Meet the Tour Organizers and Guides
Jeanne Mills and assistant Mary Ellen Parsons.
Since 1995 Jeanne Mills has been organizing and leading textile tours, visiting places that quilters, textile buffs, inveterate travelers and those looking for inspiration will enjoy. A true Francophile, Jeanne is an experienced European traveler, who lived in France during the mid-sixties and again between 1985 and 1993. She is currently president of the Monterey Peninsula Quilters' Guild and works and teaches part time at Back Porch Fabrics quilt shop in Pacific Grove.
Mary Ellen Parsons and Jeanne have known each other for many years; they first met quilting around a frame in 1975. They were partners in the Wild Goose Chase Quilt Shop in Pacific Grove and have traveled to France together several times. Mary Ellen is also a Francophile, who has studied French. Mary Ellen is an expert quilt maker, a recent featured artist at the Monterey Peninsula Quilters' Guild quilt show and teacher at Back Porch Fabrics in Pacific Grove. She and her husband own the Parsonage Family Winery in Carmel Valley and images of Mary Ellen's quilts have become the labels on their bottles of wine. For a peek at a few of Mary Ellen's quilts, click here.
Jeanne Mills Tours is not affiliated with any tour groups. We have planned the itineraries and chosen the visits and excursions for our 19th tour. We use the services of Suzanne Cox of Kenwood Travel in California, Globeo Travel in Paris, local French Tourist Offices, coach companies and guide services. We reserve the right to make changes in the daily activities according to the needs and energy level of the group, the weather and new museum exhibits, ideas, suggestions and information coming to our attention between now and the start of the tour.
Our objective as tour organizers and quilt makers is to provide you, the quilt maker, with an opportunity to discover creative ideas for your future quiltmaking or other artistic endeavors. Our daily activities are chosen from the perspective of those who love and are inspired by fabric, color, and design. Along the way we will explore a variety of attractions, many of which may influence your future projects. As you experience French culture, visit museums and monuments, meet people, take photos and record memories, you'll return home a myriad of new ideas.
Be you quilt maker and textile lover or inveterate traveler, our excursion in 2012 will offer all participants an opportunity to see regions of France less often visited by American tourists. We promise a happy adventure with like-minded travelers. Come back in the fall of 2011 to check out the 2012 tour details.
For a fabulous journey and memories to last a lifetime, come, travel with us.