Salons

I'd love to tell you that I am back from the land of stuffy-nose, sore throat, and no energy, but it wouldn't be true. I suppose today's post comes from the world of should-buy-stock-in-tissues.

***'Salon' in French can either mean a hair salon or an exhibition/fair.

In this case, it means the latter.***

Way, way, way back in 2007, I braved a transportation strike to go to the Salon du Chocolat in Paris. It was worth every bit of the inconvenience on transport to get there. (A few pictures can be found HERE.) I knew it would become a regular part of my annual existence in France. However, I wasn't able to get to another one until just a few weeks ago. I'm not sure how long the Salon has been coming to Marseille, but I sure am glad it's made it's way here!

I went with Barney and the Artist. While not even half as big as the one in Paris, it was still fun to see so much chocolate and get plenty of free samples. This booth had chocolate covered macarons. Coffee flavored macarons. Could there be anything more tasty in the whole world? I think not.

There was a chocolate fashion show. Because, um, who wouldn't want to wear chocolate? One outfit was made entirely of chocolate! (It was also utterly ridiculous looking...) Anyway, here's a close-up...it had little cicadas! (The cicada is sort of the 'symbol' of Provence).

This one, I think, was made with the help of a friend of mine! She's a superb cook, and the camelridingcowgirl told me that our friend made the little flowers.

A close-up of the flowers. She did a good job, huh?! :)

I wouldn't wear a chocolate dress...but I could settle for some earring shaped like my favorite French yummy--the macaron. I bought a pair of pink/red ones.

There were also chocolate sculptures.

Above is a group of Frenchies playing pétanque, (bocce ball), the national pastime of Provence. Below is a chocolate pétanque set.

About a week later, there was a Salon of "Creative Past-times." There were booths of every kind of crafty past-time you could ever imagine! Quilting, knitting, embroidery, tatting, tile mosaics, baking, wood stuffs, and scrapbooking. Scrapbooking?! In France? Who knew? Barney and I laughed, because the salon was approximately 95% women...and all above the age of 50! We had to be the youngest people there.

My little quilter's heart was thrilled to see beautiful quilts, and even more beautiful fabrics. I'd say "for sale," but that might imply a low price. Not so much. (The prices didn't stop me, though!)

The quilts below are made my the quilter man at my local store in Marseille. The big one on the left is truly beautiful and impressive, as it looks like a Persian rug, but upon closer inspection...it's not actually quilted that much. It's just big squares and rectangles sewn together. I could do that. The other two, however, are a different story. The Log Cabin on the top right took my breath away and I've continued to stare at the picture of it on my phone...and the Lone Star quilt in the center was also so pretty. I'd like to make both those patterns some day!

I found the booth for the Quilting Association of France and asked if they knew of a quilting group or workshop that I could join in Marseille so that I could (a) improve my quilting skills and (b) learn all the quilting vocabulary in French. These sweet little ladies were so kind to me! I told them I was a beginner, and that I've only made around 10 quilts or so. The woman writing down my info laughed and said, "If you've made that many AND you're an American, we're going to say you're an intermediate!" (Quilting in France certainly has it's own style that has nothing to do with America, but true patchwork quilting is seen as très americain, and thus, simply by birth, I am endowed with some kind of patriotic abilities that these women must not possess...) I hope to join their group very soon. Can you imagine it? Little ole me, sitting around a quilting hoop with a bunch of retired French ladies. Oh boy!

I near bout keeled over and died when I found these art nouveau fabrics! The hardest part was deciding which ones to buy. I finally decided on two half-meters of these two prints, instead of one whole meter of just one. I'm so in love with them. Pretties fabrics I've ever seen in my whole life, right there. It was a good day!!!