Still alive, mostly

it's been a ridiculous several weeks in my life, jetting here and there.  I'm not complaining.  It's been great;  just has left me little to no time for myself.  Add to that babysitting (my daughter was between nannies so I stayed in SF for most of last week helping her, and then we had the kids this weekend).

Have I done any sewing?  Not a lot.
I did get the Sajou top that Lori (Humblequilts) organized but of course mine is not like the original design!  Once I realized that my center toile was going to be lopsided, I realized that I wanted to keep it straight. So I designed corners that allowed it to be upright!  For me, that was no small feat.



I love that toile;  and the pink outer triangle fabric is one of my favorite fabrics as well.  All in all, I'm happy with the result.  I just need to quilt it (one of these years).

And speaking of Sajou, did you know that it is a fabric/thread/supply store in Paris?

My husband and I had a trip to France in the past two weeks where I was lucky enough to spend the day with my dear friend Will.  She took me to the shop where I found some wonderful little things to buy.  I bought only a little bit of thread...but look at the choices!  This is just one portion of one wall.  I didn't take a picture of the wool threads... I bought a few spools of the thread that Will swears by for appliqué.


I was very tempted but resisted and didn't buy this adorable sewing machine cover pattern.  I figured I'd never do all that cross-stitch, realistically.  It sure was cute, though!


I had to take a picture of these marking pens that they had at the check out counter.  Can you read it? Hysterical.  Who would ever take a top off with their mouth??!! HAHAHA  Imagine that!!


Will and I usually meet for coffee near the metro (and her fabulous, charming neighborhood) and then amble our way back to her home for a little show and tell. This visit was just as I'd hoped.  She has been working on a most amazing hexagon quilt.  Here was her pile of hexies ready for assembly:


Here is one side of her project!


In the right corner, you can get a little glimpse of another small quilt she made from the Jane Lury book.  Fabulous!

The true masterpiece, in my opinion, was this quilt she showed me. (not that any of the others are less gorgeous by any means!

The photo does not do it justice.  Will is an amazing quilter!  She has such a fabulous eye for fabrics and choosing what fabric to put where.  She doesn't go into a local quilt store since there isn't one-- she buys old clothes or other items with fabrics. She fussy cuts.  But her hand quilting is fabulous.  You also cannot see but her embroidery skills are amazing (the corner basket stems!)... I had brought her some valdani threads a couple of years ago and she really used them beautifully.  And the appliqué?!  She's very inspiring!!  And one of the sweetest women I know!

It was another great visit and trip to Paris.  We also went to Provence, in the south of France, which is for another day's blog post.
I wanted to share with you a photo of the hotel where we stayed in Paris.  We stayed on the top floor, where there is a roof balcony on the right.  This is a typical building in Paris.


This is looking up the street from our hotel.  Let me point out a few things:  the iron railings are very typical. They are usually so intricate and one of the most beautiful parts of any building. And every building's railings are always so different!  The street sign is also typical of Paris;  the roof-top windows as well as the floor to ceiling windows on each floor are very typical.  This is a one-way street with two lanes; many are barely wide enough for one lane of traffic!


Flights always seem to arrive first thing in the morning in Paris (you fly through the night, from San Francisco) and I loved this view of the sunrise. FYI: it is about 11 hrs from SF to Paris! 


It's been a very busy and crazy month for me, between my trip to Singapore, babysitting, quick trip to Napa with friends, babysitting again, and a great vacation in France, then more babysitting.  I'm off for a business trip to Hawaii tomorrow, home for a couple of weeks and then my dh and I are returning to New Zealand after Thanksgiving.  Then THAT'S IT!!  Staying put (or in Oregon!!).  My fabric is missing me! And, I will admit, that I was longing for my sewing machines.  I did bring hand-work for the flights but still missed the hum of my machine! ;-))

I have so many pictures to share... thanks for standing by me in my absence.
xxxxs,