Françoise here.
Yes, I'm still blogging... from time to time...
When the last Twelve by Twelve series ended, I must admit that it felt pretty strange. A bit unreal, a little too quiet... There was even a feeling of emptiness sometimes, although we were still in contact by email.
Anyway, at first, I decided to try and use up all the little scraps of fabrics I had dyed for our challenges.
I made lots of small art quilts. I showed some of them on my blog. Others were never finished, and of course I could never use up all those scraps.
I also decided I wanted to spend more time drawing and painting.
About 4 years ago, I had bought a new weaving loom. With the end of the Twelve by Twelve challenges, I also had more time to experiment with this beautiful toy.
Awfully time consuming, and completely different from quilting, but absolutely enjoyable!
I am still making art quilts of course, dyeing and printing my fabrics, and sewing mainly by machine as before.
Some time ago, I started a new group with a few quilting friends from Belgium. We meet every other month, and at the moment we are working with themes, making two quilts for each theme.
Here are two quilts I made for this group...
I spend lots of time playing with my grandchildren. My older granddaughter is already a very talented artist. Here she was painting with different ocres I bought in the South of France.
And I still love to take pictures, mainly of nature,
at home...
and when I travel...
And, as I'm very stubborn, I carry on studying Japanese, making rather slow progress but still enjoying it very much.
This is all for today!
I still have to meet a few of my Twelve by Twelve fellows in person.
How about organizing a meeting for our 10th anniversary?
I would love a ten year reunion! Perhaps in Belgium or New Zealand?
ReplyDeleteQuel beau programme, vie bien occupée!!!
ReplyDeleteI am planning on attending FoQ in Birmingham in August 2017 so we could have at least a mini reunion then :-)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great thing to have been a part of - I always enjoy your blog posts & love your recent quilts, especially the pink one.
ReplyDeleteI just might be able to make it to FOQ next year. We are thinking of traveling to Paris and England with our cathedral choir next summer.
ReplyDeleteI can understand the feelings you mentioned experiencing when The Challenge was over. I experienced similar feelings when the Quilter's Play Group broke up after a year of monthly meetings to explore art quilting techniques.
ReplyDeleteYour drawing, painting, and weaving certainly was a change from the art quilts that you made with alongside the other Twelves. So many artistic endeavors, so little time!!