Happy New Year

It is a tradition for me, between Christmas and new Year Eve I knit.

And I've get fans:

many thanks to all of you who have visited my blog and left comments. You have made my life brighter.

I hope that 2008 will be a creative year for you all, and that it will make you as happy as cats on kid mohair!

Happy New Year!

Make My Day award

I was given this award by Annica. Such a nice surprise!

It sounds like this:
Give the award to up to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel so happy about blogland! Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so that they can pass it on. Beware! You may get the award several times! :-)
So I pass it to:
Sharon, Aiyana, Marie, Lisa, Wurzel, Allison, Emmy, Solange, Arlee

Grafitti bag

Here is the last stage of the embroidery: Pekinese stitch and Basque stitch have been added.

Next step: sewing the bag...

GTS, Spring already ????

Green Thumb Sunday



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This is the surprise of the week, the first narcissus. There are due in March/April...

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


Have a great Sunday all!

Misc

First of all, I want to thank you for having left Christmas wishes on my blog. It is such a warm feeling!
Regarding the TAST, it is amazing that you are all attracted to the row I don't like! I don't master the zig-zag chain stitch, but I agree that the effect is attractive.
And yes, I'm quite happy to have participated to the TAST to the very end. I'm now looking forward to the TIF!
I've got some eye-candies for you, not made by me:
First, the postcard from Solange. Do visit her blog for more postcards! My sister and I are very much in the needles and textile stuff. And this year, most of her Xmas gifts were home made too.
Here is a lavender bag, in hardanger (she makes beautiful hardanger pieces...)
She knows I don't disposable hankerchieves. As a result, she send me some traditionnal ones, with this little pouch to keep them: And here are 4 place mates: they represent not only letters but also the seasons. I think they are very lovely!

Have a nice weekend all!

TAST last weeks

Here is my last sampler for the TAST.
I don't like Chained Bar very much and I know it is visible!
I prefer the Spanish Feather stitch.
Anyway, it has been a pleasure to take part to that challenge, and I want to thank Sharon for all the work she has done organizing it!

Postcard

Look at this lovely postcard I have received from my sister! There is a lot of relief in it, isn't it?

Merry Christmas

I wish you all a Merry Christmas with the ones you love!

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday


Join Not my garden, but a small one in downtown Aix en Provence. It is as pretty in winter as in summer.





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

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday


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I'd expected some snow, but in vain. So nothing interesting in the garden.
Instead, here is a light tree I saw this week in downtown Aix en Provence.

I wish you all a great weekend!

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

Postcards and TAST

Here are the last three postcards I've made:

and WK50TAST: berry stitch.
For this stitch, I've completed a PLOS sampler, and have played with thread weights. You can seen the result on the three flowers at the bottom right.

XMas ornament

Thank you for your kind comments on Solange's blog. I've passed them over to her.
On Monday, I've made this tower of snowflakes, proposed by helen Cowans in the Quilting Arts Gifts issue:


I've made it with fuse2fuse, Angelinal Fibers, bits of fancy threads and bits of an old garland. It was fun to make.

Les Passions de Solange

Les Passions de Solange are a new blog by a friend named Solange.
She does beautiful textile art, and she is a very nice lady. Don't hesitate to visit her blog!

Postcard from Beate

This wonderful postcard was in the mailbox today:
It is from Beate. I think it is just gorgeous, and I'm sure you will agree!

Sock and carpets

Thank you all for the comments you left on my blog over the weekend. Especially on my textile work. It is so interesting to have feedbacks.

The postcards are original ones, I mean I did not copy them from someone else. Instead, I've tried to make them correspond to their recipients, and used different techniques to do so.

A quick reminder about Sharon'b next challenge, Take It Further. Sharon's has made a huge work and listed the blogs/flickr sites of those participating. It is going to be fun, and browsing throught those blogs is already most interesting. You should have a look, really.

Remember the wool my sister gave me last week? This is the first sock I made with it:

Although it is a fine yarn, it is fun to knit. And it came at the right time since all the blogs with photos of knitting made my fingers itch for wool :-). I'll start the second one probably tonight.

And this is a small panel I made for the patchwork shop. As Odile Texier would say, the materials took over and decided how it should be. Even the thread on the border had its own mind. It remembers be of oriental carpets. What do you think?
I wish you all a good week!

Christmas cracker

This is a cracker I've made for JoWynn. In fact, you should go to her blog: her pictures are far better than mine :-)

The idea comes from Stitch, the magazine of the English embroiderers guild and I've enjoyed making it.

It is a net machine-embroidered on hydrosoluble:(Blogger refuses to load this picture)

• You draw the shape of your cracker (the plane shape, I mean),
  You divide the shape in five parts, one for the top row, one to pass the top ribbon, one for the body, one for the bottom ribbon, one for the bottom row,
• You draw grids within those parts (diamond grid for top, bottom and body), rectangular for ribbons,
• Now, you set your machine for free embroidery, and you start by fixing a central motif, here a heart,
• Then you go to the grids themselves. I've made them of two passes of straight stitches, covered by one pass in zig-zag.
  Very important: when the grid comes near the central motif, make sure the grid overlaps the motif, otherwise it will fall when you dissolve the hydrosoluble.
  For the same reason, don't leave any stitch uncover and make sure each stitch is connected to the others.
• When your are finished, dissolve the hydrosoluble (if you leave a little bit, it'll act like starch) and let it dry.
• Now embellish as you wish and close the grid into a tube, using invisible stiches.
• Fill it like you want and finish by adding pretty ribbons.

JoWynn, I'm glad you liked it, and hope you will have fun with the threads and beads!

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday


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These pictures are not from my garden but I wanted to share them with you. They are from a roundabout on my road to work. In the daytime, it is already lovely, but they made it quite fairy for XMas.

Happy GTS to all.

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

Postcards and bag

Sue Bleiweiss had proposed to swap some of her postcard with other bloggers. I was thrilled by the idea. You can see the one she sent me here and this is the one I've sent her.
This one is for a friend.
And this is a bag I'm embroidering. This is a challenge in a French textile art group. We are given two stitches each week, for 9 weeks.
I hope you have as nice a weekend as I.

Meme

I've been tagged by JoWynn. This is my first meme, I'm quite excited.
1. Jobs I’ve had
Secretary, Technical Writer (the kind that writes the documentation for softwares)

2. Films I can watch over and over
West Side Story, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...

3. TV shows I watch
Escapades gourmandes (it lasts 20mn, and visits restaurants all throught France, giving some special receipts and hints. The moderator is so good that you can smell the food when he talks)
Right now, I watch Barnaby on Sunday, Perfect to embroider along, and fun to see a theater England with beautiful landscapes.

4. Place I have lived
Vervins, Château-Thierry, Paris, Cherbourg, Provence

5. Favorite foods
Pasta, the cookies my sister makes just for me, Daube (bull from Camargue, cooked in wine), curries

6. Favorite colors
Mostly yellow and reds

7. Places I would love to be right now
Stockholm (because I don't know how it is like in winter), any town with Xmas lights (I'm very childish about Xmas)

8. Names I love but would not use for my children
Zemia , Mederic

And now, four friends to tag
Annica
Wurzel
Catherine
Lisa
I hope you will enjoy it.

Misc

Thank you for all your kind comments.
I'd like to point out that with the exception of the card for Beate, all pieces of work shown were made by friends or by my sister. And I'm really happy to have such wonderful friends.

Regarding Xmas cactii, Mark is completely right, the more you abuse them, the more they flower.
Julie, I would like to see your white one. It must be beautiful.

I wish you all a good week!

Postcards, etc.

Before I go on, I would like to invit you to visit two new blogs:
Lise's blog and Caroll Lenthall Dreamstitcher .

I like this time of year when there is a surprise in the mailbox almost every night!
First the lovely card from Annica, of Fabulous Threads:
then one from Muriel, you know, the lady who makes fairy shoes. She makes wonderful trees too, often playing with transparency:
Sue Bleiweiss has proposed a card swap. I was happy to jump it. This is the card I have received. It looks far better in real than in photo and I like it very much: Now I was spoiled by my sister, as you can see:


(this yarn is inspired by the paintings of Hundertwasser, there are 8 colors available, each from a given painting. The yarn comes with a picture of the painting on its label) And this is the card I've sent to Beate Knappe:

GTS: Christmas Cactus

Green Thumb Sunday

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The garden looks sad, but inside, this is all different. When I came back home yesterday, this is what I found:

I have had this one for ages. It spends the summer outside, it happens that it is pruned by the wind, sometimes very strongly pruned, but it keeps growing and growing. I thought I had found the right container size this year, but it has alreay outgrown it... Anyway, I like the touch of color it brings.


Happy GTS to all!

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