Pick of the Bunch

I haven't had any luck trying to edit the photos from the Nantes quilt show, the poor quality of the lighting together with the small exhibiting areas made it almost impossible to get any decent shots. So - to make the best of a bad job (!) these are a few that I thought might interest !


Not only were the majority of quilts being displayed in the basement, but they were also set out in small 'rooms', which made it very difficult to get many full shots, as you can see from this!



and this !

Two lovely quilts in very artistic settings, but a photographer's nightmare- just like the lighting on this one !

So what should have been an opportunity to show you some beautiful quilts ( and they were really beautiful!) turned into a disaster!

There was a small section of antique quilts which was quite charming and I have to shown you this even though the photo is very bad !

Not applique, but broderie perse, made in England in 1874 ! About the same time as a second English quilt which I just couldn't get a full shot of, but had to show you the medallion centre





Those hexagons are 3/4 inch at the widest point - amazing! Which brings me to another marvel of minute piecing - 1/4 inch finished 'logs' in this cabin !






There were many, many more lovely quilts and it is such a shame I can't show them to you!


One of the highlights of the day was meeting Kaffe Fassett - what a lovely man, as so interesting to chat to!





You know, we must have spent almost half an hour talking to him and in all that time he kept knitting away and didn't drop a single stitch!!



Finally, I still haven't got around to taking a photo of my booty, but I'm expecting a parcel from Fabric Shack any day now, so I thought to do it all at the same time! Just to give you an idea , this will probably be my next project - nothing complicated, but it was very effective!

Showtime!

Yesterday was a very long, very enjoyable day and well worth the long drive to Nantes and back and I am sure you won't be surprised to hear that yet again I spent too much money !!


The hall was packed to overflowing by the time Stephanie (no blog) and I arrived even though we were only 15 minutes after opening time, which just shows how starved we are for such events in this part of France !


The exhibition covered all forms of 'thread' craft as well as patchwork & quilting, but I think it is fair to say that there were a lot more P&Q vendors than any others! It was such a treat to see so many fabrics all in one place but not so good to see the prices ! Fat quarters were ranging from 4.50 to 10.00 euros and yardage from 15.00 to 22.00 euros with some fabric panels priced at 45.00 euros. Just for comparison today's exchange rate 1 euro = $0.75, so it doesn't take much to understand why I buy the bulk of my fabrics from the US !


This time I remembered the camera, but unfortunately the quilt exhibition was in the basement of the building, with very poor lighting (mainly spot lights - don't know if this did the quilts a great deal of good!) so the photos are very poor! I will try and edit a couple of them ready for the next post, together with my new fabrics, which are all gaily fluttering away in the garden after being washed !!



As there have been too many posts without any pictures lately,a peep at the first apple blossoms appearing on our cider apple trees

and our cherry tree , as always, awash with the most delicate of flowers which are drifting down like snowflakes on the gentle breeze !

Stop Press!

After having such a great time looking at all the wonderful quilts being shown by so many talented quilterson the Bloggers First Annual Quilt Festival, on Friday I am going to my first real live show in France !

Pour l'Amour du Fil is a new venture for Quiltmania magazine and their first show is taking place just 2 hours away in Nantes - now how could I not go !!

I am sure that the quilts will be no better than those I've seen at the Bloggers Festival - have you had a look yet, if not you're missing a big treat - but I am looking forward to all those lovely goodies that (hopefully!) will be on sale!

Animal Antics !

I know! I know!! No postings for weeks and now two in a day, but I just couldn't resist this!



Where else would a cat spend a wet Sunday afternoon but on top of the cupboard with the quilts and the doll!!!

Ah Well!! Guess it's time I got up to eat !!

This little lady and her Mum appeared at the bottom of our neighbour's garden this morning ! Apparently she arrived 3 days ago and has been brought into the village so's to keep an eye on her for a few days and also to keep her under cover away from the wet, cold evenings that we are having! She is as black as a black sheep can possibly be and so cute - I even got to cuddle her earlier !! Mum is a minature breed so you can imagine how small the lamb is! Sorry the photo is a bit blurred, but she was a mite shy !

Spring Swap

It's almost a week now since I received my Spring Swap parcel from my partner and what a great parcel it was too! I'm afraid I am late with this post as I 've been waiting for some decent weather before taking the photos, but as the rain is being very persistent and time is passing rather quickly, thought I should get on with it !!


So - my big fat squiggy from Norway.......

...full of lots of intriguing parcels!

Which were hiding not only this lovely table runner ...

...but many other goodies....

.

...including a Tilda stitchery, a rooster ornament and two pieces of repro fabric and.......

.......chocolate, tissues, some serviettes and a note pad!!!! Didn't I do well ??

In case you are wondering, I did mention that I have a bit of a thing about roosters/chickens and my favourite colours are blues and creams, and I think you'll agree that my partner managed both very well!!

Thank you so very much May Kristin for all these wonderful gifts, you have been more than generous and I am delighted with every one of them !!!

Time also for a 'Thank You' to Linda for organising the swap, it's been a pleasure taking part !

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I still haven't posted about the trip to the UK , but just don't seem to have the time to get organised with photos etc at the moment! My tummy bug (now gone thankfully!!) has set me so far back with the day to day tasks of washing, ironing, cooking, rounding up dust bunnies(!) etc etc!! All totally boring but even I can't ignore them any longer :-)



One thing I have managed to do, and that is to catch up with most of my Blog reading and discover all about the Blogger's Quilt Festival , brain child of Amy at Park City Girl, so thought I would join in! If you'd like to know more, go along and visit Amy straight away!

This is the quilt I'd like to show

which I wrote about on this post, so please follow the link to find out the story behind it ! Out of all the quilts I have made to date, this is still my favourite!

The sun has decided to come out after several days of torrential rain, so maybe I'll get lucky and manage a few of those photos this afternoon !!

Another Short Post!

Almost a week since I posted and ,very briefly, this is really to say that I haven't droppped off the edge of the world, just been having rather a rough time with a bad bout of food poisoning - no details, suffice to say that I managed to loose half a stone in 3 days !!

I do feel a lot better today thankfully, but I am very behind in dealing with emails etc. I am doing my best to catch up, but if you are expecting something from me I am sure you'll understand!

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter Weekend and that the weather was kind to you !!

Blogging Again!

Well, here I am, home safe , sound and very (happily) tired !

The goods news is that everyone in the UK is well, and though I always feel sad leaving our family behind, I have to admit I'm glad to be sleeping in my own bed after 2 weeks!

The bad news is that I am now a lot poorer than when I left France (!) and the really bad news is that I forgot to take the camera !!

I have e-mails to read and answer,post & squiggies to acknowledge and blogs to catch up with (not to mention the mountain of washing & ironing !!!!) but once this is done I'll tell you about our trip :-)