Hollypop's

Long time - No see!!!

2009-07-22T20:42:00.005+02:00

Hello ladies, how are you all, well I hope. I know I haven't blogged for simply ages - 3 months to be exact. I really don't know where the time goes, hours turn into days which turn into weeks - maybe it's an age thing.

It's been very busy here, work is progressing well on the barn. Holly's bedroom is nearer the finish than the beginning which is great. I've had a brief trip back to the UK to visit some friends. My oldest has taken his BacS and (bear with me for a proud mother moment) done really exceptionally well, 15.50 which is a Mention Bien and in the top four of his year for the Science Bac. We've had some friends to visit which was great and we've all broken up for the summer hols, since the beginning of June in fact. It's been baking hot with the odd drop of rain in between.

I've made some enormous linen curtains for a french lady which looked stunning when hung, I was so relieved. I've made a baby changing bag for a friend along with her name embroidered on the front in amongst other things. I'm pursuing the jewellery making aspect, using fabric, lace, painted wood anything I fancy really, so I'll let you know how that goes. I really need to knuckle down and organise my days so that I can timetable in time for making things, tidying the mess which regularly occurs in the barn, at the moment plaster walked from one end to other and all the other motherly, house wifey duties.

Anyway I sincerely hope this finds you all well, and I will timetable in time for blogging too.
Take care and enjoy your summer holiday.
Nickyx

Quick Update!

2009-04-11T14:04:00.002+02:00

Hi Ladies, sorry I haven't been on the blogging scene much lately, have had loads going on here hopefully things will be back to normal next week. Hope you all are enjoying a great Easter weekend.
Take care and I hope the Easter rabbit is kind to you all.
Nickyx

Pressie in the post and bits and bobs

2009-03-31T11:21:00.011+02:00

Hi ladies hope you're all well. I've not been blogging for a couple of days felt a bit out of sorts over the weekend so thought I'd just do nothing.
The picture above is of my lovely giveaway pressie I received from Bex at Bexs Buttons . I was so chuffed to get this pretty purse, in the post on Friday. One of Bex's purses with button detail in a grey pin stripe and pretty pink fabric, this will go really well with my new grey handbag. Also some pretty pink button earrings , some other beautiful pearly buttons to add to my collection and a very pretty card, which I'm going to look for an old frame I can paint and put it in. Thanks so much Bex, this little parcel really cheered me up.

This is a little note for Mel at Country in the Town ....guess who forgot to get her washing in last night Mel? Luckily we had no rain so it was nice and dry when I got it in just now.

It is lovely and bright here today although there is a very cold wind. This picture is looking out of our gateway, I took this as I was leaving to take Holly to school this morning.

This is Holly going into school, you can just see her behind the grill I hope. It's a lovely school, a huge victorian ex-miliatry building. Holly loves school and always has. Some days she wants to go in early to go to the guarderie, this is like a school club where children can go before and after school.

These are some of my favourite mirrors. They are all old and made of carved wood with gesso and gilding. I love old mirrors and think they look great together on a wall, not necessarily for looking in but for decoration. Whenever I go to a vide grenier or antiques market I always keep a look out for a pretty mirror. These pictures are a bit dark and probably don't show them at their best.

I thought I'd show you this. I bought this at the antiques market in Limoges. I just loved it. It is an old black and white photo of two ladies sitting in an aeroplane, not a real one, probably from the 1930's. It is behind glass and the frame is although a little shabby very pretty, it is made up of coloured thread with a ribbon to hang it. I looked at it and wondered who these ladies were! Do you do this when you look at old photos, try and imagine who they were and their lifestyle. I do love the 1920's and 30's, the fashion, accessories etc. Do click on the photo to enlarge it.

Enjoy your day ladies.
Take care.
Nickyx

Finally..................!

2009-03-27T16:43:00.006+01:00

The little bear at the front is Holly's favourite 'sleepybear'. She's had him since she was a baby he's very loved and could probably do with a bit of re-stuffing. I have already patched his body once with one of her first babygrows and that's worn out too now.

This is just a quickie. I've finally been to the doctor today after having a cough for three weeks, he says it's viral and has given me stuff to take 4 times a day which will also make me sleep to kill the cough (as he put it). I really don't need to be going to sleep in the day so we'll see, also the blood pressure is a bit low and even lower when I stand up hence the dizziness today apparently something to do with said virus. Anyway I won't bore you with all my medical symptons, just to say I'm feeling a little light headed and a glass of wine hasn't passed my lips! - not since Wednesday anyway.

This is just to let you know I have FINALLY finished my first ever crochet project - the blanket which became a cushion for Holly.

I used the fabric I bought at the antiques market for the back and added a pretty dark pink button to finish off. I made the inner myself, ideally it could do with a bit more stuffing but I think Holly will like it because it's all soft and squishy.

I also added a few little crochet flowers (my first attempts also) to the middle of four of the squares just for a bit more prettiness. I've put it on her bed for her to find when she comes home from school. I hope she's pleased with it.

Enjoy your weekend. I'll have to do a post about the fab giveaway I received today from Bex at Bexs Buttons over the weekend when I'm feeling a bit more with it.
Take care all.
Nickyx

Bloggers' Block!!!

2009-03-24T11:00:00.005+01:00

Hi ladies, hope you're all well and enjoyed a great Mother's Day. It's not on the same day here in France, but nonetheless I was taken out for a lovely meal on Saturday evening. On Sunday we went over to my mother-in-laws and took her some daffodils and a card, where we had tea and lovely homemade cake. Chocolate victoria sandwich with chocolate butter cream filling - my favourite.

I thought I'd share some photos with you of what will be our bedroom. This will be the top floor, up in the eaves, there will be our bedroom, another room probably for sewing and my other half's fitness stuff, the light is great up here. There will also be a shower room for us. I think this room will be lovely with the old beams showing, the cupboard you can see on the left is the wardrobe Mr. H. has built in under the beam, we bought some old doors from a depot vente, but it will all be painted as you can see. We have painted the walls with Ringwold Ground from Farrow & Ball and the wardrobe will be the same.

I am looking forward to being able to move into this room, it's such a long process also because Mr. H has to work as well, so things have slowed down a lot. We have to put the stairs in to this level, at the moment we use a tall step-ladder to get up there.

Above is looking out through the bedroom door to the rest of this level. Mr.H. has to make a door. The windows have leaded glass in them. We have a few internal windows for borrowed light.

Do any of you ever get bloggers' block. This week has passed very quickly and I have done lots of stuff, but can't think what to write about. I think it's probably because I'm thinking about lots of things at the same time, I have started an Etsy shop so I'm trying to organise that, I've decided that this year I'm going to get my little business off the ground. I'm still making things for my friends' living room, doing the final dog bed cover this morning, and trying to find time to make things for me as well. On Thursday I'm going up to Limoges with a friend and a french friend who would like me to make some curtains for her, so we going to look at fabric. I have to go and measure up for that tomorrow. The weather has been lovely here for the last week probably, so you then feel you need to go outdoors and do things too, I put some seeds into trays the other day so am now waiting patiently for them to pop up.

Do any of you ever have times where you feel so dis-organised, perhaps it's trying to juggle too many things at once, what do you think?
Take care.
Nickyx

A Pouffe!

2009-03-16T16:47:00.005+01:00

I went up to the city with Lucy on Friday to buy some more material for the bits and pieces I've been doing for her sitting room. I'll take some photos of the window seat and curtain but every time I go round I forget my camera. This is howI spent Sunday. She asked me to cover a pouffe for her and this is how it came out. I'm pretty pleased with it. Before it had a very frilly floral cover. I should have taken a before and after photo, but wasn't that organised.
I did this yesterday as Lucy has her elderly mum-in-law coming to stay today and wanted it for her to put her feet on.

We had a fun day out at the shops, looking at fabric, trying on clothes, lunch was very nice - great homemade quiche and salad with a bread roll in a boulangerie/café , with an expresso to finish off. I have to say I was very good and only window shopped.

It's been a lovely day here today warm, sun shining, birds singing, daffodils out in flower - all very springlike. By the way we're forecast snow next week apparently, so I won't put my winter woollies away just yet. I've hung the washing on the line and it's dried, how satisfying is that. I really do need to get out more, getting excited because the washing has dried outside - I don't know! I've just baked a cake ready for when Holly and Olly get home from school, it was going to be chocolate but turned into lemon, fancied a change.

Right, I'm off to get the washing in.
Take care.
Nickyx

An Award - thanks Pixiedust

2009-03-16T09:55:00.004+01:00

Hi all, just would like to say huge thank you to Pixiedust at Faerienuff for my award. I have to list 7 things I love and pass it on to 7 other bloggers .... so here goes - not in any particular order...

1. I love chocolate victoria sandwich with chocolate butter cream (on the top and in the middle).
2. I love lilies and their smell.
3. I love the self satisfied feeling you get when you're making something and it all comes together well in the end.
4. I love fairy lights.
5. I love getting up in the morning when the sky is blue and the sun is warm and shining.
6. I love the wonder of a huge full moon.
7. I love my children and family.

I'm going to pass this on to:-

Mel at Country in the Town
Rosey at Agapanthas and Goldsworthy
Bex at Bexs Buttons
Isabelle at Suzy's Vintage Attic
Ali at Message in a teacup tales from Betty & Violet
Gemma at Deravelled
Sam at SilkieSue

Enjoy your day.
Take care.
Nickyx

Just a few pics!!

2009-03-13T08:34:00.009+01:00

Daffodils are so jolly and look like they're smiling.

My vintage curtain pole ends, I love gilded things like old mirrors and these, they're so pretty particularly when they're worn a little.

A piece of vintage toile de jouy I have hanging on my wall because I can't bring myself to cut it up.

This is the card my sister gave me when Holly was born, it is now framed and hangs in her bedroom, I love the words.

Finally, Holly's first pair of shoes, they're so cute. It helps you not to forget how tiny they were.
Enjoy your day, I'm off to get ready now as I'm going fabric shopping with Lucy.
Take care.
Nickyx

Catching up!!!....

2009-03-09T16:22:00.010+01:00

Hi, thought I'd better catch up as it's been a week since my last post. It seems to have gone by so quickly. I don't know whether it's because it was Holly's last week of the half term holidays or not but it flew by. I went to visit my sister Tuesday morning with Holly to catch up as they'd just got back from their hoiday in Australia. Wednesday afternoon was at Lucy's with her french neighbour, Marie, for our weekly french/english session which of course includes cups of tea and homemade cakes. I spent Thursday tidying up the room where we keep all our stuff. There is still stuff in boxes up there from when we moved over here along with 'stock' for our antiques business. Spent a few hours trying to get some sort of order, but I'm sure the other half will shortly go up there looking for something and it will be a total mess again. Friday went to do the food shopping and Lucy and her husband came round in the evening as it was her birthday, a bottle of champagne and some wine later finally fell into bed.

You ladies are so productive on the blogging front, I've had two days where I haven't had a chance to catch up and boy is there a lot to catch up on. I shall sit and have a read this evening I think.

I'm making brooches at the moment. Here are three I made last week, my own little bits of textile art. The one above and below (same one just different coloured backgrounds) is made using all vintage fabrics. A little fine cotton with embroidery on it for the base, then some old broderie anglaise, a heart of provencal print cotton and on top of that a heart of vintage linen and finally some black silk velvet ribbon. Then I stitched on some little beads. All hand stitched and finished with a piece of felt on the back to make it all neat. If you click on the photos they enlarge so you can see the detail.

The brooch above is again mostly vintage fabric, the cream fabric is very fine with some very pretty embroidery on it, this fabric is so fine and pretty I wonder if it was for a wedding dress, as the pieces I have are sleeve shaped and the embroidery fits the shape, rather than be embroidered all over and the sleeve just cut from the fabric. I have hand stitched a hem at the bottom and pulled it up to make a little ruffled skirt effect. Again I have teamed this with some of the provencal print and the black silk velvet ribbon. My other half said he thought it had a 30's feel to it. I then added the little bits of black ribbon with the hearts and some pretty little beads to catch the light.

In case any of you were wondering what had happened about the crochet blanket which turned into a floor cushion for Holly I thought I'd give you an update. I've been looking for some fabric to back it with and hooray! on Sunday we went to the antiques market and I found this rather pretty floral fabric which picks up the colours of the crochet really well, I thought. So hey ho... Holly will very soon have her cushion. I think I'll have to make my own pad for this one.

Well Holly's just got back from school and I'd better go and get her some tea as it's the violin lesson tonight.

Take care...
Nickyx

Old tie-back, beads and a brooch!

2009-03-02T09:48:00.005+01:00

It was a lovely afternoon on Saturday, so we went out for a drive, look what I found. A beautiful old tie back VERY shabby but still very chic. I loved the way it had faded to a soft golden colour. I love old tie backs and after having spent a night in the freezer I hung it on the end of the curtain pole in the bedroom where I think it looks very lovely.

I found the old tape too, only €1 and a little glass bottle of beads all different shapes and sizes, I couldn't really leave those behind, they're sure to come in for one project of another.
Finally, this is the brooch I started making the other day. I finished it off with some lace and a little hand stitching. I stitched a piece of felt on the back to stiffen it slightly and to attach the brooch pin to. I'm pretty pleased with it and it looks nice on my woolly jacket. What do you think?

Enjoy your Monday.
Take care.
Nickyx

I painted my linen basket!!!

2009-02-28T11:24:00.010+01:00

You wouldn't believe how pleased I am to get this post on. Three times this morning I've managed to delete the photos by accident.
Anyway, I've painted my linen basket in the same pale blue I painted my hairdryer basket and I'm pretty pleased with how it has turned out. Much prettier than before.

This is a little hanging heart I made to add a little extra prettiness. It's made from some old french linen, with a little heart in the fabric I lined the hairdryer basket with. A few pearly beads and some pretty white ribbon. I pulled it through in a few places around the edge, like you see on mattresses to give a quilty effect, hope you like it.

These super monograms are on an old linen dowry sheet. I'm going to do something with these maybe a cushion, I'm not sure yet, any ideas? The rest of the sheet I use to make hearts and things as it has a seem up the middle and a few repairs in places.

I love these old sheets, they're so tactile and beautiful with their wonderful embroided initials. I have one on our bed which I use like a throw with the top turned back so you can see the oh so pretty embroidery.
Enjoy your weekend.
Take care
Nickyx

Signs of Spring????

2009-02-26T09:53:00.011+01:00

Here are a few pics of the sheep and lambs in the walnut grove and some other signs that maybe spring is not too far around the corner. You can just see a couple of little lambs in the background.

Pink primroses growing in the grass, what a joy! I've made this picture my screen saver I thought it was really pretty and you can see the sunlight.

These are new buds on the Lilac bushes.

This is our walnut grove. The little chemin (road) you can see goes down to the millhouse, a beautiful double fronted house down in the valley next to the river.

These grow freely, but I don't know what they're called, they're very pretty though as the flowers go through shades of pink to lilac and blue all on the same plant. Nature is a wonderful thing!

Of course, daffs, Spring wouldn't be Spring without them. Just coming into bud.

Can you see this little lamb hiding behind the hurdle, I couldn't get any closer to him, he was very nervous. Not used to the paparazzi me thinks!

Again the sheep and their lambs in our field. You can just see the fence which is our border with our neighbour. If you look really closely there is a little one lying down in the sunshine.

Thank you Hen at Henhouse who left a comment on my last post saying perhaps I could post some pics of the sheep. I'd like to say thank you because when I went out in the garden yesterday afternoon to take the piccies, the sun was warm and bright, and it made me realise again what a lucky thing I am to live where I do. When we first came to live here in France it was like being on holiday for quite a long time, things were all very new and exciting. But then, as with anything or anywhere, you settle into your normal daily life and lose sight of the plus points when you get weighed down by the minuses. It isn't always easy, even when you speak the language there is still a language barrier, what they say about french bureaucracy is very true, loads of bits of paper and all in a foreign language. The people however have always been kind and helpful, we couldn't wish for better french neighbours and we have all this lovely scenery.

One thing though is that we are very much in the french countryside, unfortunately unless I travel to one of the cities I don't have the access to all the shopping opportunities I would like, but maybe I will have to just get in the car and have some days out.

I think it's the old thing of "is your cup half full or half empty?" - I think mine is definitely half full, the thing is not losing sight of that fact!!

Take care and enjoy your day
Love Nickyx

I got lots done yesterday...................

2009-02-25T10:56:00.006+01:00

HI, hope you're all well and happy today. I had a pretty productive day yesterday I have to say.
The weather has brightened up a bit and feels somewhat springlike, although still cold and frosty this morning. We have new baby lambs in the orchard, our neighbour puts his sheep in there to keep the grass down. It's more a walnut grove really as we have 27 walnut trees.
The little bits and bobs above were done whilst sitting in front of late night tv, the two tiny hearts I thought might look pretty attached to something like a purse or wallet. and the little bow is the beginning of a prototype corsage. We'll see how it comes out, still needs some tweeking.

I spent most of the morning in the bathroom, tidying and painting. With a project like ours there are always unfinished bits that can't be finished until something else is done - if you follow me. The bathroom is mostly all painted tongue and groove on the walls. I wanted to sand the wood around the cupboard and paint it white. I have a curtain hanging there at the moment but my other half tells me that one day it will have doors, although I quite like the curtain. The pipework will be boxed in one day, but I'm very tempted to paint it the colour of the walls in the meantime, just to make it look better. I think this may be a girl thing as my other half says it's a waste of energy as it's going to be boxed in. I think I may paint it though, as I don't know when it's going to get boxed in. (Sorry if I'm rambling)

This is another thing I did last night in front of the the TV (the other half was away yesterday and overnight so I took advantage). I painted the basket I keep my hairdryer in and then made a pretty fabric lining for it. This has brightened it up no end - don't you think?

Back to the bathroom. The wall below is the first coat of lime render, so do excuse it. To the right you can just see the cupboard I was talking about and the curtain. I'm showing you this picture as I'm thinking of painting this linen basket too - what do you think? I'd probably do it the colour of the basket above as they're all in the same room. You can also see I painted the toilet brush holder too, thought I'd share that with you! If it didn't move I painted it yesterday

Oh, I nearly forgot, I also made two more cushions for my friend. Just the pelmet to do now, when it's all done and in place I'll post some photos.
Holly has been enjoying the her first couple of days holiday and the luckily the weather is bright and dry so she has been playing with the little ones who live in the converted barn just up the road from us.
Well I'm off to do some more bits and bobs.
Take care.
Nickyx

More tulips, Country Living and a bit of fabric!!

2009-02-19T13:22:00.006+01:00

Well I went shopping the other day with Lucy, we went up to the city looking for a fabric shop another friend had told me about. We found it, despite my appalling sense of direction and after parking the car walking in the wrong direction, asking in a shop and then walking back the way we'd come. But hey we got there eventually. When we did find it I was quite surprised it was pretty big and on three floors, dress fabric and trimmings on the ground, furnishing and trimmings on the top and some remnants, cushion inners and paint in the basement. I saw some lovely furnishing fabrics some beautiful red and cream linen toile de jouy which I fell in love with. The paint was Farrow & Ball, which was great BUT it was €59 for 2.5 litres and €99 for 5 litres. I think I'll wait until we visit the UK for that.

We'd already bought the red and cream toile de jouy and we were looking for something to co-ordinate with it. The toile de jouy is for the curtains, and some of the cushion covers, the red and cream ticking is for the window seat and I think I'm going to use it with the toile on some of the cushions. Also this little window is going to have a simple flat pelmet with toile on one side and the ticking on the other, tabs for hanging and I thought we'd alternate the toile and ticking for those, so hopefully it will look very pretty, country chic. I'll take some photos when I'm finished.

The beige and cream stripe was a remnant for me to go in the basket and the quilted fabric is to make a baby's changing bag.

This morning the sun came out and I had the urge for a mad tidy and dust around, including the cobwebs, which we get loads of. Always feel very self-satisfied afterwards I have to say. I even painted the window sill in the kitchen and touched up the walls a bit. Well it may be the temporary kitchen but I want it to be nice. The cushion above I've also made this morning for the chair at Holly's desk in her bedroom. The beige linen was a curtain I bought in the sale for the fabric last year, the paisley/floral fabric was the off-cut from the curtain in the bathroom and the pretty little pink bit in the middle was from a piece Sesga at Sesgaloves1950s sent me in the valentine swap, I've just used a little as I want to use some of it in one of my purses. I hope Holly will be chuffed when she comes home from school as it will be a surprise.

Also when we went shopping on Tuesday I treated myself to the new Country Living mag and some pink tulips. I just love tulips in the house they make me cheery and remind that spring is on its way. I've had a quick flick through, but will have to sit down with a cup of tea to enjoy if properly.

Well I'm off to hang out some washing as its quite bright today.
Take care and enjoy your day.
Nickyx

Just a quickie......!

2009-02-17T09:08:00.002+01:00

Hi girls, this is just a quickie. I thought I'd post a picture of a little purse I've just finished. I was asked to make it by a friend for a little girl's birthday. As you can see it's pink gingham on the outside and a pretty pink and cream flowery fabric on the inside. My friend was pleased and I hope the little one will be too. I embroidered her name on a little piece of french linen and added a few hearts to pretty it up.

I'm off shopping this morning with a friend to get some material. I'm making curtains, cushion covers and a window seat for her living room. So I may even find some bits for myself while I'm there with a bit of luck.
Well I'd better go and iron the things I'm going to wear as she will be here soon, hope you like my little purse.
Have a good day all.
Nickyx

New Stuff and Award too!

2009-02-15T13:55:00.004+01:00

I would like to thank Bex at Bexs Buttons for my Lemonade Award which is for showing great attitude and/or gratitude. I'm very flattered and grateful. I have to award this to ten others, but feeling rather lazy, today being Sunday and all I'd like to award it to all my blog followers as a thank you for making me feel so welcome in the blogging world.

Today I have put some new bits on my shop blog. This is a photo of some of my recent makes, do pop over and have a look, I hope you like them.

It sounds like a lot of you girls had a lovely Valentines Day. I must say I did too, a fairly lazy day and to top it off my other half cooked me a meal last night, which was lovely then we had a quiet night on the sofa in front of the fire watching TV.

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday.
Take care.
Nickyx

Valentine Swap and lovely smells!!!!

2009-02-13T11:58:00.005+01:00

Well I thought I'd show you what I received in the valentine's swap from Sesga at Sesgaloves1950s
She was very kind and sent me some lovely things. I was so chuffed to receive a little package for me, not knowing what would be inside. When I opened the jiffy bag, these lovely smells came out from the little heart soaps she had put in...divine. They now live in a basket in my bathroom window.

Inside there were the soaps, some buttons contained in a little cardboard heart with a sweet little wooden heart on ribbon tying it together. A lovely handmade 'home sweet home' wallhanging, which is so sweet, I've hung it in my bedroom, also a little handmade peg doll, which Holly loved by the way, a hanging heart made of shell, some Cadburys chocolate, a swatch of pretty pink fabric and a delightful handmade card. She had gone to so much trouble, I was left hoping she would be pleased with what I had sent her.

A huge thank you to Sesga and also to Mrs Thrifty for arranging the swap.
The chocolate is in the fridge, the only trouble being every time I go there I have to have a little chunk, willpower was never my strong point.

I hope you enjoyed the peek inside my valentine's swap, it's great to be back blogging again after a couple of weeks away. Lots of catching up to do, you girls are very productive on the old blog front I have to say, it's amazing how much you can miss in such a short time.

I hope you all have a great weekend and a super Valentine's Day, here's hoping all our other halves come up to the mark, we wait to see!!!!

Take care.
Nickyx

YIPPITY DO DAH, YIPPITY AY

2009-02-12T20:39:00.000+01:00

Yippity do dah, yippity ay, my oh my what a wonderful day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guess what my french repair man seems to have fixed the computer.
Watch this space!
Bye for now from a very happy Nickyxx

Guess what...Still not fixed!!!

2009-02-08T15:15:00.002+01:00

Hi girls, hope you're all well. Well guess what - it's still not fixed. My friend came yesterday but he couldn't find the problem in the time he had. He only comes over at the weekend to be with his family and works in the UK in the week, so I felt a little guilty taking up his time. He did say though that as it's 7 years old now it's probably coming to the end of it's life. So me thinks there is a need for a new computer, could do without it now, but we really need one, so I think that's the way ahead. Other half says its pointless spending money trying to fix it if we're going to need a new one in the near future anyway.
So I'm here on my dear friend's computer, she says I'm very welcome to use it until we sort ours out, but please forgive me if I do not leave comments on your blogs like I would usually, it's just I don't like to take up too much of her time, but it's good to be able to keep in touch. No photos I'm afraid, I'll have to make up for that when I'm up and running normally again.
Guess what I sold one of my purses to a french lady the other day. Hoooray. I was at my friends as her french neighbour now comes on a Wednesday or we go to her house, as a way of us improving our french and Marie speaking English. She saw some that I'd taken to show Lucy and asked if she could buy one. I was so chuffed.
I have seen on the news all the snow you've been having in the UK and the cold weather, I hope you're all ok and that your lives aren't too disrupted by it. Luckily we haven't had any here.....yet! We've had some very frosty nights, but thankfully no snow. They never grit the country roads where we are or even the main road into town, it can be like a skating rink.
Had some wood delivered yesterday, this is only form of heating, we have a big woodburner in the lounge, we had just about run out when he came, so boy was I pleased to see him.
I received my valentine swap from Sesga yesterday, and she sent me some lovely things, which I will definitely do a post on with piccies, but it may turn out to be after Valentine's Day by the time I get a computer sorted out. It was so nice to receive a parcel for me, I don't know about you, but the only post I seem to get as an adult female are bills or junk mail.
Anyway I'm going to go now, as Lucy is making me a hot chocolate.
Take care all.
Nickyx

Computer Nightmare .....update!!!

2009-02-04T16:11:00.002+01:00

Managed to use my friend's computer for a couple of minutes. Just to say thanks for your comments, all sympathy gratefully received. A friend, who is a computer whizz, is going to have a look at it at the weekend when he comes over - so fingers crossed it's nothing toooo serious and he will be able to sort it fairly quickly for me.
Did you know you can get withdrawal symptons from blogging. YOU CAN!!!!! The up side is there's a bit more sewing going on, so hopefully when I do get back on-line I'll be able to post some pics for you to see what I've been up to. Have had to eat more chocolate to compensate for the lack of blogging though, oh well!!!!
Anyway looking forward to catching up with you all soon - I HOPE!
Take care.
Nickyx

COMPUTER NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-01T13:29:00.002+01:00

Well ladies, it's happened, it's gone and died on me. I could use some very interesting language now, but I won't, not in the presence of all you ladies. Thursday morning it was fine, Thursday evening it didn't want to know. It is now in repairland. So I'm hoping fingers and toes crossed to have it back by the end of the week, if not I don't know what I'm going to do as I'm having withdrawal symptons already.
I have to say it's one of the most frustrating things, when it finally stops working and however much you reason with it, it just doesn't want to know. I'm on a friend's computer at the moment, but unfortunately I can't spend the time I would like to, to read and catch up on the last couple of days and leave comments on your lovely blogs. I hope to be back with you very shortly.
Missing you already.
Nickyx

Tulips and Gingham

2009-01-27T09:51:00.009+01:00

Hello ladies, I hope you all had a great weekend. I did. Friday night/Saturday morning we had a bit of storm blowing through here, very windy Friday all night, it woke me up and that's pretty unusual. On Saturday morning, we went over to visit my other half's parents, yes they live in France too, about 20 mins by car. My sister-in-law was over for a quick weekend visit so we went to see her, which is always great. She's single, lives and works in the London, so a totally different lifestyle and it's great to hear what she's been up to. On Saturday afternoon it's Holly's dance class, and she was meant to be having a friend to play afterwards, but as the weather was so awful we cancelled until this week. Well it was blowing a gale and snowing at the time.

In the evening we went out for our Burns Night Supper. There were six of us and I'd never been to one before. It was great fun, we were piped into dinner (by CD) and there were toasts and poetry readings (in very dodgy scotts/indian! accents), haggis, the most delicious chocolate pudding, dancing and plenty to drink. We went to bed at 3.30am and having over indulged I was feeling a little delicate on Sunday. I was quite happy to crash in front of the TV and watch Larkrise to Candleford in the evening.

Yesterday I got the urge and had a good clean around in the morning, even hoovered under the bed. After lunch my other half wanted to go up to the sports shop at Carrefour (supermarket/out of town shops). There is quite a large fabric shop there with a good range of fabrics, ribbons and lots of crafty bits and pieces. I needed to see if I could get a new light bulb for my ancient sewing machine. I'm very attached to my sewing machine, it was second hand when I was given it as a present when my eldest was born, he's now 18. Success, they had one, and while I was there I bought a couple of lengths of red and lilac gingham. Always good to have in the basket.

In Carrefour itself there is a paper shop where they have a small shelf of english magazines. Guess what I bought, the February issue of Country Living, HOORAY!! so that made my day. I sat in the car on the way home with it on my lap so it wouldn't get creased.

I've started joining my crochet squares together, I wanted to see what they'd look like and couldn't wait until I had enough for a whole blanket. This may turn into a large cushion for Holly, maybe a blanket for my first crochet project was a little adventurous. I thought maybe I could back it with some pretty fabric, buy one of those large french cushion pads and she could use it as a floor cushion. What do you think? I'm pleased with what I've done, but the squares vary in size slightly so were not that easy to join together.

Here is Holly, Sunday I went outside and she was tidying! My other half had pulled out a lilac tree that was at the front of the barn, which left a muddy hole so Holly decided she'd tidy it up - bless her. She loves to be outside whatever the weather.

Enjoy your week.

Nickyx

This week, valentine bear and other stuff!!

2009-01-23T16:46:00.006+01:00

Well girls this week has been a bit dreary in more ways than one. We have had soooo much rain I'm starting to think I may have to build an ark! It poured all night and this morning it was like a monsoon with high winds too. The river has burst it's banks on the way into town I notice so we'd better go down to the Mill (this is a holiday home owned by some friends which is at the end of the road which runs down the side of our place....hope you followed that!) to see if all's well as being on the river sometimes it can come up into the garden a fair ways.

I've managed to make the little bear above 'valentine bear' I've called him and have started a heart and crocheted a few more squares for that blanket. It's been one of those weeks where it's been hard to apply myself, I think it may be because it was the anniversay of my dad's death last Friday and is the anniversary of his funeral on Sunday and I think it's sort of in the back of my mind. You don't want to dwell on these things but sometimes they just pop in your head. A friend called in on Wednesday, she was over in her holiday home here for a few days as sadly she'd had the funeral of her dad last Saturday. He died from Alzheimers, like my dad.

Anyway enough gloomyness. Yesterday evening I sat down and unpicked a quilted cushion cover I had, one of those large square ones, never had a pad big enough for it and I was thinking of all the things I might be able to do with the fabric. It's a pretty red and cream toile de jouy quilted fabric and the cream and red striped fabric was the back of the cushion.

After reading A Thrifty Mrs blog about what to do with a spare 15 minutes I thought I'd shorten the curtain on the cupboard in the bathroom. I've been meaning to do this job for ages, well since I hung the curtain there in the first place really. Do you know it probably only did take me about 15 mins as well. I felt quite satisfied afterwards as well - another job done. The bathroom is by no means finished yet, we are still very much a work in progress here, as you can see the cupboard isn't finished but I think the curtain prettys it up a bit in the meantime. Again the bit of fabric I cut off the bottom I've put in the basket for a little project.

Finally today, I'd like to say how much I enjoy reading all your blogs, they certainly help to cheer you up on a grey day. Those of my bloggy friends with health problems at the moment, I am sending you lots of positive thoughts and hope you feel better soon.

This last photo is taken out of the bathroom window, which looks down our back garden. The roof you can just see is that of the lean-to which is still on the back of the barn, one day this will be removed to make way for the new kitchen. I'm not sure when that will be, I'm very happy in my very small (cupboard size) temporary kitchen for the time being. It may not be big, no fitted kitchen unit in sight but it works. I'll post a photo to show you if I can get the angle right!

I hope you all enjoy great weekends. We are off to some friends for a Burns Night supper so that should be fun - (I've never been to one before) - I'll let you know what happens.

Take care all.

Nickyx

Pretty Purses, Recycling and Computers!!!!

2009-01-19T16:17:00.004+01:00

Well this is what I've been making this afternoon, some little purses. I made one for my sister for Christmas and she keeps her business cards in it. I use mine to keep my fidelity cards in for the supermarket, like your tesco card, forgotton what you call them in the UK.

Sorry if the photos aren't great. I've had one of those difficult moments with the computer. Ours can be so awkward I'm convinced it's got a mind of it's own. I couldn't do a thing with it this morning, it was sooooo slow, I could click on a webpage go and make a cup of tea, wash up, come back and it was still thinking about it. Sooooo frustrating. I know we've had it since before we came to France, so it's at least 6 years old, which I think in computer terms is probably ancient, but it has to keep going for the time being. Does anyone else have the same problem? I really do get so annoyed with it and I like to think I'm a fairly patient person when it comes to the children or sewing or just doing something fiddly, but this - I think it's because I can't reason with it, if it doesn't want to do it, it doesn't and that's it.

Also this afternoon I've been going through some of my fabric, recycling stuff, some of Holly's old tops that I could take the buttons off or any other pretty bits of ribbon or lace and then cutting out the main parts to store away. Quite satisfying once done and gave me a bit more room in my basket to add some more.

Holly doesn't finish school until 5.10 this evening she has extra Maths on a Monday. Then she has to go out again at 6 for her violin lesson. So I'd better think about going I need to get some bits and bobs from the supermarket first.

Hope you've all had a good day, it's been grey and very very wet here - yukkk!

Take care.

Nickyx

Hearts and crochet squares!

2009-01-16T14:17:00.005+01:00

I thought I'd give you a quick update on what I've been doing. After being inspired by all the pretty hearts I've seen on blogs lately I thought I'd have a go myself. Here are the results - my first hearts! I used a pretty little piece of vintage fabric I bought on Sunday at the antiques market on the fronts and on the back of one is a small pink/white gingham and on the other a small gold/red provencal print. I've attached the ribbon for hanging and sewn a little felt heart with a button in the middle on top. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with the result.

These are the squares I've crocheted so far towards a little blanket for Holly's bed, I'm quite pleased with these too as I haven't crocheted for years. I've even tried to crochet some little flowers after seeing them on Hen at Henhouse When I finish it I will let you know!

Well I'm off now, I have a mountain of ironing which I've been looking at all week, you can tell how much I enjoy doing it can't you?

Hope you like my hearts. Take care and have a good weekend.

Nickyx

Twice in one day!!!!

2009-01-14T14:23:00.009+01:00

A view from near us...

Now down to matters in hand. Yesterday I was awarded the Marie Antoinette Award twice (I was chuffed by the way - my first award) and then I was tagged by Rosey at Agapanthas and Goldsworthy.

So this is what I have to do:-

1) Link to the person who tags you

2) Post the rules on your blog

3) Write 6 random things about yourself

4) Tag 6 people at the end of the post and link to them

5) Let each person know they have been tagged.

6 Random things about me....

1) I have a terrible fear of heights, think it will be ok, but then get up there, legs go wobbly, hands start to sweat - yuk....

2) I am a tidy freak, without being obsessive I should add.

3) Really would like to be more enthusiastic about gardening, love the thought... not so keen on the deed

4) I have the intention to get fit always, but never seem to get around to it. Should really start to address this before I seize up....

5) I love to sew, knit (basic stuff) and have just re-discovered crochet, but tend to have 3 things on the go at once and flit between them, a bit of a butterfly...

6) I love that pround feeling you get inside when your child achieves something, whether it be a big thing or a small one.

and finally here are the 6 girls I'm tagging:-

1) Mel at Country in the Town

2) Beki at Ramblings of an Everyday Mummy

3) Hen at HenHouse

4) Rachel at RubyRed

5) Bex at Bexs Buttons

6) Sara at Flossie and Tom

Take care all

Nickyx

WOW!! my first award

2009-01-14T14:00:00.006+01:00

Thanks Mel at Country in the Town
and Beki at ramblings of an everyday mummy for giving me this award on the same day - how lucky am I ... my first award.

Marie Antoinette Award - A real person, A real award.

Rules of the Award are:
1) Please put the logo on your blog
2) Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
3) Nominate 7 or more blogs
4) Put the link to those blogs on yours
5) Leave a message to tell them

I would like to give the award to:-
Hen at HenHouse
Lou at Ludabelle
Rachel at RubyRed
Bex at Bexsbuttons
Rosey at Agapanthas and Goldsworthy
Sairer at Vintage, Pretty and Shabby
Sara at Flossie and Tom

Take care
Nickyx

The Antiques Market

2009-01-13T09:47:00.005+01:00

Lucky me, it was the monthly antiques market up in the city at the weekend, so we went along for a look. We usually go really early, but as we had been out (dancing) until 1.30am we had an extra hour in bed. It was very cold, but there were lots of interesting stalls to look at. All the stallholders were wrapped up in hats, scarves and thick winter coats trying to keep warm. There are food stalls too, so you get the aroma of cooking onions and french saucissons as you walk around - very tempting on a cold frosty morning. It's outside in the streets which is much nicer than being in a hall, I think. I love rummaging through, it's great fun and I managed to buy some pretty things too. Holly spotted the little door plaques (small proud moment). We went to our usual little warming up point, a café near the cathedral where we all have hot chocolate and Holly had a pain au raisin (plus we use the loo - warm, clean and uk style!). Then we're rejuvinated to have one last wander round before going home for lunch.

I've been shopping......

2009-01-09T15:24:00.005+01:00

Well I've been shopping this morning. Thought I'd go and see what was in the sales. I didn't go into the city today though, just to Carrefour which is on the outskirts. Its one of those typical large french supermarkets inside a mini indoor shopping centre.

First purchase was the little blue flowery china beaker which I thought would be ideal next to the computer to put my pens in. Then I bought the balls of wool, this is because I'm busily crocheting squares at the moment, the plan is to make Holly a pretty blanket for her bed. The little pink mug is to replace my pink spotty one I broke the other day, just love pink ... can't help it.... just do. The cushion I was quite pleased with - I'm sitting on it - I've put it on the chair at the computer. I found this in a lovely interiors shop with lots of lovely, very expensive, country style things. This was half price, so I was chuffed - couldn't afford anything else in there though. Finally, the little jug - just because I thought it was sooooo sweet and only €1,75. You can never have too many jugs can you? I also bought a pair of jeans and a little grey top, was extra pleased with this purchase as they were the first pair I tried on, usually try on 20 pairs and never find 1 that fits properly.

Well I'd better go to "The Pigsty" ..... I'm off out there as I'm trying to defrost the washing machine..... second time this week ...... -7 last night (I know it's very cold in England too at the moment). I have great admiration for my washing machine she's a tough old thing - staying out there in all weathers and still serving me loyally, with only the occasional defrosting taking place.

Speak to you again soon.

Nickyx

Girls - can you help?????

2009-01-07T15:48:00.005+01:00

Girls I could do with picking your brains. I desperately need some new slippers and thought I'd have a go at making some. Just something simple - maybe ballet style. I wondered if any of you clever girls had seen any patterns or could give me some advice.

We are in 'phone a friend' stage. This is what Holly's doing as I write this, her friend has just rang and they are having a long discussion about Pokemon and books. It's quite amusing to listen to her babbling away in french. Most evenings she gets in from school and someone rings who she has been with all day - I'd forgotton what it was like. I think it must be a girl thing, I don't remember it so much with the eldest.

I do enjoy reading all your blogs, a little peep into your lovely homes and what you've been making has really cheered me up today. I'm not really grumpy today !!!!.........

Yesterday I just felt like I didn't achieve anything, spent the afternoon hanging around for the car only to get back to the garage and be told they hadn't been able to do all they had to and I have to take it back tomorrow afternoon. In the morning I had to go and see someone, no appointment system so had to wait for an hour for the person in front of me to finish only to be told when i finally did see her to go back this morning with some more bits of paper. It's very true what they say about french bureaucracy, they love bits of paper.

Anyway I promise not to moan anymore am going to go and apply myself to something constructive .............

Hope you have some good ideas about the slippers.

Nickyx

Monday, Monday......

2009-01-05T19:36:00.005+01:00

Back to school this morning. Was vaguely aware of my eldest going into the bathroom at 6.30am (he catches the bus at 7.20) - rather him than me. Then dozed off and got up at 7.30. Holly was up already playing playmobile. Did the school run, very cold this morning about -4 although not as bad as yesterday. My sister, her husband and my niece (not forgetting their very cute dog, Harry) came over for coffee yesterday morning and she told me it was -8. (Enough of the weather report). We drank tea and ate biscuits and chatted. My niece was going back to the UK yesterday evening so it was nice to see her again before she left.

I had to run some errands in town this morning. Went to the garage to try and sort the car out - my french didn't come easily this morning, I think my brain was cold. Then I had to go into the eldest's school to sort something out there, luckily it was very warm in there and the old brain had thawed a bit. It is weird how it goes with the language - somedays you can chat away and others it's like being struck dumb, the words, grammar all seems to go out of the window and you resort to hand signals.

I spent some of the afternoon blogging and taking some photos ready to put on. Ironing joy of joys .... never has been my most favourite past-time, but very satisfying when you see the neat pile at the end. Oh by the way, the washing machine froze yesterday, I should explain that I have a very small 'temporary' kitchen at the moment until the 'real' one is built on the back of the barn, so the washing machine is in what we affectionately call the pigsty, natural stone shed, no doors, and is surrounded with insulation and blankets to keep it warm in the winter, the washing machine that is - not the pigsty!! Happily it defrosted today though so was able to use it.

Picked Holly up from school at 4.30 and back home to have something to eat before her violin lesson. Other half took her for that so I could get our meal ready, curried chicken with spicy veg and lentils tonight.

It's just after 8pm here now and I'm going to tuck Holly in and then I'm going to crash out on the sofa with, yes you've guessed, a cup of tea and maybe one of those fancy chocolates still left from Christmas. Well someone has to eat them!!

Hope you all have a good evening.

Nickyx

Yesterday afternoon!

2009-01-04T13:32:00.003+01:00

Yesterday afternoon my dear other half took Holly to the library, so after I'd finished hoovering I settled down in front of the TV with a cup of tea and finished my latest 'woolly cat'. Hope you like her.

Take care.

Nickyx

What a day!!

2009-01-03T14:37:00.008+01:00

Yesterday morning we had to be up bright and breezy to go and collect our eldest (he's 18 now) from the airport. He'd spent New Year's week in England. I always find the longer the children are off school, the more comfy my bed seems in the mornings.

He's well trained don't you think, look what he brought me home, Country Living magazine and a bar of chocolate - bless him!! The little tealight holder he bought me for Christmas which I was very pleased with. You can't see in the photo but it's like a chocolate brown ceramic pebble.

Did bits around the house, got lunch and planned to leave at 1.45 to take some rubbish to the skip, drop Holly at her friend's house to play and take the eldest to his girlfriend's. BUT, I didn't get there. About 15 mins out of town in the country, suddenly there was a funny noise, I said "what's that funny noise, is it a bird, is it a plane - we stopped and pulled over - no IT'S A FLAT TYRE". Why do these things always happen when I'm driving? We emptied the rubbish out of the boot (as we hadn't been to the skip) and proceeded to try and find the jack and the spare wheel. Got the instruction book out of the glove box. Did as it said, but the spare wheel which is held in a sort of basket under the back of the car wouldn't drop down as it should. Olly (the eldest) was under the car and I was turning the thingy but nothing was happening. Could this get any worse - oh yes!!

Lovely spot to be stranded don't you think? After about 20mins decided it would be best to ring home and ask himself for some manly advice. To make a long story slightly shorter, we still had no success and had to ring a friend to collect himself and bring him to us - himself being very practical in these matters. He arrived, studied the situation and the car. He couldn't release the basket thing either, (breathed a slight sigh of relief - it wasn't just me!) and asked friend and I to go back into town to see if the garage was open. It's a Renault and the Renault garage in town were the last to do something with the spare wheel thing, we think it must have been overtightened so the thread had gone - something like that anyway - don't want to bore you too much with detail. Renault garage closed, Friday after New Year, obviously taking opportunity for a long weekend. French do New Year's Eve in a big way, don't get me wrong they do Christmas in a big way too, but the 31st is an all night feast.

So we were now stuck, tyre flat as a pancake, Renault garage closed, couldn't get the spare out to replace it. Oh and did I mention, it was absolutely freezing yesterday. So next step, I went back to town with friend to buy a hacksaw so himself could cut through offending bolt and release the basket thing. He managed after lying on his back under the car for I don't know how long to cut through it. The actual changing of the tyre took ooh all of five minutes.

Three hours later, with the rubbish and a flat tyre in the car, as well as Holly, it was too late to go to her friend's, we arrived home, without Olly, we had dropped him at his girlfriend's on the way. Just thought I would add this photo of eldest in his yellow jacket, obligatory in France now to have a yellow jacket and a warning triangle in the car for just such an occasion.

When I finally got home I rang Holly's friend to explain and made a cup of tea. We sat in front of the fire with a box of Shortbread biscuits. That made us feel better.

Nickyx

Christmas goodies!

2008-12-31T11:13:00.008+01:00

You should be very glad we don't have sound on blogs because as I write my other half and Holly are singing Good King Wenslesles (sorry about spelling but you know what I mean) in their very best welsh operatic voices. Oh no, they've stopped now and we have rock music (other half's Christmas pressie from the eldest) at full volume whilst playing air guitar - scary heh, you should be here.

Well back to the reason I'm writing this. Pascale, my french friend called with our Christmas pressie. A pretty bag of homemade goodies. We had Confit de Canard, Paté de Foie Gras, Gelée de Murs (2 jars) and Gelée de Coing plus some little walnut cakes covered in chocolate. Yum Yum. I know some people do not approve of Foie Gras, but I have to say this is delicious. Pascale's mum-in-law makes it herself from her own ducks, the Confit is also made by her mum-in-law. Whilst the confiture Pascale makes herself. The little cakes were delicious too, she did warn me that when she had shelled and crushed the walnuts some of the shell had found it's way into the mixture so be careful. Apparently Jean-Michel, her hubbie had found some. He apparently said you can't give them to Nicky she might break a tooth!

We visited Pascale's mum and dad-in-laws back in the summer. It's great. The best veggie patch you have ever seen, along with fruit and walnuts, not forgetting the ducks. They grow enough veg for themselves and the children. They make jams and preserve the veg in glass jars like you see in the supermarkets. When I was there she was telling me about picking the blossom from the lime tree and storing it in a paper bag. You can then infuse it in hot water like a herbal tea really. It was lovely and we have a huge lime tree over the road from us which smells divine when it is in blossom. One to try.

I'd like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2009. Hope you all have a great New Year's Eve. Nickyx

10 Life Rules

2008-12-30T12:31:00.005+01:00

Mel at Country in the Town has tagged me to write 10 life rules. I have to say this was not as easy as it sounds, so I gave it some thought and here's what I came up with. You tend to live your life everyday and never really sit back and assess don't you think?

1. Try to wake up jolly every day - it's just I don't do mornings!

2. Life isn't always perfect, but be thankful for the good things and try not to dwell on the bad.

3. Try not to judge too quickly, situations or people.

4. Tell those closest to you that you love them every day. I lost my dad to dementia at the beginning of the year and you wonder then if they really knew how much you cared.

5. Be focused and achieve the things I want to before I'm too old to enjoy them.

6. Say no when I mean no, it can be one of my failings to just smile.

7. Try to be kind and smile, maybe that small gesture will make someone else feel better today.

8. If I see something pretty that I like and can afford - buy it. I hate the 'I should have bought that' feeling when I get home.

9. Make time for yourself, this is not being selfish, even 10 minutes can make you feel better.

10. Try to stop breaking my favourite mugs in my butler's sink.

I understand I have to tag someone else, so I hope you don't mind, I've chosen,

Bekimarie at The ramblings of an everyday mummy

Niki at Nostalgia at the Stonehouse.

Nickyx

It's snowing!

2008-12-29T13:21:00.004+01:00

It's soooooo cold this morning. What started off as cold drizzly rain has turned to snow, whether it will pitch or not I don't know.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and here's wishing you all a great New Year. I always think this time now between Christmas and New Year seems so long, the two weeks the children have off always seems like a long holiday, you'd think it would be the other way around because with doing so much, eating, munching chocs - celebrations that my dear sister-in-law sent over for me, visiting people etc it would pass really quickly, but it doesn't. I do enjoy it.

As I write this Holly is watching High School Musical 2, she watched the first one yesterday (sing-along version of course). We also have Mama Mia (sing-along version - of course) too. Carry on like this we'll be the Von Trapp family!!

Well I'm off to serve up the homemade veggie soup I've just made, hubby is hungry. Speak to you soon.

This weekend - dancing, singing and paintings!

2008-12-22T13:41:00.006+01:00

Well, the children finished school for 2 weeks Christmas holiday on Friday evening. We have had a pretty busy weekend. Holly goes dancing and on Sunday afternoon was the Christmas Spectacle (french for show). Saturday was dancing practice but also there was a carol service in one of the local villages which was half in french and half in english and I really fancied going as I haven't been to one since living in France. It does make Christmas feel like Christmas - a good sing song. But also Holly goes to music, there is a music school locally and Holly is learning the violin. It's a great opportunity I think and seems far more available here than it was where I used to live in the UK, from what I remember anyway. A lot of the children go to the Music School, usually on Wednesday, because they have no normal school that day. They can learn to play an instrument, read music and sing. Saturday afternoon she had to be at one of the local villages for singing. So we had 2-3pm dancing, 3.30-4.30pm carol service and 5-5.30pm singing. I thought pretty tight schedule but this should work ok and I can just about make them all.

We picked Holly up at 3.10 (always runs over) drove to the village for the carol service, very pretty little church (should have taken some photos but forgot the camera). Gosh it was cold though. We were sitting at the back on a little wooden bench, my other half was there (more because he felt he should rather than a real need to be) and Holly. The church was packed, we listened to the choir, there were a few readings and we had a bit of a sing-song which I enjoyed. I don't know about those around me though, singing was never at the top of my talent list.

Luckily it finished on time at 4.30pm (this is a miracle in France usually it starts late and finishes even later). We thought: "Great, we can now go back to the village hall," which was on our way home, where Holly was to sing. We arrived well in time for 5pm, (as I had been instructed by the music teacher) only to find it had FINISHED. Can you imagine how we felt. I should explain the music thing was on from 3 - 5.30pm with the singing being the last on the programme. However as seems to happen here they had decided to re-arrange the programme and not tell us. As you can imagine Holly was very disappointed and hubby was not best pleased. She did get a chocolate Father Christmas though which helped ease the disappointment slightly.

Holly is fourth from the right in the above photo.

Sunday morning I had to take some pictures into town as the Art Association were having a sale. I thought I'd give it a go, might earn a few much needed pennies before Christmas.

Holly's spectacle was in the afternoon and she had to be there for 3pm for make-up and rehearsal. We dropped her off and stayed in town, had a walk around, saw Father Christmas and had a cup of hot chocolate. The tea shop in town serves the best hot chocolate.

We went to the hall and reserved our seats for the show. First on were the band which had been accompanying Father Christmas in town playing a Christmas selection. Then Father Christmas arrived with his seasonal helpers, Tweety Pie and a Rabbit. Obviously all the Elves were very busy so close to Christmas, we did have to giggle though. They threw sweets into the audience which was great but a lot of them were hard boiled so you had to be careful not to get one in the eye. The man who introduced the dancing and does so for every spectacle in town talks and talks and talks. Even the french don't understand him most of the time. He is in the photo below in the white shirt with Father Christmas and of course Tweety Pie and the 'Christmas' Rabbit

The dancing was great, Holly was happy and I managed to come away without any boiled sweet injuries. I went back to collect my pictures but hadn't sold any unfortunately. I didn't feel too bad though because apparently no-one else had either - maybe next time!

Mince Pies!

2008-12-20T11:17:00.003+01:00

Three friends came yesterday morning for our pre-Christmas coffee and mince pies. These were the first ones I've made this year, homemade pastry - probably not quite up to Nigella's standard but heh I'm still practising. There were no complaints anyway so hopefully they enjoyed them.

'Woolly Cats'

2008-12-15T08:34:00.003+01:00

I had some wool left over from the Christmas pressie I was knitting so decided to make these 'woolly cats'. Holly thinks they're cute - hope you do too!

Christmas is coming!

2008-12-14T19:28:00.011+01:00

Well it's hard to believe Christmas is nearly here again. This will be our sixth Christmas in France and when I think back to the first one, well things have progressed.

That first Christmas we were living in a barn. My sister and brother in law were staying with us as they had sold in England and decided to come and live in France. They stayed here while buying their property. Not luxury living I have to say. Our property consists of a barn, a little old typically french house, 2 rooms up and 2 rooms down and a ruined cottage. They lived in one room in the little house, where the fireplace was with an old woodburner which a neighbour had given us and my other half put in so they wouldn't be too cold. While we lived in the barn. It really was still a barn, apart from a small 'apartment' my other half had made on first floor level. This consisted of a bedroom for us with a woodburner, one for the children and a bathroom. We had decided to do this rather than buying a caravan to live in whilst we did the work. Downstairs was still all earth floor, and when you looked up it was the roof timbers and the tiles and plenty of cobwebs, no insulation or plasterboard or anything so glamorous. The original old barn doors were still in place (not draught proof by any stretch of the imagination) and when they were closed it was very dark inside.

It was so oooo cold. I had a makeshift kitchen downstairs on the earth floor, with a garden table with washing up bowl and old gas bottle cooker and our fridge/freezer. Have you ever tried peeling potatoes with woolly gloves on, trust me it's not that easy.

We had brought 10kg of organic beef from our french neighbour and put it in the freezer. I got up one morning and the freezer wasn't working - shock, horror, panic. What was I going to do with all this meat. The old gas cooker was not great, the oven had no thermostat and only one temperature - very hot. Brilliant for warming coissants quickly but didn't leave you much scope for anything else. Our other means of cooking was a slow cooker. We decided the only thing to do was go and buy a new one, well we had had the old one for some years and brought it over with us in the move. So off we go and buy a lovely new fridge/freezer. Panic over you many think. No. We got it home, plugged it in and it still didn't work. After finally deciphering the instructions we discover the reason. The ambiant temperature in the barn was so cold that the freezer was not kicking in. At one point that winter it actually got down to -10 and we had to defrost the washing machine on more than one occasion.

Christmas day itself passed well though, with 2 organic ducks (again from a neighbour - payment to my other half for helping to kill them - very sweet couple, she was Australian and had been vegetarian until coming to live in France. He was German and a journalist. She wanted my other half to show her other half how to kill them in the kindest possible way as, in her words, 'I don't want any ducks in wheelchairs'). They cooked beautifully in the slow cooker and we had them with potatoes and all the usual veg. The Christmas pud we had steamed on top of the old stove and was delicious. We cooked down in the barn and ate up in the little house where we had put our dining table in front of the woodburner. My sister and I made Christmas trees from branches which we sprayed white and decorated with baubles and fairy lights. We put one in the childrens' bedroom and another up in the little house, for that festive feel.

This year is far more comfortable, gone are the old doors, the roof has insulation and we have a woodburner.

What more could a girl want - pure luxury!!

Looking after the dog!!

2008-12-07T09:54:00.008+01:00

Well, I thought I'd give you a little update of what I've been doing over the last few days. Dogsitting. I agreed to dogsit my cousin's Alsation while they paid a visit to the UK. Not having a dog myself I wasn't sure what I was doing, but thought "oh, it'll be fine". I have to say the thought of a couple of days where I could concentrate on sewing, do some blogging and WATCH ENGLISH TV was a bonus. We only have french TV at home, so this was a real plus point. I have definitely decided we must sort this out before Christmas, I do enjoy TV at Christmas, all the Christmassy programmes to put you in the festive spirit. 'White Christmas' , the best Christmas film, I think one of my favourites.

It is probably a first, me walking a dog around the field at 7.30am in my pyjamas and the pouring rain. For the first two days it poured and I mean poured, I was surprised there was any more left up there. Of course she has a routine, Walk her around the house first thing, before breakfast for early morning pee. Then breakfast, have to be careful not to leave here outside alone in case she wanders off, particularly on hunting days (ususally weekends). Apparently she likes to go off and join in. After lunch is exercise time. This consists of me running up and down the field and throwing sticks and balls. They have quite a large piece of land with a lake so I don't need to take her on the road. We usually return and I flake out on the sofa in front of the english TV with chocolate and a cup of tea and she sits and looks at me as if to say 'can we go again now?' Then we go out a couple of more times in the garden, although I've taken to attaching her to her long lead by the back door, especially today it's NOT raining. We have one last play before it gets dark, can't let her stay out on her own after dark in case she gets sniff of a deer, there are lots around here and she likes to go and play. Then we settle down for the evening, hubby usually comes for his tea with Holly our little girl. Then they go home, we only live 3km away. Amelie (the dog) and I settle down for an evening's knitting in front of the fire and of course the TV - I'm knitting a pressie for someone for Christmas.

Final excursion of the day at 11pm on the lead and just up the road a little way for the last pee. She is very good with this and we don't have to go too far. As I sit here typing this I can hear the hunters shouting and blowing horns in the woods back behind the house, I think it's a good job she is inside, I don't want to be chasing off after her now.

The hunters are local men with guns and dogs. I'm not sure what they are hunting at the moment, I believe there are quite strict rules about what they are allowed to hunt and when. I have to say we do have loads of wildlife around here, deer, wild boar, rabbits, hares, not to mention the usual foxes etc. We had a whole herd of wild boar run across the road in front of the car late one night, very scary, but that's another story.

I haven't added any photos with this post, but intend to do so, I don't have my camera with me and am using my cousin's computer, so when I get home tomorrow evening I'll try and sort something out.

A visit to England

2008-11-29T16:13:00.005+01:00

Well I have just returned from a visit to England. I live in France and have done so for five years, this will be our sixth Christmas.
I have to say I had a great trip back. I went with my sister to visit my niece who has an adorable little boy of 10 weeks old. I am still saying that after being moral support for 'nanny' who was doing the night feeds during our stay. It's a long time since I've done night feeds as my little girl is now 9 years old. Where does the time go? I think the supply of chocolate digestives really helped!
It was great to be back in the UK for a few days, very Christmasy I have to say and loads of stuff in the shops. The pace of life is so much faster than here in rural France and it's quite disorientating to start with. I couldn't buy too much though, I only took hand luggage on the flight as it was just a short stay. Mind you I still managed my Country Living and Country Homes and Interiors magazines. That is one thing I do miss, being able to pop into the newsagents to get the newest mag. They do have a huge range of interiors magazines here and I have one or two which I quite like, but still not the same as CL.
So we did some shopping, I got my eyes tested as was having terrible trouble threading the needle on my sewing machine, I had to ask my dear hubby to do it the other day. I now have two new pairs of glasses and can see really well. We had a visit to the hairdresser and numerous coffee shops and tested their wares, the Cherry and Almond Muffin in one place was a real winner, very pleased with the haircut too. I came home a new woman.
Sadly our stay came to an end and we had to catch the 6am flight home. I was useless for the rest of the day. Now I need to start sewing again and get on with preparations for Christmas.

Hollypop's Bears

2008-11-11T11:09:00.001+01:00

Hi, I thought I'd try and put on a picture of some of the bears I make. I think I must be a child at heart, because I love doing them. These are made out of recycled fabrics. I have made one for my niece's new baby so hopefully she'll like him (he's the one in the middle).

My very first blog ever!

2008-11-10T00:03:00.001+01:00

Hi, this is my first ever blog. I discovered all these wonderful blogs through a website selling all things vintage. I never realised there were so many of us with the same interests and what a great way to share ideas and gain inspiration.