The Quilty Gathering Continues

As you can well imagine...when four quilters get together there is never a dull moment! We talked, laughed and sewed. I was treated to a lesson in the French technique, Boutis...looks similar to trapunto.

These are some of the pieces Cécile has made.

Here's the one from the above photo on the left, held against the light. This is a work in progress. Every bit of this will be filled with cotton yarn. All the sewing is done...the stuffing is left to complete.

Cécile prepared identical little samples for all of us to work on. Two layers of a light weight batiste, basted together and design drawn and ready for stitching. Fine stitches must go on every line. I started in the center and filled about half of the design. I needed to try my hand at filling spaces with the yarn before I left. I just managed to do that!

Here is where I am after two evenings spent finishing up all the stitching.You can see the tiny bit I stuffed on the flower before I left Christelle's house. I am determined to finish this and plan to work on it a little bit every day. It will make an adorable pincushion. It is a 4-inch square.

 

Cécile and Corinne have blogs of their own which I will link to next. It was great fun to be featured in someone else's blog!

Cécile's Blog - Patchwork Inspirations

Corinne's Blog - L'atelier de Cocopatch (Translates to Cocopatch Workshop)

I also brought some gifts for each of the ladies and Christelle's daughter who joined in the fun. I neglected to get a photo of her project. She was crocheting a scarf.

Anyway...here was my secret little patchwork project I was working on around Christmas...little, bitty, sewing baskets...recycled from wooden baskets that cherry tomatoes are sold in at my local supermarket. Cherry tomatoes are easily my favorite fruit/vegetable. I eat them like grapes. I have about 50 of these baskets...I've been hoarding them...knowing there was something wonderful I could do with them.

I know a few quilty friends in Alaska are going to spy these on my blog and wonder where their's are...I'm getting started on them right now!

Just a few lose ends to wrap up...

Christelle pulled out her Elna Grasshopper for me.  She has two but one is for "parts." These are adorable machines! The case is metal and looks like an Army container. My men would love the look!

And I just have to show you Christelle with her two cats, Garlic...I love the halo around Christelle's head!

And Fender. 

These two Maine Coon cats have convinced my husband we should get a cat again when we get back to Alaska. He likes how huge these Maine Coon cats can be and sounds like they are perfect for cold weather climates. Bingo!!!

Fun French Facts...I know Christelle will correct me if I get this wrong...but...as I understand it...the French assign a letter to the year that cat names should begin with. For instance...when Christelle got Garlic, the letter for the year was  "G". "F" for the year they got Fender...like Fender Guitars. Anyway...just in case you are wondering...2015 is "K". I don't think we are going to follow this...because we are already thinking of names and as we usually do...we are leaning toward names related to well know historical leaders...Ceasar...Midas. We have a stipulation that all pet names must have two syllables. We hope to get a male cat...but that is still a little bit in a our future.

Oops. A correction to make. This pattern is from the book, "The Blue and the Grey," a book highlighting Civil War fabrics. I had the wrong book cited in my previous post.

And apologies to Christelle's other cat, Kimmie, a Ragdoll. I missed getting a photo of her.

It was a great day. I invited myself over to Christelle's tomorrow. She has a wonderfully large and peaceful park near her home. I have many questions about French politics...we are planning on going for a very long walk. My main questions revolve around immigration and the different political parties....I sure hope it doesn't rain!

One last thought.

It was amazing to watch all the marches in Paris and throughout Europe that took place yesterday and on previous days. It was very moving. I am sorry the United States leadership was so prominently missing. 

Cartoon by Mike Peters.