Farandole

Ava Bradley arrived just a few days late but complete with a full head of black hair looking just like her mum when she was born.  Time to get cracking with the present for her!!  This is called a Farandole and is featured in the Tilda easter pattern book.  It took a bit longer than I thought to make it but I think it was worthwhile - I also changed the layout slightly so the rabbits are all a bit different.  I'm making a second one already as there seem to be babies due all over the place and one of them is bound to be a girl!!

Its also been a busy time in the kitchen with all the garden produce ripening - I found a recipe for Courgette Chutney on the internet so spent Sunday morning making a double batch as well as pickling red cabbage and making pizza and chocolate trifle to take to a friend's birthday party that evening.

I found some huge preserving kilner-type jars at a junk shop so am now looking out for pickling onions (not something that is popular here in France) in preparation for Christmas - now there's a sobering thought!!      

Gentille Sorciere - Kind witch

This is my first attempt - a gentille sorciere or kind witch, she is for my beautiful grandaughter, Evie who will be 4 tomorrow.  This witch has her hand over her mouth so Evie will be able to tell her all her secrets or worries and know that they will go no further!!  Been shopping to Limoges today to buy more 'stuff' - gonna have a go at a Christmas present for her, which will be Father & Mother Christmas and their two children.  I hope they will be displayed for many a Christmas to come and she will be able to tell her grandchildren that her grandma made them for her (mind you they might look so rubbish they will stay in their box!! Watch this space for pictures).  However the next creation will be a wall hanging for a friend in New Zealand who is expecting a little girl tomorrow (best get cracking!!)  Just checked my facebook page where I have also posted the photo and I have orders coming in - Help!!

Living the Dream

Virgin blogger so be gentle with me - also French keyboard so excuse gobbledegook.




English origin but living in deepest darkest France since July 2005 (no mistakes so far, must be getting the hang of this keyboard) Recently watched Julie & Julia several times and loved it so decided to set up a blog to record my experiences in France paying special attention to food (as that is the most important thing in France) and hobbies (as the French, unlike the English, only work as much as necessary to survive, thereby leaving loads of time for leisure pursuits - which probably explains why they live so much longer) Whilst I have always enjoyed cooking there was never enough time in England and with convenience foods being so readily available it was always tempting just to shove a pizza in the oven or phone for a take-away. These luxuries are not so handy here so cooking was a necessity and quite soon became a passion. This may prove to be something of a casse-pieds (annoyance) as I now refuse to eat stodge such as packet soups and monosodium glutomate by the sackful. Apart from cooking (and eating) my other passion is for sewing - I used to fill any spare time in England turning up trousers and replacing zips in jeans for other busy people but was rarely able to spare the time for creating and with the prospect of another long winter just around the corner I am in the process of amassing sufficient projects to keep me going until I can come out of hibernation around about next April. Watch this space as I will be posting a weekly article and who knows if it will be a recipe or an account of work in progress