Garden tour continued

I know you liked the tour of last week. This rose tree has never had so many roses yet. The picture was taken last Satturday.

 

Wildlife is still thriving:

Have a nice week all!

A gagner - giveaway

Not from me, but from a few beautiful French blogs.

The first, about little cloth dolls:
Le premier sur des personnages textiles

http://potironetviolette.blogspot.com/

To celebrate the 20 000 the visitor, there is a kit to wing. Go there and click on the banner.(I translate the rules: you post the image of the banner on your blog, with a link to the blog, then leave a comment to say you did so.)

Pour fêter 20 000 visites, il y a un kit à gagner. Rendez leur vite visite.

Go and discover a complete world of small people, fairies etc...

Allez vite découvrir tout un monde de petits personnages, fées, etc...

The second one, about fancy jewellery: (just leave a comment. You can also post on your blog to forward the information)

Le deuxième, sur des bijoux:

http://grenouillelune.canalblog.com/

Creche - nativity scene

Since you requested that I display mine, here it is:

The buildings first:

yiu recognize the hen pen from previous post, and a traditional well.

This is a traditional home from Camargue.

Now you have a windmill and below a "borie", that is a shelter for the shepherd.

is a pigeon hen

Overview: this is 1.50 meter long (3 feet)

Now let's populate:

The fisherman and his wife, the gardian (cowboy from Arles and the Arlesienne (the lady from Arles) and the Tambourinaire (traditionnal drum player)

some farmers and old ladies chatting at the well

Of course, the Mayor and the Priest, and again old ladies bringing food

Gypsies: they too are linked to Arles, more precisely to Les Saintes Maries, a town on the sea where the three Maries are said to have landed. Gypsies held festival in Les Saintes Maries every year.

Overview:

The beautiful creches are made with building and santons of different sizes, to give an idea of perspective.

The Provencal Creche represents all the little people going to celebrate the Nativity. All activities are represented, and they revert to the 18th century. Now you can find more contemporary figures, like actors who have celebrated the Provence, but most of them are from the past. Traditional santons are made of red clay, during the winter months when the farmers had some spare time. (that's the way the lady with the olive tree works) You can buy them painted or bare. Mine Are 10 cm high (4"), those are tall ones for painted santons. You can also find all sorts of animal, food, etc...

I've just found this blog Provence Crèches I know most of you don't speak French, and even less Provencal (nor do I), but the pictures are worth the look.

Santons

XMas is soon here. So this is the Santons season again.

There is a market in my village on the third weekend of November. Maybe not the biggest Santons market (Marseille and Aubagne are larger), but it is nice because it is inside, with plenty of room, and the sellers are all friendly. I try to go each year, often buying a piece. Up to now, I have not bought any Santons (little saint), because my grand-father left me a large collection, and I have never found other Santons of the same quality. Mine have pretty faces, well painted, at least in my opinion.

Instead, I buy houses and accessories. This year, I found a nice hen pen.

I was going to leave with it, when a nice lady bragged she had the bestest olive trees of the room, yes, not the best but the bestest. I think she was right. She was also funny and nice. And I did not have trees yet, so I purchased one.

While she was packing the tree, I saw those stairs. I found they were cute and would be perfect for Monsieur le Maire.

Well, it would be time that I display my Santons for XMas, for real, I think I have enough houses to make a village. No more excuses. Maybe.

In fact, they are on display all year round, in a glass cupboard in my living room, but they deserve to have a real Santons "life". If they do, I'll take pictures, promised.

Garden tour

This is what was in my garden this weekend:
blooming yuccas

Blooming roses

and some wild life

Magazines sold out

Those magazines have found new homes already!

Hello to all!

I'm making room. So I have some magazines to sell.
Embroidery magazines, edited by the Embroiderer's Guild:

•  January/February 2007
• March/April 2007
• May/June 2007
• July/August 2007
• September/October 2007
• November/December 2007
• January/February 2008
• March/April 2008
• May/June 2008
• July/August 2008
• September/October 2008
• November/December 2008

FiberArts magazines:

• November/December 2006
• January/February 2007
• April/May 2007
• Summer 2007

They will be yours if you pay for the postage. One magazine to the US would be either 3 or 5,50 euros (economic or priority), to the Europe it would be 2,80 or 4 euros.

If you are interested, contact me by mail, I'll check and confirm the postage according to the number of magazines you want. Then you can pay through paypal and I'll send the magazines as soon as paypal has credited my account.

Australia bag

The galah Xstitch kit is a gift from an Australian friend. When it was done, I wanted to make something special with it. So here it is:
Plan bag, in organza, lace, embroidery and pearls.

En vente Aux Créations du Fil du Jardin