Wow!

Hi friends!

I still can't believe it. I mentioned my Etsy shop on my French blog on Monday morning - and less than 48 hours later, there's only one pillow left! Wow! I am so honoured by everyone's enthusiasm and trust - starting with dear sweet Sylvie, who was the first to make a purchase and bought 3 kitty cushions at once! Thank you...

As Jenna aptly remarked, scented pillows may not be shipped to countries where organic materials are not allowed - especially to New-Zealand and Australia. Shipping scented pillows to Europe and the USA is fine, though. Anyway, I'm thinking of making a few unscented pillows for those who might like them better this way.

I'll be making new pillows with other colour schemes as soon as possible!

Hope everyone is having a good week. :)

Sweet Liberty

Hi everyone!

Dear Shashi gently reminded me that I hadn't mentioned yet the Liberty fabric I bought in London last month. :) I was fortunate enough to visit the Liberty store while their winter sale was on. Many of their fabrics were 50% off!

Here is the loot - funny how it features all my favourite shades of blue.
All the fabrics are lawn.

The two fabrics to the left are special. I wanted a 3-metre cut for a full-skirted dress, but I couldn't decide between those two - and couldn't see myself purchasing both. Seb told me he'd buy me one of them, so I could have both! I was speechless. He chose the dotted one. That'll become a special dress for sure.

The third fabric from the left was purchased at Shaukat, which sells Liberty remnants at reduced prices. It's a 1.5-metre cut and I know exactly what I'll do with it. I made a really cute little black dress 2 weeks ago (New Look 6643, which turned out much cuter than on their envelope - pictures ASAP!), and now I've done all the tweaking to make it really fit, I won't be afraid of using Liberty to make another. That'll definitely be one of my most-worn dresses this spring!

I'm not sure yet what I'll make with the fourth, which is a smaller cut, but I just couldn't pass those birds. ;)
Shaukat also had £-1 fat-quarters, which is how I got the red print I used for Ann's scented sachets.

Thank you for your well-wishes; I feel totally fine today! Yesterday's Mass went really well, and I'm so happy to be "seriously" singing again. You'll laugh, but confessing to you that I used to sing a lot in another life played a part in my finally getting over my shyness and offering my services to the church. I'm deeply happy to have added that new dimension to my life again - singing, and serving.

To show you just how little I've stitched this week, here is my paltry progress on the Petites Maisons SAL:

Pathetic, eh? ;)

Hope you're all having a great weekend! Ours has been busy, and happy. My parents came over to bring us some furniture we bought at Ikea's in Lille last week (they slept at my sister's and we went there with brioches for breakfast this morning!). Our flat is just perfect now, and I feel, amazingly, that I've managed to create a real sewing atelier in one corner of our 45-m² flat. I'll try and take pictures when everything is really nice and tidy. :) As a result, I haven't touched a needle yet, but at least I know I'll be so much happier the next time I do :)

Week-end at last

Hi everyone!

Sorry I've been silent all week. I caught a bad cold in Lille last weekend, and it seems that the whole week was spent working (or trying) and blowing my nose. I'm finally feeling better today. :)

Another thing has been making my life a bit busier: I volunteered to lead songs at Mass a few weeks ago, and getting everything ready every week or so takes time. I'll be singing tonight!

We did have a lovely weekend in Lille last week.

Here are a few pictures for those who like to see little Robin :) He just turned 3 months, and has grown and changed so much already!

The pictures are thumbnail-sized so as not to bore those who aren't interested in the family pictures - and so that the page isn't too heavy to load. Each picture is clickable.

Here is the skirt I whipped up in 1h30 on Thursday last week; I wore it for my Mum's birthday dinner.

It's a very simple circle skirt - I thought the jazzy cut would make a nice contrast with the "strict" fabric; I simply serged the edge for a no-fuss, trendy hem. My Mum has better pictures of the skirt, but she hasn't emailed them yet! ;)

Have a great weekend everyone. I'm off to rehearse tonight's songs.

Inspired

Last weekend, I wanted to whip up a surprise giftie to my friend Ann in Belgium. I made her something I'd been wanting to do for a while: scented pillows! I was reminded of them by Stacy of Stacy Sews last week, and this gave me the final impetus.
What I like best with those is their huge potential for personalization. This is great fun and a nice way to match a friend's tastes.

For Ann, I chose a red scheme and clean lines:

The largest is trimmed with French cotton lace.
The medium one was cut in a Liberty I bought in London.
The smallest one is machine-embroidered.

I sprinkled the polyfill stuffing with the organic lavender essential oil I use to scent my laundry.

This inspired me to do more this week, along the lines of my Christmas kitty ornies:

Some of them are filled with cloves, one with lavender, and one with gardenia scent (to make spring come faster!).

I've long been encouraged by friends and family to sell some of my stuff...And I need to finance a very special project I'll tell you about in a while.

So...
They're in my little Etsy shop!

~*~
Have a great weekend everyone.

Birthdays

I won't have the time to post tomorrow, as I'll be in Lille with my family to celebrate my Mom's birthday (I'm leaving in an hour!).

I would therefore like to wish a very happy birthday to three of my dearest friends online.
Anne had hers yesterday :) Hope you had a wonderful day, Anne!
Karen's special day is... today!! Happy Birthday, Karen! :)
And dear Becky will be the Birthday Queen tomorrow :)
To all of you, may you feel very loved, and very spoiled!

As many of you probably already know from her blog, I made a bourse by Au Fil des Rêves for Karen.

As I only had the chart and none of the fibers, I decided to change the colour scheme and attempted to match Karen's own tastes. After I'd chosen a quilting fabric, I matched my fibers to its shades.

I stitched the design on 28-count Quaker cloth ("light moka") and used a variety of fibers from my stash (DMC variegated, GAST, and Anchor). As I only had just enough of the stitching fabric for the bourse, I used the quilting fabric to make the pincushion.

Here's the back of the bourse.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!
I know I will. I haven't seen Robin since Dec. 30!

Of doctorates and research

Dear friends,

Some of your comments last week prompted me to react to an oft-made confusion. Your comments well most kindly-meant, and I thank you for your sweetness! :)
That being said, I am not a student - nor am I "studying". The system may be different in other countries (especially in other continents), but I actually finished my studies 2 years ago. My status in France is that of English professor (for which I got my diploma in 2003), and young researcher (article in French, sorry; here's its Google translation, not too bad for a change!).

I know how tricky the status of someone writing a doctorate may appear to those not in the "system"; but it is important (to me, and to all others in my situation!) to clear up those things.

Hope you will understand (and won't take this the wrong way) ;)

Muted stitching and a soft, soft tunic

Hi friends! Here are a stitching and a sewing finish for you.

After waiting for my fabric for a looong time, and then putting the project on hold to stitch a gift and finish an exchange, I finally managed to finish the Janvier block of the "Petites Maisons" SAL this week. I also started the Février block.

As planned here, I'm using a dove grey fabric and substituting the colours with DMC linen threads and a few muted cotton colours.

Now for the sewing finish!

Here's my first project with a Liberty fabric; I got it from Ebay last December.

I couldn't resist that print, scattered as it were with Little Miss Cuties

After much thinking, I decided to make a tunic.

The pattern is the same as for the tunic I made for my little sister. It is a French pattern, by Citronille.
This babycord is unutterably soft - this is what I wear as a "reward" when I've run on the elliptical.

Remember my challenge for Spring?

Since the tunic, I've finished a dress (from another New Look pattern) and a circle skirt (that took me an hour and a half last night), as well as a small AOK that is winding its way to someone. I've been feeling more like sewing than stitching lately.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

What else is there to say...

But thank you...

Van Gogh - Vase with Cornflowers and Poppies - http://www.vggallery.com

Your wonderful comments actually brought tears to my eyes. Wow, the friendship and caring... I just don't have any words. There were even some new commenters - thank you, everyone. I could spend hours responding to each and every comment... I have treasured every single one of them.

As if to prove your point, Ann sent me a wonderful RAK parcel last week. Yes, RAKs, or Acts of Kindness (which, like Becky, I feel more to the point), do feel ten times better than "expected" gifts! :) :)

Although she doesn't have a blog, Ann has been one of the very first ladies to read and comment on my blog - always with the kindest and most considerate words. As if her continued sweetness was not enough, she sent this incredibly personalized box - a box custom-made for a happy auntie! Ann's care and friendship, as your kindness this week, have made me all warm and fuzzy.

I have decided to go back to my own projects, which (apart from a new dress) I haven't touched since, oh... November?
I do plan on sending little store-bought gifties for birthdays, to the extent of my abilities. But handmade goodies will now be sent as unexpected AOKs. :)

Thank you so much, everyone, for so sincerely responding to my quandary, and for putting my heart at rest.

To end this on a smile... Here's a picture of Robin, now big enough to sport his 3-months auntie-embroidered onesies!

Have a wonderful weekend, my precious friends.

Despite all intentions

Dear friends,

This post will be a confession.
Three of my best friends (you know who you are), PLUS my mother, have their Birthdays in mid-February. Despite all intentions, I just couldn't manage to fit in some time to stitch for all of them. I hate to say this, but I have only managed to complete a gift for one of them. As I hated the thought of not sending them anything, each of them should receive a gift on time. But I hate the fact that most of those gifts have been store-bought.

That being said, with the huge load of work I've had to accomplish since the beginning of the year, I simply don't see how I could have done it. Last Sunday was the first day since 2007 began that I managed to sit at the sewing machine, and believe me, I was missing it to the point of obsession. (I have to confess, too, that the time I spent on the sewing machine on Sunday was spent on starting a dress for me... I just couldn't help myself any longer). My first two finishes of the year are gifts (an exchange gift, and a birthday gift).

I am slowly, and painfully, realizing that I just can't do it. I can't keep up! How do you friends manage?
I have reached a crucial part in my thesis, and as a result have been struggling to find some time for... everything else (except for Seb!). I certainly don't complain, mind you - I have finally reached the part where my work falls into place, where it makes sense and feels significant. I am thrilled! I am truly at a happy time in my life, in every respect. My one nagging regret right now is this: I feel I haven't been an adequate friend.

Well. I just wanted to let those 3 friends know that I love each of them - and that my sending two of them a store-bought gift doesn't mean anything else.

Maybe I should just give up the idea of hand-making birthday gifts this year, and concentrate on AOKs (Acts Of Kindness) instead. What are your thoughts?

Hope the week is sweet to you!

A Stitching Lesson from the V&A

Hi everyone! :)
Here is finally a small report of the embroidery room at the Victoria & Albert Museum. A picture report merely - those pieces are so wonderful I'm at a loss to praise them, so pictures will have to do.

We first gazed for a long while at this contemporary embroidery:

Machine embroidery by Rebecca Crompton, 1937.

Then admired a great many samplers, mostly German, of which here is a small taste:

(this so reminded me of the Paradigm Lost sampler Carol and Jo are stitching!)

Finally, a truly edifying stitching lesson




(Since they were all showcased behind glass, I had to take pictures aslant, to avoid flash reflection)

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and sending special hugs to a very dear friend.

5 things you probably don't know about me

I was tagged by Sewing Queen Summerset the other day. (If you haven't seen her American Beauty ensemble yet, let me warn you - your jaw will hit the floor! This is truly Haute Couture.)

Summerset asked me to post 5 things about me that I have never posted.

1. I don't blog about all my sewing projects - sometimes I don't find the time, or am too lazy to take pictures, or don't want to bother Seb (if it's a garment for me), or have forgotten to take a picture of my work before giving it away. There are a few clothes, etc., that you have never seen! Like the Pointy Kitty Karen made a version of last week. I made one a year ago. Or a denim box-pleated skirt. That must have been 18 months ago. Or...

2. I mainly listen to classical music - especially opera, Lieder, religious music, Chopin. I always have. If it wasn't for Seb I'd probably not be listening to much else! Which would be a shame. I'm not some sort of a snob, it's just the way I am - and it's part of the special bond I have with my father. He's the one who introduced me to opera.

3. According to my singing teacher 10 years ago, I could have turned a professional singer, if I started working full time on my voice. That didn't exactly coincide with my mother's academic plans for me. I don't mind, I was definitely not cut out for that kind of life - and I would never have met Seb, and have the life we have together. I do mind immensely the fact I haven't seriously sung in years. Cathy knows something about it!

4. I asked for baptism at 15 and followed a 2-year catechumenate before being baptized. I re-live this emotion every time someone is baptized at church on Sundays.

5. And now for a very futile trivia: in winter, I can't go out without a hat on. I just don't feel complete without a hat. As soon as the weather's cool enough to justify it, I wear one. Which is why I so love the two bérets I loom-knit last month. I promise, I will show them! Some day. ;)

Enough babbling about me!
Next article will be devoted to the embroidery rooms at the V&A. :)