New Year's Eve

Wishing you all a very happy New Year, thanks for reading this blog, see you again next year !

Ich wuensche allen einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr und wir sehen uns naechstes Jahr wieder !

Avec les meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle annee

Boutis Link - Go Look !

Just by chance I came upon danyl.canalblog.com and saw her beautiful boutis. Her pieces are absolutely stunning, and give me another reason to keep working on my "vane". I am making some progress, but it is slow. I am trying not to be impatient, to make everything as well as I can, and to "enjoy the journey" as Mary always says .......

Zufaelling habe ich danyl.canalblog.com entdeckt. Sie hat wunderschoene Boutis genaeht, und das Betrachten hat mich etwas motiviert, an meinem grossen "Vane" weiterzusticken. ich mache schon Fortschritte, aber es dauert. Ich gebe mir Muehe, nicht ganz so ungeduldig zu sein, und alles so schoen wie irgendgeht zu machen, um die Reise zu geniessen, wie meine Freundin Mary immer sagt .....

Merci beaucoup a Dany pour le plaisir de voir les jolis boutis :-)
(If you find the links above no longer work, use the one to the right under Inspirations)

Work in Progress / Mon en cours / Woran ich arbeite

I have neglected this poor blog too long, my only excuse is too much work .... so here is a picture of what I am currently working on. It is the "courtepointe aux oiseaux" from the pattern Symboles du Boutis. It took me more than 12 hours to trace the design, and I am not counting how long it will take to stitch, I am just going to enjoy it !

Ich habe leider mein Blog in letzter Zeit vollkommen vernachlaessigt, meine einzige Ausrede ist, dass ich zuviel Arbeit hatte. Also, hier ein Photo von meinem jetzigen Projekt, das Courtepointe aux Oiseaux aus der Musterkollektion Symboles du Boutis. Zum Abpausen brauchte ich mehr als 12 Stunden, aber ich habe mir vorgenommen, die Stickzeit nicht zu zaehlen, da ich einfach Freude daran haben will.

And just for fun, a couple of pictures of our Thanksgiving table, in various stages of completion - I did not get a picture of everything finished because I was in the kitchen ! My daughter is in the picture saying Do you HAVE to take a picture .......

Happy Thanksgiving !

I hope everyone will have a wonderful Thanksgiving day to share with their families and friends. We will be sharing dinner with our neighbors later, I have a nice big turkey to roast, my daughter is making the pies, and we are looking forward to a peaceful and happy day. If I am lucky, I may get to stitch later - I have been neglecting my blog, and am planning to remedy that this weekend !

Jacksonville Show

Many people stopped and were intrigued about how the boutis is actually made - so I answered many questions and I hope that we will have more interest in the future.

Look at this group of ladies ! They are (most of) the members of the Clearwater Boutis group Loose Stitches and were my traveling partners in Jacksonville. All of them are accomplished stitchers and we had a great time. We ate, shopped, shopped and shopped. Three of us now have the lovely basket from Ghana that Robby is carrying - and we all bought the same fabric to make a liner for it. I am working on everyone to make a boutis each for the show next year so we can have our own category - wouldn't that be great !

Here is my petasson that won the 3rd place in minatures at the Quiltfest. I was so grateful and excited !

Exciting News !

This week I got some exciting news ! The small boutis I entered in the Jacksonville show (taking place next week) has placed 3rd in the Miniatures category. I am soo happy, I do not enter things in shows usually (this is only the second time ever) and it is so encouraging to have your work recognized. Scroll down to my last post, it is the small one on the yellow fabric.
Next week a group of us are going to the show and we will have lots of photos to share afterwards.

Our VERY exciting news is that we have a teacher coming from France in March 2009. The wonderful Nicole Carre will be teaching here at the West Pasco Guild on March 20, with a presentation on March 19. I am also looking for another venue for her to teach, so contact me right away if you are interested. We can go pretty much anywhere in Florida. She can teach at all levels so if you have already done some boutis, we can move on to more advanced levels.

Petasson for the Jacksonville Show

It's finally time to show you what I have spent every free moment working on for the past weeks (months .....). I wanted to send a petasson to exhibit at the Quiltfest in Jacksonville FL in September (visit their site http://www.quiltfestjax.com/ ) Of course it took far longer than I thought but now it is finished and I am proud of it - I think it is my best boutis so far. The other small work is also going to Jacksonville. Send me your comments !

Endlich kann ich die Arbeit zeigen, womit ich wirklich jede freie Minute in den letzten Wochen (Monaten ...) verbracht habe. Diese Petasson geht nun nach Jacksonville fuer den Show im September (siehe http://www.quiltfestjax.com/) Natuerlich hat alles viel laenger gedauert als geplant, aber ich bin nun stolz darauf und meine, das ist bislang der beste Boutis. Der andere kleine geht auch nach Jacksonville. Ueber Eure Kommentare freue ich mich schon im voraus !

Finishing a Boutis

Aoallis asked me in a comment about how the boutis is finished. There are several possibilities, all are described in the various books on the boutis.

1. You can hem the edge after completing the stuffing. To do this, trim the fabric to about 1/2" all around then fold the edge down twice over the last stuffed channel. Then hem into the "ditch" formed by the last line of stitching.

2. You can finish the edge with an embroidered scallop. To do this, draw an additional line outside of your design about 1/8-1/4" , stitch this and stuff lightly, then using a very fine (Cordonnet No. 80 by DMC) white thread, buttonhole stitch the edge very closely. Do this before stuffing the channels of your work. Then complete the boutis, wash the item and very carefully trim away the excess fabric.

3. You can also finish the edge by folding both the front and back fabric to the inside and slip stitching closed, then stuff the channel made by this.

I will try to post some photos later with some examples of the above, but in the meantime please refer to the books on the subject if you have access to them.

Happy stitching !

Mary's Boutis Purse

Mary is one of the founding members of Loose Stitches, our boutis group here in Clearwater. I am going to make her blush when I say that without her, we would not have been able to start our group - Mary has been a great supporter of the boutis here and encourages everyone she meets.
Mary ist eine der Gruendungsmitglieder unserer Boutisgruppe hier in Clearwater. Sie bekommt jetzt bestimmt einen roten Kopf wenn ich erzaehle, dass wir ohne sie wahrscheinlich keine Gruppe haetten - sie unterstuetzt Boutis wo sie nur kann und ermuntert jeden.

Challenge - Lei roucas dou barri

This association has issued a challenge, and have very graciously allowed me to participate. The idea is to create a boutis with very personal and individual designs, and have it finished by March of next year to be exhibited at their show.
The rules are: Use fine white cotton or batiste, size of 20cm to 50cm, cotton thread No. 40 (you can get this online here DMC cordonnet No. 40), use a monogram, and white cotton yarn to stuff.
The shape can be any, and you can use an accessory for example bag handles for a purse. The individual is responsible for shipping to and from France.
Anyone interested ? Contact mame83@free.fr or look at the France Boutis blog, the challenge is on there also.
I have to start drawing out my ideas ......
Happy 4th July everyone

A start and a finish !

I have just finished the little purse from the France Boutis last newsletter, here is a picture. I decided to make mine in color with some fabrics purchased in France. I have also made a start on a petasson, the pattern is from the Maison du Boutis.

Ich habe gerade den kleinen Beutel aus der letzten Newsletter von France Boutis fertiggestellt. Ich wollte statt weiss den Stoff, den ich letztes Jahr in Frankreich gekauft habe, verwenden. Ich habe auch mit dem naechsten "ouvrage" angefangen, ein Petasson, das Muster stammt vom Maison du Boutis.

Blog Name Change

Today I changed the name of this blog to more accurately reflect it's content. France Boutis has requested that their protected name not appear in the title, but you will still find the link on the right.
Heute habe ich den Blognamen geaendert, damit er mehr den Inhalt wiederspiegelt. France Boutis hatte mich gebeten, ihren geschuetzten Namen nicht im Titel zu lassen, aber den Link lasse ich hier rechts.

Loose Stitches

Unfortunately I didn't catch everyone on this picture, but these are some of the ladies present at the "inaugural" meeting of Loose Stitches, our new Boutis group here in Clearwater. I am so glad they were all willing to learn something new.
Leider habe ich nicht alle erwischt, aber hier sind einige der Gruendungsmitglieder der neuen Boutis Gruppe hier in Clearwater. Ich bin so froh, dass alle bereit waren, etwas neues zu lernen !

Please leave comments and questions - French, German, English are all understood here !
Bitte lasst Eure Kommentare und Fragen - en francais, deutsch, englisch !

Small Boutis

I have finally finished this small boutis, which was a pattern I purchased from the Maison du Boutis in Calvisson. I really want to make something bigger now, and have got materials ready to mark a vanne. I think I will use this one on the front of a pillow.

Endlich ist dieser kleiner Boutis fertiggeworden, das Muster habe ich in Calvisson beim Maison du Boutis gekauft. Jetzt will ich etwas viel Groesseres machen, und habe schon Stoffe usw. bereitgestellt, um eine Vanne (Quiltgroesse) zu markieren. Ich denke, aus diesem Kleinen werde ich ein Kissen naehen.

By the way, please leave comments ! I see that people from all over the world are visiting, I am interested in what you think.

Bitte, lasst Kommentare ! Wie ich sehe, bekomme ich "Besuch" aus der ganzen Welt und ich moechte gern wissen, was alle denken.

Welcome !

Welcome to the world of boutis in Florida. Our group is brand new, and we hope to learn a lot and encourage each other. We are submitting a club membership to France Boutis, and are still talking about a good name .......

Here are a few photos to show you what we aspire to ! (These works were created by Nicole Carre France Boutis)