Paris in the Spring

When we got back from our ski trip two weeks ago, we were greeted by these cherry blossoms* in our back garden. The first signs of Spring. Today the skies were blue, the sun was shining and the temperature was a balmy, for us, 15ºC (60ºF). We had all the windows open and the warm air felt like it was blowing away all the coughs and sneezes and tummy bugs that have been going around and around our family.


Daffodils on our walk to the school bus
We moved to France last August so Spring is the last season we have yet to experience living here. After ten years in Northern California, which did have four seasons but not always very distinct from each other, it feels special to really notice the change in the weather. In California, a 60ºF day would have felt chilly but today the girls got off the bus chattering about how HOT it had been at school!


Our rental garden which is full of magical old trees but not much colour other than green suddenly gave up a surprise this week. A lawn carpeted with Primulas!*


I used my creative hour to take photographs today!


I say Ladybird, you say Ladybug, the French say Coccinelle!

With all this sudden display of colour, I thought I would share a colourful little project that I made this time last year.


The Pincushion Caddy from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me. It was made using AMH fabric scraps from these napkins and this jacket. I pieced the solid fabrics together into one large piece then cut out the pattern shapes from it. I hand stitched a running stitch with perle embroidery thread over some of the seams before I started to put it all together. That was when my enthusiasm for the project waned. Every review you will find of this project speaks to how frustrating it is to put together but the end result is so satisfyingly useful that it's worth persevering! This tutorial from Texas Freckles saved my sanity. DO NOT attempt this project without reading it first!


Florence saw it sitting out of the way on a high shelf yesterday and demanded that I get the "ball". She then spent an absorbing twenty minutes pushing all the pins in then pulling them out and sorting them by colour. Her first sewing experience! (Obviously, I took out the super sharp scissors first and didn't leave her alone with it - she's not a completely neglected fourth child!)


Once she was done exploring the pins she proceeded to dump out all the contents and discovered...


...it doubles as a fetching hat. Might want to take the pins out first though!


*Despite this blog's title, I am no gardener so I take no responsibility for plant mis-identification. A garden filled with 100 year old trees who have figured out how to look after themselves and spontaneously sprouting flowers is absolutely perfect for me!

Discovering Treasures

With only a month until we move Keith and I spent the whole of last week sorting through the contents of our garage, deciding what we want to keep, what we should donate and what we should simply throw away. Of course this was the week the temperature climbed to 100+ every day which wasn't exactly ideal conditions for this kind of work but we carried on regardless and by the end of the week definite progress had been made!



An unexpected benefit of all this time in the garage (in addition to the above space now being empty) was the opportunity for the family to spend time together. With no planned activities the big girls still managed to find plenty to entertain them.



They set up an orange juice stand using the last of the oranges from our tree and furnished it with stuff they found in the garage.





Georgia and Savannah finally got confident riding their bikes without training wheels...

...and Florence discovered there's a bike for her!

I also found some unexpected 'treasures' of my own.



I think my Dad gave me this sewing machine tea pot for Christmas a long time ago. It's not exactly my style but it will look cute on a shelf in my future sewing room!



And why on earth have we kept this puzzle of the Eiffel Tower in a box in the garage since before the children were born?! Maybe waiting until it was really relevant to our lives? The girls have had fun putting it together anyway.



And this is another toy that I've seen once every five years when I've done a sort out and thought it might be useful one day. Well now its day has arrived!

Much slower progress is being made this week inside as I tackle all the closets on my own, but I'm happy to report that today I filled six black garbage sacks of rejects from my clothes closet. Really, we should do this more often!

Things to do on a rainy June weekend in California

Build a zip line for your toys...

Teddy had a blast!

Finish a quilt for your friend's birthday...

Make the most of the overcast lighting to take funky photos of it!

Impress your twin sister with your ability to spell the word bathroom all by yourself. Make Mummy smile with your cute drawing. Wait for Daddy to come home to fix the problem inside the bathroom!

Start sewing a teacher gift.

Make (lots of) pompoms.

The weather recently seems to be training us for our return to Europe. We should have spent the weekend at the pool, but we kept ourselves busy inside. I'm impressed at what the girls achieved once I said no more T.V.! And yes, my first proper post is about the weather - I'm British - it's my birthright!

In other news... Florence blew her first kiss. No photographic evidence, just a memory to preserve.