The show was in its 29th year and divided over four villages in the Val d'Argent in the Alsace, Northern France, close to Germany and Switzerland. This is the Valley of the Silver Mines and one could visit them. It is also close to the Wine Route as the region produces very famous white and red wines. There is so much to see in the area! There were shuttle buses that drove quilters to all four villages, villages that look like the ones you see on tv in the Tour de France when the peloton races through them. Old houses and buildings, streets with many curves. You're in and out quickly! All the main buildings in the villages were used for the quilt show and that was very charming by itself. My classes were in the Lycee, the high school, a very old building. My view outside the windows was  the lovely country side of the Alsace. Across the Lycee is the Theater. Here you could view the beautiful classic red/white quilts from the International Quilt Museum of Lincoln, Nebraska and an exhibition of the work of  Sarah Luise Kaminski. There were many smaller exhibitions, from quilters and collectors from all over the world and I enjoyed seeing some of them. 

Quilters are the same no matter where they are from, but I enjoyed all the different languages I heard. Of course, most attendants were  French, and that is special when you are used to English as the main language. I heard all the European languages like German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and English and I recognized regional dialects. It made me aware of my European roots. I have never been in St. Marie-aux-Mines before, but  I have been in the Alsace, only 5.5 hours from where I was born and grew up as a child. The last time 39 years ago! 

Teaching a class is special when there are so many languages gathered in one room. The organisation provided me with a translator, Dawn, a British lady who fell in love with a Frenchman 40 years or so ago and stayed in France. She is also a quilter and I can say that we worked together without any effort. Dawn was a delight and it felt as if we had done this together many times before. I have a friend in the Alsace. Thanks to her, most students who didn't speak English (the majority), picked up the technique quickly, except for a lady from Argentina who only spoke Spanish. She however, was very good with color and with some facial and manual communication her collage had a perfect start at the end of the day as well. So this was really a unique experience. I walked around my classes to help all the students and at the end of a day a student said to me: "vous etes la professeur qui marche". I will always remember this and in my next classes I will think fondly of France.

 One evening, after the class, I got invited for a personal interview by Artenfils.fr about "mon parcours du travail", the journey of my work. Artenfils is a blog that introduces contemporary quilters to its audience.  We sat at the end of a local bar and as you can imagine, that was a long and fun discussion. I'm not so sure my work would qualify as contemporary in the US, but in France freestyle color collage is definitely contemporary.  An article about me will be written up and published somewhere next year. Maybe at the same time as my book will be available in Europe. I explained to my interviewer how  lucky I feel with all the opportunities that have come my way. Who can teach in France? Who gets to meet so many quilters? Who talks to another person about her life in a French bar?  Like a domino it goes from one thing to another, almost effortless. And that was just this week!  I count my blessings!

No quilt show can be without a vendor market. This show had some vendors outside in tents  and many inside in the expo hall. Not at the same scale as the US, but a nice amount. It is obviously very different from the US. Quilting by the general public in France is much, much more traditional. I saw many booths with fabrics that are super classic.  Not reproduction fabrics, but truly classic. Also many Japanese fabrics in taupe colors but I will write about that Daiwabo phenomenon another time. French quilters love "broderie", and that results in many booths with embroidery threads, heavier linnens for backgrounds and tons of buttons. Very few truly modern fabrics were available. There were new collections, but the vendors had selected the more traditional designers and color combinations. Contemporary fabrics are available in limited choices, but any US show is much more modern. I think more modern quilting styles were underpresented at the market, because in the exhibitions modern fabrics, color combinations and techniques were definitely present. They even had a presence of QuiltCon 2024 quilts!  Longarm is still at the beginning and was  hardly present at the market, so very different from any US show.   Ofcourse, housing is much smaller in Europe and not many will have room for a longarm. But also midarm and other smaller options were not as visible as in every US show, where they really dominate the floor space with their large presentations. Handy Quilter was present as was Bernina, but they too had small displays. Some of my students told me that working with fusibles was not really looked upon as the "real" quilting. "Glue" is not a nice word. "Glue" is also expensive in Europe so needle turn applique is the norm.  It will change (with that  I mean "expand") there as well in the next years because the quilts in the exhibitions are introducing quilters to more styles and techniques in quilting. So the market felt like a discrepansy with the exhibition. There was a gap and I don't know enough about the European market to have an explanation for this. 

The prices are high, really high.  A fat quarter is easily $5.00-6.00 and  $27 for a meter (almost 10% longer than a yard) is normal. $30.00 is not unheard for regular cottons. Nowhere in the world are quality fabrics as affordable as in the US!  Now granted, Europe doesn't add a salestax to a purchase (it's built in), but even with a steep sales tax, fabrics are at least 25% more affordable in the US.  I've been told the attendance of the show is around 14.000 (no idea if this is the correct number for this year), so despite the higher prices, Europe quilts (just like Asia and Australia)! It explains why those quilters when they do attend American quilt shows are going home with very full suitcases! My students loved the fabric packages, scissors and all the Lite Steam a Seam 2 I had brought with me.  I will return to the US  in a few days with a nearly empty suitcase..nearly.. I exchanged quilting stuff with chocolate, European candies and cookies for the kids with Christmas!

We had our camper parked at Les Reflets, where many quilters were spending the nights as well in super cold, rainy and nasty weather. It was so cold, the extra pair of leggings that I had brought  with me for the top of the Swiss Jungfrau were worn at night. (I didn't need them on the Jungfrau!) This campground was located a 25 minute walk from my Lycee, not a problem with normal temperatures. Thank goodness my dearest friends Ineke and her husband Co were also attending the show. They had driven by car from The Netherlands to France. Yes, the same Ineke that drove with me to Houston twice and Pasadena, CA once.  While I gave classes, Ineke looked at the quilts. Co and my husband drove around and took photos of the nature around the show, a passion of both men. At the end of my day, Co picked me up and brought me like a queen back to the campground. He was there also again in the morning to drop me off in town! Two evenings we had lovely dinners with the four of us at the low-key restaurant of the camping.  The restaurant served only one menu for its guests but both evenings we were treated with Alsatian specialties and the place was packed with hungry clients. One evening Sauerkraut and one evening Tartes Flambées. In Europe they let you sit for hours at a table and when you haven't seen your friends in a year, that felt like such a treasure. With some local wine and delicious ice cream we enjoyed the friendship and that little campground restaurant is now in my heart  as well.

Merci beaucoup, Carrefour!