April 2019 (4), Gauchy, France "Au boulot"!

So this is my fourth and final blogpost about April, because when Pour l’Amour du Fil ended (click & click) the fun wasn’t over. 

With Emma (click) and Margaret (click) I traveled to Emma’s, which is little over an hour away from Paris. Always such a pleasure and fun to visit and this time also, as Margaret was giving her first workshop on her new Merrow Croft quilt.

I always love those few moments of quiet when we arrive early at Emma’s shop before everyone else does,  to get everything ready.

The ladies worked on the center of the Merrow Croft quilt, which is quite intricate, with a lot of round shapes coming together, not easy but so beautiful.

And I write ‘work’ for a reason, because everyone worked really hard and with both Margaret and me working on our French, the phrase “Au boulot!” (let’s work!) was often heard 😉

Work hard and play hard they say, apart from working hard there were lots of laughs and a great, creative atmosphere in the lovely, light space at Le Patchwork d’Emma.

With a two day workshop there is lots of time for demonstrations and explanations by a great teacher

After which the ladies are back ‘au boulot’ at the large tables....

....and I am back ‘au boulot’ at ‘my’ end of one of the tables, making sure no one is without the fabrics they want :-) 

Lucky for us, on the second day of the workshop Margaret showed us she had something special in her luggage…. a special guest: Rosa Biddlecombe!

Always a pleasure to see you, Rosa 😊 

For those of you who have not seen the backing of this quilt, a pretty fabric:-

And at the end of the two days there were great results! 

A few of the proud students and a proud teacher!

A kind and creative group of people, a great few days at Emma’s shop/atelier/boutique and the French country side, lovely memories.

This is my final post on the busy month of April, thank you for visiting my blog and sort of ‘travelling with me’, hope to meet you again here next time!

Phyllis

April 2019 (3), Nantes, France, more on Pour l'Amour du Fil

My third blogpost about April, and my second about the quilt show in Nantes, Pour l’amour du Fil.

Last blogpost I shared a few of my favorite exhibitions, but there was so much more to see …. and to do!

There were the booths, 

at Petra Prins’ (click) , always beautiful and so much inspiration:-

also ‘across the street’ at Den Haan & Wagenmakers (click):-

another favorite, antiques and vintage at Jane Lury (click) :-

and beautiful colors everywhere:-

Quilters do not (just) see a lovely dress at this booth…..

…but vintage fabric!

Quilt shows are a great opportunity to meet people, the ones you meet in person for the first time:

 Will (click) 

 and those you ‘bump into’ from time to time 😊 

the lovely Rachel Daisy (click) 

always smiling and full of energy: Juud (click & click) .

There were more quilts to see other than the ones in the exhibitions, like the lovely and quilt Arlington Square by Emma Mary Newman of Emma Mary Designs (click) which could be seen in the Bloggers Corner.
Emma is also the owner of the Queen of Fabric shop (click) in Melbourne.
You can find the pattern for this quilt in Quiltmania #130.

Design talent runs in Emma’s family as she is the daughter of Judy Newman (click) , whose latest quilt Strafford Manor was in Quiltmania’s booth, scroll down for more

With all this walking, talking, meeting people, visiting the exhibitions, you need a break now and then and some yummy food!

Our energy levels restored after that great quiche Emma (click) and I attended Judy’s (click) workshop, the Strafford Manor quilt you saw before, isn’t is beautiful?

Applique tips and tricks!

  

After a fabulous few days in Nantes and at this show, we were sad to leave, but this was not the end of my quilting adventures in April!

More in my next blogpost, hope to meet you again here!

Phyllis

April (2), Nantes, France

My second blogpost about April, a busy quilt-month, this time about the quilt show in Nantes, Pour l’amour du Fil.

It was my second visit to this show, a show different from all others because of the way it is set up. Part of the exhibitions coincide with the publication of a Quiltmania book by a designer so a dedicated room (salon) is set up, decorated with furniture and props totally in line with the type and color of the quilts. Very special.

I can spend lots of words on this show, how beautiful, how inspirational, such lovely people etc. etc. but most of all I will let the pictures to the ‘talking’….

I was so lucky to have such sweet, fun and talented travel compagnons, Judy (click), Margaret (click) and Emma (click) , thanks for a lovely and fun few days girls, it was a special time!

The town of Nantes is delightful, the first afternoon was spent on a nice walk exploring the town.

I noticed a strange thing though….. the name of this cafe:

….and this on the wall of the restaurant where we had dinner one night:

It must be a local joke of some kind, because what I did notice was that lots of people have dogs, fun looking dogs, lots of them off the leash also in the center of town, but listening very well to their masters, apparently they love their dogs in Nantes. For me as a dog lover I thought that was great (we take our doggy everywhere).

Back to what we came here for, quilts!

With a few days at the show I had plenty of time to visit the salons, let me take you on  ‘little’ tour of my favorites:-

Reiko Kato, detailed and cute as ever, her Quiltmania book, In Love with Mother's Dreams:

Racheldaisy, an explosion of colors and textures, no wonder her new Quiltmania book is called Whizz Bang!

Susan Smith, sweet as ever, her new Quiltmania book: Quilts, Somewhat in the Middle

Vicky Hodge, two-sided quilts in her new Quiltmania book: Button Box Quilts

Charles-Edouard de Broin, his antique collection in the new Quiltmania book: Bliss of a Quilt Digger

And of course, the Secret Sewing Sisters, their Quiltmania book Labors of Love.
One of the times I came to their exhibition things were a bit quiet and some of the Sisters were doing what they do so well… sewing!
So Meghan was kind enough to give the Aha (or, since we were in France, the Ooh-la-la) tour….. she showed me the backings of their quilts and there were some surprises there!

Cécile Franconie, bohemia is the word that comes to mind, her Quiltmania book: Quilted and Embroidered Floralies.
That chaise-longue….. fully embroidered….

These is so much more to show you from this show, I will do so in a next blog post.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures of some of my favorite exhibitions at this year’s Pour l’Amour du Fil.

Phyllis

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