Skip to main content

Sunshine and Lavander





Situated in an arid, rocky valley in the Luberon region of Provence, sits the 12th century Romanesque monastery "L'Abbaye de Senanque". This Cistercian abbey is still a place of monastic life, where the monks work in the fields of agriculture and tourism. This hot, dry, sun drenched area of Provence provides the perfect conditions for lavander to flourish. The stark beauty of the plain gray stone building of the abbey provides the perfect back drop for the flourishing blossoms of lavander growing in the adjacent fields. "Living from the work of their hands", is one of the directives written by Saint Benedict in the 6th century. For this reason, the monks work hard to tend to their daily chores, which include the growing and harvesting of the lavander.

Lavander reaches its full bloom sometime between mid July into August. It is then harvested and dried or distilled into essential oils. These dried flowers and extracts will be used to make a variety of aromatic toillette products (soaps, perfumes, sachets,etc.), lavander flavoured flavoured foods (like honey, an all time favourite of mine), herbal teas, and even products that are used for their healing properties.


Visiting "L'Abbaye de Senanque" is a "should do" when visiting Provence.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Boutis: Traditional French Needlework

" Piqûre de Marseilles" or "Boutis" is a traditional French hand stitched and corded needlework technique, which uses embroidery stitches to create intricate channels that will later be stuffed with yarn, thereby creating a raised design with three layers. It's origins, and it's name, can be traced to the port of Marseilles in southern France to the 15th century. Traditional boutis was a technique invented to embellish otherwise plain white cotton with intricately patterned channels that would later be stuffed with a plump white yarn to give it relief. The resulting corded whitework created an elegant, embossed textile that was much sought after. Not only was it aesthetically appealing, but it also provided warmth and absorbency, so could be used for bed coverings, toilette linens (like towels), clothing items, home decor, etc. The first two photos below are from the collection of Mme. Monique Alphand, a well known French expert and collector of antique t

Amish Hand Quilting in France with Esther Miller

Esther Miller, was born into an Amish family in the U.S., and now lives in Germany where she has for many years taught the techniques and methods of Amish hand quilting to anyone interested in learning these skills. As a child, she would closely watch as the women of her community worked together on a quilt, and eventually she was rewarded with a needle of her own and encouraged to join the group. Through the years, she has mastered these skills and techniques and now generously shares them with anyone who has a genuine desire to learn. Esther Miller in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines in Alsace France. An example of her own work, Esther brings this intricately and perfectly hand stitched wall quilt to class as inspiration for her students.  Last week, at the "European Meeting of Patchwork" in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines, in Alsace France, www.patchwork-europe.com , I had the privilege of taking a 2 day workshop with Esther. The Amish quilting method requires a free-standing simple

Blocking and Squaring Boutis

The door of her cage has been opened. She is free to fly off and find her destiny. After many months of hand stitching and then many more months of cording, my little "colibri" is ready to set off on her own. As this was my first attempt at designing so large a boutis piece, it was a learning curve. All of the tight swirls, curls and circles are a great deal more difficult and time consuming to cord then are the longer more gentle channels. Maintaining an even tension is absolutely necessary throughout the process, so patience comes in very handy when doing the cording. The process of stitching and cording a work of boutis subjects the fabric to a lot of handling and manipulation that can distort the design. For this reason, once all of the stitching and cording is complete, the boutis must be washed, blocked and squared.  The first step of washing is to remove all traces of the marking pencil as well as any soil that may have collected over the many months of working w