Our Illinois sun isn’t brilliant enough to do the colors justice

I have always loved the colors and patterns in the fabrics from the south of France, but I never really owned any until a dear French friend came to my home this fall with a gift, an incredible bundle of almost 100 remnant pieces of Provencal fabric, and a history lesson.

Merci mille fois Françoise for this beautiful thoughtful gift, I hope I did it justice.

I didn't know that "le tissu Indienne" as it was called started coming into Europe from the Port of Marseille around the 1600’s. It became so popular with the ladies that it threatened the local industries causing the usage of such fabrics to be forbidden in 1696. The black market flourished until the French took it upon themselves to copy its production. This particular fabric came from the Valdrôme Factory

This may have been one of my hardest quilts to design, I ripped and put it back together three times. I love doing the actual work; it’s the designing that’s a killer for me. Luckily I was prodded in the right direction by both an American and French quilter. I was told not to cut the fabric in too small of pieces so that the beautiful patterns themselves would not be lost. Merci! I love it.