This is the latest haul.

A beautiful sewing basket.

I've been after something like this for ages to keep all the paraphenalia in when the sewing moves downstairs. An absolute bargain, especially when the stall owner did a deal and ..........................................

we came home with this gorgeous mirror. It weighs a ton. The frame is oak.

And then I found this for the bathroom. I love it!

I did manage to get 2/3's of a liberated star done yesterday.  I'm getting the hang of them at long last.  Photo's soonest I promise.  It's just that summer is getting in the way.

A+

Tim's mopey, but then he also has a toothache. Rufus is mopey, because he hates getting wet when he does his business. I'm mopey because.... After being cooped up in the house all day, I decided to take a walk, rain be damned. And I had the pleasure of heavy rain the whole time, too heavy to take out the camera. All the sogginess aside, the countryside is lovely. Mist hovers on the hilltops. The fig trees seem to be enjoying their bath. Some blackberries are beginning to ripen. The cherry trees continue to crank out cherries. I noticed that somebody's strawberry patch is looking very tasty. I was tempted to snag one, but I stopped myself. A small village like this has eyes everywhere. The walls have eyes. Don't believe for a minute that all the shuttered windows provide cover. They have eyes, too. Not in a sinister way. Just enough to make filching somebody else's fruit - even one little ol' berry - not a good idea.

On a sunnier note, we've had great luck this week in finding some more finds at the brocantes: two armchairs with matching pouf for 120 euros, and two twin beds for 200 euros. All of it needs a boatload of work. But that's what we wanted, furniture fixer uppers. The chairs (and the pouf) reek - REEK - of cat pee and mustiness. Tim's stripped off all of the upholstery on one of the chairs, because we thought the stench would kill us. It's sitting in the middle of the kitchen now only because it's barely stinky now that it's nearly naked. The plan is to sand them down, give them a new finish and then take them to a tapissiere for new upholstery. The twin beds will also need to be reupholstered. I'm very, very excited about getting to shop for sorts of lovely fabric. So brace yourself, you will be hearing about this furniture in the future.

This week's haul!

The camera is not behaving itself. Goodness only knows why. Pictures are coming out grainy.

We have 4 balls of DMC Perle 8 at 0.50 centimes a ball found at the vide grenier at Léguillac last Sunday.

Then we have a lovely big pile of batik FQ's all the way from Georgetown, TX and apparently more on their way. Lovely lovely Megs.

And now for the bargains of the year.

You will know the Jan Mullen book as Cut Loose Quilts. On the back it says 31€. I got it for 4€ and it's brand new. I'm not keen on the fabrics, but I like the ideas.

The Inspiration Patchwork is not really my scene, but it was only 5€ and, again, is brand new!

Funny - I always walk past the book stands at brocantes as they are usually horrendously expensive. This one wasn't :-)

Been busy busy busy. More when I've got something to show.

Donc, a+

It's blowing a gale out there, rain is lashing against the windows, the satellite dish is pixelating and snow is forecast for Easter Monday.

Look at this. Brrrrrr!

So ladies, I need your help to get me through what is going to be a weekend (and probably next week too) confined to barracks.

I've hit an impasse. Where do I go next?

It's the top and bottom border I've got a problem with.  I thought I'd use the crumbly cabins and they look awful.  I suppose red again, but as this is scrappy and crumbly I wanted something different.  On the other hand, if it is going to be the size of the design wall then I can put red top and bottom and add some crumbly cabins as another border, but then again I'm probably making more work for myself.

Trouble is I've got 5 cabins made up and another 2 in the making, not to mention some crumbly strips that I've put together.

Can one tie and hand quilt on the same quilt?  Tie the middle and hand quilt the borders.

Oh decisions.

DH has got a rendez vous with the heart specialist this afternoon so we're going into Périgueux.  I need to do some serious shop hunting.  My lovely QS has closed down!!!!!!!!!!!!  The one in Thiviers has too and the small, expensive one in Périgueux centre has gone over to cross stitch notions - not one FQ in sight - I suppose they might have perle 8 now though.
What is a girl to do (sob).

I've just had a nice thought - brocante season starts on Easter Monday - wooooooo hooooooo!  I suppose DH and Alex will be sitting in the car while I get soaking wet and cold.

Oh the computer went belly up again, hence my silence.  I *think* we are up and running again.

Happy Easter.  Wrap up warm if you are in Europe.

A+

This is one day in the calendar that is kept clear.

The first year we were here we bought the huge armoire in the salon and a beautiful Art Deco carving set. Since then there has been not much to write home about. Prices are rocketing and it is more of an amble round the stalls constantly saying "I wish".

Today there were quite a few stalls selling antique fabrics - the beautifully embroidered linen sheets, night clothes, French toile, curtain fabric, upholstery etc. The prices are "don't even think about it" level, but there were some stunning pieces.

Take this for instance. The prices was 250 Euro. The material in the centre is over 200 years old. It has been hand quilted. Not in a fancy design, just to keep it together. There was an English woman and her Mum looking at it. They were quilters cos they were talking about backing and basting (don't you long to join in!!) and when they had finished verbally taking it to pieces I managed to get a look at it. That's when I found out how much the stall holder was asking. It screams out for sympathetic restoration, but not at that price.

There was another stall selling antique quilts - prices weren't as high, but the quilts weren't in such good condition. Still out of my reach though.

How much do antique quilts sell for in the US? Nothing less than about 100 Euro over here. Fabric is usually in one piece and the quilting is exquisite in some cases.

Funnily enough. Whilst I was rummaging about on a stall having a field day going through musty fabrics, there was a woman standing next to me buying a really heavy brocade. Alex and I edged a little closer trying to catch what she was saying as she said she wanted this heavily embroidered, weigh a ton fabric for "patchwork". Wonder what she is going to do with it? Hang that on the wall and it will pull the wall fixings out! Sleep under it and you are liable to suffocate!

And then oh joy of joys. The rummage produced something that really did hit me in the eye. 5 Euro this was. I'm not going to cut it, just baste it, back it and then hand quilt it to produce a wall hanging. Black border don't you think?

Fanfare please - Little Acorns is quilted. Although pleased with it, making this quilt has really dragged me down. Don't know why, but it has made me feel a bit depressed. Now to get it bound, washed and parcelled up and then perhaps the feeling will go when I start piecing Tamzin's quilt.

DS-D and her partner arrive tomorrow lunchtime at Angouleme so won't be around much until the latter part of next week.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Yesterday was a gorgeous, hot day. Makes a change after the foul weather we've been having since May. Pool was cleaned on Saturday and is now a glittering blue instead of mushy pea green.

We had the option of a vide greniers at Le Rochebeaucourt or a proper brocante at Brantome. DH and I opted for the latter. Didn't really fancy traipsing up and down lines of tat!

I then remembered that Tonya had asked if DH could pretend to have a heart attack so I could take pictures of the fabric from Senegal hanging outside the fossil shop. I talked about it in June. So I grabbed the camera on my way out. Glad I did.

I think this picture is very Covered Porches. I thought of her when I took it.

I love the dummy on the left at the back and the cushions on the sofa.

It amazes me the prices people charge for things. Has anyone seen the huge clock faces made in plastic and battery operated? They are made to look old and sort of station clock ish. There were 2 for sale yesterday. One was 95 Euro and the other wasn't even priced!!

Here is the fabric outside the fossil shop

I've got too much to do at the moment so quilting has had to take a back seat. However, I have got a nasty niggly, guilty feeling about Quilts 4 Leukaemia so will have to pull the box out, have a rummage through all those beautiful blocks and design the next quilt.

11.30 am saw the Northern Dordogne subdivision of Expatcrafters on parade at a Vide Grenier (car boot or empty attic sale) at St Jean de Cole (the same place where the Foire de Floralies took place).

Jennifer and Sue found a stall selling silk threads in various forms. Reels of gold thread, sheets of thread in various colours and boxes upon boxes of small reels in assorted colours. We managed to restrain ourselves and not buy the boxes (the colours were not that brilliant).

Look what I picked up for the total sum of 4 Euros!

I might use the gold thread in double strands for part of Sunburst, but then again I might not. The other lot (aren't the colours beautiful!), I am tempted to frame. Either way both are going to be wrapped up in brown paper and stored somewhere safe.We then upped and moved to the brocante at Thiviers where Jennifer, Sue and Alex picked up 8 boxes of blank French visiting cards for 4 Euros. Alex had a lovely afternoon splitting their hoard into 3.

At the same shop we saw some 1950's embroidery patterns which Vivi would love. I was tempted to buy some, but will be passing through Thiviers again in the foreseeable future so Vivi keep an eye out for Mr Le Facteur.

All in all a fruitful day.

Just got back from the Brocante at Villars and took some pics of the lace stall there. Sorry that the pictures aren't very good. I'm still trying to get to grips with my camera.

We have been hunting high and low for a typically French door knocker for our typically French farmhouse front door. I originally wanted one in the shape of a hand/fist, but they cost a fortune. Well, today I found one and its a frog. Its lovely and will upload a picture when we have scrapped all the yukky brown paint off it, polished it up and put it on our door.

Blue Jeans Windows is on hold. Swimming pool is open and needs to be cleaned. Temp this morning was 19 degrees so we aren't too far from the magic 22!

More as and when

Lots of vide greniers (car boot sales) and brocantes to go to with lots of material. Went to a huge one last Sunday at Champagnac de Belair and found a piece of flowery material about half a metre for 1.50 Euros - not bad! Going to another one at Bourdeilles on Sunday and Villars on Monday. Must remember to remind Alexandra to take portable CD player and books. She gets so bored poor love.

Then just had to visit fabric warehouse on Wednesday to get more material for Blue Jean Windows (new name) and stocked up on lots of fabric which I am playing around with.

Japanese idea now dead - couldn't get to grips with the colours and so will keep what I've already got for future use ;-)

Joined the About.com Quilters forum yesterday and have found a quilter the other side of Limoges (hi Pippa) about 2 hours drive away, which in French terms isn't too far. There is also a Quilting Bee at Thiviers once a month, but the sort of stuff they do there is far too fussy and exacting for me.

Oh, fantastic news last evening. Alexandra came home from school with report for last Trimestre - 95% A's and lovely comment from Le Maitre "Excellent travail. Bravo". Since she asked to be moved to a different desk, her school work has got a lot better. She has finally managed to get her head round long division and fractions.

Summer is nearly here - opened up our pool this week :-)

Will post more later.

However, bought a couple of children's dresses for material for 2 Euros and a new thimble for 2 Euros (not bad eh).

I am now deciding what to do. Do I do the last block for Blue Jean quilt that I can do with what material I have left, or do I start on new design? I keep on saying to myself that if I don't finish Blue Jeans it will never get finished and yet fingers are itching to get out the fabric boxes and have a play.

I also downloaded yesterday a demo version of PC Quilt for Windows v.2. Has anyone got any ideas about computer programmes for quilts. For or against?

More later - houseful of girlie girls!