croque-choux

New Fabric Postcards in the making

Well, round 3 of the PC4fun fabric postcard exchange is on, and I'm back at the sewing machine after taking a little break from making cards. I have 15 postcards to make but the deadline is a comfortable distance away, so I can relax and have fun. In the last exchange there was no theme, in round 2 (just ending I think, I missed that one) the theme was Hearts, and this time it's Garden Fantasy. I've already received 3 cards, and they're beautiful! Today I made my first one for this new swap. If the fabric looks familiar it's because it's the decorator fabric I used for my totebag, but I used it on the wrong side. I made a needle lace flower the other day, which just happened to be the right color(s) to go along with it. The flower was made with free motion machine stitching on water soluble plastic film. It's always fun to see the film melt away in the water, leaving me with all these threads that somehow hold together in the form of a flower or whatever. I made a dragonfly once using this technique (I'll post a picture later). Next time I'll let my son wash away the plastic, I think he'll like that. I added 3 strips of Angelina fiber in that lovely "forest" tone I like so much, and one of the embroidery stitches my machine does. Those Angelina fibers are so difficult to photograph! I'll put a 2nd photo of it in my postcard gallery, for good measure.

Ready to Grout!

Yay! The bird feeder is dry and ready to be grouted. Yikes, I may have to go out and buy different color grout though, because I don't really like the colors I have on hand...

Mosaic update, a found object, and a great link

I decided to go ahead and "Gaudi" the mosaic birdfeeder as Sandy suggested (thanx!). I did this the lazy way though using a sheet of little tiles I bought on sale- you'll see what I mean in a day or two when the birdie hut is grouted and dry. I'm now adding tiny tiles on the roof edge. I think it will look nice when I'm done.
In the meantime, look what I found on my workbench in the garage. This was hiding in a box of mosaic shards for some obscure reason! I remember now that these little things are called Spirellas, and that you can find a tutorial for them here on the website of the multi-talented Lisa Vollrath. If any of you make altered books etc. then you probably know who she is already. If not, please check out her site because there's lots to see! Inspiration guaranteed, even if you're more into fiber than paper :o) Lisa's spirella is a fun and fast little thingy to make because it combines cardstock and thread. What you use them for when they're done is up to you! Hey I just had a thought: instead of using rubber stamped cardboard, it would be cool to fuse hand dyed fabric to the paper before cutting, and then use some interesting thread for the spiral part... Do you think this could be somehow added to a fabric postcard? Hmmm.... I wonder if they could be beaded? Or maybe forget the paper altogether and use Timtex or some other stiff interfacing?

The meaning of Croquechoux

Mandi asked me what CROQUE-CHOUX means so here's an explanation :o)
First, it's pronounced somewhere between "crock-shoo", and "croak-shoe" with a shorter "o". It's a funny nickname that my daughter Ombeline just kind of made up for her little brother Miles when he was a baby. Why croquechoux? Because it's cute and quirky sounding even in French. Because when you say that something or someone is "joli a croquer" it means "pretty as a picture", ie they're so cute you could just eat them. The verb "croquer" can mean "to crunch, or to bite into" and also "to sketch", which is where the word "croquis" comes from. The adjective "croquant" and its feminine form "croquante" can either mean "crunchy" or "cute & adorable", depending upon who or what you're taking about. Yeah, I know, French is a little weird and complicated sometimes, but you get used to it. Now for the "choux" part, a funny word if there ever was one: "choux" can mean "cabbage", "cream puff" (or puff pastry), or "darling"- take your pick! Brussels Sprouts are "choux de Bruxelles" (yuck!), but they have this heavenly desert here called "profiteroles" which are little choux or puff pastries stuffed with vanilla ice cream and covered with hot chocolate sauce (yum!). Here's a picture of my little croque-choux as a baby. Croquant, non?

A rainy outing in Versailles

Went for a walk Monday in Versailles to air my head out a little and take some photos. (The Monday after Easter is a holiday in France by the way.) It was pretty rainy off and on, but a nice outing nonetheless. Marie Antoinette's oak tree died in February and had to be taken down, which I didn't remember until I was standing in front of the actual tree. It's sad to see a tree as large and as old as this one uprooted, lying on cobblestones. I'm not sure what will become of it, but for the moment the oak tree is in front of the Trianon where it seems to point an accusing finger at the entrance. Apparently this tree was planted in 1682 and suffered in that bad storm we had back in 1999, but the horrible heatwave we had in 2003 is what finished it off. It was known as Marie Antoinette's oak tree because they say that she enjoyed sitting in its shade in the Summer.
I've always preferred the park and gardens of Versailles to the actual chateau itself, so we didn't go in any buildings. And besides, I didn't have the strength to run after my 6 year old son in case he decided to swing on the chandeliers or something...

Mosaic garden art

Yesterday I glued the last 2 shards onto this mosaic bird feeder I've been fixing up. I was hoping to grout it today, put it out in the garden, and post a nice picture of it here, but it's raining and of course there's that nagging headache to deal with... In the meantime, here's a picture of my workbench in the garage, which is where I play with tiles when the mood hits me. I think I like mosaics because it's so much like patchwork...

The Easter Bunny cometh

I find this more than a little disturbing... Happy Easter anyway. I have a headache right now which may or may not turn into a full blown migraine. You'll know what happened if I end up not posting for 2 or 3 days.

Mr. Nibble saves the day

Well Thursday was officially over just minutes ago in my time zone, so now I can write about it. I had a BIG disappointment today because I found out that the web design training course I signed up for at a nearby university has been cancelled. Not enough people signed up for it this year- there were only 6 of us. (The strict minimum was 8, and the max was 20.) This sucks for lots of reasons, but mainly because I have been PLANNING on this for months and months and because I actually had the funding for this damn class. Oh well. Now I'll have to hatch a new plan for my future. Which leads me to this proverb, that I find very fitting for Easter: "Never put all your freakin' eggs in one basket". But my mother was fond of saying "Everthing happens for a reason", and I really believe this. Well, once the dust clears from the scaffolding that just fell down, I'll start looking for Plan B.
That was the bad stuff. Let's see what good things happened Thursday... I did the school mommy thing and went with my son's class to the swimming pool. The mothers who go along don't go in the pool of course, they're there to help out, keep the little devils in line, and make sure that everyone goes home in their own undies. Those little kids were so cute. And two little girls argued over who would get to sit next to me, Miles' mommy, on the school bus. Awwwwww... They asked me to tell them how to say things in English and we chatted during the whole ride. 6 year olds can be very chatty, especially girls.
And in my mailbox today (saved this for last), was the Mr. Croquechou book I bought on eBay! Just in time for Easter! When I saw the title of this book, I knew I just had to have it and it was only 1 Euro. This book was published here in 1969, but I think it's English originally. I found out that it's from the Blackberry Farm series by Jane Pilgrim, and that Mr. Croquechou's name in English is Mr. Nibbles. Sounds more like a cat's name to me, but anyway... So to get over Thursday's disappointment, I will be taking a tip from Mr. Croquechou (a.k.a. Mr. Nibbles) this weekend: I shall be found nursing myself with strong coffee in bed. Demain il fera jour...

"Aniki Jin" is the New Orlando

Okay, this won't mean anything to you unless you happen to have a teenage daughter, and you can skip this post if you don't fancy eye candy (of the male variety). My daughter calls Takeshi the Japanese Orlando (as in Bloom) or Asia's answer to Legolas :o) Girl's got good taste... so it doesn't look like she'll be bringing any orcs home to mother in a couple of years (or less?). There's more here.

Cocoon bling-blings!

Many thanks to Sandy in the U.K. for pointing me in the right direction! I can order the silk cocoons here and they even have that awesome cocoon necklace I was marvelling over in the latest issue of Quilting Arts (no. 17). Apparently it's sold in a kit and is called the Harlequin necklace. I can't thank Sandy enough because the site she directed me to has more cool fibers and threads than I could possibly imagine. I can feel my credit card burning a hole in my back pocket, a la Raiders of the Lost Ark (you remember that scene, don'tcha?). Okay okay, I'll stop raving if you go and check out Sandy's blog now!