french blues and neutrals

There are a million (at a rough estimate) other and more important things that I should be doing this morning, but the joy of a blog is that it gives me the excuse to re-organise my day and justify some fun.

I found these beautiful fabrics yesterday:  an old bolster and some cereal bags, and teamed them up with a remnant of blue toile de jouy I've been keeping for an unknown reason.  Then I thought I needed a backdrop and ha!  the painted floor - at last it comes into its own!

So this is my offering to you on a cold weekend in Normandy.  A little linen, a little indigo blue, a little  antique stoneware and china .....

and finally for those of who who are saying "oh, so she painted the floor white in the end",  I have to reply "no actually", in real life it is very pale grey, although I grant you, it does appear white here.

I wish you all a lovely weekend, thank you for reading me.

old French postal bags

I go through phases in my brocante shopping ...

I had my watering can phase

- these are just some that I kept, there's a load more I gave away already!

I had my white china and white sauce boat phase

I still can't resist a silk shawl

my bedlinen phase is showing no sign of finishing
(don't you love how real linen sheets look good, even before the bed is made!)

and then recently I had my old post bag phase.

Old post bags are great, they're made of a heavy linen mix, darned, patched, stencilled letters, they have character, but even I have to admit that there's only so much a girl can do with a cupboard full of postal bags.

So  I've been having some fun making cushions, 

and then I had some fun styling them in the garden.

What do you think?  Have you had any phases recently?

Trish from Trouvais

I am so excited to be the subject of a post at the legendary blog Trouvais.  Trish's beautiful blog has long been a reference for me, so I was more than thrilled when she said she'd like to talk about my linens.  Her gift for finding beautiful illustrations, and associating themes and colours is quite unique.

Besides her love of beautiful textiles and antiques, she also has a sure eye when it comes to her exquisite garden, as you can see from her banner.  This pretty picture is taken in her own garden, and all through the spring and summer she spoils us with glimpses of her favourite roses, or her lavender and foxgloves in full bloom.

I contacted Trish a little while ago because I wanted to share an amazing discovery that I knew she'd enjoy.   I had been contacted by the friend of a friend of an amie of a copine .... who said she had some linens to show me.  Definitely the sort of call to get my pulse beating a shade faster.

I had no idea about what or who I was going to see, but following the instructions I turned up at a beautiful old house, deep in Normandy, (sorry I didn't take my camera!) and to my delight was invited inside by an elderly lady called Madame de B. , who had prepared a tray for tea.  We made polite conversation for a while, then she asked me to help her lift a big cardboard box.

When I opened the box I gasped.  Inside were what looked like the contents of a 19th century lingerie closet.  Lace and organdie, broderie anglaise, ribbon.   We emptied the contents on to the table and together started sorting through the individual items.  Madame de B.  explained that she came from a big family in Brittany, and that these clothes have been passed down the generations.  Today, sadly, she has no one in the family interested in keeping them.

As we sorted we talked about her memories of summer days, and cold winter nights,  in the family château.   I noticed the unusually fine needlework on several of the garments, and remarked that someone must have had good eyesight, she smiled and said that would have been the family seamstress.  A woman employed at the château, not as a maid or cook or child nurse, but just to sew.

Several of the baby's dresses are so beautifully made that you can only tell the right side from the wrong by the position of the buttons.  I promise that's true, I made the mistake several times while taking my photos!

I am happy to say that I left her house with the whole box,  so overcome by my new found treasure that I stopped the car on the way home, just to have another look!

So here for you to enjoy, especially if you sew yourself and can appreciate the time required to produce this sort of work, are some detailed photos of the handwork.  If you want to see more I'm in the process of listing the individual garments and textiles over at my shop.

Inspired by my brocante finds - a giveaway

Sunday morning and I was out hunting through brocante sales early.   I was rewarded for leaving my bed early with a wonderful find.  A large pile of linen, including 10 monogrammed chemises.

I say chemises because I'm not really sure if they were made to be worn as underwear or nightwear.  They are all entirely handmade and hand embroidered, each with the letters MB.  I am sure that they have never been worn, the hemp linen is still the beige colour of the new unwashed material.   They are all slightly different, only one has sleeves.  Some are v-necked, others round necked, narrow or wide shouldered, even the overall sizes vary.

They are at least 100 years old, so why were they never washed or used?  Who did they belong to? did the sewer make them for herself or for someone else?  Were they part of a trousseau, the work of a budding underwear designer, the fruit of sewing lessons....?

 Once they are all washed and sweet smelling I will be putting some of them into my etsy store, but I would like to give one away.  So I thought of a little story telling party .....

I am inviting you to invent a short tale about these garments.  Funny, sad, romantic, historically accurate or not, I don't mind.  Just a few sentences or a page, whatever suits you. The giveaway item will be one of these monogrammed chemises, but I hope that the real fun will be the fruit of your imagination!

You have a week to link up and enter your tale.  The random draw next Monday will reveal the winner.  Use as many of these pictures as you like to illustrate your story.  Anyone who enters the link-up will be added to my blogroll.

I must add that the idea of writing around a theme was given me by Angie Muresan's latest and rather wonderful post that links up to Magpie Tales.  Thank you Angie!