2015 Year in Review pt. 2

The second big celebration for the Bodin family in 2015 was our trip to Europe.  We spend a week in Paris and a week in Tuscany.

One of the highlights of our stay in Paris was visiting the church where my husband's grandparents were married.

St. Genevieve

Another highlight was the foodie tour with La Cuisine Paris

We started here, at the oldest cooking supply store in Paris, then made our way through shop after shop selling wonderous culinary delights!

Later we had a picnic in the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens with our purchases.

We also took some day trips from Paris to Reims and the Champagne region

and to Versailles

After Paris, we spent a week in Tuscany.  We stayed in a beautiful villa

 where our daughter the chef cooked lovely meals

and we dined al fresco

We also had some great day trips:  Florence

San Gimignano

Siena

where we had wonderful pizza

and Montepulciano, 

where we had the best meal of the entire trip!

The chef and her husband with our daughters

It was a wonderful trip!

2015 Year in Review pt. 1

2015 was a banner year for the Bodin family!  We had three very special celebrations this year.  The first was our daughter's graduation from The Culinary Institute of America in April.  After receiving her degree in Health Promotion and Fitness from the University of Texas, Christina spent the next two years at the CIA in Napa Valley earning her culinary degree.

The graduating class of 2015

Me and Christina  

Christina graduated with honors.  We are so proud of her!

We spent a wonderful weekend in Napa Valley celebrating with winery tours and wonderful dinners.

A lovely tasting at Domaine Carneros

Merry Christmas 2015

"Holly Angel"

Merry Christmas!

Houston International Quilt Festival!

The International Quilt Festival is in full swing!  With beautiful quilts:

Best of Show winner Janet Stone with her beautiful quilt "Ewe Are My Sunshine"

More gorgeous quilts

Beautifully handcrafted garments:

And of course, the best part, the doll exhibits!

I have two dolls in the show this year.  "In Celebration of the Doll" is an invitational exhibit, with dolls coming from all over the country (and around the world).  I feel very fortunate to be included with these wonderful artists.  My "Celebration" doll this year is

"Handmaid of the Sacred Heart"

This is my interpretation of a Santos figure, in cloth of course.  Her torso, arms and skirt are felted merino wool.  Her apron and headpiece are hand dyed velvet, with machine embroidery and beading.

My other doll is in the Texas Association of Original Doll Artists exhibit "Block Party 3".  Each doll in this exhibit features a quilt block.  The one I chose is the farmer's daughter quilt block, which inspired the piece.

"The Farmer's Daughter"

Her dress and poke bonnet are constructed from a vintage Liberty of London cotton print.  Her cotton apron features the farmer's daughter quilt block on the bib. Her hair is Tibetan lambskin.  In her arms she holds a basket of hand felted heirloom tomatoes in shades of red, yellow, orange and green merino wool.

It's always an honor to exhibit my dolls at the International Quilt Festival!  And I'm so lucky to live in Houston and be able to attend this show every year.

Eco Dyeing Workshop

I had the good fortune to attend an eco dyeing workshop recently with Nicola Brown.

Here are the results:

The piece at the bottom was made using Japanese maple leaves on silk habotai with rust as the mordant.

close up

Another piece of silk habotai using rose leaves with rust:

in this detail shot you can see how the strings used to bind the fabric make a print on the ends

These are large eucalyptus leaves on a silk/wool blend, with vinegar as the mordant.

in the detail shot you can see the print made from folding the fabric in half

This piece was made with the small eucalyptus leaves on silk.

close up

What a fun workshop!  I hope to do more eco dyeing in the future.  I'm seeing a series of eco dyed dolls.......

:)