Madrid - shop windows

May TIF completed

May TIF challenge sounded like this:

OK there is a few questions in the passage above but this month the challenge question is what do you call yourself and why?
Hopefully this will have everyone scratching their head but if you don’t like the challenge question you can elect to use the colour scheme instead.

The complete texte is here.

Yes, the question had me scratching my head. Thank you Sharon!
What do I call myself? Apart from a woman, I find the answer difficult. I'm certainly not an artist: although I need playing with needles and thread on a daily basis, I'm not as creative as I'd wished. And I don't think enough on what I do to call me an artist, not to mention the lack of technical skills. Textile art is a hobby, or a way to relax and to feel connected to other women of todays or of the past. Of today because this hobby lets me meet wonderful women, mainly in the cyberspace. Of the past, because we carry on techniques women have developped before us.
However, my job takes the greatest part of my time, and I like that job. But that's not a job that will save the humanity, just enable me to raise my kids properly and do a living.
Well, if I cannot put words on what I am, I certainly cannot represent those words with threads. It would have required a lot of thinking which I was not ready to make this month.
So I went for the second option, with those threads: I found it was a good opportunity to try lock stitch as described by J. Beaney and J. Littejohn.
Lock stitch sampler, on silk, embroidered with fancy threads, wool, silk ribbon, matches.

My main problem has been the loop. I wanted to use this fabric, but it requires a loop. And to move the loop as I went on, twice for each layer of each colum. I saw one a square loop, and I wished I had one! But I definitely love this stitch. It is as verstile as they say.

Happy Mothers Day

Mothers Day is today in France. So happy Mothers Day to all mothers!

Daughter #1 surprised me yesterday with this nice calamondin. As you can see, it is rainy here, and I try to get it used to the live outdoor before the sun is too fierce :-). It is full of tiny small fruit, and I hope it will bloom again soon at it smells so good!

Behind, you can see a tangerine tree. It is supposed to be hardy here, but clearly it does not like been in the middle of the garden during winter, it takes him all summer to recover. I put him back in a container last year, so that I can protect him during the cold days. It has just finished blooming, its smell too was very nice.
Thanks again Emilie, you made my day!

GTS

JoinWithin the last year, my two daughters have finished school and found jobs, meaning I have more time and money to:

• go away,
• enjoy gardening.

However, going away even for only three days is not compatible with gardening here, especially during summer. The plants need their watering, and I don't want to ask a neighbor to spend one hour watering for me. So last month, a gardener came and installed an automatic dripping system. This has been very effective, it has been raining regularly since the very first day :-).

I don't complain about that, the garden has not been so green for so long for several years. It is just weird to be back to a rainy spring after several years of drought. Not only weird, but a blessing too. However, I know that once the rain goes away, the garden will be burnt by the sun in a couple of days, whatever I do. So for the moment, I enjoy it, even the weeds...

Below are two nice surprises of the weeks, a lilly, and a peony I have transplanted last year. It has only one flower, but a beautiful one. The weeds behind are euphorbia, I like them too much to get rid of them.

Green Thumb Sunday

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

New community for textile artists

Sharon B, of In a Minute Ago has just created a new community for all kinds of textile artists.
Anyone addicted to threads, needles and fabrics should visit it at once!


Visit stitchin fingers

GTS - Roses in Madrid

Green Thumb Sunday

JoinA portion of Parque del Retiro is dedicated to roses. Most of them from French roses breeder, by the way :-). Here are some pictures:









Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Madrid

I'm back! And so pleased with this weekend that I must share some pictures with you.

The cristal Palace in Parque del Retiro Royal Palace

A church behind the Prado museumPlaza Mayor A covent
Plaza de Cibeles
More to come soon !

Changes, continued ?

Remember my TIF piece? The one about changes and caterpillar ? Well, should have been premonition... this is what was waiting for me this evening: I'm so glad you liked the pictures of the roses in Avignon.
And yes, we all had our noses into the flowers and full of pollen :-).
Are they teahybrids ? I feel a bit ashamed, I really have no clue, not even sure of what it means...
We did not have chateauneuf du pape with our lunch, just a kir as a starter. But we were right outside the palace, in the sun, enjoying that lively place like all tourists do.
Lynne, I'm happy it brought back nice memories. I love Aix, and thought I hate driving to Avignon, I love that part of the town. I can feel all those people that were living there. It is easy as many buildings from that time are still present. And during the Festival, it is fabulous.

I wish you all a great week. Mine will be short, I mean the working part of it. On Thursday I'm off to Madrid, to spend the weekend with my two daughters. The meteo forecasts are gloomy, but I'm sure we will enjoy ourselves.

GTS - roses in Avignon continued

Green Thumb Sunday


Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday,
visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Here are some of my favorites; I hope I've got the names right...
I was with my daughter Emilie. Before going inside, she read the list of roses and she found some names very funny, especially the rose named after a French Country singer, Eddy Mitchell. It turns out that this rose was one of our favorites, with Summer Lodge.

Prieure de St Cosme by Dominique Massad and Petales de Roses

Mysterieuse by Dorieux and Plan Jardin



Sweet Love by Harkness/Edirose
Pierre Tchernia by Meilland I guess this is Greffe de vie by Meilland

Eddy Mitchell by Meilland
Vanille-fraise by Laperriere and Edirose
Sourire de Brenda by Delbard

Imaginaire Parfumée by Gaujard
Summer Lodge by Orard and Edirose I don't remember...

Roses Festival - part 1

I live in the South of France, not far away of Avignon where the Popes have lived from 1305 to 1403. You can imagine they did not live in a small house... they left a beautiful palace there. Click hereto get an idea...
Anyway, for the fourth year, Jardiland (a chain of nurseries) has organized a festival of roses inside the palace. We went there this morning. It was an eye candy, really.
Here are the first pictures:

More roses on Sunday!

PS Avignon and its palace are well known for the Theater Festival that takes place in July.