Button Swaps and Bloggers' Meets

Elizabethd organised a sweet and simple Buttons and Bows Swap last month - such a lot of fun for such little cost and effort! We simply trawled through our button boxes and similar stashes and sent an appropriate selection to our swap partner. My partner was Christine from Time Out Stitching, all the way on the other side of the world. This is what she sent me! Here's what I sent her - look how we beautifully colour-coded our gifts, lol! You can read more about what I sent her on her post about the swap.

So, shall we take more of a peek at the Australian wonders that have winged their way to France?

Such a sweet ribbon rosette. I shall put it on one of my white blouses, I think - I really want to show this one off!

A beautiful tatted circle, now forming the backdrop for a few of my favourite buttons from the package:

So simple but sweet...

Sewing-themed charm and fabric - I can really see this making a great pincushion... or a sewing bag... or the cover for my sewing box... lots of ideas, there!

Hand-dyed embroidery threads and two lovely doileys

And finally...

Thanks so much, Christine, for this lovely package of goodness!

j

For my second Bloggers' meet-up this summer (I am doing well), I noticed that Elizabeth Rimmer, the poet who writes such thought-provoking and authentic pieces for some of our Advent and Lent Pauses, was going to be at the Edinburgh Poetry Festival while we were visiting my dad last week. She mentioned that she'd be at the Couryard Reading one day, so I told her I'd try to happen along and hear her read there, and I made it (through the pouring rain). I enjoyed all the contributions, by published and unpublished posts (Scottish, English and Portugese) and particularly liked Elizabeth's poem about the Eclipse. You can read Elizabeth's festival write-up here.

j

It's horribly hot here ("Forte chaleur, penser à vos proches...") and we're quite busy with lovely holiday stuff - the boys' friends are constantly spending nights with us and they're alternating time between the swimming pool (yay!) and the computer (yawn), and Ben and I are finding indoor things to do (chilli jam in his case, wonderful man) and saving hot stuff, like gardening and ironing, for the early mornings. Boy, does it make a change from Edinburgh! Next post: I visited a Vide Grenier...

Thrifty Swap parcel from Michela

My Thrifty Swap parcel from Michela of A Garden just outside Venice was a real treat! Even before I opened it I was charmed by the lace tape - LACE TAPE!!! Where can I get me some?

Then I spotted one of Michela's beautiful postcards inside. Oh, Michela always sends beautiful postcards, I sighed... Then I noticed that the package was FULL of beautiful postcards, so now I am also the owner of beautiful postcards, but, do you know the difference between me and Michela? She SENDS her beautiful postcards to people and I'm going to keep mine all to myself! Ha!

I got quite worried about my internal monologue at that point, but then fortunately was distracted by a parcel of beautiful embroidered cloths and a pillowcase. Good timing, Michela!

And all of it wrapped in one Mr Berlusconi's publications - I suppose it could be one of his, or does he just have TV interests? I later had fun reading about the Royal Wedding plans in Italian. The article was all about Kate not promising to obey, or at least I think it was...

And inside it was this beautiful candlestick, made and hand painted... Just Outside Venice... in the 1950s! Oh Michela, it really is perfect.It has found a home already, although since I took this photo I've also changed the photo and added a second French blue and white flowered candlestick on the right.Did I mention the traditional Venetian licorice pastelles Michela also sent? They are delicious and I love the wrapping (of course). And delightfully, I'm the only person in the house who likes licorice!

Thanks so much to Michela, and to Betty of Mrs Yappy Dog, who organised such an excellent Thrifty Week and Swap.

Thrifty Swap!

We had a great Thrifty Week, just before Easter, hosted by Betty at Mrs Yappy Dog. Now it's time to post about the Thrifty Swaps that a lot of us exchanged as part of that week. I was both delighted and challenged to be swapping with the delightful Michela from A Garden Just Outside Venice. Delighted, because we've known each other for years and both suffer from swap paranoia, so there's no need to be worried when your co-swapper panics too... Challenged, because although she's a good blogging friend I am a vintage person and she (having parents who run brocante stalls) prefers to buy new!I concluded that food was the answer. Isn't it always? The two jars above are filled with thrifty hedgerow-gathered fruit. It wasn't all as difficult to gather as the plums photographed below! When she got the parcel, Michela emailed me to ask for more info about English jams and jellies. The basic answer is that jams have bits of fruit in, and jellies are strained so that only the juice is turned into the final product. She emailed back with the query about jellies being used with meat. Ahh, Michela, good question! This jelly is for your bread or toast. But some jellies, made in the same way, are indeed for eating with meat. Would any commenters be prepared to explain the difference, please?

I covered the thrifty hedgerow jellies, in their thrifty re-used jars, made by my thrifty husband, with thrifty fabric covers, held on by thrifty re-used rubber bands from our seasonal asparagus. Is that too much information?

I then added a thrifted Japanese hand-painted plate, which Michela and I agree is particularly pretty (glad you like it, Michela!). The idea is that she can have her bread and jam with the gifted plate and the knife, which actually belonged to my mum and is one I used in childhood for my own bread and jam!

Finally I wrapped all the presents in bubble wrap and then in thrifted napkins. I like wrapping things in fabric, which then becomes part of the gift itself. Pretty thrifty, I think. I bought a huge set of these cheery retro napkins in the charity shop the other day and kept half for myself and half for Michela. Now when we use them I'll think of her having her dejeuner sur l'herbe in her garden just outside Venice!

j

Thanks so much to Betty for organising the excellent Thrifty Week and Swap, and to everyone who took part with such interesting posts. Many thanks to Michela, whose blog is subtitled: 'A place where friends meet' - that's certainly what this swap has felt like!

I spy, with my big round eyes...

... could it be?

.. yes, I think it is...

My Green Swap parcel from Annie!

So I think we should have a proper look, shouldn't we? It all looks both environmentally friendly and delicious, which has to be a good combination...

So, Annie, who lives in Scotland, very generously sent me a vibrant pink string bag,

a whole selection of thrifted buttons on a green/blue/brown theme,

Green and Black's organic mint chocolate (!!!) and some recycled gift tags,

a locally produced banana chutney, into which Ben is already making great inroads,

a pincushion Annie made from scraps of old workshirts and ribbon, and next to that a jar of ethically produced nutmegs,

and a home made book and pencil pouch - my Morning Pages book is going to fit just perfectly in there, and Annie added some handmade, recycled books for me to use when I've finished this one!

Check out the pencils from New York:

And finally, our adorable little knitted owl, who is conveniently on a peg.

Here's the whole set of gifts, in the lavender patch. Thank you so much, Annie! How did you know I needed nutmegs, that I am obsessed with buttons, that we are nearly out of chutney and that my Morning Pages book really needed a holder? A Green Genius...

Now, looking terrible in the artificial light, here are the parcels I sent Annie.

Some recycled tags ('great minds...') on map wrapping paper, covering...

... well, you'll just have to pop over to Annie's to see! Thanks very much to Emma and Rachel, the lovely ladies at That Little Bit Greener, for hosting and organising a really entertaining but thought-provoking swap. We really did think Green - do you see your Easter tissue paper, Vicki? I used it to post to Annie (while I was in Scotland, avoiding airmail) and then Annie used the same paper, and even the same box, to post back to me! I found this a really inspirational, yet surprisingly stress-free swap. Brilliant.

Just a quick post to say...

... I am just in time to enter this great swap - why don't you pop over and join in too? I'll post tomorrow about my colour scheme for May, determined, of course, by Niki from Nostalgia at the Stone House, or her calendar, at least.

My Magazines

In 2004 my mum gave me a year's subscription for House Beautiful, which I really enjoyed. I decided to keep those magazines, and in 2008 I re-found them and had a great time re-reading them - with a new house and changing tastes, I found them just as interesting the second time around. By the beginning of 2009 I decided that I'd really like to sort my collection of magazines by month, because so long as I kept to the correct month, it didn't seem to matter if the magazines were old or not.Quite possibly a bit nerdy, categorising it all like this? Maybe, but it's worked for me! It's actually what brought me into blogging, because I searched the internet for some good printable labels for each month, and found the Farm Chicks, who had some lovely labels and a fantastic blog, and then I just found more and more blogs...

In the end the best month labels were on my computer anyway - I found them in clip art!

I bought some cheap magazine boxes in the January sale last year and decorated alternate ones with felt-tip stripes.My collection has really grown since coming to France. Publishers over here bundle up back numbers and sell three at a time for about 4€. What a good idea! The bundles are available a fews times a year in the big supermarkets, but also in hospital shops and places you might be getting bored. In addition, I bought a year's worth of Mon Jardin, Ma Maison at the Troc, Broc, Solde one year - such a good idea to sell magazines second hand. Since I started buying them second hand, I've also started donating less interesting issues to the Charity Shop, as there is clearly a good market for them here.Until I started the Challenge of the Utmost Kind, I was buying too many French magazines, and too many UK ones whenever I visited. But I am sublimely grateful for my birthday gift of a year's Country Living! You can have too many magazines, but you can also have too few...There are 21 people in our No Frills magazine swap at the moment. They hail from North America to Japan, from England to Australia via France and Italy. I think there may be some VERY interesting magazines to be swapped!Please join us by clicking here!

Untie the ribbons - there are gifts to be found today!

Today does not feel like a day of gifts. The boys and I has our Swine Flu vaccinations yesterday night and are all feeling a bit under the weather today. That weather is another thing - this photo was taken at 8am when Son 1 and I trudged (with Raja) to school to see if it was open. You can see the un-gritted roads and the slow traffic which shortly afterwards started backing up. After half an hour hanging around the College, the general conclusion amongst parents was that with no school buses running, few teachers in and no formal word from the staff, there was no point in leaving their children there! So we trudged back to Ben, recently returned from Italy, and Son 2 with his swollen arm and miserable expression. So, where are the gifts that today brings?

Before untying some literal ribbons, I decided to take the advice of yesterday's quotation and consider the less tangible gifts the day has brought me. So, the dangerous roads and grotty children mean that I will miss a Christmas Dinner I was invited to today, and one end of term lesson. Where are the gifts? Well, I will have a day of hugs from my boys (carefully avoiding a sore arm apiece) and more time to sort out the mountain of presents waiting to be wrapped on the dining room table. As we have two tables we can also get going on a game of Monopoly this afternoon!

The weather is as much a gift as a bother, of course. Our 'live outdoors' Christmas tree, which has no need to come indoors this year as we'll be in the UK, has been decorated for free.

j

And the town's Christmas Lights, always the most tasteful around our area, look particularly good in the snow!

So now let's untie the literal ribbons of my Handmade Christmas Swap, from Maria of Me and Ma. She's fairly new to blogging, but I bet some of you have spotted her clever numerical Advent posts! Do pop over and see her, and visit her etsy shop. You'll want to when you see what she made me!

Firstly these two beautiful angels. These angels are not just charming and hand made, they are also totally thrifted, with my Ultimate Challenge in mind. All the fabric in the swap came from offcuts from shirts belonging to an uncle in Ireland!

I am in awe. Irish shirts - just too cool on the trendy/thrifty circuit! I liked the angels before I knew this, but now I adore them! (Is this normal?)

j

The angels were joined at the next untying of ribbons by some heart decorations.

Love the beads. Can't wait to put these up.But there was more!Was this package really from the same Maria who commented, when she saw Karen's gifts to me: 'I feel under pressure now!'??? Oh no, Maria, both you and Karen really outdid yourselves. I'm the one who needs to be feeling the swap parania now! (Michela and I have discussed swap paranoia before.)

All these super tree decorations, so beautifully packaged. I love your tags and packaging, Maria. The presentation must really enhance things on your market stall. And then the decorations themselves - stockings and hearts! Oh, I am happy indeed.

j

Now, there WAS something for my boys as well, but I want that to wait for them on Christmas day, so forgive me for not featuring it here! And finally a handmade card. Spot the fantastic fabric on the pot at the base of the tree! What an atractive way of using up tiny scraps. Must remember it for next year. Thank you so much, Maria, for that very generous and creative and above all delightful swap parcel! If any of you readers have not yet been tempted by my links to Maria's beautiful crafts, let me just tell you that she makes utterly superb aprons, cushions, clothes, bunting and bags for children, in very colourful and original styles, including things for boys as well as girls, which is often hard to find. Visit now!And the final gift which I might never have remembered if it weren't for the snow, is this wood and what it represents. In January we had a terrible storm across the whole of southern France and Spain, and a huge percentage of trees came down - it changed the face of some of France's more wooded regions.

j

Ben has been observing the wood which fell in the municipal areas of our town, being piled up in the municipal depot not far from school. On Saturday he passed the depot and they were selling it - he'd been waiting for this opportunity!

j

But it transpired that this was no ordinary sale - it was being held by mairie workers, who'd given up their free time to chop the wood as it came in, and were now selling the wood for charity - the huge French annual collection via the Téléthon. Ben and I were both really moved by this example of how ordinary people have used their time and local opportunities to do something good.

j

There are actually a lot of gifts when you look for them!