Autumnal quilt

This is a quilt I like to have around when Fall comes.  The walls of my home change as the seasons come and pass. I find that the shades of this particular quilt blend in  well with the colours of my surroundings: yellow, ochre, brown, green, rust. It  seems to capture all the rays of a sun that has lost its Summer warmth.

It is sewed mostly with precious leftovers  from other quilts.  French and English ancient fabrics, various silks and a pastoral scene on linen in golden tones.

The touch of these different materials is both soft and raw under your hands. The hand quilting adds a kind of uneven texture on materials that would normally be softer. Harmony in differences. I like it for the light it brings into the house and for the movement created by the various textures.

A blade of grass

A poem that came to mind this afternoon as I walked through the fields bordering the forest. Leaves were falling  over my face, swept away by a soft but freezing breeze. They touched the soil gently, without hardly any sound to my human ears but not so to the blade of grass…

“Said a blade of grass to an autumn leaf, “You make such a noise falling! You scatter all my winter dreams.”

Said the leaf indignant, “Low-born and low-dwelling! Songless, peevish thing! You live not in the upper air and you cannot tell the sound of singing.”

Then the autumn leaf lay down upon the earth and slept. And when spring came she waked again — and she was a blade of grass.

And when it was autumn and her winter sleep was upon her, and above her through all the air the leaves were falling, she muttered to herself, “O these autumn leaves! They make such a noise! They scatter all my winter dreams.”

K.Gibran

The Madman Chapter 30

with every breath

“With every breath I take today,

I wow to be awake;

And every step I take,

I vow to take with a grateful heart

So I may see with eyes of love

Into the hearts of all I meet,

To ease their burden when I can

And touch them with a smile of peace”.

A poem I like and whose author I do not know. I hope it is inspiring to you as it is to me.

Welcome to Fribourg

Fribourg is a medieval town (the old part dates from the XIIth century) in Switzerland. It is situated in the French speaking part of the country but very close to the German speaking area.  A town of paved roads,  narrow lanes borded with old houses mostly restored in the ancient style. The sunrays bring out the beauty of some picturesque ancient constructions.

This is a town where you can walk for miles along the river Sarine which is a natural limit between two areas : Swiss French and Swiss German. A river coming down from the Alps and flowing slowly through Fribourg, although  it can be quite wild in the lower and ancient part of the town in the rainy season.

Fribourg is also a town of squares  decorated with fountains of all styles. I love to sit there on a warm day reading a book or just enjoying the sun and watching people walking by. On the day I took this picture, it was freezing cold though, hardly anyone around… In Summertime Fribourg is a town where terraces bloom all over the place. A lively town which I enjoy visiting and meeting friends. These are just a few flashes of a town I live close by and which is well worth visiting if you are in the area (Geneva, Lausanne, Berne, Neuchâtel, Lucerne).