Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Camden Stables Market

We spent a lovely time in Camden, especially in the Stables Market. 
You can read more here
If I were living in London, I think I'd go in Camden quite often. The shops are very inspiring, and the people were friendly. The snow added a touch of magic. And so did the horses. See by yourselves:
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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

London, the fun part 1

The trip to London was far from bad, on the whole.
And I still consider we were very lucky to come home so quickly.

I met Amandine at the airport, and Emilie met us at Saint Pancras, since she took the Eurostar to come from Paris. Aren't they lovely?
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It was already cold, and snowy. But in fact, I loved that, I miss the bad weather of the North of France, as weird as it can sound :-)
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Our main problem on that day was to find a place for lunch. We saw several nice pubs, but they were all holding corporate XMas parties! But at the end, we found one table. 
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Look what I found in Carnaby Street! You can't see them, but they have heels.
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Frankly, I could not resist those either (but I did not buy the matching bag due to Ryanair luggage restrictions... sigh...)
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I think it is Picadilly Circus, not sure though...
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We made the most of our first day. Our hotel was at Saint Pancras, just across the road, in Argyle Square. Very nice and cosy, and warm. Amandine and I felt asleep before our head touched the pillow :-) Emilie lasted a bit longer. 

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

My horoscope said

You may decide that this is the perfect day to spend hibernating -- all cuddled up with a good friend or a sweetheart. Well, why not? Rent some videos, cook some comfort food and make the world go away. You've certainly earned it.

That is what we did on Saturday. Kind of...
This is Amandine, my daughter coming home from a 13-months trip in Australia and Asia. I went to London to welcome her, and bring her a coat and shoes.

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This is me. Cuddled...
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Yes, this is the floor, the floor of Stansted airport from where we were supposed to fly home that evening.
The good part is that it was nicely warm in the airport, with no video, but live show all the night through.

We were lucky, with the help of Amandine's father, we managed to climb into a Eurostar  to Paris. I was rather eager to see the tunnel but I did not. I don't know why. Amandine thinks this is the reason why...

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To make a long story short, it took us two days instead of two hours to reach home. And I think we did it in good conditions. And quickly...

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Let's brag...

This is the time of year when the company gathers to share all their achievements.
This always starts by honoring the long-time employees. I was one of those. Here is my diploma by the French Ministry of Work, with my medal, and the flowers I received. Add two kisses on the cheeks by the big boss, and some nice vouchers to spend on Hight-tech or videos.DSC01763
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Monday, December 13, 2010

A Fine Romance

Your comments on the doll have been very appreciated. Thank you!

Although the snow did not reach my place, this has been a cold weekend. I was almost ready to go for a walk, though, when I heard the hunters shooting, so I decided to stay home instead. 
I had received the Dec 2012/Jan 2011 issue of Stitch, and found this nice little project by Janet Humphrey.
It was fun finding the right laces for the background, and the matching beads or sequins. And preparing a nice cup of tea, for me to drink and for the Noel motif to dye.
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No dyeing for this one. 
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Below the grumpy heart-shaped cat, you can see an example of the original project.
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This look means "Stop playing on Internet, woman, go to the kitchen and fill my plate!"

I wish you all a good week. Take care!


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Cloth dolls

I had hoped to take pictures in the natural light, but that was not to be, too much rain.
I think I found the pattern in Quilting Arts, Xmas special issue.
They are fun to make, and can be made from tiny bits of fabrics.
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Friday, December 3, 2010

Frost

As I was driving home yesterday, I heard the night was going to be really cold.
Yes indeed. It is rare to see the garden all white, but this is the second time this week.

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Choupette's answer to the frozen birds bath:
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Osiris's answer to the cold outside
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and this is the update from the amaryllis. 
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Keep all warm for the weekend!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Amaryllis and WIP

Its been a long time since I found the time to blog in the middle of the week, isn't it?
The amaryllis deserve this post: Look at them.
I know the leaves usually come after the stems, but it is the first time the stems and flowers are so developped, without any leaf at all. Besides, the one on the right has 3 stems. But I won't complain about that!

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Not only did I find the time to blog, but even to do some applique:
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I hope your week is as good as mine. Take care.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Wrapping gift

As usual, you made my week great by visiting and leaving a comment. Thank you all!

Again, the week went by very quickly.
We are under a wave of cold, almost all France is under snow, and we have rain and low temperature. The perfect weather to stay in my sewing room.

I recently revamped this sewing room. Not only is it looking nicer and bigger, but I'm also more stash-conscious.

With Xmas in a few weeks, I'm facing a recurrent problem: I'm not good at wrapping gifts, sigh...
As I said above, I've had a good look at my stash, and at those lovely bits just waiting the opportunity to step into the light. There are even orphan blocks waiting for their day. So I decided to try another method: bags.
I made them very simple, raw edges, quick seams, and here they are:
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Now is the time for a nice cup of hot cocoa!
I wish you a very good week! Take care!

Amaryllis

They don't have leaves, but surely they will bloom. Two buds on one, three on the second!
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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sunday

Hello to all!
It has been a 3-days weekend, since I had some overtime to convert into free time. I was lucky on Friday, the weather was gorgeous and I went for a walk in the hill:

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A bright blue sky over a still green hill, with almond, fig and olive trees
Eh wait, those are supposed to bloom in spring!
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Red Valerian found in the hill

and spent the rest of the day gardening.
Yesterday was completely different, heavy with rain, and today was a mix of the two. This did not upset me since I wanted to play with needles. Indeed, when I saw Etta's Santa in Quiltmania by Sandy Gervais, I just wanted to make my own. And here it is:
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Naive Santa appliqued on a dark background, with destructured house

I saw another Santa by Sandy Gervais in the winter issue of Quiltmania,  I'm just as eager to make it...sigh...

Let's get prepared for the coming week. I hope yours will be good.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Long weekend

Thank you all for your comments on my last two posts.

Regarding the photo book, if you are tempted to make one, don't hesitate. I'm sure you can find one company near your place, and they are really fun to do. I have my pictures showing on my PC as a screen saver, so I can enjoy them without printing them. But I also like the book, it has a "heirloom" feel...

Regarding the scarves, Emilie was glad to receive her, but even glader that the weather here did not allow her to try it yet :-) But, I'm sure she'll enjoy it once she is back in Paris tonight... For those interested, they are easy to make. You knit a long scarf (about 6 feet), fold it in two, and make a seam from the fold, for about 1 foot. It is that easy.

You may remember I won a charm pack  from Confessions of a Fabric Addict? It arrived safely at the end of the week. Aren't those fabrics gorgeous? Now I need to find a project, not necessarily for this XMas, though...
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It was a long weekend in France, so I had the pleasure to have Emilie with me, and as usual, we went for a shopping day to Marseille. Then she went to see some friends of her. And I went on with my Xmas sewing:

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This is a gardening set.
I still have a few stitches to make, but the sky is getting dark, and it was my last chance to get a decent picture!

Let me finish with a give away notice, at  Live a Colorful Life.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Progress of the week

Last week, I've been working on the jeans appliqué. I'm out of my zone of comfort regarding colors, but I think I like them.
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and finished those two hooded scarves. Just in time for the cold...
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Take care!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

CEWE - livre photo - photo book

For once, this post is meant to my French friends...
I've had the opportunity to test a photo book, and here is a report about this test.
I was not paid to make this test, I was only given a voucher to pay for the cost of the book and the postage.

Pour une fois, un billet plutôt destiné à mes amis français.
Un peu par hasard, j'ai eu l'occasion de tester le livre photo CEWE http://www.livrephoto-cewe.fr/ pour le compte de TRND http://www.trnd.com.
TRND pratique le marketing participatif, via des tests et aussi un blog qui annonce des nouveautés diverses et variées.
Pour le test du livre photo CEWE, j'ai reçu un bon couvrant les frais de fabrication du livre et les frais de ports, pas d'autre rémunération, et je n'ai pas d'intérêt particulier à vous faire acheter ce livre photo plutôt qu'un autre.

En revanche, si l'expérience vous intéresse, je peux répondre à vos questions, et j'ai quelques bons de réduction à distribuer (dans la limite du stock disponible, bien sûr) . N'hésitez pas à me contacter!

Le livre photo CEWE présente plusieurs avantages:

  • disponibilité sur plusieurs enseignes, soit par Internet, soit par des magasins tels que Super U, FNAC, etc, ce qui permet de le commander de chez soi, ou en "vrai", sans passez ses coordonnées bancaires sur internet, par exemple.
  • plusieurs possibilités de livraisons, retrait dans les enseignes, ou livraison par la poste.
  • on télécharge le logiciel sur son ordinateur, ce qui est à mon avis le plus pratique : cela permet un accès facile aux photos. (Bon, c'est vrai, j'ai essayé aussi d'autres marques, dont une qui propose l'inverse: on télécharge les photos sur le site, et on utilise le logiciel sur le site. C'est galère quand on s'aperçoit qu'on a oublié de télécharger une photo.) Ici, c'est facile, les répertoires photos apparaissent sur la gauche, et on navigue facilement de l'un à l'autre.
  • Les photos utilisées sont repérées par un petit sigle, bien pratique.
  • Toujours sur la gauche se trouvent les outils de mise en page, habillage, etc. Tout se fait à la souris, c'est facile, clair et rapide.
  • Les mises en pages sont bien pensées, les plus fantaisistes ne le sont pas trop.On peut mélanger texte et photo.
  • La navigation d'une page à l'autre est rapide.
  • On peut même sélectionner un nombre de photos, choisir un nombre de pages, et laisser le logiciel faire la mise en page tout seul.
  • Bon choix de fond de page.

  • Bref, facile et agréable d'emploi.

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  • On peut sauvegarder le projet en cours et le reprendre quand on veut.
  • Passer commande est facile également. J'ai choisi de le faire directement par internet, mais on peut aussi graver un cd et l'amener en magasin. Par internet, la transmission des images a été rapide.
  • Le suivi de commande est bon, accusé de réception de la commande, avertissement de l'expédition du livre, emballage discret et parfait.
Et voici le résultat quelques jours plus tard:

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A noter qu'il existe plusieurs formats avec plusieurs options chacun, de quoi satisfaire tout le monde!