Paris Souvenirs

The poster for "Boulevard de la Mort" the new film by Quentin Tarantino. I guess they decided not to show the whole Grindhouse experience here.

Boulevard of Death. Rather appropriate for Paris. I can't believe some of the driving and street crossing I've seen here. Oh, the little person is red - that must mean it's time to cross the street with small child in tow. Reminds me of being back in Cairo except that motorcyclists here wear helmets as they drive down the sidewalk and they're riding alone - no families. Actually that's not fair. I never saw a motorcycle on an Egyptian sidewalk, which are generally knee high probably for that very reason.

Who would have thought that right across from the Louvre are treasure troves of kitsch and tacky souvenirs. Paris panties anyone?

All the stalls set up (and usually jammed with tourists) remind me of the souq in Cairo.

How about an Eiffel Tower keychain?

These are photos from my 3 June trip.

Today I went to my new doctor. Hurrah, she turned out to be English. I didn't know that ahead of time. That's one big step taken. I think the next is the post office and then getting a haircut.

I saw a strange sight today. A swarm of teenage girls armed with cameras swooning in front of a cafe, or maybe it was a hotel. Not quite sure what was going on, but looked like a boy band was in town.

In excellent news, my little girl cats were sweet together last night - lots of grooming and then they cuddled up together. That's a huge relief.

Got the third disc of Freaks and Geeks in the mail today. Woohoo, excellent television to quilt to.

I've got a couple of links for you to check out. First, Margaret has antique quilts made by author Lucy Boston shown in a post here. I think the Moon and Stars quilt is incredible. Most of the quilts are on display at Boston's house in Cambridgeshire, England - looks like another spot that needs to be added to the travelling quilter's itinerary.

Katie at Mismatched Quilter has been making some awesome free-pieced letters. She added her own touches - rounding off corners and starting her Os with pentagons. She's also playing with orphans. Lots of fun, go take a look.

Another Stab at It

Here's a darker border. I tried several and this was my favorite.

I like this quilt better in the picture than I do in person. I probably will set it aside for awhile. Yes, that is a deliberate choice with the incomplete purple inner border since my rows were different lengths. I think it adds character.

This is what I am working on. Think I'm calling it Stars on Blue. I can never remember what I've named quilts, so it could change several times. I started out with regular quilting thread, but then decided to use white perle cotton size 8 instead.

It's always difficult transitioning from the small stitches that I used on my last project to the larger that I use with this thicker thread. The stitches are loosening up as I go along.

I've discovered the joy of free podcasts on iTunes. Woohoo. This is the first time I've had access to a fast enough internet connection. I tried a quilting podcast, but was bored. Instead I'm loading up on NPR and some geeky things (Buffy episode discussions...). I'm listening at the computer and while it's not ideal, I am quilting.

I have a nasty headache, but at least it drove me to make an appointment with the doctor. I'm going tomorrow, so fingers crossed I get fixed up. Hopefully before I take the power drill to my head in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

I ordered some Feliway today to see if that helps the kitties. My thanks to those of you who recommended it and to PetCo for shipping to an APO.

I changed my display name, thanks everybody for letting me know how to do it.

Wow,What a Difference

Both Kim and Diane (not CA girl in Oz Diane, but another) suggested that I try a printed fabric border. What do you think of this?

I like it. May still play around with other prints in my stash (sorry, no Kaffe Fasset fabric here) to see if I find something I like even better. This isn't the best picture because it was taken with a flash.

I was trying out very subtle tone-on-tones and batiks when auditioning borders. Nothing busy. I wanted to make the center stand out the way it does in an Amish quilt. But that just didn't work like I wanted it to. This is a fabric that I bought a bunch of many years ago (maybe 10) because I loved it. Now it seems way too formal and rigid to me so I don't mind using it here. My fabric tastes have definitely changed over the years.

Pokey in a scrap basket. By the way, that's my sewing machine covered in a batik cloth a friend brought me from Bali. I cover the machine so kitties don't play with the thread and to theoretically protect the machine from dust.

My baby has a scratch on her nose and she's not quite as well-groomed as she should be. She and Lily used to be so sweet together, with the cuddling and grooming, but it just isn't happening here in Paris. I'm still hoping that works itself out.

Kristin (not Kristin L - the other one), I've really enjoyed getting your comments. I'd love to see what you've been working on. I highly encourage you to start a blog so we can interact even better.

Blogging has certainly caught on since I first started my own two years ago. I'm thinking we're at the point of needing longer nicknames for our comments. Like I should be Lazy Gal Tonya R. I'm not sure where I would change that. Anyone know?

For those interested in quilt restoration, Sassenach Kim has posted an excellent tutorial for replacing a patch.

I'm going to whine a tiny bit now. Allergies are killing me and I'm too whimpy to call a doctor. aaagh. Anyone want to come be my personal assistant and take care of details like that? You can live in a cupboard and I'll toss in a baguette every once in a while. Heh heh heh.

Speaking of baguettes, I'm trying to go without for a couple of weeks. I knew I was getting out of control when I ate an entire loaf by myself at one sitting.

Patriotic Quilt Tops

I got two quilt tops pieced today and a third ready for the border. hurray. Of course it helps when your quilts are small and either consist of a center with borders or orphans. Still counts as progress and I'm thrilled to have more projects lined up to quilt on. Not that I've been doing any hand quilting, but that's about to change.

This first quilt has been percolating for quite a while, which is silly considering how simple it is. Lucy recently posted a pic that has been blogged about before, that shows a wall of doll/mini quilts. It is marvelous. Go look, because her little poison green stars are marvelous too. Anyway, there is an American patriotic quilt with a starred blue center and red and white stripes on either side. I LOVE that quilt and it inspired me to make this:

No need to adjust your set, yes the top border is skinnier than the bottom.

I decided that since it's almost July it might just be time to play with my patriotic orphans. Turns out I've never taken a picture of all of them. Whoops. Anyway. I had already cut out the flaglike bit of fabric and it fit well with the word America so I chose to sew them together and then add a border. I like it. Don't love it, but like it. Will look better quilted, but isn't that (almost) always the case.

And this is the project that has been making me pull my hair out. I got out my orphan Indian Orange Peel arcs to show Finn and I was just hit with the urge to destroy them, uh, make them work. I played with different kinds of crumbs, before settling on cutting each arc into a rectangle 2.25" x 4.5" and sewing them into strips. I was thinking about some kind of Amish-inspired bars, but didn't like how they looked, so the rows ended up getting all whomped together. What a nightmare of seams, all sorts of extra fabric. It was the ugliest sewing job I've ever had.

I've tried all sorts of fabric for the border, including some warm brights from the other side of the colorwheel. The only thing that seems to work in my mind is this turqoise. I need to let this top rest for awhile and see if I fall in love with it. I hate to waste the border fabric, because that I do love.

Kinda boring. Maybe that's why I'm having fun with the red, white, and blue. That is one of the punchiest color combinations out there.

In other news, I broke down and baked the other day. Trying not to, since I think that's why I managed to keep the weight off that I lost after the thyroidectomy. Made a shortbread base with chocolate, toffee bits and pecans. Does it count as fattening if you eat it as your entire meal? I had it for dinner and then breakfast. Baaaad girl.

You know how tv obsessed I am. Well I was channel suring up into the high reaches and discovered a number of movie channels. I found a cheesy vampire movie being shown in English with French subtitles. Woohoo. Unfortunately that's not always the case and the movie selection is sometimes to be desired. I sewed to Predator today, which has surprisingly little dialogue. (Whoever would have that two future U.S. governors would appear in a movie that silly?)

Jivya Soma Mashe

Will and I saw the works of Jivya Soma Mashe displayed along with those of Nek Chand at the Max Fourny museum of Naive Art in Montmartre. This is the post I've been promising since then. I was completely captivated by his paintings, seeing applique, quilting and embroidery designs everywhere. You should be able to double click on many of these pics for larger views.

You can read more about the artist at the above link. To see great photos of the exhibition, which is on until 26 August, go here. It's really marvelous to see the paintings and statuary together and if you have the chance to go see them in person, do it.

A whole painting. Three different types of trees, along with critters:

A closer view of the spiders and insects caught in the web:

Another close-up. The leaves looks like hearts:

A detail from another painting. I like this dandelion tree. And the branches of the tree on the right look like peacock feathers. You can also details of village life: cooking dinner, carrying water, mending a roof.

The paintings that had spirals were amazing to look at from across the room. Very eye-catching.

The women in this painting were a bit different from those in the others. They have long wild hair. Looks like planting going on down at the bottom.

A detail from the above painting of fun critters:

Detail from a different painting. "Dandelions" and hearts together.

And another detail of a dandelion-like tree, with a beautiful peacock in the branches:I was fascinated by this painting, which seems very celebratory:

A detail of the spiral, made up of a conga-line of people. The person in the middle appears to be blowing a horn.

Before reading more about the Warli tribe who do not follow Hinduism, I thought that this was Ganesh, the elephant-headed god. Maybe a similar diety?

Another detail of the same painting:

Musicians and the elephant-headed deity (?):

More musicians and a view of the river:

Another tree detail:

Another painting which fascinated me. Loot at the night sky above and the river down below:

A detail of a man (could he be a king with a crown on his head?) holding a scimitar or scythe and riding a peacock, followed by a swarm of insects.

Hmm, okay these giant birds aren't peacocks. Peacocks aren't carnivorous. The babies are getting a bull for dinner.

A novel way to gather fruit:

A night sky from a different painting:

There were no explanations of the paintings, so I enjoyed making up stories for them. Do wish there was better documentation at the exhibit though. I found it fascinating that these tribal paintings used to be the sole province of the women of the Warli tribe and were done on the walls of huts. Not anymore.

I love the mix of the phantastical along with images of daily life.