Stitching

I have been stitching on my circles travellers blanket- the weather has been right ,cold wet and miserable, so what better to work on and keep you warm at the same time? I want to finish this blanket- it has been on the go since last year and I feel I need to finish it before I can start on my  French inspired travellers blanket. I tend to not have too many projects on the go at one time, though I need to seriously get working and creating.

I like how the little silk sari circles  change shape as you stitch- initially I as fussing about trying to make them perfectly circular- but who said that they needed to be? So i just sewed whatever shape they decided to be - maybe it's the  former wearer influencing the shape- who knows- it's quirky and i do like the irregular shapes as they do blend in better with the tie dyed shapes at the top. At the moment I am trying to sew all the circles on and then I will embroider them with simple stitches.

Can anyone see a sort of portrait on the background fabric? It's almost like an old negative.

So I will be starting another Travellers Blanket on- line class starting July 1. If you are interested in joining please email me. The cost is $60 and the course consists of three lessons, delivered as pdf files and a discussion group so that  you can share your stories and get feedback .The idea is that you  create a kind of story with fabrics and stitches- it is surprising what stories people have told with their blankets- some have been very personal, using such things as fabrics that belonged to family, others have  told stories of  morning walks along the beach and others have recorded things from the past. The background cloth I have used  is hand dyed khadi cloth ( which is a hand spun and woven fabric ), which is also available for sale if you are interested.

Nothing Productive This Week

Got home very late last Sunday night after a couple of days in France with my friend Christine Moulin. I went to Paris for the day on Thursday and visited the Musee du Monde Arabe which did not have their interesting shutter system working - as the sunlight moves, so do the shutters creating interesting light and sound. I wondered around the Mouffetard Quartier and found some interesting graffiti and wanderers and a very decent meal and glass of wine.

On the Friday we went to visit Vaux-le-Vicomte - a chateau I had read about after reading about the gardens created  by Andre Le Notre which included sections of the Jardin des Tuileries, and his life's work at Versailles. It was after seeing the garden ( and festivities) at Vaux created for the finance minister Fouquet by Le Notre that Louis XIV, in a jealous fit, had the minister imprisoned (Fouquet just narrowly escaped execution and there were other reasons for the vexation not least of which was Colbert's influence over the king, however the display of splendour of Vaux irritated Louis XIV to a great extent) As a consequence Louis XIV embarked on the extravagance of Versailles (and its gardens which were designed by Andre le Notre)- and centered his court at Versailles so that  he could keep a close eye on all his nobles. However it is Vaux which is considered the most beautiful and  perfect of formal gardens and which served as a model for many other formal gardens. One of the brilliant things of this garden is a square pool about 600 metres from the chateau- in which on a still day lies a perfect mirror image of the chateau- a feat or perspective still much admired in this day and age.I did get a bit of a mirror image but unfortunately the cupola was being restored so there was also the shroud of scaffolding mirrored.

Images from Paris and Vaux- click on the photo for a larger image

I have done little work this week- though intend to work on work inspired by France- i will be creating a book of work/images/stories/how to's of the work. But there were things to catch up on and then my father was hospitalised- and he is nearly 80 so  heart problems do have to be taken seriously. It was also the Geelong Quilters Annual Quilt-in- so preparation and attendance for that- I had meant to blog about it but life got in the way!

I will be starting another on-line Travellers Blanket Class- starting 1 July 2012. The cost will be $60AUS and simply email me for details or leave a message and I shall get back to you.I will be creating my french travellers blanket with some silk I bought in Lyon at the Maison de Canuts with the specific intent to create a French travellers blanket.Please join me!

Open European Quilt Championships

I spent the last four days at the Open European Quilt Championships where I was demonstrating along with several other well known Dutch ( Els van Baarle and Cherilyn Martin, French  ( Pascale Brebonne)and English  ( Emma Wood )designers/ artists. Emma is an emerging designer making  designs for teatowels and stationary and will be releasing her new collection on her website in a months time. There were many excellent quilts int he competition and many interesting guest collections- unfortunately I did not take photos- I don't like taking photos at quilt shows because it never shows the work as it really is, and as it should be seen.

 I demonstrated some printing and also finished one  sentinelle panel i started before my trip and finished another at about 5 minutes to five on Sunday afternoon- which are for sale for 120 Euros if you are interested.Just email me

 The last two images are of some of the patterning on the outer doors of Chartres Cathedral- that stone can almost seem like textile is always a surprise to me!