Seams French

Le Mireille: "Des études de piqûres" ("A Study of Stitches") The central motif of "Le Mireille". Back in July of 2012, while we were still living in the south of France for part of each year, I had the privilege of taking classes in boutis with Madame Francine Born, as well as participating in the local boutis association . All of the women in the group are talented stitchers, skilled in the traditional technique, yet not afraid of allowing creativity a place. Less conventional types of threads and yarns, fabrics and stitches would sometimes be successfully incorporated into their work. Since that time, I have been eager to work on one of Mme. Born's traditional boutis designs, experimenting with the variety of stitches and threads being used by contemporary boutiseusses. "Le Mireille" is one of Madame Born's traditional designs. In her own class sample (below), she has used several different stitches as well as different weight...

Other then the "Stars and Butterflies" quilt from my last post, the Bernina has been diligently stitching away at many other baby related goodies. Most were made for grandbaby H, but some were also made to be given as gifts to family and friends. The Bernina at Seams French was not the only one busy stitching before Christmas. During my daughter's pregnancy, hand stitching became a way for her to relax and prepare for the baby's arrival. The first photo shows the quilt that she started hand piecing when she was just weeks into the pregnancy. She machine quilted it and completed the last few rows about a week before baby H arrived. Talk about timing. Because she found the hand piecing very relaxing, when the quilt had been pieced, she spent evenings hand stitching the star fish bunting now hanging on the wall behind the crib. Baby H has now laid claim to this bright and sunny room. She loves "chattering" to the calico prints in the quilt. This little...

This little baby quilt and I have made it to the finish line. Perhaps not quite in time for my little grand daughter's arrival (she is now 3 months old), but just in the nick of time for her move from bassinet to the big girl crib. I have named the quilt "A Pocketful of Starlight", just as Perry Como likes to croon. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t_PDU5RmBw ), "Catch a falling star and put it in you pocket, save it for a rainy day". Three different shaped stars, which have been either machine appliqued or pieced, form the focal motif for the quilt. Three free motion quilted (FMQ) butterflies intertwine and emerge from the midst of these falling stars and join this little quilted galaxy. To keep the butterflies fluid and moving and separated from the curvy, swirly background filler, I added a small scale cross hatch border around them. A larger quilted star shape surrounds each of the yellow appliqued stars to highlight them and to keep them separate...

Blocking Boutis: Between all of the machine sewing and quilting that have kept me gainfully occupied over the last few months, I have taken a little time to work on my boutis. You may remember the little saffron coloured boutis rose window below from my post on October 15, 2014    http://seamsfrench.blogspot.ca/2014_10_01_archive.html . Once stitched and corded, it was soaked in a basin of warm water with a little gentle soap (such as Orvis), and then straightened and squared up with thumb tacks on a heavy sheet of styrofoam. It was originally destined to become a pin cushion, however, at 5" x 5", I find it too large to be practical for that use. Currently, it's ultimate destiny is undetermined. I used only 2 basic stitches on this piece: the running stitch and the back stitch. For more info on the stitches and their variations, click on the above link. Done a number of years ago, the little cicada used in both of the pieces below was my first attempt at boutis...

The FMQ on the twinkling star quilt is well under way. Here are a few photos of the work as it has progressed. This first photo shows 2 of the 3 star blocks that I finally settled on. The top star with the double points is machine appliqued. Aside from being the easiest one to assemble, it best captures a "twinkling" star. It has become my favourite. The smaller star underneath it was paper pieced. It was more time consuming, but the points are nice and crisp and it is securely pieced, so it will be quite durable. However, the strong diagonal lines created in the paper piecing process presented quite a challenge when trying to incorporate those lines into the rest of the quilting design. Too late to change it now! Although the double pointed machine appliqued block is the closest to a twinkling star, the yellow cotton that I used in the points, (shot cotton), is not meant for this type of machine applique. It's softness and pliability, which makes it perfect for ha...

Just on the other side of the window where I sit and sew is a hummingbird feeder. All year round, these graceful little birds entertain me with their lively dance and their energetic zeal for life. Aside from the reminder to take the time to enjoy the moment, these delicate creatures have provided me with plenty of inspiration for my quilting and boutis designs. The inspiration for the image of this hummingbird comes from one of the many photos we have taken watching these birds just on the other side of the glass..  Back in November, when I was working on the star blocks for the baby quilt, (and the star blocks were not cooperating http://seamsfrench.blogspot.ca/2014/11/oh-my-stars.html   I pushed them aside for a day or so and started another baby quilt. This time, I would pay tribute to these little hummingbirds and make them the focal point of the quilt. As I was stitching away on the star blocks, my attention was often drawn to a neatly wrapped bundle of shot cot...

Two days ago, on the winter solstice of 2014, the stars aligned, and our beautiful new granddaughter surprised everyone and made her entrance into the world and into our lives a tad prior to scheduled time of arrival. We are thankful for a safe, healthy arrival and completely thrilled, delighted and seriously in love. With ten tiny fingers, ten teeny toes, and a perfectly cute little nose, I'm sure that she joins me in wishing everyone a very special Christmas and holiday season.