Fairies shoes

In the current issue of Stitch, there is a tutorial to make fairies shoes.
Pat of Altering Thoughts has posted one pair she made, from another tutorial (Workshop on the Web). From the same tutorial, my friend Muriel made this pair for me. I find them very cute, aren't they?

Postcard and SharonB

Here is a postcard I made for Annica, from Faboulous Thread. It is made of man-made textiles. A first layer with the fabric shapes, covered by one of painted bondaweb. Then I cut out stars with the soldering iron, and made them swap places.

Great news: Sharon has just announced a new challenge for next year. It sounds so interesting that I won't resist... To learn more, have a look here: Take it Further. Hope you will join and that we will have fun together...

GTS and bags

Genny, Aiyana and Nikkipolani, you are too kind. My garden is small and it is hard to find a nice plant right now.
Sisah, you know, it is not as cold here as in your garden. This certainly explains why it still has leaves.
Sisah, Du weisst, es is nicht so kalt hier, als bei Dir. Deshalb hat er noch Blätter.

And all your comments make me so proud about the bags! Thank you very much!

Green Thumb Sunday

Join

Not much to show you this week. Just the colors of the meplar tree.

Have a nice weekend!


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

Misc.

Thank you for the nice comments on my bags!
I've noted I have some more virtual daughters :-)
I would take the top one, more like me, but I'm quite proud of the manga one too :-)
All Xmas gifts are done. Don't know what to do now. By luck, I go back to work tomorrow... :-(

Danke für die netten Kommentare über die Taschen.
Ich sehe, ich könnte mehr Töchter haben :-)
Meine Lieblingstasche ist die erste. Ich bin aber sehr stolz, die zweite geschafft zu haben :-).
Alle Weihnachtsgeschenke sind fertig, ich weiss nicht, was ich jetzt anfangen soll. Zum Glück bin ich morgen wieder im Büro... :-(

Bags

To my daughters: do not read this post!

Here are two bags I've just finished for my daughters.
This one is for Amandine, based on a pattern found in Marie-Claire Idées
This one is for Emilie. A friend of her helped me with the drawing. I wanted something "Manga" as Emilie is very fond of that. From the image he supplied me with, I've just kept the outlines, transferred them on hydrosoluble and FMEed them. I'm rather pleased with the result since I was not sure I could made it.
Have all a nice weekend!

A little bag

Yesterday was a most satisfactory day. Many items of my to-do list have been crossed. I like this feeling of having achieved my goals, whatever they are.
I've had made this embroidery some months ago, just because I found it cute. And yesterday, I thought it would made a nice bag for another niece. I made it very simple, as you can see. I hope she will enjoy it.

he strikes are over, the trains are on time again, so there was no problem to post all my parcels today. And I was lucky enough to go to the desk of the nice man at the post office. He is always patient, smiling, and tries to find the best solution for sending parcels abroad. What more would you ask for?
The weather cannot decide between sunny and rainy, nor between cold and mild. I had a surprise this morning went I went through the garden. In September, I have cleaned a bed. I was rather pleased to have removed all weeds. But with the recent rain, in just two days, this bed has turned green with tiny sprouts of weeds... I just had to laugh at the sigh.

I wish you all a very pleasant day!

Vegetables finished

To my daughters: don't read this post!

I've finished them at last. My first intend was to make one single wallhanging, but:

• I have two daughters,


• the backgrounds did not fit together.

So I've made two wall hangings. They will make two Xmas gifts, among others. The good thing is that they are small enough for my daughters to take them home, and to hang them in their small flats.

I've started packing my XMas gift this morning.
This one will find a new home at my sister's

It is from a pattern by Beth Ferrier, from Applewood Farm publications. I made sure the cats were away while this quilt was been photographed. But Choupette must have a sixth sense. She appeared out of nowhere at that precise moment...

And this one will be for her daughter:
It was a model by Magic Patch, dedicated to FME beginners, and it was indeed my first try at FME.

The parcels are ready, but I hesitate to bring them to the post office. The mail was on strike one day this week, and the trains have been for about one week, and this strike is not over yet. So I'm afraid the mail cannot be forwarded properly. I'll have some postcards ready tonight too, but with the same question, shall I post them or wait? I'll listen to the news, and will see if I have mail today.

TAST and other...

This is my sampler for TAST week46.

This stitch is fun to do, but I just cannot get it regular. Have to try again and again, because I do like it.

Speaking of TAST, Sharon is trying to set up a new challenge for new year. If you are interested, read her post and leave a comment to tell what you would like to do.

I'm so glad my GTS post has brought 10 comments already.

Regarding the weather, I'm like Sisah, I cannot believe it was winter until yesterday. On Sunday, the temperature dropped to -2°C, and this morning, at the same time, it was back to 12°C... I'm in the living room, with the French window open and the heating is off...

Regarding the lavender, well this plant is at home here. So no wonder it is that big. Although it is a English one, not a French one.

Thanks for the comments on the amaryllis. As it is a bulb I have purchased this year, no wonder it is that big. I've just started those of previous years, I don't know what they'll produce.

I've managed to make a "studio" from a spare bedroom. At the beginning, it was quite nice, with a lot of space to work on. But then, my daughters have changed flats, and left quite a lot of boxes in that room (in my bedroom too). Besides, I've been working on several textile projects recently, and did not take the time to put the fabrics away properly, so there was no space left on my table. And weird furry fabrics had appeared in my stash:

Since I need to find fabrics for XMas cards, it seemed the right time to do some cleaning. At the same time, I've reorganized the boxes my daughters left. I'm very pleased with myself and with the result. Plenty of free space, and fabrics back in their boxes. How long will that stay that way?

Amaryllis

Thank you for your kind comments about the weathers.

It is both unusual and usual.

I mean, in this part of France, the weather is mainly beautiful. But we have the Mistral, a wind that blows from the North, that can reach 100 km/hm and over. It is very cold, even in summer. But it rarely cuts the power off. And when it is blowing, the shy is bright blue, with no cloud. So it was a surprise to see the clouds gathering by noon, and the snow falling, and that densely. On the other hand, although snow is rare here, it is not unusual that it falls in November. It will stay for a couple a days, and then we don't see any for the rest of the winter.

This time it did not even reach my garden, and when I went back to the office on Friday, it was gone there too. The cold has remained though, but it is much colder in the rest of France than here. I have worked in my garden yesterday, and in the sun, it was quite pleasant.

Thursday was really a crazy day: it is very dry, and a forest was burning while the snow was falling. I think the firemen were happy that the snow had replaced the Mistral. The fire did not last.

Green Thumb Sunday

Anyway, there is not much left in the garden.

The yucca is still doing its best:

You might like the lavender. It is doing great, certainly it did not realize winter is here...
And inside, this is the amaryllis I had bought in September, in Marseille. Two stems on the same bulb, isn't it gorgeous? It is so big that I had to tie it to another plant to prevent it from falling.

JoinAs the Garden Grows for more information.

I wish you all a nice weekend.

Weather

I always tell you I live in a sunny and dry area. I've taken those pictures this afternoon through my office window. The white dots are snow flakes, huge snowflakes! Have you seen that Annica?
It has been snowing for two hours when I left my office, and it was going on.
I have a 30 minutes drive, about 30 km (20 miles). When I arrived home, the soil was dry. It is cold and cloudy, but no snow nor rain, at least yet.

And this morning, the wind was so strong that there was a power cut-off, just as I was going to shower. Had to find clothes as I could. Make-up and brushing had to wait until I reached the office. And as I came home tonight, lights were on almost everywhere... But that meant that the power was back, which is good news.

TAST, Vegetables, Misc.

For the TAST stitch of this week, I'm a bit lazy and will post a picture from the PLOS course I have attended with Sharon. My excuse is XMas frenzy. :-) Anyway, this is the third from the top.

Regarding that XMas frenzy, this is the squash. Not an easy one, due to the curved seams, but still fun to make. One broccoli to do, and then I 'll assemble the wall hanging with all those vegetables. Must be ready for XMas. I think it will be pretty in a kitchen.

As many of you have pointed, Assistant 1 named Choupette, the one that is sitting, is ready to take all the credit. Osiris does not mind as long as she gets all the love she wants.

Thank you also for the compliment on the rose. It is not the most beautiful in the world, not even of the year in my garden, but I was surprise by its size at this time of the year.

Have a nice week all!

Maryvonne's blog

I would like to introduce you to a friend's blog. It is in French, but with many pictures dealing about mail art, scrap booking and also drawing and painting. Don't hesitate to visit Maryvonne.

Maryvonne also left a comment on my blog, recommending to visit Barbara Schneider .

I hope you'll enjoy visiting both.

Fabrics vegetable

Here is the cabbage. This one was fun to make. Maybe because I've got some advice from my main assistant:

Assistant 2 seemed far less interested...

GTS

Hi everybody,
The sky is blue, the sun is bright, but the wing is blowing, and it is very strong and cold!
I went to the market to buy the vegetables for the week, but the market was empty. Almost no seller. And the one who were there were not happy at all. They could not display all the vegetables, and they tried to prevent their display to fly away.
The good news is that the leaves are falling, when the wind stops, we can do the cleaning in one shot :-)
Despite this weather, I found this rose this morning. It is a big one, and the scent is so very nice. And the mum is ... bright.
I wish you a nice weekend!

Carrots

oops, not sure I did not delete one comment, but don't know how...
Anyway, thanks for those comments. Especially on those carrots, they were a bit hard to make :-)
The fabrics come from some worn clothes a friend gave to me. I try to cut patches in them, that suit the vegetables. I like the effect on the carrots and the artichoke.

Some more vegetables:

The mice are back...

I've reworked the quilting, I think it is much better now.

Have a nice evening all!

PS: I fully agree with Allison's comment :-)

Mice invasion

I'm glad you like the picture of the trees across the street. When I drive to work, there are more lovely pictures to take, but it is a bit dangerous to stop...

Thank you too for the comments on the bag pocket. It was fun to do. I have everything ready to finish the bag, I hope I will make it next weekend.
Your comments on the workshop piece are very encouraging too. New ideas are coming...
In the meantime, still from Marie-Claire Idées, there are a few mice I made this weekend, for three little girls who might like them. From the picture, I see I must rework the quilting a bit, but I was getting tired and going on would have been a bad idea. So for that's a task for next weekend too, I suppose.
In the meantime, I wish you all a great week!

GTS

Join Not much to show from the garden right now. Instead, here is the view across the street.
Have a great weekend all!



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

Pocket for a bag

At the end of the week, I have received the Xmas issue of Marie-Claire Idées, a French needle craft magazine. A very good issue, by the way.

In it, their was a pattern for a hand embroidery. I have decided to give it a try, but with machine embroidery. Here is the result:

This is mainly FME, with a few standard stitches, on black commercial felt.

It will become the front pocket of a bag.

Workshop with Odile Texier - piece finished

Hi to all,

I'm enjoying a long weekend, with a beautiful weather.
It is difficult to choose between gardening and playing with the sewing machine!
Anyway, I had almost finished my piece during the workshop, I've just added a few seams and the binding. And here it is. I've started another project, quite different. Hope to be able to show you tomorrow.
Have a nice weekend all!