French Treasure (And a Little Bit of Swiss)

France is quite close to where I (Kara) live, and I've shared over the last two years various glimpses of the Alsace region of France. When I first arrived, I was able to go the European Patchwork Festival in Sainte Marie Aux Mines, and this past spring, I took a fun trip to Strasbourg, France. (You can read about both places here and here). This visit to France took us to the Burgundy region of France on our way down to Lyon, for the Women's World Cup soccer final. 

Castle Chillon

I thought it would be fun to take a few days to get to Lyon, so we planned a some stops along the way. The first stop was Castle Chillon in Veytaux, Switzerland, located on the shores of Lake Geneva. It is by far the best castle we have visited! There was so much to see inside—and a little inspiration as well.

One of the many beautiful works of art on the walls

The castle also had quite a collection of carved trunks from the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries—beautiful old school luggage! The carvings were amazing!

This was the inside lid of one of the trunks.

I can see an appliqué pattern here.

After the castle, we were off to the French side of Lake Geneva where we spent a lovely night in a converted, old barn with views like this:

Our next stop was Beaune, France, for a little sightseeing and wine tasting. As we were strolling through the streets of Beaune, who should I meet but a friend from the Academy of Appliqué! It really is a small world. My husband and I enjoyed visiting some of the local antique shops and discovered this beautiful wool appliqué tapestry from the Ottoman empire, or so we were told.

I just love the colors and the shading!
I wish I could have brought this home.

Onwards we traveled towards Lyon via Mâcon, France, where I had discovered a flea/antique market that would be held that day. To our surprise it was not just antiques that we found, but a gathering with homemade French food and wine! The booth owners were so gracious and plied us with delicious goodies and glasses of the local vintage as we perused their wares. I was pretty excited to find some lovely vintage ribbons, lace, an old postcard, and a bobbin lace pillow.

Not yet sure how these will be used

Sweet little trims!

A nice addition to my collection

It's hard to believe this is still in such wonderful shape!

I will have to do some translation, but it does say "Happy New Year" on the tiny card.

And my favorite find—an antique bobbin lace pillow!

The bobbins are quite tangled, but it is a treasure nonetheless. 

Hopefully, you have enjoyed seeing some of the beauty of France (and Switzerland) from our road trip through this region. We met some lovely people, ate a lot of good food, and certainly drank some excellent French wine—and even scored some vintage treasures!

Oh and by the way...congratulations to the U.S. women's soccer team on their win!!