Pour l’amour du fil 2017

Nantes was where it was all happening… As I load these photo’s I am reliving a most amazing time

(Apologies in advance for a long blog post)

image of Misao Wado's Nantes
Misao Wado’s ‘Nantes’

But of course to get to Nantes, a trip to Paris is pretty much *a must*

As soon as I arrived at The Hotel Henriette on the Left Bank, I was swooning.

We were a party of ten (can you imagine the giggling) at this hotel  … now my new favourite.

image of Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

image of Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

Hotel Henriette, Rive Gauche

A fabulous time was had by *all us girls*;  we sent the guys off to do boy things because they would not have been interested at all in the Stitching Up Paris Tour we did

If you get the chance to spend an afternoon or morning doing a walking and metro tour with Barbara, you simply must! Tailor made to you and your friends’ textile passions, click here to see

http://www.stitchingupparis.com/

Here’s just a small taste of what we saw

image of Ines, La Boutique du Patchwork

Ines, La Boutique du Patchwork

http://www.inespatchwork.com/

We also went to Sajou and La Droguerie, I have no idea why I have no pictures :-O

Ultra Mod....Divine

Ultra Mod….Divine

http://ultramod-paris.com/

Just because...so gorgeous

Just because…so gorgeous

Ditto the gorgeous Haberdashery

Ditto the gorgeous Haberdashery

And then it was time to go to Nantes for Pour l’amour du fil

and the official launch of

Quilts from the Colonies

Quilts from the Colonies

Quilts from the Colonies published by Quiltmania

What a thrill the whole five days in Nantes was… I was overwhelmed by the amount of visitors to the show and their kindness to me! I loved meeting up again with old friends, getting to know friends I’d met on social media and making lots of new friends.

And of course being reaquainted with my book quilts which have been away from home since August, beautifully displayed in my Salon by the hard working Quiltmania and Pour l’amour du fil teams.

image of My Salon at Pour l'amour du fil

My Salon at Pour l’amour du fil showing some of the quilts from my book

And a few more

Holt's Landing and Miss Hitchens' Whimsy

Holt’s Landing and Miss Hitchens’ Whimsy

Salon

Rainbow Row, Sarah-Jane’s Scrapbag and Liberty Oak

A rare moment of calm

A rare moment of calm

And the oooh-ing and aaah-ing over all the gorgeous salons and the work contained therein was deafening LOL

Clockwise from top left: Misao Wado, Petra Prins, Deirdre Bond-Abel and Segolaine Schweitzer

Clockwise from top left: Misao Wado, Petra Prins, Deirdre Bond-Abel and Segolaine Schweitzer

Clockwise from top left: Di Ford-Hall, Dawn Heese, Norma Whaley and Bonnie Sullivan

Clockwise from top left: Di Ford-Hall, Dawn Heese, Norma Whaley and Bonnie Sullivan

And let’s not forget the Welsh Quilts !

Welsh Quilts from the collection of Jen Jones

Welsh Quilts from the collection of Jen Jones

 I loved popping in to the salon of the gorgeous and talented Judy Newman of A Very Fine House, what a joy it has been to share this amazing journey together

Judy Newman.  Her book Quilts for Life Made with Love is another recent publication by Quiltmania

Judy Newman. Her book Quilts for Life Made with Love is another recent publication by Quiltmania

Catching up

Catching up with Judy, Deirdre, Amy, Di and Kaffe

And more ctaching up

And more catching up with Norma, Anne-Helene (who did all the technical work on my book…thank you <3 ) Jo, Linda and Martine and Dawn

I also taught two classes while I was there

Sarah-Jane's Scrapbag class

Sarah-Jane’s Scrapbag class

A-Tisket A-Tasket class

A-Tisket A-Tasket class…  And a very special photo here of Christine Maxwell Bonney, I’m so pleased to have been able to spend time with her in Nantes.

Sadly Christine passed away last week after a long cancer illness.  She travelled and sewed and enjoyed her life, making friends wherever she went. Truly an inspiration to live the life you want.

Here we are in Paducah in 2012

Sitting on the porch

Sitting on the porch

 I loved the trip and the show so much I am planning to return to Europe later next year to do some more teaching.

Because all too soon it was over.

And it was time for a little R and R.

Off to Lisbon and beyond

Off to Lisbon and beyond

A well earned Gin and Tonic (they're huge in Lisbon, just sayin')

A well earned Gin and Tonic with a view (they’re huge in Lisbon, just sayin’)

After the build up to the release of the book, and the preparations for Pour l’amour du fil and all the excitement surrounding it, I extended the trip with another 3 weeks gallavanting around Portugal, Spain and Morocco gathering lots of inspiration and ideas for future quilts.

There’s some works underway already :-o

Thanks so much for visiting, and sorry it’s such a long post.

But there’s lots of exciting things ahead and I want to show them in chronological order

Stay tuned

happy stitching

Margaret

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Comments

  1. Love your LONG posts! It is the only way to keep up with you! I still owe you a long letter! Love, Sherry

  2. So happy you had such a wonderful trip…..Your book and Quilts are just beautiful and can’t wait to see your new quilts. The long post was great and so were the photos. Keep up the amazing work!!!! HUGS…

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