Silver Bella Bound!

We're busy busy busy getting ready for one of my favorite events, Silver Bella! This year, I am teaching two jewelry classes - both jewels designed with Josephine in mind. A handful of creative teachers, like Charlotte Lyons, Betz White, Lisa Kaus, Beth Quinn, Colette Copeland, Lynn Whipple, Kerry Lynn Yeary and Sally Jean Alexander are teaching a couple of classes each. I am excited about returning to Omaha and seeing the old main drag, Howard Street - it still feels like an old stagecoach town. If you have thought about attending a creative weekend, this is a great one to start with - lively, artsy, and intimate - Silver Bella attendees are wonderful souls to craft with.

Pennsy Dutch Colors...and a Winner!

This was tough - how to choose a winner when there were so many inspiring color moods going on! I kept going back to one comment about Pennsy Dutch Colors - something I had never heard of. After a little research - I come to find that Pennsy Dutch Colors are the Pennsylvania Dutch Colors used to embellish the hex signs in the Amish country. The colors used for painting the signs were carefully chosen because of their added meaning. Blue conveyed protection, white purity, green abundance and red strong emotion. I started wondering if the quilts made by the Amish women, could also be interpreted by their color.

So...the winner of our Pom Pom giveaway is SewPrimitive Karen - for leading me to such interesting color lore. Please send me your address and we'll get you a handful of fabric to have fun with!

Memory of a Seamstress

If you happen to be in Los Angeles at the end of October, come join us for our first Saturday class of the season. Molly Meng, visiting from San Francisco, will be leading a workshop all about historical fiction, memory and the small bits left behind. This layered inspiration board is a great way to use all of the precious pieces that get lost at the bottom of our pockets. Bring a photograph of someone you'd like to remember and French General will provide all of the embellishments and notions for your memory board. For more information about our upcoming classes or to sign up for this workshop, visit frenchgeneral.com

Pom Pom de Paris Giveaway

Out of the blue our new Spring 2011 line has arrived from Moda. I hardly remember looking at the strike-offs - it was a hot summer day in August - mom, Molly, Sofia and I were holed away at the St. Albert in Toulouse when the box arrived - I think we were headed out the door to find a tall cool drink.

Pom Pom de Paris is all about the very first Rose Show held in Paris in the 19th century. The blue ribbon went to the most beautiful rose - for color, small and form - Pom Pom de Paris was the winner! The colors of our new line are vibrant and beautiful - perfect for Spring! In addition to the old reds, there are touches of soft pink, pale yellow and beautiful grassy greens. I've already started to work with some of the sample yardage - and Penny is fast at work on a beautiful baby quilt with the sweet bird pattern.

I'm ready to send out a few bits to test the waters. Leave me a comment about your color mood these days and we'll pick a lucky winner or two for a box of Pom Pom fabric. Bonne Chance!

The Sewing Habit

I've been sewing a lot lately - I keep finding myself heading down to the sewing room (aka the garage) and pulling out all of my ancient scraps. These old cutters, pieces that couldn't possibly be used for anything else, are finding new life in my small fabric collages. I kinda like this new sewing habit - it reminds me of when I learned how to link beads together - it's addicting.

French Pizza

Yes, that's a wheel of Camembert on top of Molly's pizza.

Hands Down

We are heading back to France next summer - just thought I would let you all know in case anyone wants to come along. It's a very casual trip - no more than 18 women that gather at a chateau and eat, craft and shop...not much more than that. We usually spend our mornings sitting around a large table - in the dining room or on the patio - sipping tea and eating a warm chocolate croissant - listening to the church bells at 8am. We craft - spending a good amount of hours in the old barn - heads down - diligently working on some project or teaching the person next to us a skill we have recently learned. We look for vide grenier or flea market signs along the road and then we follow any lead we can possibly sniff out - sometimes we find gold and sometimes we come home with empty pockets. And then we eat again...and drink a bit of the local grape.
I dreamt up these trips a couple of years ago because I wanted to continue going back to France with my mom. I took my mom to France for her 60th birthday and it was the right trip at the right time. So finally - I have figured out a way to return every summer - to return to the rural lifestyle. Molly comes along too - and continues to experiment woading her hands - where else?
However...we return to the land in grand style. This summer we are planning a fabulous week - my old friends Marcia Ceppos and Wendy Addison have decided to join us and indulge us in a week of Tinsel Trading Craft. We'll still visit my old friend Patrick Bru - who has a brocante in his backyard, dye with woad alongside the master Denise Lambert, and laugh with Laurent our sommelier - but this summer, we will also craft with Wendy Addison and hear the lore of Tinsel Trading from Marcia Ceppos.
If you are game, or just need to get away from it all...join us this summer on our third annual Chateau Getaway in France. I promise you it's the best week you'll ever spend at a chateau - hands down! Details and sign ups at frenchgeneral.com

Au revior!