery, more kitsch, scrapbooking, even chocolates, and, oh yes, i baught some paint to pimp up old chairs.
You ask me about prices?
12euros only to get into the show, around 16 euros for a meter of quiltfabric, and you buy in a hectic atmosphere.
So i'm longing for the next craftshow in Paris , in February. It'll be all about sewing, knitting, embroidery and so on.

Some of the things i saw:

delicious BOUTIS from a Japanese lady living in France.

A pic from the SAJOU booth

Another SAJOU item

And the last one.

QUILTMANIA's booth.

QUILTMANIA

The last two ones are from MARIE CLAIRE IDEES.

Yeah!!!

How hard she worked this summer!

My friend Nicole T made this top after having seen JOES MEESTER's antique quilt in Quiltmania.

The background is a soft vanilla shade.

She works so quick and accurately; hard to believe...........;

Have a lovely weekend, all of you, Will V in Paris

Friday night sur la Butte

2009-11-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

I needed a quilting template 10 days ago, so i went to 2 Paris' quiltshops, and just didn't find one i really liked.
Came home frustrated if not to say angry, and all of a sudden remembered i baught this book not so long ago:
the choise was easy peasy, i've cut a sheat of paper the right size, folded,designed and in less than 5 minutes i had my template.
I will think twice from now on before running to a shop!
After all, that's what quilters did a hundred years ago, right?
Btw, Paris is becoming a DESERT for quilting, the interresting shops are or in suburbs or in the country side.
So back to oldfashioned quiltmaking, the way i learned in the early seventies.

These blocks deserve better than staying in a plastic bag. I made them with my old quilting friends, all i have to do is choose the background fabric.
Any suggestions?
How about poison green?

This is the one and only antique quilttop i own: a turn-of-the-century logcabin, a barn raising.

There is just one row missing, so the balance is not nice.

As seam allowances are comfortable, i will change the setting in a straight furrow.

That will not take me ages to do.

Handsewn all over, i think that quilting is a better option than tying,any experiences with that?

All the fabrics seem in very goos condition, no browns.

I'm grateful for your kind comments on the hexies, and yes, i will change the center and save the second for a medallion quilt!

Have you been on Betsey Telford's website lately?

She sells antique quilts, and going through her collection is like turning the pages of a beautiful quiltbook.

Go and see and enjoy!

you all have a nice weekend, a mountain of ironing is waiting for me!

Wiil V in Paris

Should i laugh or should i cry?

2009-11-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

Guess who came to see me?
I spend a wonderful afternoon with Bonnie Hunter and her friend Randy, and my new quilting friend Valérie.
We had a lovely meal in a restaurant in the area,delicious food for a very reasonable price.
So if you come to Montmartre, ask me for the adress, it's hard to find this kind of resto's in a touristic quarter, with such a lot of tourist traps!

Afterwards we went to my home for a show and tell, and Valerie and i went shopping with them around the Marché St. Pierre, and they went home with loads and loads of Toile de Jouy.
Hope you had both a pleasant flight home and Randy, your sweater is on the way!

Slow progress on the hexies, only one row, but i magaged to make a few hundred red ones, the most boring job of this quilt.
You may remember that i told about the loss of the center of this quilt and that it took me a long time to decide to start it over.
And then, one day, under a bunch of scraps in the iron basket, what did i see???????????????

THIS!
The first one!
And when i compare, i prefere the first far more!
Repositioning the first will be a heck of a job, but i think it's worth doing it.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

No doubt, with this kind of organisation it's logic that i can search for this or for that during hours.............

While looking at the quilts and tops with the girls, i digged out this lone star from around 1995.

I love lone stars, but they are hard to display in very small rooms,so it stays always stacked in a pile.

A top made in very little time, with a part of the samples send by Vintage and Vogue years ago.

The prussian blue matches lovely and the overall look likes more English than American.

The border design is an English fabric from 1824, sort of chinoiserie.

Thank you for following my blog and your kind comments.

Even if i do not always answer them i really appreciate your interest.

Will V in Paris, rainy and much colder today.

Last posting SMM

2009-10-18T06:00:00.001-07:00

Isabeau between Guy and Carol from Quiltmania, Isabeau's home is featured in the latest issue, take a look and enjoy, it's a feast for the eye,colorful and inspirational!

Petra Prins and Renée, her helper.

Showed us beautiful quilts, you can buy the kits, and beautiful reproductionfabrics.

And here is the crew of "LA FEE PIROUETTE", Nathalie, second from the right, creates quilts with embroidery, simply delicious.

Take a look at this quilt: one hourglass is 4 cm, the zest of orange made is so special.

The quilt came to Europe with my favorite antique quilt specialist ever:

MARY KOVAL.

She is real trooper and came all on her own this time, selling her quilts, tops ,orphan blocks and old fabrics, and always with a big smile.

I hope she had some time to see the Elsass wit a good guide!

And Mary gave me fabric, from her next collection she created for BLANK, not yet available in quiltshops, asking me to make a little quilt using the collection.

Thank you Mary, i love such a challenge!

Second version of Mary's collection.

This is something totally different:

last year a dear friend gave me a little exercise book from a young schoolgirl, it was made during wartime, in 1943 and it shows clearly how sewing skills were taught then.

I wish i had such knowledge too!

Two recent flea market finds,a little needlebook and the cover of a little oval box, both for next to nothing.

And oh, should i feel ashamed?

I bought fabric in SMM.

But when i counted at home, i realised it was 12 meters!

NO, i'm NOT ashamed, i need this....

Enjoy your weekend, greetings from Paris, so nice under a bright autumn sun,

Will V

Miscellenious from Ste Marie

2009-10-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

Som redwork from the Elsass in a small show about antique haberdashery and embroidery

The next pics were taken through glass, so the quality of the pics is not what i wanted, bit frustrating.

A beaded purse

This was gorgeous, how many ohours did she spend on making this?!?!?

Yoko's little helper, Yoko Saito and Isabelle from Quiltmania in Yoko's stand.

A part of a Dutch quilt, entirely made from Den Haan en Wagenmakers' fabric.

This is Willyne Hammerstein's quilt, all her quilts are very colorful, and the dark border very intriguing.

Elbeth and Nel in the Den Haan en Wagenmaker's stand.

DHEW is now a department of Petra Prins.

A costume from Hungary, heavy embroidery, a feast for the eye.

Some dresses from Southeast Asia, i forgot to mention where it came from.

Still more to show you, so let's say see you tomorrow.

Will V. in Paris

Ste Marie again and progress on the hexies

2009-10-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

Elisabeth Madzar is born french, but followed the love of her life to Istanbul where she started a quiltgroup with Turkish ladies, who uses only antique fabrics like silks, brocades velvet, etc.
She came with her group to Ste Marie to show a part of their quilts and some costumes.
the central panel you see her was made from velvet and silver thread embroidery.
Notice the sculpted border:
under the, let me call it clover leafs, are paperpieces.
Elisabeth told me that this piece needs constant repair and care.
The quilts are huge, very ornamental and oriental of course.
Stunning, but not the kind of quilt you could sleep under!

Here are the hexies and you can clearly see the center part surrounded.

I still have a big bunch of red hexagons, but i will quickly run out of flowers so it will take some time before you will see an update.

It's fun to do, but i want to work in the same time on quicker projects.
I forgot to tell you that the coin you see next to a beige flower in one of my former posts is a one euro coin.

There is more left of the trip to SteM so see you tomorrow!

Will in Paris, finally autumn in the air..........

quilts from BROUAGE in Ste Marie

2009-10-05T06:48:00.000-07:00

These smiling faces are Dominique Husson and Ghislaine from Brittany.
Dominique organises every two years a quiltshow in Brouage, a stunning little fortress town in the Charente region.
Untill now she has managed to gather the top of traditional quilts in France, next show will be in two years around May-June.
Ghislaine makes stunning appliqué's, but had no quilt hanging here.
One of them baught this antique top during the festival.
I wish you could see the craftmanship of these quilts for yourself,
i was more than impressed !

The Brouage quiltshow is the only important one in France that shows exclusively traditional quilts.

See you tomorrow for the next part, Will V in rainy and cloudy Paris.

2009-10-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we left early for a trip in the neighbourhood of Ste Marie:
Ribauvillé and Chatenois.
We went to see antique dealers specialised in KELSCH.
Kelsch is the homespun fabric for bedlinens, it's either blue and white or red and white, more rarely some yellow in it, or red and blue.
Once the decorating magazines started talking about this kind of fabric, prices have risen and risen and are sky high now.
I'm collecting this fabric since many years and have some valuable items, but can no longer afford to buy more.
In the middle of the picture you see Isabeau R, who's house and atelier is featured in the latest issue of Quiltmania. The other girls are embroiderers, we all stayed at the same spot and had much fun.

The kind of architecture from the Elsass.

The rest of the pictures are taken at the antique dealer in Chatenois, main street.

Look ate the yummy cupboards filled with treasures!

A war time bag and the other swedish quilts

2009-10-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

This is out of topic, but such a significant sample of frech elegance and frivolité:
imagine this bag was designed in 1940, wartime, german soldiers all over town and money, food, were certainly already scarce.
Who was the person who could afford such a bag?
Was it designed especcially for her?
I cannot imagine this was produced in series.......
Craftsmanship from a bygone ere.
Oh, i forgot, i saw it in the shop window of LANCEL, place de l'Opéra.

Here is the last part of the swedish quilts, warm covers for hard times.
Tomorrow i'll take you to an antique dealer in Chatenois, a few miles away from Ste Marie, who sells items from the Elsass mainly.

Love to all, Will V in Paris

Ste Marie aux Mines

2009-10-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

First part of the swedish quilts.

I was moved to tears when i saw these beautiful and rustic quilts hanging in a church where they fitted in in a perfect way.

Some were woolens, others cottons and some velvet or cotton sateen.

It was clear that the quilts were made with fabric available and definitely not purchased for quilting.

Asa Wettre, the author of the book OLD SWEDISH QUILTS and curator of the exhibition was present and gave precious information.

I had two copies of her book, i lost the fist one , don't know where or how, and the second never came home after lending it.

The english version is now out of print, and expensive second hand.

More tomorrow, i took a pic of ALL the swedish quilts.

computer problems

2009-09-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

Hope to be back soon with interresting stuff from Ste.Marie aux Mines.
Love to all, WillV in Paris

2009-08-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

Back home after spending 4 weeks in the Cotentin, St. Martin de Bréhal and Granville.
As every year, we took Elisa with us, and we were so amazed to see how much energy a seven-year old girl can have and how important ephemere friendships can be!
Wheather was merely nice, with only one rainy day, a few rainspots every now and then, but lots of sun, it's Normandy after all..........

The second picture was taken on the day with the highest tide of the summer season, people came in crowds on the beach for mussels, oysters and other seafood,and local newspapers gave hints for them, asking to respect a minimum size and take a reasonable amount, just as much as you want to really eat and not more.

Elisa made some gray compositions with stones found on the beach.

Huge progress on the baskets made this summer and i really don't regret my decision made on the handles.

The red rick rack is cute on all the blocks.

I'm close to the final amount, maybe twenty something more to make.

My dear quilting friends helped to make the blocks, but i appliquéd the handles all by myself.

I also took the hexagons with me and made about a hundred during the vacation.

After the loss of the first center it took some time to start again.

My favorite season is coming, i'm longing for autumn days and evenings even more, ideas enough for more quilts.

I'm following your blogs with a lot of attention and appriciate your reactions and support.

Welcome to my new followers, happy quilting and i'll be back soon!

Will in Paris.

A sunny day in the garden

2009-07-26T04:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday,
a quiet day in a garden in a Paris suburb, hard to believe there was just 15 minutes in a train to reach my friends for a meal, a glass and a lot of tschatsch before a longer vacation for most of us.
We were at Dominique, she is an embroiderer as much as a quilter and she allowed me to take pics of her own private little room where her fabrics, threads, boxes and the rest is on display.
Like heaven !
She is a collector of vintage items and , of course, a fleamarket and junksale afficionado.
So enjoy the pics.

Sylvie started a new quilt, big houses of 40cms, in rather unexpected fabrics.

Wall art passage des Abbesses, Montmartre.

Sunday morning at the café,Blanka, a dog from La Butte.

where are my followers?

2009-07-23T08:50:00.002-07:00

I'v lost all my followers, does anyone know how to get them back?
I tried to find out with the help of Blogger, but nope........
Thanks for help!
Will in Paris, sorry for the boring post!

where are my followers?

2009-07-23T08:50:00.001-07:00

Sit back and relax, it's a long post...........;

2009-07-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

A fragment from the waistband that will follow.

Let me start with two woollen tops.

The fabric has been gathered over the years, the dark square in a square came from swatches and the grey flannel came from a workmans shirt.

I bought the red fabric for the sashings.

I love to work with woollens, little mistakes are easy to rectify, and my stash is still important.

Inspired by Fons and Porter's book QUILTS FROM AMERICA'S HEARTLAND i used this pattern first for a cotton quilt.

A box full of woollen remnants resulted in this one.

I don't have the cotton quilt anymore.

It stayed in Skopje after my quiltshow in 1996.

May i show you now some family heirlooms?

I went to the Skopje surroundings for the first time in 1970.

DH and i decided to marry, but he wanted me to meet his family first, so i took a train from Paris to S. on my own, dropped in a totally different world.

Noticing that antique items were important to me, they generously allowed me to take back some treasures.

This is a snake with two heads, made of woven pearls.

While dancing, a young girl wrapped the snake around hear hand , and showed it above hear head.

I'm not sure, but it might also have a religious signification.

The snake is overall in a fragile condition, the thread is very weak.

I brought this little chair back a couple of years ago.

It was made by Stojan's granfather, especcially for him when he was a little boy.

A pic from the Turkish quarter in Skopje, around 1900.

The three guys are Serbian, recognisable at their caps.

A rich french banker, ALBERT KAHN, has send photographers all over the world, including the Balkans,in order to picture daily life with a revolutionary colorfotography called AUTOCHROMES;

The next three pics are women from the SKOPSKA CRNA GORA region, close to the now Serbian Albanian border.

My mother in law dressed this way on sundays, but now it has totally faded away..........

Sadly, the 1963 earthquake, communist megalomany while rebuilding the town, and modernity too, killed most of the original way of life in Macedonia too.

Skopje has a wonderful ethnic museum, where one of our nieces, Gordance Vidinic, is a conservator of the textile department.

So if you pass by the sad and dusty city, take a jump there and enjoy!

A detail of the waistband ornament.

Junkfind of last week:

a nice indonesian batik and a bedsheet from a beige chambray, blending nicely in with the batik.

I'm asking for help from my Swiss fellow quilters:

this is another junkfind: a scarf, a naif block print.

It's old, that's for sure but does anyone know when this was printed?And is it really a scarf?

Your answers will be very much appreciated!

A few weeks ago i learned some basic skills of framing with Monique and she was a wonderful help with framing this sepia coloured photo from the house were i was born.

The kids are my aunt and my father and the man in the doorstep is my grandfather.

My parents "modernised" along the years but the current owners brought it back to the original state in an exquisite way.

It is now a beautiful Bed and Breakfast, situated in the heart of DIEREN, Guelderland.

Hope you are all doing well and enjoy summerquilting, it keeps our minds together!

Scrappy top and heat in Paris

2009-07-06T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hello you all quilters,
this morning my friend FrançoiseP,
not a quilter herself, send me a furious e-mail, saying 2 weeks without a post was more than enough LOL
Is it the summer heat that makes me lazy?
Anyway, i grabbed some stuff i wanted to show you for a long time amready.
This dollbed quilt for example, made with the remnants of remnants.
It's been pictured for QUILTMANIA in a lovely way.

Monique is working on a BONNIE HUNTER project for a friend of hers.
She mixes prints and some plaids, good mix Monique!

This top is soooooooooo huge, and the outerborder is not even sewn!
It was explained in 3 issues of QUILTWORKS.
Sadly, the magazine does not exist any longer.
It was very clearly explained, not one of those you can make in a short time,but what a kick while sewing a new row.
Anne Marie made her and had hardly any experience in machine sewing tops at that moment, but she handled it brilliantly.
Her top has a darker background from tan to beige.

Teddy sitting on the bunch of crossstich embroideries i'm collecting in order to make "things"

Not sure what, maybe a big bag and a floor throw to start.

Prices for those things a still reasonable, but some stylists are working with those, so prices may rise quickly.

A piece of silk from my junkshop, two meters long.

Last but not least:

sad news:

The American Bookshop BRENTANO'S closed after a long agony, i used to go there frequently,Galingnani's is an alternative, but has less quiltbooks and no quiltingmagazines.

That's the way life goes, they say Brentano's could no longer afford the rents on Avenue de L'Opéra..

Happy quilting ladies,enjoy the summertime!

2009-06-16T09:43:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely walk along the Seine on a sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, and iw as very much intrigued by the guy on the left!
Seems as if he is........... yes? No?
LOL
For some reason we always walk on the left bank, maybe because you see the Louvre in such a lovely way.
So we get off the subway at Solférino, go to the left, le Musée D'Orsay is on your right and admire the Rhino sculpture, cross the street, follow the riverside.
Cross the first bridge on your way and GET DOWN THE STAIRS AT THE FIRST OCCASION.
Then do it the easy peasy way, just straight on , on your own rythm,
you can walk for miles and miles and enjoy the monumental buildings on your way.
We do this quite often and it won't cost you a dime.

While passing by the main Police department we saw this facade hidden for an important resurfacing,with pics from the cops in all kinds of uniforms, even a roller skater cop!

Joes in Amsterdam, this pic is for you: my friend Nicole fell in love with your antique scrap six pointed star, she allready has a bunch, and it's all done by hand.

So we went for Pentecost to Granville, where Elisa lives with her mum, the wheater was gorgeous, sunny and bright and a seven year old girl is able to swim a whole day....

Granville is famous for the Dior Museum, has a lovely local history museum too, and the country side looks like Ireland, even more going northwards to Cherbourg and surroundings.

We will certainly spend a part of august over there too, close to Granville.

Le Mont St. Michel is only an hour by car, but we avoid to go there in summer, too crowded.

10days ago was the last get-together before the summer, good to see each other.

We quilted a little, the meal was delicious.

The mola was a flea market find nad goes to my sister Hans, who turn 69.

Happy birthdays sister, and many happy returns of the day!

This mola is very well made: very tiny stitches, and i think, allthough i don't know very much about molas, that the design is unusual.

Hope she likes it!

Another fleamarket find , recently bought in my area.

Is anyone familiar with this embroidery?

Could it be Palestinian?

Or South American.

I know i have followers in Haifa, Adi, does this look familiar to you?

And how about this?

Looks as if it's made the same way as the shiny orangy thing i showed several weeks ago.

The reason i was silent the last 2 weeks, was that right after Pentecost hell broke out here, because we decided all of a sudden for a total remake of the bathroom.

New ceiling, window, paint, taps, tiles,you name it!

Oh, it's very simple, but what a joy to enter in a clean, spotless and shiny bathroom!

We did it as simple as possible , only the taps are from a very good brand.

And what would we do without IKEA? The only stressfull aspect was the frightening mess all over the appartment, we live in only 45 square meters. Tonya, how much is that in square feet?

But things come slowly back to normal, what we both enjoy very much.

Will be back soon with something quilty,

Will in Paris

news from La Butte Montmartre

2009-05-23T06:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-05-04T06:11:00.000-07:00

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!