Trip to Paris 4 : Dinner party at Claire's

On the last day of our stay in Paris, we were invited for dinner at Claires!

It was a group of 9.

Just a few seconds walk from Meudon - Val- Fleury station, there was her house and atelier.

At her house

 Claire does not only crochet, but embroidery and quilting as well! This is a quilt that she made about 10 years ago.

Various pictures were hanging and looking beautiful on white walls.

Here and there, we found knitting which were working in process!

A lady on the right side is Claire and her husband was next to her.
At the beginning,they brought nibbles and cocktails which were French local ones.
Everybody at the table joined "crochetons pour le japon". We didn't know they had not known each other before this project began, because they got along very well!

In summer 2011 they finished assembling squares that were sent from all of the world, so they were wondering what they were going to do next. Finally they decided to see once a month on a regular basis to simply enjoy each other's companies and knitting! 

Her atelier

Take a look at the inside ....

We were introduced to Claire by Marylene at the quilt fair in Sainte Marie aux Mine in September 2011.
Claire and Marylene are students of Lea Stansal. One day at a class Marylene told Claire that she and her students were going to Japan to visit the biggest quilt show in Japan, "Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival"  Then Claire joined them. We could not meet Claire in January, but she saw my latest quilt exhibited at the show and liked the combination of the quilt and crochet. When the natural disaster happened on Mar.11, Marylene and we decided to work on projects called "Anata to Watashi no Quilt (Patch for Japan)" and Claire also joined us with crochet which was reminded by my quilt.

Dinner began at the atelier!

  

Everything tasted great, but in particular we liked this mini Canele and Financier very much and took them to our house in Japan as souvenirs:-)

Claire sent us to our hotel by car. On the way, we saw the old bridge in Paris, the Seine and the sparkling Eiffel tower!

Within the space of 5 minutes an hour, the Eiffel tower is specially illuminated like that.
We were so excited in her car!

A bientot, Paris!

Trip to Paris 3 : Shopping

There are so many lovely shops in Paris. Here I would like to share ones we checked out with you.


Stationary  L'Ecritoire

They sell unique letter sets which have triangle and star- shaped envelops and are difficult to find in Japan. They seem to have a lot of customers from Japan, as we found some descriptions in Japanese!

 Address: 61 rue St-Martin 4e 　Phone：01 42 78 01 18 　Closed: Sunday


Brocant, Boutique and Tea salon   Mamie Gateau

They have those 3 shops on the same street. Each one is beautifully decorated as French country chic.

The owner in the picture is in charge of Brocant and Boutique and her Japanese wife is in charge of tea salon. We had a wonderful lunch there.

Address ：66 rue du Cherche-midi 75006  Phone：01 42 22 32 15  Closed: Sunday and Monday


Oysho

I'm sure you living in Europe know this very well, but unfortunately we don't have Oysho in Japan! They have pretty inner wear. 
Oysho website

They have 5 shops in Paris. This is one of them.
Address：74 rue du Rivoli


Entree des Fournisseurs

You can get anything about sewing. There are buttons, ribbons, yarn, fabrics and embroidery materials!

Address： 8 rue des Francs Bourgeois 75003  Phone：01 48 87 58 98 　Closed: Sunday


La Croix et La Maniere

You might have seen her works somewhere before. Some books are sold in Japan as well.
Monique Lyonnet is a well known cross stitch artist.

They sell linen and fabrics in light and soft colors, which is totally her taste.

With Monique

her website 


Address：36 Rue Faidherbe 75011  Phone：01 43 72 99 09   Closed: Sunday and Monday



Trip to Paris 2 : Creations et Savoir - Faire

The main reason why we wanted to go to Paris was to check this show "Creations et Savoir - Faire" held by a well known craft magazine, Marie Claire Idees.

There were various stands of quilting, knitting, embroidery, scrap booking and cooking.
Once we stepped into a booth, it was hard to leave there quickly, so one day was not enough for us to see all around.

We had meetings about "Anata to Watashi no Quilt (Patch for Japan)" with Marylene (quilt) and Claire (crochet).

It was so great seeing them again!


Look at displays and exhibitions ...

While walking, we found this booth which we liked the most. Later it turned out that it was what Claire displayed and got the best award for decorating booths! (further info)

Marylene and Claire introduced us to a popular craft artist, Lea Stansal (her blog where you can find a picture of us!).
When we saw her book for the first time, we were amazed by her unique embellishments. What great books ...

We found one of Masako's books translated in French at the show!

So many inspiring things ... we enjoyed the show very much! 

Trip to Paris 1 : Eiffel tower

We returned to Japan from Paris on Tuesday. It was a 4 nights 7 days trip.
The schedule was tight and we had so many things to do, but enjoyed it all!

We would like to share pictures with you, which are sorted by categories!

When it comes to Paris, no one could first think of anything else than "Eiffel Tower"!

In day and night time, it gives you different images, which all look beautiful.

On the 20th Sunday's night, on the way back from Claire's to our hotel, luckily we could see the Eiffel tower was sparkling which only is held for 5 minutes an hour in the night!

French Patchwork Magazine

One of French handy crafts magazines, called "les edition de saxe" publishes a magazine "magic patch" on a regular basis.

In vol., 95, Claire who joins the activity, Anata to Watashi no Quilt (Patch for Japan) with crochet (here is her website of crochetons poul le japon) is introduced!

125 coverlets in all! What a wonderful activity!
We are seeing her in Paris this Thursday so looking forward to it!

Speaking of "saxe", one of Masako's books is published in French by them.

Please click here to get further info.

New fabrics from Moda

New fabrics from Moda have arrived last Friday!
Actually they were sold out at our store and an event but we could place an order for some of them again!

A02-443  1400yen per meter

A02-443 in a larger image



A02-444  1400yen per meter



A02-445  1400yen per meter

Anata to Watashino Quilt Exhibition in Luxembourg

At EIB (European Investment Bank) in Luxembourg, Anata to Watashi no Quilt Exhibition now is going from Nov.7 till Nov.18.

Unfortunately it is not opened to the public, but is supposed to be seen by 2,000 employees. 

The organizers, Marylene from Belgium and Claire from France displayed beautiful coverlets that were assembled with blocks which were gathered from over the world!

Marylene (quilt)

Claire (crochet)

They sent out leaflets to the employees about the story behind "Anata to Watashi no Quilt (Patch for Japan)"  and asked for donations.

It was a shame that we could not join it, but we will see each other in Paris in a week!