Oh Joy!

Zoanna sent me some great news!

Hi friends! I told you Monday that Zoanna had received the first batch of 40 bags for Katrina evacuees, at long last. Now, lo and behold! The very next day she received the second box, which was twice as big, with 86 bags! Wow! What a relief and what a joy. Zoanna is now very busy finding sponsors to buy the toiletries for each bag, and filling the bags before sending them to Texas. She is so organized and devotes a lot of time to this, in spite of her other obligations and duties! Wow. Bless you Zo!

The seamstresses in France are so excited and are already asking for pictures!

Well that was my good news!

What a day!

This has been a tough day... Mostly because Violette apparently sat in the printer tray while I was away at my parents' this weekend... So that, when I wanted to print out my documents this morning for today's classes, it proved impossible. No matter what I tried, the wheels guiding the paper were jammed, and I had to phone Seb so he could print the documents at his lab and then I had to rush there before my lessons started (at the other end of Paris of course!). Big stress and big waste of time!

But the classes went well after all this mess, and when I came home two huge surprises were waiting for me. First, my dear friend Zonna finally received our first batch of bags for the Katrina victims! Woohoo! What a huge relief. I mailed them on October 7th and finally had to make a formal complaint at the PO. I guess this sped up the process. Thank God they are now safe in Maryland; and after Zoanna finds enough sponsors to fill them with toiletries, they will get to Texas, where they are still needed! Thank God they found their way to your door, Zoanna.

The other surprise was a package from Rosa in Iceland - my Christmas Ornament Exchange! Seb kindly went to fetch it at the PO - he was very excited to see a package from Iceland, since he went hiking there a year ago (now wait, that's two years ago now...) and loved it - he had even started to learn Icelandic!

I had been admiring Rosa's work on her blog, and let me tell you her stitching is truly delicate! Her ornament will have a place of choice in my home for Christmas. Now I really want to start decorating for Christmas!

As you can see, Rosa didn't stop at the ornament! She sent me this chart from Summer Truswell because she'd seen Carol had sent me the Princess of May and I liked it. I really like the design, the lady looks strikingly like my elder sister and I'm planning to stitch it for her some day! I like those Princesses from S. Truswell. Very pretty and yet not as daunting as Mirabilias or Lavender & Lace designs... So I have a better chance of fitting them into my schedule some day.

And look at those charms...

Here's a close up on the ornament, which is truly beautiful! I love how you stitched the back too, Rosa! Thank you for everything!

So that was a wonderful mail day - outbound and inbound.

Talking of posting services... Thank you everyone so much for your comments about my little gift to my mailman. You were all so right! He knocked at the door last Friday (the day after I gave him the jam), even if he didn't have any parcel to deliver. He was so moved that he had tears in his eyes! It was a very emotional moment... He did like jam then . Seriously, I am so happy that I overcame my shyness. He looks like a very sensitive person and I don't think my gift couldn't have pleased anyone better!

A little "Thank You" gift for my mailman

First, I'd like to wish all my American friends and readers a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Now here's a silly (but cute?) little story that happened today:
My parcel mailman is great (we have a "letter mailman", and a "parcel mailman" here). Last month he brought me so many parcels containing Katrina bags; there are also all the books I need to order online, because they are neither in libraries nor in bookshops (I so miss the American or English university libraries!! Sigh...) ... Being a mailman in Paris is not so easy (there are interphones and so many stairs to climb...) But my mailman is always kind and in a great mood! So I wanted to thank him in a special way.

I talked about it on my French sewing group, and one of my sewing buddies gave me the recipe for a banana-orange jam (yeah I know, it's not sewing, but...). I tried it and the first batch was a real success! So much so that when he was finished with his first jar, Sébastien opened the mailman's jar inadvertently! Therefore I made a second batch this weekend. It really isn't long and complicated anyway.

To make the jar special (and so Seb didn't make any more mistake! ), I embroidered a jar topper.

The words say: "Cuvée du facteur - Merci !" meaning "Mailman's Batch - thank you"!

Now let me tell you I was really hesitating to give him the jar till the last minute - call me silly, but I'm rather shy and was afraid he might find me simply ridiculous! But Patricia, the friend who gave me the recipe, reassured me - we might be both a little clumsy, but so what? He would certainly be pleased anyway!

My mailman brought me an Amazon order this morning and I finally gave him his jar... He was very surprised and didn't know what to say! I just hope he was happy. Now I'm thinking, maybe I was ridiculous... but at least now he knows how much I appreciate him!

Petal Fairy Update

Since Carol asked for it, here is a WIP picture of the Petal Fairy... I've been stitching a little on her lately, while watching DVDs in the evening.

Besides, I thought this might cheer dear Mandy up and make her want to pick up her own fairy! Although I'd totally understand if you didn't, Mand! And anyway, no pressure for the Feather Fairy... you've got lovely Celtic Noel as well... and a cute MS Snowman! All lovely things to stitch while relaxing... BIG HUGS to you!

So here she is. I must have stitched something like 3-4 hours on her since the last update.

(click for a much larger picture)

So this must be about 27 hours work total. I simply added browns to her skirt...

For reference, below is a picture of where I was last time... which was September 1st! I really missed stitching on her... But have had so many things to do... However, she sure has been on my mind all that time... It may not look like it, but I am not forgetting my fairy seamstress!

Wallhanging Tutorial

Hi friends!

Here are - at last - the step-by-step pictures for the tutorial to make my wallhangings. I came up with this method by myself, so please, if need may be, give credit where it is due and respect copyrights (sorry, I've had problems before so that's why I insist!).

I believe the pictures are pretty much self-explanatory. Each picture is clickable to a larger one, whose title depicts the step. So, if you read carefully each title, you should be OK!

Materials needed:
- a stitched piece (or a quilt block!); don't forget to add seam allowances before trimming it to desired size!! (my seam allowances are 1 cm, i.e width of my presser foot)
- 4 strips (2 of the same length as the width of the stitched piece; the other two of that length + width of the first 2 strips: see first 2 pictures). Here again, don't forget to add seam allowances, or your strips will end up narrower than wanted!)
- backing fabric
- batting for the middle layer. I never put cardboard, because I want my quilts to be washable (and they wouldn't actually be quilts if they had cardboard within them!). Besides I like my mini-quilts to be soft... To me those have to be soft, sweet little gifties.

And there you go!

Do you need more explanations? Right now I don't have the time to do so, but if you need more help, please tell me and I'll try and explain as soon as I can!

Happy Sewing!

Gifts over here, gifts over there...

Once again, my mailbox was overflowing with kindness yesterday...

Kim sent me my first Xmas presents of the year! It really does feel like the Holiday season is starting now!

Just look at all those goodies... Cute little sewable/gluable inspirational words that should be a really nice addition to my mini-quilts; a skein of Week Dye Works overdyed thread in "Noel" (those threads are hard to come by in France and that color is gorgeous!); two cute charts, one of which Greg, Kim's DH, stitched, and I loved watching his progress on it! I love the saying on the other design as well... Something it is good to be reminded of daily (at least for me ) ! Kim stitched it earlier this month. Last but not least, a cross-stitch bread cover - it is so soft and I just love the way the edges are finished! And I might well use it as a bread cover indeed! That would be so nice!
And did you see that? Even the package is like a gift wrap! How nice!

Thanks again Kim, this is way too much... But I must confess it came at a moment when I really needed a cheer-me-up! So thank you... For the sentiment, and for the lovely message yesterday as well...

Zohrah in Singapore finally received her Birthday gifts... a couple of days late.



I made a similar purse for Shashi a couple of months ago. As Zohrah enjoys reading, I also made her a bookmark. What I like with bookmarks is that you can be very versatile and create one adapted to every person, for every occasion...

To conclude with a smile... I first saw this on dear Jenna's blog and had to give it a go!

I added a scarf is because it is getting so cold here! Besides, a dear French friend knitted a white scarf for me that is really, really precious, and I wear it every day! Although I really feel that my Internet friends are spoiling me way too much...

Next time I'll show you the little "gifties" I made for Seb!

And I saw this on Trish's blog... Apparently my eyes are the right color!

Your Eyes Should Be Brown

Your eyes reflect: Depth and wisdom What's hidden behind your eyes: A tender heart

What Color Should Your Eyes Be?

(ps: I had to resort to Photobucket to post my pictures: Blogger images don't seem to be working and what's worse, I haven't been able to see my Blogger friends' pictures either since yesterday! I really miss seeing your pictures! Am I the only one?)

Finally... Gifts for my friend in Brittany

My friend Denise received them a week ago, but I didn't have time to post pictures before today!

Those gifts took months. Not meaning that I only worked on them for three months, obviously, but I had a hard time finishing them. First, Denise is a wonderful lady and I wanted to make her really nice gifts (well I'm not sure I succeeded, but at least I tried! ) Secondly, she is a professional seamstress and this scared me out!

(click to see the details)

The embroidery on this took a looong time... Many details and colour changes. I used rickrack for the loops to hang the wallhanging.


A small seasonal heart.


(click to see the details)

This table centre is made of 9 lace panels that I created separately on my embroidery machine and then sewed together using a zigzag stitch and invisible thread for the top thread. If I remember correctly, the finished doily measures 35 cm square (that's about 14 inches for you friends on the other side of the Channel/Ocean! ).

While I'm at it I might as well show you the little wallhanging I created for Becky last month (better late than never, eh?)

(click to see the details)

I did take step-by-step pictures while making it, since some of you were asking for a tutorial on my mini-wallhangings... But I still haven't had a chance to write it up. Sorry friends... I had every intent to write it soon, but work got in the way...

That's all for now... Tomorrow is our fifth anniversary together for Seb and me... I would like to make him something special. We are not keen on celebrations (well, him especially) but still, I want to make him a memento of some kind.

Thank you all for your kind, kind words! They mean a lot to me... I treasure each and everyone of them.