Garden visit

Last sunday , with my garden club, we visited a garden in the northern part of the Creuse, about 40 kilometers from here.  The Creuse is a beautiful green department, near the Massif Central.
It was a garden with many roses, so many that I forgot the names. i'll show you some :

And there is also a You Tube with this garden movie here.

Indian summer in France, but...........

The last weeks we have an Indian summer here in France, beautiful warm sunny weather.
But....... this is also the season to prepare your wood for the stove.
You see people drive with wood on the tractor, you hear the saw. You never know if winter will start early , that's why I already made an appointment with the chimney sweeper. Maybe you remember our him staying on the roof in this blogpost.
Yesterday another 5 meters cubic was brought , there is about 25  at the moment.

Dollquilt Tillie finished

I already told you about this dollquilt. I made it in exactly one week.  All pieced and quilted by hand.
I bought the pattern in Holland, it's also available here.
The fabric is Maison de garance of French General for Moda.
I love the result.....

I am in ' Best of The Web' this week

Some days ago I got a mail from Jennifer, she was enthusiastic about my blog and asked if she could use it for this week 'Best Of The Web'.
And HERE I am:

Best of the Web: Be @ Home # 41

Sewing is one of the oldest textile arts, that arose in the Paleolithic era. This craft has diversified into different funnels through generations. Our focus in this week’s Best of the Web: Be @ Home is mainly on sewing, stitching and crafting. Accompanying it are bloggers who use their creativity in designing vintage and unique home decor. Enjoy the ride through the crafty DIY projects, patterns, how-tos, fashion, recipes, tutorials and decor ideas.

CRAFT FROM THE HEART

The Sewing Attic

“I was inspired to start blogging after discovering other sewing/crafting blogs and thought it would be a great way to share my love of sewing and connect with other like-minded people. I find that blogging keeps me motivated to constantly try new projects, and challenge myself creatively. I love the connections with other bloggers that I have made and enjoy offering advice and inspiring other people to be creative. While my blog is predominately about sewing, sharing tutorials of projects and techniques and the occasional other crafting project I also like to share what inspires me, from photos of my garden, to everyday life with my family, and sometimes little photo tours of the beautiful scenery around where we live on the Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand and beyond.”- Catherine Watts of The Sewing Attic.

BubzRugz

“BubzRugz initially started as a journal and is still used to record a lot of my life happenings. Essentially I am an aging wannabe hippie and write in a conversational and humorous manner.  Although largely a stitching/quilting blog it is essentially eclectic in nature. A bit of this, a bit of that and you would find tutorials and recipes, as well as read about my garden, the area I live, my family and see quite a lot of my crafty creations – the triumphs and the failures. The evading community spirit in blogland is inspiring, educational and often intimate. Friends are made, stories are told and you are welcome to stop for a read and a chat.”- Fiona of BubzRugz.

By Hoki Quilts

“By Hoki Quilts blogspot was and is a means to an end.  As a new business that had spent a small fortune buying stock there was little money available to start a website.  Blogging became a means to an end, or so I thought.  Through my blogspot not only have I been able to get the name of our shop ‘out there’  but  I have found friends near and far where we have one thing  in common, our passion for the  craft of quiltimaking.  We share family life, day to day celebrations, sad moments but mostly we share what has been made, completed, planned or gifted it’s like belonging to the largest guild of all.  Displaying our quilts for the best posible effect is always something that I strive for, something that will draw other bloggers into our world.”- Michele Armstrong of By Hoki Quilts.

 

Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night

“My blog started as a way to document my crafty endeavors and to share my ideas with others.  I am a passionate “picker” and love to repurpose things found at thrift-stores, garage sales and flea markets, and thought maybe this would encourage others recycle and do the same! I have always found great inspiration for my craft projects from other blogs and I thought why not write my own blog, and share some of my crafty tips and life adventures with my friends, family, and other crafters. It’s a wonderful creative outlet and a way to connect with other people who love primitive & country crafts as much as I do.” -  Margaret Powers of Eyeballs by Day, Crafts by Night.

Cherished Bliss

“I started my blog to share with others my love for making anything and everything. When reading my blog you will find tutorials in sewing, crafting, and many DIY projects. I particularly enjoy creating things for my children, ages 3 and 1. They are my true inspiration” -Ashley of Cherished Bliss.

 liza jane sews

“I love to sew, but what it really boils down to is that I’m a die hard diy’er.  I teach elementary art by day and I have an uncontrollable need to make things.  I started sewing two years ago and learned so much through the online world of sewing blogs.  I decided to start my own to share my successes and failures and to pass along inspiration and information when I can.  I love that my blog has introduced me to so many people all over the world who have similar interests.” – Liza Jane of liza jane sews.

Moments of Tranquility

“My blog is primarily about my greatest passion- scrapbooking and paper crafts. Here you will find close-ups and details of my work. I named my blog ‘Moments of Tranquility’ because my moments of tranquility are the moments that I am able to scrap about the loves of my life – my husband and my children. To me, it is a form of expressing my emotions and portraying them in a form of art known as scrapbooking. Over time I will be posting my layouts with close-ups and details about each one, and I will also be providing some quick tips and tutorials.” – Natasha from Moments of Tranquility.” – Natasha of Moments of Tranquility.

BusyBeeFree

“I started my blog to share with others my pleasure in creating things. I am a craftswoman and a gardener. I live in the countryside of France where I have in my garden about 70 varieties of roses. My blog is also a homage to my parents. My mother was always knitting garments for us, and my father was a nurseryman. After his retiring he continued gardening in his vegetable garden till the age of 92. Through my blog I made very special friends all over the world, I even have met some of them personally.”– Baukje of BusyBeeFree.

A bit of this and a bit of that and a bit of chat.......

Monday I made my to-do-list for this week.  Only for this week, I am not as organized as you may be thinking..... But last week I made a doll quilt all by hand. I started on sunday and the other sunday the dollquilt was finished.
And that week I did NOTHING ELSE. I only quilted and I loved it.

This is/was on my list for this week:

look for walnuts; my tree is still young and does not give a lot.(I did it and found about 10 kilo!!)
gather apples,
make tomato chutney, ( I made it yesterday, give you the recipe soon)

make cuttings from the pelargoniums, (done)

pick the quinces, they are ripe, and make syrop.
pick the grapes for making juice,
in the freezer are still cherries to make jam,it's time to do that ...
finish the cardigan for Terje, I started monday evening, made a lot of mistakes , so I needed to rip. Yesterday I started again, and again mistakes and I did not understand the pattern, so I ripped again!!!
I will change the pattern and see what shall happen.....So far I am here:

Thank goodness (lol)  that I had my ayurveda massage yesterday, I go there each month, it's so RELAXING!

More Meilland roses

My friend Lucienne has two more beautiful Meilland roses.

 Jubilé de Monaco.

Eddy Mitchel.

Meilland roses

My friend Lucienne , who is also member os our garden club, bought some beautiful Meilland roses.
Here is the gorgeous 'le petit prince'.   The color is a subtile mauve, very extraordinary for a rose, the scent a fresh light citron.

You could buy Meilland roses all over the world.....

Tomorrow more roses.

On the line

Today I washed all my 30er years fabric.

There are 60!!! different prints

I will make a quilt with the fabric for this lovely baby, here name is Kalle.

And guess what i'll be doing this afternoon...... Yes i think there shall be a lot of ironing to do!

Roses from my garden

After a period with a lot of rain in july the roses are again in full bloom so are some flowers in my garden.

I collected some flowers for bouquets. Aren't my roses gorgeous?

Pelargonium varieties

This year we had a very hot april and may, so the garden was already dry and faded in june. Because I need to have flowers around the house I ordered some pelargoniums.  Even when summer is hot, they stay healthy and are always blooming.

Yesterday i made some cuttings. In winter the pelargoniums are in the cave and only watered twice or three times. There is always a risk to loose some so i want to have cuttings.
If you want some cuttings, I love to send them to you.

What I bought in Holland

When I was in Holland I visited this quiltshop. My friend Dorien works in the shop , so I could met her and at the same time buy fabric. Because you already know, I presume, that a quilter never has enough fabric!

I also bought two doll quilt patterns:

I'll make this one with French General fabric from Moda. 

I also bought some beautiful Indonesian batik fabric . For me and also for a GIVEAWAY!!! 

The fabric was to heavy to put in my backpack so no pictures yet!

Unbelievable

It's harvest time and there are so many apples, really unbelievable..... Yesterday we went to make apple juice , we came home with 131 bottles of one liter, all pasteurized!!! ( there are about 130 liters left from last year)  And today I picked another two wheelbarrows full with apples.

And there still are so many in the trees. I wish you all were nearer by so you could come for some juice and apples......

Living in the French countryside is so GREAT.