Patchwork in Paris

Well, surprise, surprise, here’s another post from my trip to Paris…
This time I am taking you on a little voyage through the craft & patchwork show that I attended while in Paris, in fact this show, named Cree Attitude, was the reason for the timing of my Parisienne adventure!

Quiltmania, my favorite French patchwork magazine asked me to show one of my Christmas quilts, Mistletoe Hollow, in their booth at the show which meant that I got a backstage pass, so to speak, to see the show itself. This was a general craft show, or a hobby show as they referred to it, and the exhibitors ranged from patchwork shops [quilting is generally referred to as patchwork in Europe], to embroidery & all types of needlework, to knitting, to decoupage & scrapbooking to ceramics & food crafts, to weaving & woodworking… It was wonderful to see the wide variety of handicrafts that are all enjoying such an enchanting comeback in France in the recent years.

Here is just the first batch of photos from that show, showing you mostly some patchwork & needleworks done in the very traditional French country color of linen & red, mixed with toiles and embroidery, etc. It is such a wonderful combination of textures and feels… don’t be surprised if you catch glimpses of some of this inspiration in some upcoming fabric lines… I’m just saying, don’t be surprised…

It was very nice to be so well received in a country where I really don’t speak but a few trite phrases. I found that I did speak the international language of fabric and design… all the gracious patchwork shops knew who I was! I found that both an honor and somewhat intimidating as well… so far away from home, before being introduced I felt somewhat anonymous and more of an “onlooker” into another world… in a good observer kind of way. But now I was known, by people with whom I could not communicate… it was a very interesting sensation for me, especially after my stay in Madrid where I could communicate fluently. They enjoyed showing me projects from their stores that they had created from some of my past lines, as a few of these photos will show. Their projects and their booths were lovely.

One of the things that I am enamored with in French patchwork, is the proliferous use of taupe, natural and grey linen in their projects. Not only in needlework, but in patchwork and all types of fabric projects as well. Most of the patchwork booths showed some projects of that flavor and I found myself coming back to them again and again….

I have more Cree Attitude vignettes to share but for now I just leave you with these photos and the realization once again that the French know something special about presentation, don’t they?

Talk to you soon.