Indoor projects...

It may be a strange thing to hear that we are mainly indoors at the moment, at least in the daytime. In Britain when it's sunny you get out when you can, but this summer in France we are currently hiding from the heat! Over the last week, therefore, we have finished long-running projects such as Son 1's trebuchet (now capable of throwing blackberries for the dog to catch) and my rocking chair.This is the 'before' picture. Ben bought the chair for me while he was picking up our incredibly successful second-hand swimming pool - someone was having a kind of house sale. I liked the chair but never got round to finding successful fabric for the cushions.
This is some of the vintage fabric that I bought from the charity shop the other day.It was only when I hung it on the line to freshen up that I realised that the strident tones on the right side looked beautifully faded on the wrong side, so, if you look back up to my first photo, you'll realise that I sewed the cushion cover, quite deliberately, 'wrong side round'. Do you think I'm crazy?
I knew, as we stayed stuck inside, that the internet shopping would come into play... so far, it's window shopping only. I got an email about this wonderful collection today - it's now called 'Created', but in the past I've bought from it as Tearcraft. I guess that 'Created' is a better name - it's Fairly Traded gifts from self-help projects around the world and I love what they have this year. I fancied recycled packaging bins last year, but they were really expensive. How can a Fair Trade one be cheaper? This is only £14!
How could you not love this hand felted trivet from Nepal? £12. I could have a few of those...
More felt! Hmm... I have a lot of sheep stuff, a collection from when I was younger. Only £10!
Although I like an 'ethnic' feel in my Fairly Traded stuff, I can't avoid their 'Country Pastel' range either. These caddies are only £10...
And the blogging winner? I suspect it might be this one, at £12.
There we are, I've had my shopping fix without spending anything! (yet...)

Bits and bobs...

Ben has the camera today, so I haven't yet been able to take photos for you of:

Our spring garden in the sunshine,

The first magnolia flower!

Our first EVER flower buds on the camelia (the camelia was a gift from our friend Dagmar, and she's coming over on Sunday, so I really hope it will be in bloom by then...)

Some crafty (crafting?) finds from LIDL.

Instead, I have spent half an hour in the rocking chair on the patio in the sunshine, reading...

Da, da, da...

BBC Good Homes magazine!

This may not sound like much to you, but for someone who lives in a non-English-speaking country, an up-to-date English magazine is a bit of a thrill! I find that, if I buy a magazine in France, I tend to go for ones which were actually printed in Germany - I guess my taste is more in line with German bucolic colour than with French monochromatic chic.

Anyway, Ben got me the wonderful mag at Gatwick yesterday, as he had to pop over to Kent for work (it's a small world, to be able to do that in one day). Many, many thanks to him...

In it I found something I'd already seen on someone's blog:

These fantastic vintage fabric door stopper chickens! They're spring-like, they're vintage, they're environmentally friendly, they fulfil a practical function... one of those 'what's not to like?' moments. They come from ECOutlet, which has an interesting website; just click on the name for the link.

There must a be a joke about three chickens, but I can't think of one. Any suggestions welcome below... Have a lovely day!

Making sense of a vintage Singer

You may have gathered from a previous post that I treat my sewing machine more as a pretty accessory than as a tool! Frankly, I've had so many bad sewing machine experiences, and I love hand sewing so much, that I haven't used my Grandmother's old Singer for about 10 years. I find my mother's machine from th '70s even more terrifying, so it was to the Singer that I turned yesterday...
But here is the proof that I have conquered my fears, read the sweet instruction book carefully for the first time, and made a tentative but fairly encouraging start. Cushion covers for the rocking chair, here we come!

'Twas on a Friday lunch time

... that I picked up some lovely, lovely fabric for making bunting in Veti'Relais, my favourite troc shop... The wonderful blue and pink flowered bedding informed the choice of the other fabrics:And on the other side of the bunting I'm going to make it darker, so that I can turn it round and have some winter colours too. This lot comes from my fabric stash and needs an iron:
I've discovered that the blue flowered pillowcase perfectly fits the smaller cushion on my rocking chair, so that solves the immediate problem of how to cover those cushions! I'm going to have to use the sewing machine to make the sheet into a cover for the larger one, though (gulp).

Rocking Chair Decisions (or lack of them)

When Ben was out buying our second-hand swimming pool last Saturday, I asked him to have a look at the 'rotin' rocking chair which was advertised for sale by the same family. I had searched through my mental vocabulary list and realised that 'rotin' means 'rattan', so I could more-or-less visualise the chair - one for the patio in summer, I felt.


Ben bought the chair for me, even though it wasn't quite what he'd visualised! (He was being kind to the vendors, see below.)


It's a lovely chair, and I'm terribly grateful for it. It became a second Valentine's Day gift, really! However, the 'comme neuf' cushion cover was far from as new, and I've temporarily replaced it in this photo with two random cushions. The cushion pads will do fine but the decision I cannot make is what to cover them with!


The vague plan is to make the cusions double-sided, with denim on one side (from a much-loved but now defunct skirt) and SOMETHING on the other side. That way I can change the look as often as I like.


I've had fabrics out, and even got them as far as the ironing board, but cannot come to any proper decision. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, please...

Exciting Troc news

Following up an advert in the local 'kine' (physical therapist), Ben is currently buying and dismantling a small swimming pool from some local people who are on the move - only 80 euros!!! It's a splash pool not an olympic-type one, but 80 euros only, with all extras!!!... He's kindly decided to buy the rocking chair which was also advertised, not so much to please his wife (I am very pleased), as to be kind to the poor sellers, who are in some kind of tricky situation, he tells me on the phone. So, a small pool and a rocking chair, coming our way soon...

Prayers for the vendors too...