While Laura was teaching her second week of workshops in the Wooden House last week we abandoned our usual duties and escaped to a beautiful part of France.
We had the excuse that my quilt had been juried into the international competition at Carrefour European du Patchwork in the Val D’Argent.
Not that we ever need a reason to visit such a picturesque part of the world where the unbelievably pretty buildings are surrounded on all sides by miles and miles of vineyards and there are plenty of opportunities to sample the products of the region. We chose to stay over the mountain in the next valley, in Riquewihr.
My quilt was displayed with 37 other competition entries in a spacious, well lit gallery. If you follow my blog or our Facebook page you probably know by now that I was lucky enough to be awarded two prizes this year – of course this added much excitement to our visit on the opening day! And it goes without saying we celebrated that evening with a bottle of the local Cremant bottled just a few yards from the restaurant where we ate dinner.
The exhibits are spread over a number of venues in four different towns and villages along the valley. Ste Marie aux Mines is the largest of the towns and the place to find all the traders’ stalls. I believe there were around 150 of them selling everything a patchworker might need as well as many tempting things they might just want! The France Patchwork exhibit was in a large building in Liepvre. I loved the traditional quilts – maybe my favourite exhibit in the whole show – especially this beautiful quilt I’ve shown below. ‘Nuit Etoilee’ by Ghislaine Lucas was impeccably pieced and her quilting was astonishing!
Some of the churches become temporary galleries over the five days of the show. Here, the work of a local group is displayed hanging from the balconies and small items for sale are displayed on tabletops. Although most of the quilts were well lit, the subdued church lighting wasn’t ideal for an exhibition, however, in the heat of the day, the pews provided a welcome, cool spot to sit and rest our tired feet!
