French Quilts

Esteemalu over at Quilting-Mania asked me about French Quilts. No, I don't make them and, no, I haven't got any pictures on here.

But, just for you I have tracked down the web site of the Dordogne delegation of Association France Patchwork. There are some fine examples, if this is what you mean by French quilting. If you mean quilting Toile fabric then type french quilts into Google Images et voila! Look at the white one on the left of the 4th row and I love the chickens. They remind me of Joyce's chicken quilt.

Alex's Bulletin de Notes has just come through in the post. 3rd over all for the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Frivoulous Friday (at last)

I wish this rain would stop. It's warm but the minute we have one whole day of wall to wall sun, the thunder and lightening returns the next day for 2 or 3 days. Don't know what is up with the weather this year, but if this is supposed to be global warming where did they get the "warming" from?

Sunset at Le Brouillac last evening

The lemon tree has lost all its lemons and is all leaf because it has rained so much. They hate too much water. The cherries are rotting on the tree or are splitting, the nectarines have already rotted and I can't weed - its either too hot or raining!

Ummmmmm - c'est la vie mais bizarre! "Tant pis" as lovely Maryse would say with a French shrug.

On to more important things. I finally finished the top half of Aunt's quilt yesterday and have started on the bottom half. Pictures next WiP Wednesday. Anne will be familiar with some of the words I think, having lived in Herefordshire some years ago.

Now on to the machine quilting question I asked on Wednesday. Sue over at From the Magpie's Nest answered my question. Quilt it in the way I feel comfortable with. So it will be hand quilted.

And the words for the Wedding quilt? I'm sticking with what I suggested in the first place. I haven't got that much material to do it with so short and sweet (thanks again Anne) is the answer.

Wip Wednesday - 13-06-07 and Machine Quilting

Jean and John have been quilted and I've nearly finished "Katherine" in stem stitch. Today is wet and miz again so I'm going to catch up on a few chores and then knuckle down and try to get the centre finished. Then all I've got to do is to tackle the border which is giving me nightmares.

Onto the next question. I am thinking of machine quilting Tamzin's wall hanging quilt cos then I might just be able to get it done, if not in time then at least before they go to L.A. What thread mix do you use, or what make? I am hoping to get up to the QS at Thiviers on Saturday so can have a rummage in the thread section then.

What length of stitch, etc, etc, etc. I don't have a walking foot, just a plain old universal one that does everything. Would you advise me to get one or just see what happens. On the other hand, perhaps I should stick to hand quilting. After all, my machine isn't a posh one and I do prefer hand quilting. What do you all think?

And to brighten up what is turning into a miserable day, here is a picture of my Alex lying in the freshly cut hay talking to Magic yesterday evening.

Nothing to do with Quilts ....

If you click on this link, it should take you to the Geoportail site which is the French version of Google Earth. it also loads a lot quicker than Google Earth so is good for those on dial up - I should know!

You should see 4 (yes I know) houses with pools. Ours is the one in the foreground.

Wandering Around Brantome

We had a walk round Brantome yesterday before the season really starts and you can't move for Grockles.

One of the smaller supermarkets closed its doors recently and I was interested to see what, if anything, had taken its place. Prime site so surely someone would have the sense to open up a sensible shop, rather than a tourist one. Don't be silly Clare! Brantome is a tourist town and don't the retailers know it. Overpriced tat!

Anyway, the shop has been taken over by an importer of woven cashmire and Middle Eastern bits and pieces.

The scarves are beautiful and not that expensive, but look what I found at the back of the shop.

This is part of a folded wall hanging. No batting, but silks machined together and then backed and bound. No quilting. But oh my goodness look at the price! AARRGGHHHHHH!



The next picture is a section of one that was hanging up. The workmanship is appalling. Split seams all over the place so how they have the nerve to ask that amount of money I do not know.

Towards the front of the shop was some more "patchwork" similar to Tonya's Crusty, but about 3 times the size. Fantastic colours and beautiful workmanship this time, but still horrendously expensive. No photo - sorry. Owner was looking at me oddly by this time so I didn't push my luck, especially as DH tried to distract him by asking the price of a carpet (8,000 Euro).

I wonder how much the people who make this stuff get paid? Not a lot.

Ok, next bit. In the Place du Marché is a fossil shop selling, apart from fossils, jewellery and the normal tourist stuff, fabric, yes fabric. Not just any old fabric, but hand woven and hand dyed batiks imported from Senegal in purples, blues, greens, reds, blacks and yellows. The price? Wait for it, 7.50 a metre. Yeesssssssss! Tonya - you have just got to see these colours and patterns.

Sorry no photo. Don't you just hate it when you are being "watched".

To round off this post. I have been meaning to take a photo of this for years. Propped up outside the Au Fil de L'eau restaurant on the Quai Bertin.


Lovely setting, lovely restaurant and gorgeous food if you are into duck cooked in a variety of ways and rounded off with a rich Perigord sauce.

All Bank Holiday'ed Out

Oh my goodness. What a long month May has been this year. It seems to have dragged on forever.

We started on 1st May with Labour Day. That was fine. As it was a Tuesday it broke the week up. The following Tuesday was Victoire 8 Mai 1945 day which again was fine. We then had a week of no bank holiday's at all.

Then came the Pont d'Ascension on the 17th and 18th. Most of France took advantage of this and went away for the weekend to open up the maison secondaire, or visit friends and family. The traffic was awful and Brantome was heaving - a seething mass.

Right, got over that weekend with Alex at home 4 days running and whinging about being bored. Then along came Pentecote. Funnily enough this has always been a bank holiday, just as it is in England too. A few years ago the Government took it upon themselves to say that we had enough time off in May as it is and they were going to "cancel" the Pentecote break. France went on strike!

This year we assumed it was a bank holiday as Alex was off school. Driving back yesterday morning from staying with friends on Sunday night (A was at a sleepover), we noticed that some of the factories were open, but most of the shops were firmly shut.

It seems that the French have decided, like me, that you can have too much of a good thing.

The camera is in its last throes so I took these the other day before it died completely.



And I may, just may, have a surprise for you tomorrow or Thursday. Nothing quilty, but a surprise nonetheless.







Woo hoo - it's Geranium time!










Can you see where the dratted slugs and snails have been munching the Hosta's?

Not a Lot of Quilting Going On

The Poppies having been opening up for about a month now and the fields are slowly but surely turning red with them. We have a few in the courtyard and this is a photo I took last year.

The farmers are beginning to cut the hay and I hope that our fields will be cut sometime this week. The grass is so tall that Magic won't go through it. Hurts her eyes she says.

The temperature today is going to hit 31°C so finally it is pool time. DH has put up the parasol, we are eating more salads than stodge and last night I was sitting under the walnut tree with my glass of wine at 10.30 pm listening to the cicadas and the nightingales and wishing my camera worked!

I think I can safely say that summer has, at long last, arrived.


This photo was taken some years ago with the original traditional camera. Standing in our courtyard looking through the door to the terrasse. The pool is through the door and on the right.

Forgot to say. Its my favourite time of year - Chelsea Flower Show. For those of you without access to the BBC, you can take a virtual tour here. There are some stunning gardens this year. Take a look at the Urban Oasis Garden. Wow! Fancy that in your back yard?

Vide Grenier/Brocante Purchases (and a quilty photo)

The brocante/vide grenier (empty attic or car boot) season has started again and we have been busy little bees scurrying around the countryside picking up bargains.

The big purchase was at the Villars brocante. I spotted it in the back of a lorry belonging to one of the traders. We have been after a tv cabinet for a long time, but trying to find one that fits in with the rest of the furniture has been difficult. This one fits!

At the same brocante I spotted a piece of fabric which was definitely a must have. I know I am on Kim's Fabric Diet, but this was unbeatable at 1 Euro.

A bit heavy, probably not 100% cotton, but brilliant for a border don't you think. The 4 curtain rings still attached to it can be used for a wall hanging. They alone are worth 1 Euro each!

This last purchase was on Saturday.

Remember Fi's hat in 4 Weddings and a Funeral? Does this look similar? I simply could not resist it. It can be pulled into any shape and squishes into a bag without loosing its shape.

And to return to what this blog is supposed to be about.

A cat in repose, but a bit cross that her beauty sleep has been disturbed (don't look too closely at the quilting please :-) ).

1st May

I looked back through my blog to discover what I was doing this time last year. The weather was gorgeous and we went to the brocante at Villars.

We have had a beautiful few weeks. The orchids I showed then are over and everything looks as if it is high summer. However, today is wet, cold and miz, but we are still off to the brocante at Villars.

Thought I should mention that Alex has decided she doesn't have enough time to do her blog so she has deleted it :-(

Belated WiP and Oodles of Fabric

Do you know the worst thing about living in rural France? The blasted phone system and the fact that we are one of the last villages in the Dordogne not to have ADSL. Apparently they are working on getting us connected sometime in 2008 or 2009, but I don't think I can wait that long. My ISP is driving me nuts. It's not their fault, it's the fault of France Telecom and their antiquated telephone exchange and that the wet pieces of string are, quite literally, hanging in loops from the telegraph poles. I have been trying to post this for well over a week and I just hope that this time I don't loose the connection.

First things first - WiP. Well, I've started my aunt's family birthday quilt. The letters are very wonky but I'm enjoying it. It is great to be piecing and sewing again and watching a quilt come to life, rather than trying to push a needle through 2 inches of fabric and loosing the skin on my thumb.

Now on to more important matters. A friend in the next village has recently come back from a trip to the UK. She had the sad task of doing a mini house clearance. SiL has got Breast Cancer and MiL has gone into a home.

Guess what she bought back with her? Fabric. Lots of fabric. Lots and lots and lots of fabric.

Some of it is curtain material and curtain lining, some of it is too silky and thin for quilting, but she let me have a rummage and this is what I came back with.

Updated 13th April - eye candy time.

Miserable Mardi Matin

As I said yesterday, we have been having Magic trouble. Laboured breathing, coughing like mad and generally Not At All Well.

Yesterday showed a slight improvement and by the end of the day she was eating and drinking and demanding, in a rather croaky way, To Go Outside Now.



So we let her, thinking she would come back in at bedtime. She didn't. Oh well, she'll come in through the Magic Entrance in Alex's bedroom sometime during the night. She didn't.

Calling and calling this morning did not bring a result so I feared the worst and was just getting to the "how am I going to tell Alex" stage, in between a few quiet sobs. I stopped trying to wake the neighbourhood and tried again a couple of hours ago. There was a croaky miaow and round the corner she came wearing her "Do stop shouting woman, I'm here" look.

Oh the relief!

Mad March Days

Is spring finally here? Is the worst of the weather over? I truly hope so.

The Velux in the bedroom is open, the birds are singing (and the grass needs cutting :-( ).

I'm off into the garden before the weather changes its mind again.

The Walk Continued

Back again. We are going to follow the stream back through our land, up the hill and then home, thus completing the circle. Ready?





Oh look - Grues, or Cranes to you. They are on their way back north after overwintering in Southern Spain.







Right under the electric fence again (a different one). Mind the slippery bit and up we go into the fields. There is a huge badger's sett over there to the right - no photos - it is beginning to spit a bit so we need to step on it otherwise we will get soaked even more than we already are!

As we are doing this bit in reverse it is going to be a bit weird to explain. This is where the stream comes out onto Mr Gay's land from ours. It passes under a tunnel/bridge made out of stone and is goodness knows how old. We think it goes back to the time when the monks farmed the land.






This is where it goes through from our side. Now you can see the so called bridge and the walls. There are walls like this all the way up our hill in terraces. Someone reckons they are over 200 years old and as the house dates back to the 1770's I wouldn't be surprised.

We are standing looking at this getting cold so we need to turn around and walk back towards the stream.

Oh look. The Bluebells are starting to come out. Mental note to self to go back down and check next week.




And this is nearly where it all starts from. If you follow the silver ribbon with your eyes and look way off into the distance you can see a clump of trees. The land drain starts there and runs down through the valley to the lavoir that we stopped at. It then turns right and goes through the fields we went through to the next lavoir and then starts its journey over to the otherside of the commune - about 3km as the crow flies - where it runs into a huge fishing lake and disappears.

It's beginning to turn a bit chilly so I think a turn around, up the hill to the left

and here we are back home again.

Take those wellies off and dry your feet out. Hope you enjoyed it and aren't too exhausted. That last bit up the hill can be a bit of a killer.

Anyone for coffee, tea, chocolat chaud or even a glass of the red stuff if you can stand it. I think the wood burner is still in so we'll sit the kitchen and have a natter while waiting for DH to light the other one in the salon and then we can get the sewing out again.

A Walk in the Périgord Vert

Put that sewing down. We've done enough today. We are off on a ramble. You will need wellies as the ground is sodden.

Out of the front door, into the porch (don't step on the rabbit) and down the steps into the courtyard.

Through the courtyard and turn left outside the gate. Keep on the chemin until you get to the main road. That house on the right behind the chicken run belongs to our lovely neighbour Maryse.
Look Tonya - its got a wonky roof!

Here we are on the main road. Turn left and keep walking down the hill until you get to the bottom. I'll catch up with you once I've got this camera sorted out. I can't seem to carry more than one thing at a time these days and my "rambling" stick has got tangled up with the camera strap!


We are now at the lavoir that served the next two hamlets. A bit further on is the one that served "Le B". This one is covered and is in good condition. Water was rushing through on the day I took this so you can't see the washing stones.

Bit of a breather. Onto the next bit. We are going into the field behind the lavoir and walking through some rather boggy fields and streams to jump over. I won't use the camera just in case I drop it. Be warned - the water just may go over the top of your wellies. Hope DH built up the wood burner before we left.

A bit of a breather - hope you didn't get too wet. Alex is determined to get well and truly soaked before we get home. The next bit is a bit slippy and there is a nasty downward slope at the end. Mind the electric fence. It isn't on but you might fall over it - the farmer hasn't done his yearly check yet and it is a bit slack.

Oh look the first Cowslips. When I was little we lived at the bottom of Bepton Down, part of the South Downs, in West Sussex and the fields used to be covered with them. Not any longer so our first Spring here was like going home. The fields are covered with them. Only a few more months to go and the Cowslips will be replaced with Poppies.


And this is the lavoir at the bottom of the hill - the one that served "Le B".
You can just see the washing stones if you click on the photo to enlarge it. The stream that feeds this starts off way over the otherside, swishes down through our land and finally joins up here. It is really a land drain - dry in summer and overflowing in the winter and spring, like now.

I'm going to call a halt for a moment. I need a breather and Blogger is taking an age to load the photos. Chat amongst yourselves for a bit (anyone got a flask?) and I'll be back as soon as I can.

Just Chit Chat

Amended 02.03.2007

Sophie's quilt was posted on Monday so hopefully she might have it either tomorrow or Saturday. She is not too good at the moment so any positive thoughts left on her blog would be appreciated.

We finally got out of the house for a few hours yesterday. Although warm, it has poured with rain and we have been beaten by gales for what seems like forever. Not good for the Vacances d'Hiver! Anyway, we had to go to check out the whereabouts of the new doctor at Lisle which is about 20 kms drive from here.

Look what we found.

Before washing machines and tumble driers, women used to do their weekly wash at the local "lavoir".

We have one of these at the bottom of our hill on the way to the main road, but about 2/3 of the size and not in such good condition. Ours has a corrugated roof, but its original washing stones are still intact and this one's aren't.

As soon as it stops raining and the sun comes out Alex and I will go down and take some photos. There is also another one which hasn't got a roof on it, but will give you some idea of what I mean by "washing stones".




Alex took a picture of the water. It is so clear you can't see it!




When we got home the wind had dropped a bit so I managed to get some spring like pictures before it picked up again and the rain started.




Violets in the garden,

the Nectarine is beginning to bud,

and the Prunus is just about to blossom. The Cherries on this are not edible. I thought they were and got told, in no uncertain terms that they weren't!




And to finish - this is our commune. For those of you who know my address, this is the "L" word.

In France each village is in a "commune" which in turn is in a "canton" which is in the "sous prefecture" which is in the "departement" which is within a "region".

Our commune is "L", which falls under the canton of Mareuil sur Belle, which comes under the "sous-prefecture" of Nontron, which is in the Dordogne, which is in the Aquitaine region of France.

If I have got this wrong then no doubt someone will correct me, but I think that is how it works.

How Why and When?

Swooze asked me about a week ago where we are originally from and how come we have ended up in France.

It is a long story and has been précised in the interview I gave to This French Life.

I will go into more detail at some point, but in the meantime have got to go into Brantome to take DD's 9 patch quilt to the cleaners (cat was sick on it!).

Template Fiddling and Bloggers

Alex wanted my blog to look like the French flag so we tried dark blue, red and white - yuk! We then went through all the blues in the customise, fonts and colours bit. A dark blue background looked good, but the post font didn't look good in red or white. So, we have come up with this.

Goodness only knows why we had to practice on my blog and not hers!

When you have a moment go over and say hi to a fellow Viveur, Wendy from the Gard. Also, thanks to Peter at The Languedoc Page and his never ending list of blogs a la française, I have come across a lively blog about life in the Lot et Garonne/Dordogne borders. Take a look if you are interested in reading about how us Expats live our lives in France.

Sunburst - the First 2 Blocks

And yes the sky is really that blue today and it is warm warm warm (so what am I doing sitting here chatting to you lot!).

A+

Je suis la

We survived! No, honestly it wasn't that bad. The West coast (Bordeaux, Arcachon, Les Landes and down to Biarritz) got it really bad. We got the tail end of it for about 4 hours.

I love Meteo France. They said the Orange Alert would be lifted at 18.00 and would you Adam and Eve it! 18.00 dead on the wind dropped!

Today is beautiful so it is, at long last, gardening time.

Meant to say - I'm mucking about with templates so please bear with me during the deciding process. I didn't like the 3 column one too much - it looked all squashed up. What do you think of this one? I thought I would do a panaorama of local piccies for the header.

Having attempted to garden I have decided it is still a bit too cold out there (the wind has turned to the east and it is brrrrrr). Time to get the sewing stuff out which is a bit of a nuisance and I have been looking at the Wisteria which needs a severe trim and it really is a bit too cold to be up a ladder pruning it.

WiP Wednesday and "The Weather"

WiP - Sophie's quilt is tied and needs to be bound. Sunburst Strings (woooo good name!) is being "strung" and I am enjoying doing it. Je suis getting hung up on strings LOL.

Sorry no pictures - batteries have died and I am in a bit of a rush here.

The Méteo is forecasting 140 km hour winds for today. Last time we had this we were sans electricie et eau for 2 weeks and no phone for a week. That was the tempete of 1999/2000. Remember when Versailles lost all those trees? That was the same tempete only 24 hours later!

Anyway, it has just started raining, has gone rather dark and I don't like this AT ALL.