Picking Up The Pieces

Well, I can't believe that almost a whole month has gone since I blogged -and a very strange , unsettling month it's been too, but hopefully now all is behind me and I can settle down into a more normal life - or at least what passes for normal this time of the year!! Less than 3 weeks to Christmas - can you believe it ????

First up, thank you to everyone who sent messages after my last posting, they were very much appreciated and its always good to know that you are out there!

Secondly, a very belated 'Thank You' to Nannette , my partner in the recent Friendship Bag Swap, for the wonderful parcel that I eventually received!

Now, that comment is in no way a reflection on Nannette, but  would you believe that , courtesy of La Poste , the package crossed the Pond twice!!  I was just starting to wonder why I'd not received anything in this swap when Nannette contacted me to say that she had indeed posted it back in early October only to have it returned to her a month later !  Why this happened remains a mystery - it certainly reached France and was correctly addressed complete with post code.The local PO are adamant that it never reached them so how the word 'inconu' came to be written on it is very strange, but luckily the second word 'retour' at least got it back safely  to the US!!  I guess we'll never know what happened, but I am so glad that Nannette not only got in touch, but resent it and that it finally arrived safely -  I am sure you'll agree it was worth waiting for!!

Stuffed to the brim !!

 Looks good from the back doesn't it , but look at the front!

 Cute or what?

Lots & lots of goodies, how lucky am I ?????  Thank You once again Nannette for being more than generous!!

Taking a Break

I'll be taking a some weeks off from blogging as I have a bereavement and related family issues to deal with, but I will be back !

At last - a 'quiltie' post!!  My Blog seems to have changed from being sewing related  to a travelogue lately, but although I am sure you'd rather be looking at scenes from Brittany (!!) today you have to suffer my latest (finished!) quilting project :-)

I actually got a quilt finished for October, but it hasn't stopped raining over the last few days,  so the photo had to wait for the next 'dry' day - today!!

The Nine Patch Sampler is from the book 'Strip Delight' by Suzanne McNeill,  and the fabric collection is Moda's 'Wild Rose'.  I've changed the pattern slightly to accommodate my fabric ,and  though I was a bit doubtful about it all whilst making the blocks, it' s turned out OK and  the lovely rich colours , which are much better in real life, have made it the kind of quilt you want to curl up under!  It's certainly a quick quilt to piece if you want something in a hurry.

I have to own up to having some help in backing it though !!

Two more 'small' finishes for October, both of which are going to the Cat Rescue fund raising Christmas Fayre

 

Original pattern for this tote is on the  Moda Bakeshop site, and the Black & White mini tote is a Penny Sturgess design

Now all I have to do is decide on a finish for November !!

Little Gems !

I am continually amazed at the 'treasures' we keeping finding on our wanders around the countryside and our latest discovery is certainly another little beauty -  let me introduce you to La Chapelle Sainte- Brigitte!

We found the chapel in a field on the edge of a farmyard when walking on part of a Green Way  which runs through the centre of Brittany (scroll down for info) and with nothing else in sight but a couple of houses !

Whilst there are many of these little chapels dotted around the countryside, this one has rather an unusual steeple...

It was disappointing to find the door locked, but then I spotted ' Monsieur' cutting back his hedges and trotted over to pass the time of day and ask if the chapel was open at any time - would you believe he was the key holder!!!  This very obliging man not only shot off  to get the key but  handed it over for our own private visit, and I can tell you the inside didn't disappoint!

It was so tiny inside that once you allowed for the altar ( marble and covered in a snow white altar cloth edged with hand made Breton lace and a silver crucifix & and candlesticks)   I doubt  you would  get 20 people in there, but it was absolutely perfect!!!  Walls of the palest blue and the neatest pews you have ever seen!!  I would guess they would seat  3/4 persons a piece, made of oak with lovely fretwork backs and sides, so different from normal church pews!

Monsieur also told me that the upkeep of the chapel is totally down to volunteers and that ever year on the first Sunday in July they hold a Fete Day to raise funds - it's already noted in next year's diary !!!!

The (Very) Early Bird!

On days that we don't have any exploring planned,  I like to walk first thing before the world wakes up and enjoy the peace of the countryside .  This morning however I discovered that I wasn't the only early bird around as when I opened the curtains this is what greeted me!!

The start of another beautiful day perhaps.....

......or something more sinister - maybe an alien craft?????  Best wait for a little more light!

No!  Not Martians this time, just our (insomniac?) neighbour starting his day very early and ploughing 
away at the crack of dawn !!

Not such a quiet start to my day after all!!

Images of Autumn ...contd!

Patience has never been one of my strengths (!!)and I am sure I'm getting worse as I get older, thus disproving the theory that we mellow with age :-)

I was so annoyed and impatient with Blogger's  nonsense on my last post that I just signed off and left it as it was.  However, just to show that there is more to Autumn in Brittany than a few dead leaves lying around, here are the photos that didn't make it!

Enjoy !!

Images of Autumn

Sunday we were up on the hills, yesterday it was back to the Nantes-Brest canal on another  beautiful sunny day.  Today - it is raining!!!!! Don't you just hate weather forecasters when they are accurate with bad news!

Sorry about the layout ,no matter what I try I have no control at all - Blogger has certainly got a mind if its own today!!!

Autumn Sunshine

Our lovely Autumn weather is still with us, but not for much longer by the sound of the long term forecast, so it seems only right to take advantage of it while we can !  Yesterday saw us back in the Broceliande Forest and another ramble over the hill tops for views like this...

......and on the top, like this !

It was all a bit  'follow your nose' as we just picked a pathway and off we went!  To be honest when we got home and checked the map we were amazed at how far we'd been  - would you believe 6 miles- not bad for a 'little stroll' on a sunny afternoon!!  It was such a lovely day though and the surroundings so beautiful we didn't noticed the distance :-)

Did manage to get ourselves a little bit lost, but were lucky enough to find the little river that flows into the lake shown at the start of this post

Did I say river  ??  You can see from this how dry it has been for many weeks now, even the lakes were well down from normal levels.

Now - which way is home???

By the time we got back to Trehorenteuc the village was crowded with the usual Sunday afternoon tourists and these fellows were doing a roaring trade with their vintage 'horse powered' bus taking rides around the village

.....passed the superb  Arthurian mural on the wall of the Tourist Office.......

........the old 'Manoir'

...and of course the village church or la Chapelle du Gral.  Built  in 1614, what you can't see unfortunately are the wonderful stained glass windows depicting scenes from the  Round Table  stories,  together with biblical scenes such as the Last Supper .  

A lovely bonus afternoon even if we were glad to take our boots off at last !!!!

Good News Day!

The great news is that our little orphans are no longer homeless!!  Today they are leaving for their new home and what is even better news - they're staying together - how good is that! 

It's now official that they are both little boys, confirmed by the vet on Tuesday , she'd been unable to do so sooner as they were so very young! Both are house trained,  lapping and feeding of their own accord so no more cuddles while they take the bottle for anyone :-)  Just see how they've grown though

More than doubled in size, and although the little black & white one is quite a bit smaller than his brother, he is certainly just as mischievous and both are full of curiosity  !!

It was so lovely to see them again and spend a little time with them before they go, I know I only had them for a short while but they certainly stole my heart away!!

A story with a very happy ending thanks to the help of a group who's only resources are what they are able to raise amongst themselves. By holding cake sales, raffles  etc within the community, these volunteers manage to foot all  vet bills and where necessary provide food for rescue cats until they are found permanent homes.This year alone they have placed some 15 kittens, as well as a number of fully grown cats, in good homes and currently have another 8 (excluding these 2 little ones) on their books - I guess they deserve to be called 'animals lovers' don't you? I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that DH & I are their newest members!!

Bloggers' Quilt Festival - Fall 2009

I am so glad I made it back in time for Amy's Quilt Festival as the Spring Festival was such fun and led me to lots of new blogger friends!

As I've already written about my favourite quilt , this time I've chosen a log cabin, another quilt that really tried my patience (!) as the logs were only 3/4" finished which not only took forever to cut and piece but - all that pressing !!!!



I just love the placement of the blocks, which I found in a very old Quiltmaker magazine I 'inherited' from a quiltie friend here in Brittany and as this has now been passed on ( English language quilting mags are very precious here in France !!) I can't tell you which issue it was! Every time I look at this quilt I can see something different as there are stars and diamonds, squares and triangles, some straight furrows, sunshine & shadows and maybe even a little barn raising? All this in one quilt - it doesn't get much better than that !!

I also made my first pieced back for this quilt, nothing very flash, but just one big log cabin type block to make the fabric go a little further which works for me !





In spite of the scorched fingers (!) it was certainly worth the time & trouble and has become a firm favourite of mine and most of the family, which is why it still lives with me and hasn't found a new home as I am too much of a coward to decided who to give it too!

Normal Service Resumed!

Well, the holiday is over and as usual the washing machine is now cowering in the corner after working non stop for what seems like forever!! That part of coming home is bad enough but - Oh My!! Who's going to iron it all :-)

Our leisurely wander up through France to Pays de Calais was somewhat shorter than planned thanks to our two little orphans (both doing well and I have visiting rights to them until they find new homes !) but very pleasant just the same. The weather was very kind to us and we were able to do lots of sightseeing and walking, especially on the lovely long beaches of Normandie , Picardie and in particular the Baie de Somme . It was quite surprising to see how lovely the Somme was, as like many others I am only aware of the area's history during WWI and it was hard to imagine the lovely countryside as the sea of mud associated with one of the most horrific battles of the Great War.

Cap Gris- Nez , famous for being the 'grounding' place for cross Channel swimmers, and it's sister Cap Blanc-Nez were worth the visit, albeit a very quick one, as we made our way to Calais to catch a ferry across to Dover, with it's white cliffs



and a short stay in Kent - but more about this in another post!

Just before we left, I was very relieved to hear that my Friendship Bag Swap had arrived safely at it's new home!!I can tell you that panic mode was beginning to set in as it took over 3 weeks for the package to arrive in Norway, but all ended well and I think Grethe was reasonably please with her parcel! I forgot to take photos before I sent it off so I 'borrowed' this one from Grethe's Blog, hope she doesn't mind !!




Unfortunately it seems as though the bar of chocolate didn't make it to the photo shot!!!!

The fog has lifted, and the sun is shinning again so I'm off to take a 'quiltie' photo to enter in Amy's Autumn Blogger's Quilt Festival - have you entered yours yet ??????