Monday, June 06, 2011
Religieuse a la Violette
I met a friend from Melbourne today and her sister - they are doing the Grand Tour and had just flown in from Amsterdam - and we went to http://www.laduree.fr, where I had one of these:

I swear I am only having a very small dinner tonight! These violet flavoured religieuses from Laduree are my favourites, but I also like the chocolate and coffee ones from the local bakery. It's hard to choose at Laduree, there are so many wonderful patisseries...




 
posted by Ally at 6:29 pm ¤ Permalink ¤ 0 comments
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Some Finishes!
And here are the two new Crazy January finishes!

This is Bird in Hand, from Blackbird Designs, on 32 count Lambswool linen, with Belle Soie Cranberry:



This one is Small Token by Blackbird Designs, with the recommended Crescent Colours threads on a 32 count linen, the name of which escapes me:


So that is five out of fifteen finished - there are some bigger ones left, so I hope I will continue to make progress.

You will notice that I am in the process of changing my blog template, it may change a few times, as I try out different colours and designs. I am no HTML programmer - I used to be an excellent Cobol programmer in my day, but HTML really doesn't grab me, and I just do it by trial and error.

Now I think it is time to do some stitching - it is very hot here today, we had thunderstorms last night, and I think it was 25 degrees all night.
 
posted by Ally at 1:49 pm ¤ Permalink ¤ 1 comments
Friday, June 03, 2011
Another New Month
What have I been up to? Well, I went to Spain for a week, I went to the hairdressers, twice to the beauty salon, and my new sewing machine was delivered:

The Brother Innovis 10 anniversary edition - so far I have been learning how to use it, but I've managed to shorten straps on summer dresses as well (since I need to wear them). It's funny, you don't need a pedal for this machine, although there is one, and I feel happier using that that flicking the "sew" switch. I'm old, I guess :)

I've also finally updated my sidebar to show my Crazy January projects, and there are two I have finished and need to photograph. The train journey to Spain was good stitching time, as were the afternoons when it was too hot for me to go out.

I went to Barcelona on two days while I was at Santa Susanna, and I can report that I found no really good stitching shops, nothing that we cannot get here. But there is a nice yarn shop right next to the Picasso Museum, with local hand-dyed yarn and Malabrigo far cheaper than in France.

Still the new project has not started, it is now supposed to be next week, although it can't be Monday, because my boss is on holiday today and has not told me that I should be anywhere on Monday - and I've arranged to meet a friend from Australia, who is visiting Paris with her sister. This is the longest time I've had at home for about four years, and certainly the longest time I have had unassigned, so I'm trying to make the most of it.

Oh, for "Cross Stitch", who asked where I got the Mademoiselle Paris pattern, it was at Des Fils et Une Aiguille in the rue Chabanais, but you can also get it at C Mon Mode online shop: http://www.cmonmonde.fr/Concours-de-Miss-cbfaaaaaa.asp
 
posted by Ally at 3:52 pm ¤ Permalink ¤ 0 comments