Finished : The Family Chronicle Quilt

It is finished, FINISHED ! Not a bad performance, in view of the fact that I started it 4 years ago :-)

Okay, It still needs a little more quilting, but I can do that at my leisure during those long winter evenings while watching tv.

Enfin termine : Le Patch de la famille Henry !!! pas trop mal comme cela m'a pris (seulement) quatre ans a finir. Il a besoin d'un petit peu plus de matelassage, mais je peut faire ca durant ces longues soirees d'hiver au coin du feu (devant la tele, plutot)

Boys, boys everywhere you look.

Kai's Birthday Party: Seven Candles

Fox is such a pretty little imp, and a big fan of chocolate frosting

Fox est un bien joli petit diable qui estun fan du chocolat

Chase, who wants to be grown up in the worst way , but is not above licking the frosting off the candles.
Chase qui veut etre grand, mais n'a pas oublie comment lecher le glacage au chocolat sur les bougies.

Kai on his birthday , August 2nd, with a chocolate cake, custom made for him with 7 candles.

Grand sourire (un peu edente) de Kai le jour de son anniversaire. un gateau d'anniversaire fait a la maison pour lui... avec Sept Bougies

I'm Baaaaack : a BORO textile experiment

I t's official, I deserve the title of "Bad Blogger" of the month. I've got excuses, but I am not going to bother you with them, because, they are after all, well, excuses. So I'm back after a long hiatus. I've finished a few projects that I now need to photograph.

And for starters, I have found this japanese textile art form, that I find fascinating. It is called "Boro" which translate into "rags" or "waste fabric" in English. The story behind the Boro textiles is a little similar to our quilting tradition. When fabrics were rare and expensive, poor people in Japan did not throw away any of them. Instead, they patched and mended, and replaced and added to the garment until it looked a bit like Joseph's Coat of Many Colors. I find this art-craft form poignant since it represents a history of the person, or family that owned it. You can see a few exemple of beautiful Boro pieces here :
http://www.kimonoboy.com/catalog.html?category=Sold_Boro

Anyhoo I tried my hand at making a New Boro (and as you can see I just I love Indigo.) I realize that it is cheating, for the value is in the antiquity, but, in my defense I want to mention that all the fabrics I used are quite old, leftovers from dress making and faded tea towels and old blue jeans. There's something so primeval about the rough, visible stitches and the raw edges, it has inspired me to do other pieces, not Boros, but, my own creations. So much so that the title of this blog "My Little Papers may no longer be appropriate, and perhaps should be changed to "My little Stuff," Whadaya think ?

Toodles

o

TEXTE EN FRANCAIS

J'ai decouvert cette forme japonaise de Patchwork, qui s'appelle "Boro" qui se traduit a peu pres par "Tissu perdu". Il y a un ou deux siecle quand le tissu coutait tres cher, les pauvres gens reparaient et ajoutaient des pieces avec un resultat tres interessant. Bien sur, les Boros authentiques coutent les yeux de la tete, et sont tres recherches par les les collec-

tionneurs, alors, pour rire, je m'en suit cousu un (voir photo.) Il n'est pas trop mal reussi, meme si il lui manque la patine de 2 siecles.

Vous pouvez voir des Boros authentiques dans le lien si dessus (au milieu du texte Anglais) je les trouve superbes, si touchants, et personnels, et en meme temps, tres graphique et modernes enfin c'est le design Japonais... imbatable.

A plus tard.

More of Burgundy,

To say that wine is important in Burgundy is a gross understatement: In Burgundy wine is a religion.

Here is the chateau of Meursault where we visited the cave and sampled some great wines.

The chateau of Meursault is built on top of an 11th century monastery of which only the magnificent vaulted cellars are left.

This is the vineyard of Meursault, right next to the castle.

Vineyards are everywhere scaling up the hills, as far as the eye can see. It is interesting to see the names on each vineyard, legendary names like Pommard, Meursault, Gevrey-Chambertin, Puligny-Montrachet, and to see that their vineyards are relatively modest in size, (I sort of expected immense, impressive fields matching the world famous reputations.)

TTFN

More of Beaune ...To market, to market

Yes the weather was pouting a little that day, but I really enjoyed the Beaune market. It is so colorful and lively with gorgeous displays, friendly people, merchants that offer to let you taste their products (I stilll dream about that "pate en croute" that I tasted ... and bought, the "charcutier" was truly the Da Vinci of pork products )

I found this plaque that says that Arthur and Gaston Chevrolet (Yep, the car and truck guys) lived there at the end of the 19th century, before going on to bigger things I guess.

I like the old fashioned french boutiques, so quaint ! and most aren't especially high-end,

they can be bakeries, and delis and real-estate offices, nothing fancy, just charming.

I took a pic of this building and forgot what it was (I'm hoping Sis can tell me soon)

Well that's enough for today.

Tooddles.

Trip To Beaune (The Hospice)

Beaune is reknown for its ancient hospital ( Hospice) build in the 15th century. It is truly magnificent, both inside and out, It was built at the time by a local nobleman and his wife to atone for their sins, and provided free health care for the poor. It was a working hospital as late as the mid 20th century.

Below is the room for the poor people, quite lovely accomodations, I think.

Alright now for an anecdote. In one of these huge rooms, there is a grate in the floor (a beautifully ornate one, of course) and through that grate, you can see a river running beneath the building. That room was where surgery was done, and whatever was.. removed was tossed into the riverbelow. As the legend goes, the trouts downstream of the hospice were the fattest and the sweetest tasting in all of Burgundy...omg, I cannot believe I told that story!

The kitchen was renovated in the 19th century (I want that stove!)

The Hospice is especially famous for the stunning roof of glazed, multicolored tiles.

More to come later, I have hundreds of photos.

TTFN

Trip to France (visiting BEAUNE)

I have been absent for a long time, I know. I went to visit my sister in Beaune, in the heart of Burgundy country. It is a gorgeous little town which blends the charm and laid back life style of the country with the sophisticated elegance of far larger cities. Castles and mansions are everywhere, beautiful shops, a killer outdoors market on saturdays, magnificent, ancient architecture ... I was impressed!