Different lines

Different lines is the name of the shawl I knitted last week. I started on saturday and finished the other saturday, such a mindless, pleasant knit! The shawl is for the cute little boy's mother, so shall be in my backpack next wednesday when I go to Holland for some days.

You can wear the shawl in many different ways

The yarn is Madelinetosh merino light, so soft and wonderful to knit. The colors are Kelp and William Morris.

I also finished the cardigan for Terje. I am not quite sure about the collar. I hope the cardigan will fit him....

Blogpause for some days ....     Happy crafting.

The pumpkin story

Do you remember this post and this? I already told you that some plants died because of the heat, there were also not many fruits. But enough for my friend and me!!

Babyquilt made with Aunt Grace fabric

I finished this babyquilt some days ago. I used about 60 different squares of Aunt Grace fabric (30s reproductions),  Next week I'll go to Holland for the Quilt Fair in Rotterdam and, of course for visiting friends en family.
I shall have this baby quilt and the cardigan for Terje in my backpack.....

Pinterest and crochet patterns

Do you know Pinterest? Honestly I did not know what this was all about, untill I saw it by my blogfriend Ann.
There are so many ideas and patterns!!!  But I don't go myself on Pinterest... too much work.
I love to search patterns, like i did today for some crochet patterns.
I found this:

Aren't they cute? the patterns is here.

You also could make a bracelet with the same pattern, a quick birthday present? 

An idea for a garland or stars for the Christmas tree?  The pattern is free.

Happy crafting!

Shopping in Paris 4: the last addresses

After having visited our favorite shops, we met again for  glass of white wine on the Place de la Bastille.
We were already a bit tired our feet were protesting... So we took the metro to Porte d'Ivry in the 13th arrondissement. this is the Chinese, asiatic quarter.
If you want to buy some asiatic food, there are a lot of shops here. I prefer Tang Frères. It's like a Chinese market, the smell, the products, the personeel. Everything is VERY asiatic here and it's a very cheap shop!
As soon as we entered  the smell of the Durian fruit struck upon us. I have never eaten them, they say this fruit is very healthy but the awful smell.......

I look a bit tired here....

On the square in front of the shop you can buy delicious 'sandwich poulet citron' (chicken citron ). On the other side of the street there is a sandwicherie with a great choice of asiatic food. 

And on our way back in the train, guess what I did.........

Of course I was crafting, paper piecing is so easy to do wherever you are!

We had a perfect day in Paris but we could not visit all the shops which were on our list.

Therefore I give you some more addresses , maybe you go to Paris soon.

L'Empire du Thé, 101 Avenue d'Ivry (13th, metro Place d'Italie); there are a lot of shops where you can buy tea,I prefer this shop. The atmosphere is so quiet, so calm, so Zen. You can feel there the japanese tea-culture. they also sell Japanese tea-cups .

Le THé Bleu, 15 rue Linné (5th arrondissement, metro Jussieu). Beautiful shop with kimonos, tea-cups, small presents, not too expensive,.

Librairie JUNKU, 18 rue des pyramides (1th , metro Pyramides) . Japanese craftbooks, a very 'dangerous' shop for me. 

Sabah oriental, 140 Rue faubourg St Antoine (11th , metro Ledru Rollin): North African spices, dried fruits, loukoum, everything you need for the north -african kitchen. rather cheep. 

Marché Alligre,( 11th, metro Ledru Rollin) every morning there is a fruit and vegetable market and also fleemarket! 

Sadaharu Aoki, 3 shops in Paris. Japanese patissier, very exclusive and a bit expensive;....

Poilane,  8 Rue du Cherche-Midi (6th, metro Sèvres Babylone), the famous bakery. 

Salon de Thé Angelina, 226 Rue de Rivoli (1th, metro Concorde), you can find here the real paris lady drinking her coffee with a delicious and expensive 'gateau'. Try the 'Mont Blanc' gateau, so sweet, so delicious, so divine!!!

Bon Marché, 24 Rue des Sèvres( 6th, metro Sèvres Babylone), on the third floor you can find Rowan yarn, NORO, Debbie Bliss.

La Droguerie,9-11, Rue du Jour (1th , metro les Halles). Yarn and buttons, beautiful buttons!!

Marché St Pierre, fabric shop, 2 Rue Charles Nodier ( 18th , metro Barbès Rochechouart). and on the other side of the street there is a very good Mercerie. 

Mokuba,18 Rue Montmartre (2th ,metro les Halles): ribbons and more ribbons......

Happy shopping in Paris!!

Shopping in Paris 3: more addresses

After having lunch our ways parted for some hours. Lucy went to her favorite shops,  cooking shops  of cours!!

This picture you can find on the site of Dehellerin. They " distributes high quality kitchen and pastry utensils for the professional as well as the hobby cooker". 

The address: 18 et 20 rue Coquillière .

Another shop she visited was Mora, a very old shop, they already started in 1814!

Address: 13 rue Montmartre. 

And of course she went to Detou,  58 rue Tiquetonne. Here you will find a large choice of baking supplies like candied violets, real good coffee essence (and a lot of other essences!), extensive varitity of chocolates. They say:"here you will start becoming a baker".

And where did I go, not difficult to guess. I went to Inès, 37 rue ST Ambroise, a beautiful quiltshop not far from our restaurant.

I stayed about an hour and left with this:

Some Japanese fabric, one FQ of Aboriginal fabric, some reds, of course, and some blues.

Tomorrow part 4 of our Paris shopping.

Shopping in Paris 2: the restaurant

We wanted to eat something special that day in Paris. We found an asiatic vegetarian restaurant with very good reviews, so we reserved a table.
The restaurant is in the 11th arrondissement, the street was a bit shabby. Without being informed about the quality of the restaurant we never should have entered.....

The food was EXELLENT.

This is one of the starters: raviolis aux 'crevettes', ('prawn' dumplings)

The other starter: rouleau au printemps (cold spring roll)

Next was marmite au 'poulet' caramélisé, (caramelized 'chicken' claypot)

Marmite aux 'fruits de mer' ('seafood' claypot)

After drinking our coffee we left the restaurant very satisfied!!!

Here is the address:

Restaurant Tien Hiang, 92 rue Chemin Vert, 75011 Paris;

They also have a site (and a menu in English).

Tomorrow more shops.

Shopping in Paris 1: some addresses

It was a perfect day, not too cold not too hot, really weather to visit Paris . The best way to see Paris, to feel paris and to smell Paris is by foot, so we walked a lot......
We started in the 'Marais', the jewish quarter. My favorite quarter in Paris, small streets with a lot of beautiful , very exclusive small shops.
We wanted some real jewish sweets to eat with our 'petit café'. In this shop you can buy the perfect 'strudel aux pommes (apple)' and 'strudel aux pavots (poppy-seeds)'.

The address is 24, rue des Ecouffes,angle 19,rue des Rosiers. We drank a coffee and immediately tried the 'strudel aux pavots'. It was delicious with a taste of orange, very good.

Round the corner you'll find this shop, so exclusive ..... The coats, the hats the scarves, the pillows, everything so gorgeous and colorful . But I warn you they are not cheap at all!!!

They use a lot of Ikat fabric. 

Address: A la bonne Renommée,26, rue Vieille du Temple.

When you walk this street in northern direction you'll find on number 128, the shop called IE (that means house in Japanese). They sell very original children's garments and............... fabric! Not really quilt fabric but fabric you find nowhere, good  quality and not expensive.

But we walked in southern direction to rue François Miron, again beautiful shops and a lot of pavements. 

In this street you can find Izraels, on number 30.   They sell all kinds of herbs, liqueur, dried fruit.... too much to mention. It's worth to only enter the shop to smell all the flavours.

Tomorrow more Paris shopping! 

Trip around the world in Amish colors

I paper pieced a great part the quilt in the train to Holland, some weeks ago.  The pattern is from this book.

I used solid Kona cottons in Amish colors.

Tomorrow I go shopping in PARIS with my friend Lucy. I 'll show you some pictures and give you some addresses later this week. 

Blue birds ....is the name of this doll quilt

I found this doll quilt in :' Little Traditional Quilts' by Jayne Turner.

  There are 18 beautiful patterns in the book. Jayne talks in her book about 'miniature' quilts. And indeed some blocks are very small. The block size of my quilt was 1 1/2 inch square! I pieced this tiny pieces by machine and that was not easy!!

I used japanese fabric that i bought last year on the fair in Nantes.