From the Loire valley to the Quilt Show

The châteaux were absolutely fascinating!!!! Along the river or on top of a hill with the river down below or surrounded by a lake, they were all different and interesting. It was the best way to study once again French history.
There were sceneries you only see in paintings. Look at this!!!


I can hardly believe I took this picture!!! Don't you think it is beautiful and romantic!!

How you ready to embark ? You'd better grab a cup of tea because it's going to be my longest post!!!!! Let's go...

Valençay :


Chenonceau and its gardens :





Chambord :


Amboise and the chapel where Leonardo Da Vinci is buried :




Le clos Lucé where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life :


Azay Le Rideau :



The gardens of Villandry :


But, I guess you'd like to read about the quilt show, right ?

At the entrance we were welcomed by this "mise en scène" :

and by this huge hand-stitched quilt by Chuck Nohara :

Stunning!!! To say the least...

There were many booths where you could find everything a quilter or stitcher needs.... and much more ;-))


I met many people... some I knew and was happy to see again and some I met for the first time though I knew some of them through their blogs. It was not easy for me to be transparent as there were not many male quilters at the quilt show. While attending a class, I heard many ladies surprised to see a man quilting and stitching! Well, My wife watches football and drinks beer so... NO, JUST KIDDING... LOL

I attended three classes. One was to use the Square in a Square ruler and it has help me overcome my machine-piecing phobia. The second class was with Aurelia Ducrocq. She was extremely nice and charming and very helpful. Thank you very much Aurelia.



Finally, because Reiko Kato wasn't able to come (yes, the volcano!!), I did a rug hooking class with Beatrice Meillac. How fun!!! Thanks Béatrice, for your help! Rug hooking is great!




I was so concentrated that I forgot to take a picture during the class!

I do regret that I didn't take a class with Cécile Facile and with Léa Stansal. Indeed, Cécile's creations are so inspiring as are Léa's. There will be another time....

Now let's have a look at the exhibitions.

Reiko Kato's house :




Sue Spargo's house.
I had seen Sue's quilts before in Sisters (Oregon). One cannot be not charmed when you see them!


The country house :


Sarah Fielke's house :


Chuck Nohara's house :




Lea Stansal's corner :



Julie Arkell's corner :


Katherine Roumanoff's corner :



All these artists made me understand that what is important is to do things. So, my new motto is "Just Do It and Have Fun"!!

Thank you Quiltmania for organizing such a quilt show in France.

On Friday evening, before driving back to southern France, we decided to spend the night on the coast. There was only the sound of the surf of the ocean and the tweeting of the birds for my morning run.





I'm back home now and ready to go to work tomorrow morning. Hope you have enjoyed this part of France and Quiltmania quilt show ;-)

Until later,

Comments

  1. Merci pour ces belles photos ! Ca devait être dur de retourner au boulot aujourd'hui avec ces images en tête...

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  2. How lovely your post David, the scene's are stunning, I must say that I do love France, there is so much history there and the buildings are out of this world.

    The Quilt show & corners look wonderful, you have inspired me to do some patchwork & quilting this year and must make time for that.

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  3. Thank you for all the wonderful pictures! I love seeing all the castles -- and since I'd just finished a book with da Vinci in it, it was nice to see where he spent his last days and is buried. And I loved seeing the quilt show! I guess some teachers were prevented from coming because of the volcano? Bummer! Glad you had a good time -- thank you for sharing!

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  4. The quilt show looks like it was heaven on earth for you.
    With scenery as lovely as this, it would be hard to not take beautiful idyllic pictures.

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  5. Hi David, I came across your blog via looking at the comments on Sue Spargo's blog. ( I have to admit I was curious...a guy commenting on a quilting blog?) Love your photos of the French countryside and thanks for your photos of the French quilt show. I especially like being able to see the 'home' rooms that were set up for each teacher. It must have been exciting to attend all those classes, but what a disappointment missing out on Reiko Kato's class. I have attended a class with Sue Spargo when she & her sister, Wendy, came to Australia. Sue's quilts are so tactile & I love her use of colour. (I wish I was as adventurous with colour!) I look forward to following your future posts. from Jenny McH (Melbourne, Australia)

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  6. What a wonderful pictures David, I love them all,especially the castle-ones.Actually I'm a real Anglophile but I think I could love France too.....
    Erna

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  7. Hello David, Merci beaucoup pour ces deux magnifiques reportages : Nos châteaux de la Loire sont vraiment sublimes .....et je vois que tu as eu beaucoup de plaisir avec tes classes : c'est juste merveilleux .
    A très bientôt,
    Isabelle

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  8. Bon alors, la prochaine fois tu fais un crochet par la Bourgogne et tu m'emmènes avec toi ! Les châteaux, j'adore, les beaux paysages, j'adore, les salons patch, j'adore !!!
    Ton reportage est vraiment très alléchant, merci de nous faire partager un peu de ce bonheur que tu as vécu là-bas.

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  9. Oh my goodness, what wonderful pictures (both of your travel and of the show) - thank you so much for sharing!

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  10. So, you were "the man" in the Square in a square" course - it's a pity we did not present ourselves - actually I live in the Loire Valley and close to all the castles you visited.
    I did also the Rug Hooking class with Béa and I enjoyed it a lot.
    I have met with Marie-Claude Iperti via the internet and I like her very much.
    As you will see on our blog "Quiltinusa", we are traveling every year to the States : this year, we are preparing the Sisters show in Oregon and already next year Pennsylvania and Vermont.
    Hope to meet you some of these days on a coming show - I am attending the Veldhoven show this week-end.
    Best regards, Martine from Quiltinusa

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  11. et notre Marie Claude alors!!!! super reportage encore; dommage que je ne comprenne pas tt... but I send you my friendship....

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  12. Non, je n'oublie pas Marie-Claude mais jeudi, c'était de la folie sur le stand donc impossible de prendre une photo!!! Mais tout était superbe et j'ai craqué sur des objets country et les boutons Theodora Cleave. Marie-Claude, béa et l'autre personne (pardon je ne connais pas le nom) étaient adorables!!! Que de gentillesse! Ce n'est pas étonnant qu'elles aient eu autant de succès!
    Quant à Vendredi, nous avons papoté patch et voyage et je n'ai pas pensé à la photo.
    Mille excuses ;-)

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  13. Hi David, I'm Eli from Italy. I'm very happy to meet you through this amazing post! I love France and visited it several times. You took wonderful pictures. The quilt show looks gorgeous! I'm between your followers now to be able to meet you every time you do a new post. Have a great weekend with your family. Eli

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  14. Thank you so much for this beautiful report. You really gave us a real taste! and the castles... wow!

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  15. David, they are delightful! I talk and about landscape and about quilts. It take breath away even! How it is beautiful!!!

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