Saturday, July 24, 2010

Finding Gold in France

We've been in France for a couple of weeks now - we've visited the flea markets, the hat factory, the farmer's market and been exposed to some of the local arts and crafts in the area. We've dyed with woad, visited medieval villages and made lots of french-inspired jewelry. We've met wonderful women who came along on our Chateau Getaway - all who seemed to love digging for old bits and pieces, crafting, and eating the local specialties.
Everything was going according to plan - until one day when Lizzie announced we would be visiting one last hat factory in Septfond - on the way home from Montauban. I have been on dozens of old digs, crawled up onto piles of old crates and seen many, many boxes of old stock that was still as fresh as it was at the turn of the century.....but.....I never expected that I would find a factory in France that had been closed up for years and was still brimming with antique stock - hundreds and hundreds of boxes upon boxes of old trim, feathers, flowers and hats - and then another room and another room and another room! As we walked into the old building, first we gasped and then everyone scurried around and found their special digging spot. I just kept wandering around thinking "this is as good as it gets!" - and instantly said to Molly, "shoot everything and shoot deep."
Everyone loaded up a box or two or three and went outside where Guy, the 78 year old owner's son, shuffled through each box and then announced the price - there was really no bargaining with him because he was practically giving everything away. There were a few bits - like the antique scissors and the faded pincushion that he took out of my box - family heirlooms - but otherwise, everything was for sale. Later that evening, as we were all showing off our treasures, someone said "I was putting my hand in dark places I never should have -and finding gold" - exactly what I was thinking! More to come....

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Lumiere de Noel Winners

Thought I'd better pick out a couple of lucky winners of our fabric giveaway before I hop on the plane to France! Sounds like everyone is pretty motivated to stat making their holiday crafts - nothing better than a handmade Christmas. I love all of the ideas - here is a quick look - mostly quilts but a surprising variety of other goodies....

Holiday quilt
Table runner
Place mats
Lap quilt
Fabric ornaments
Wall hanging
Tree skirt
Apron
Napkins
Stockings
Pillows
Holiday bunting
Advent calendar
Duvet cover
Shams
Handbag
Shopping bag
Round table runner
Scarfs, belts and headbands
Christmas throw
Market bag
Gift bags
Lap throw
Wreath
Flowers
Basket liners
Christmas cards and tags
Dolls
Travel bags
Fabric necklace
Quilted handbag
Dress up clothes
Yo-yo doll
Pillow cases
Laptop sleeve

Sofia chose two numbers - and the lucky winners are:
#7 Ruth B
#89 Annelies

and then I chose two numbers:
#21 Northernstar
#121 Robin C.

Please send me your information when you get a chance to notions@frenchgeneral.com and we will send out some cuts of our new line. Thanks so much for playing along - I hope you have a chance to see the fabrics up close in your favorite quilting store - or you can see the whole collection of Lumiere de Noel at Moda.

Merci!

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Christmas in July Giveaway

It's taking me some getting used to Moda's fabric schedule. I never thought I would be able to even think about Christmas in July - the thought of it always wanted to make me want to run! But - here we are - with the release of our first holiday fabric collection - Lumiere de Noel - and I am loving it! So instead of waiting till November - and starting to think about projects you may want to create for someone - think about it now! Moda figures it will take you a few months to sew up that holiday quilt - so they release all of their holiday fabric during the month of July. To get you started - I've pulled a few of my favorite prints and made up a couple of swatch bundles - leave me a comment about your upcoming (!) holiday project and we'll pull a few lucky winners by the end of the week. Joyeux Noël!

Thursday, July 01, 2010

The Month Gone By

Can it already be July?? What happened to June? The funny thing about being able to "take the summer off" is that you really just have more to do before you can actually "take the summer off". So this past month of June I've done all my work for July and August - well, almost! I've designed our July and August collection of notions and our holiday 2011 fabric line, as well as received our holiday 2010 collection of fabric, Lumiere de Noel. I've thrown a couple of kids parties, gone out to dinner a few times and started swimming laps in the slightly less than freezing pool. I also met up with a wonderful quilter who is going to start helping us design quilt kits and spent hours on the phone with a sewer who is quietly answering questions about long arm quilting as well as what to do next. Oh - and I just received the sample yardage on La Petite Ecole - a wonderful line of French school book inspired prints - soft reds, old French blues and subtle shades of grey. And did I mention I have a 13 year old in the kitchen!