This time last year I
was in the forests of Northern Sweden, as a chaperone with Sophie’s Swedish
Fiddle & Folk Music tour. This last week over the Solstice, I kept having
flashbacks to the land of my mother’s ancestors…the traditional red houses
and barns with crisp white trim…the costumes of the musicians at the folk
music festivals…so much color and design to inspire those of us who love to
sew. So here is an encore of images
from those long Midsummer days where the sun goes down at 11:30 and rises
at 3 am!
I have also added more
photos from Quilt Canada, so you can see more ideas from our talented
neighbors up North.
You may recall that in April I was speaking at the quilt
festival in Nantes France, and then I popped up to Paris to see the fire
damage of Notre Dame.
So many of you asked if we would do a Notre Dame fabric design, so here it is.
I have a very long connection with Paris and Notre Dame, have visited there
several times, starting in the late 80s. Last week Sophie and I went to see the
Leonardo da Vinci exhibit at the Denver Nature & Science Museum, and the
last section was a deep analysis of the Mona Lisa. The first time I saw Notre
Dame was also the first time I visited the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. In
those days she was in a small dark room and you could walk right up to her. I
feel very lucky to have had such an intimate experience with her, compared to
the madness of the huge crowd in front of the Mona Lisa these days.
Did you know that the Mona Lisa is unfinished? Did you know that Leonardo
carried the Mona Lisa with him and continued to work on her from 1503 to 1517?
Talk about a heckuva UFO! Also through a series of tests, researchers have
determined that da Vinci repainted and redesigned elements of the painting
several times.
So…even the great master had parallels to common quilter practices. We carry
handwork, rip up and re-do, and struggle with UFOs. What is YOUR latest
masterpiece?
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
