Quoi de neuf ?*

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This week, I met another blogger friend for real. Virginia and her friend Mary came to visit and we spent the afternoon in picturesque Marly le Roi where we found this vieille maison. Watch out for lots more photographs from the charming streets of Marly on Virginia's blog Paris Through my Lens.


I signed Florence up for Maternelle (French Kindergarten) which she will start in September. I had expected to have to deal with a mile of French red tape, especially as we don't have some of the required documents on the registration form - no Carnet de Santé or Livret de Famille, but my substitutions were deemed perfectly acceptable and the whole registration process took me less time than it took to buy our evening baguette. I can't help feeling that was too easy - we will see when I attend the compulsory parents meeting in June! I hope she likes it. She could do with a break from looking after her family of seven!


Sacré Coeur seen from the fifth floor of Le Marché Saint-Pierre
I had a wonderful day out all by myself shopping in the fabric markets of Montmartre and somehow managed to stumble into an excellent French bistro for lunch in a sea of tourist traps at the foot of Sacré Coeur.

I needed fabric for a dress I'm making for my niece's christening. Whilst searching the web for design inspiration I stumbled across this film at Baby Dior. Le sigh...

Not sure how long that link will last so here's another film for the Paris lovers. Check out the girl in black. Her dress. Her hair. Turns out India wasn't so far from a Dior outfit at THAT Bar Mitzvah after all!



And last but not least, I am thrilled that Jillian over at Jillian in Italy interviewed me for her A Kid's Life series. I found her gorgeous blog one time when we both linked up to Love the Place you Live at Design Mom. It turns out that as well as loving where we live, we also have a love of sewing, photography and twin girls in common! It was such a pleasure and very thought provoking to answer her questions so hop on over to see what I had to say about our life in France. You might find out something you didn't already know.

Bon Weekend!

Christmas Crafting

We took down our Christmas decorations this weekend, but at the risk of bringing down the tone of the neighbourhood, I think I'll leave up my Christmassy blog header for a little while longer. At least until the boulangeries stop selling galettes des rois!


The picture of the girls which I used on our 2012 Christmas Card was a big hit with the friends and family and everyone loved seeing Florence peeking through the letter O. (It was Keith's genius idea to move her to that spot after she insisted on holding her letter up in front of her face). Lots of people asked me how I made the letters so I thought I would give you an insight into my foolhardy creative process and pass on what I learned. I suggest you get started now if you want your own set for next Christmas rather than waiting until three weeks before the big day like I did!

I first saw the idea for the letters on the blog Oh Happy Day, loved it and pinned it with a note to myself to make a Noël sign for Christmas in place of the original Bonjour. Whilst trying to come up with some cute way to photograph the girls for the Christmas card photo I suddenly realized that each girl could hold a letter giving the card a suitably French flavour. If I had known then how long it would take to make the letters I would have stopped there. It ended up being a much more fiddly project than I expected, but I do love the end result so I'm glad I persevered.

The tutorial is very clear and it helps if you also check out the instructions from the large Movie marquee sign also on Oh Happy Day. I was lucky enough to find mini globe lights in Habitat and decided to make the letters with red card as I could see spray painting them as the tutorial suggests, with all that was going on in our house, would be bound to end in tears, not to mention the fact that the choice of craft supplies in France is fairly limited. I got all my supplies from Truffaut, France's one stop garden and craft centre.


The tutorial comes with a free downloadable alphabet, but after I cut out the letters I needed I realized that they were going to be too small for what I had in mind. Cue much despair and tearing out of hair. After reading through the tutorial's comments though, I figured out that the original letters were made using the font Rockwell which is thankfully installed on my computer. I created my own N, O, E & L stencils by enlarging the font to 700pt and then making them outline only to save ink. (Format>Font>Outline if you're working in Pages on a Mac like me). Once I had my red card letters cut out I started punching holes for the lights and quickly came to the conclusion that the weight of my lights was going to be too much for cardstock alone if the letters were going to survive a photo shoot and a toddler. After a not so quick trip back to Truffaut for some foamcore I stuck my cardstock letters to it and cut them out with my Exacto knife, leaving me with this rather pleasing negative that decorated my sewing room for the rest of the season.

It was now time to create the holes for the lights and this was when the project got really hard! The holes have to be big enough for the lights to go through but somehow not so big that they fall straight back out again. After a lot of trial and error, I found that the best way was to cut out a small square with the Exacto knife and then enlarge it by pushing a Sharpie pen through the hole to get the diameter I needed. This took the best part of a Sunday afternoon. In retrospect, drilling the holes might have been better but that would have required more technical set up than I could be bothered with at the time.

Once the holes were made all I had left to do was to glue the frames around them. I had expected this to be the hardest part of the whole project, but after the faff of the holes it was surprisingly straightforward. Accurate measuring and careful scoring is essential though. I couldn't get hold of Tacky Glue here in France but I found another quick drying PVA glue that worked fine for me. I wouldn't recommend using hot glue for this step as it doesn't give you enough time to work and will leave a lumpy look to the edges of the letters.


One last tip if you want to photograph the lights, turn your camera to manual if you can. The photo above was taken on automatic. The little lights are on but the exposure kills them. After stumbling across this tutorial on Pinterest I was inspired to really play around with the 'correct' exposure - overexposing to make the lights glow. The shot that made it onto the Christmas card was taken at f/4, 1/40, ISO1600.

Having triumphed as a Christmas card prop the Noël mini marquee sign spent the rest of the holidays decorating the mantlepiece of our dining room fireplace. Also the home of another of my crazy last minute Christmas crafting endeavours. A new stocking for Florence. Sometime around Christmas Eve a year ago I remembered that she didn't have a stocking like the big girls and quickly stitched together something for her. When I got it out again this year it looked decidedly wonky so on Christmas Eve I just had to make her a better one.


I made it using this Purl Bee tutorial and some Liberty and linen from my stash. It was a tough choice between these fabrics and some Anna Maria Horner velveteen, but in the end the deep red Liberty and French linen won. Bought for two completely different projects, these fabrics were meant to be together. The colours match perfectly and they feel delicious. Instead of hemming the cuff, I left the selvedge on the linen to give a fluffy cozy feel and this time I'm happy with how the stocking turned out.

Of course, Florence was much more interested in the treats she found inside on Christmas morning, but I think hanging it every year will be a nice memory of our time in France.


Another memory I'm already looking forward to unpacking next year is this red clay angel. Florence made it for us at her French Halte Garderie and it perfectly matches my treasured collection of clay angels that all the other girls made while they were in pre-school in California. We have another crafter in the family and the glitter all over the floor to prove it!

Remember, Remember all of November

Well hello again! Where did November go? It's been a busy month with not much time for writing or photographing and certainly no time for editing. A month when I forgot I had photos like this on my camera card. I thought you'd like to see it along with a few more snapshots from a November that's been and gone.


This is what I was doing on November 1st! More on that to follow, I promise, along with lots more about our trip to the lovely Luberon.


We stayed here.


Visited old towns and castles every day.

And it was gorgeous.

By the time we got back the last colours of autumn were glowing in our street. The leaves are all gone now and yesterday we got a dusting of snow.


My niece came to visit with my sister and beau frère. Florence was just as enthralled by 'baby' as the last time they met and was thrilled to be the big girl for the weekend.

India went to an out of this world Bar Mitvah where her twelve year old friend wore Dior. Only in Paris! India rocked it in an old H&M dress that we pulled out of the dress up box at the last minute and I did her hair just the way she wanted it.

Here's the how to if you ever need to detract from a Dior deficiency!


I visited the Army Museum and Napoleon's tomb in Les Invalides with my tour group. So much more interesting than I would ever have thought. I would definitely recommend it and don't miss the Musée des Plans-Reliefs in the attic. One of Paris' hidden treasures.


Our family of British Passport holders hosted Thanksgiving dinner for two American expat families spending their first Thanksgiving abroad.


Thanks to Picard frozen pumpkin and my favourite recipe the Pumpkin Pie was a success...


and perfectly decorated by Savannah.


Florence was in charge of table decorations. She was absorbed in this activity to wash the oak leaves I had picked up on the street for ages.


They looked just right on the table with the chestnuts from the trees in our own garden.


We set our table for fourteen for the first time ever...


and put hardly a dent in the 10kg turkey!


We are so thankful to have been able to share this Holiday with new friends who already feel like old friends.


When I wasn't busy with all that I was sewing, sewing, sewing in preparation for my first ever craft fair on December 1st. I am pleased to report that it was a fantastic experience which I will tell you all about soon.

Les artistes

Well, the one shelf of Halloween candy in our local Super U has already been replaced by two aisles of Christmas chocolates but I promised you a costume round-up so here it is.

First up Florence who was a little French Artist.
I was inspired to make this costume after I posted the pictures of the mess she had made with a permanent marker on our bedsheet. The act of putting that first picture up on the blog actually made me quite fond of her artistic efforts so I decided that as there was no hope of ever budging the marker from the sheet I might as well cut it up and preserve her art in a Halloween costume.

I used the art smock pattern from Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson and just like any Oliver + S pattern, it is a joy to sew, which is just as well considering I didn't start cutting it out until 10pm the night before the party!

Even though I had only left myself a few hours to get this costume put together, I still couldn't stop myself using french seams like the pattern recommends. When in France...


Or changing threads numerous times to match my contrasting fabrics. For, the record, I decided by the end that using the thread colour of the dominant fabric (cream in this case) would have been best from the start. If I ever make another one that's what I will do.


As I progressed with the project I could tell it was going to be something Florence would get use out of way after Halloween so I decided it was worth putting the extra effort in to make sure it holds together through numerous washes. Totally worth staying up past midnight to making contrasting bias binding that you can't see from the right side!

For such a simple looking design this pattern is full of clever tricks to make it come together neatly. I particularly liked the way the neck elastic and binding are sewn under the center back facing. A neat, time saving trick. Didn't quite get it right, the binding should have been tucked under the facing before I edge stitched it, but by this time I needed it done and out the door!

And while I'm confessing to mistakes, here's a biggie that will bother no one but me. I wanted the 'original design' to be centered at the back, but I got confused about what were side seams and what were center back seams so I cut it wrong. Maybe I will learn my lesson in future and cut out patterns in the morning when I'm a bit more awake and I can see what I'm doing?

Once the smock was all sewn up, I dug out the beret from last year's Christmas photo and a couple of paintbrushes and she was good to go. I love the finished result and so does Florence. It was an easy costume for her to wear and she actually likes wearing that hat. The thread count was so high on that particular bed sheet that the sewing machine needle could barely punch through it so I'm hopeful this smock will repel all sorts of paint and marker activities for several years to come.


What's left of the bedsheet has a new life as a drop sheet, and was perfect for protecting the floor while Georgia and Savannah added their own artistic flair to their Halloween costumes. Whilst browsing the racks at Claire's Accessories a few weeks ago, they were inspired to turn themselves into 80s girls for Halloween. We picked up a couple of neon tutus (which I could have made myself had I had any neon tulle or time!) and some neon fishnet gloves (surely can only be made in China?!) and then bought a plain white t-shirt from the sale rack in H&M.


We thought decorating the t-shirt with bright paint splatters would add the perfect 80s touch whilst keeping a bit of the handmade that has been traditional in the girls' costumes ever since I made flower bonnets (to match India's flower fairy costume) when they were six weeks old.


We used some acrylic paint that I've had in the craft drawer for years, and which I know from bitter experience doesn't wash off clothes once it dries! The girls splatted the paint over the front of the t-shirts and matched the colours to their tutus.


It took a bit of practice to get just the right splattering technique, but the end result was just the effect we were looking for.


When the girls were all little, Halloween photo shoots were a big deal and would often result in the best photo I took of them all year. These days, I am lucky to get one photo of them in costume as they dash off down the street and this is the best I have of Savannah but I think you can see that she captured the look not to mention the excitement of the day.

Georgia glowing in the dark. It took some convincing to persuade her that the tulle headband was authentic. That was a last minute hairstyle addition and it was only as I was tying it on for her that I remembered it should really have been lace. How could I forget? My one small act of rebellion at school when I was her age was flouting school uniform rules by wearing lace ribbons instead of the regulation grosgrain ones!

And last but not least... India who started off the day with her friends as a Disney Princess of which there is no photographic evidence, but went trick or treating with them as a colour. She was white - all pulled together from her own wardrobe but sporting the white go-go boots that have featured in all three big girls' Halloween costumes over the past few years.

So there you have it. For some reason, Halloween is the one time I seem to be able to make time to sew for all the girls at once. This year it was fun to have all of them participate in the making. I wonder what we will come up with next year?

Avant Après

So, it seems the sewing blog I thought I would always start one day has turned into a travel blog recently, but there has actually been quite a lot of sewing going on here behind the scenes. I just have a hard time finding time to sew and then blog about it and feed my kids and get the laundry done and call Darty to come out and fix the dryer the day before we're supposed to leave for a trip with no clean dry clothes...you know how it goes!

I have so many sewing projects I want to share, but I'll start with a quick and easy no sew one inspired by my recent trip to Montpellier and the lovely mercerie I saw there that was so cruelly closed on a Sunday.

I took this frustratingly blurry photograph through the window as a reminder of a cute idea that I might try myself one day. I showed my 'Dutch' friend Brooks the picture when she was staying with us last week and she suggested it would be fun to try something similar with the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower key rings you find on sale at every street corner in Paris.

An unexpected trip into the city gave me the opportunity to pick one up so when I got home I set to trying to recreate what I saw in Montpellier. A quick rummage through my Liberty scrap bag and I came up with this. Four half inch by twelve inch strips of fabric knotted over the key ring and individually tied at the ends. Brooks took this one back to Holland with her - it matches her cushion - and now I'm itching to make more.

The girls have a week off school next week and after that I'm really going to have to get sewing as I just agreed to host a booth at our school's Holiday Bazaar in December selling Eiffel Tower cushions and other knick knacks that I have been designing over the last few months. Quite a scary prospect, but something I've always wanted to try so wish me luck.

I have to come up with a name for this endeavour. I wish I had thought of Avant Après first. My best idea so far is Six Berries. A play on our family name I like that the word 'six' is the same in English and French. What do you think? A free key ring to anyone who comes up with a better name!!

Goodies and giveaways

It's the first day of the big girls' school holidays, but Florence still has another week at Halte Garderie, so today we took advantage of the fact that we could whizz into the city without her to visit the Marais district of Paris. The girls wanted to pick up some souvenirs for their California friends and I wanted to pay a visit to Entrée des Fournisseurs.


This is a fabric and notions store to rival the famed Purl Soho with the advantage that it's practically on my doorstep! Tucked away in a courtyard off rue des Francs Bourgeois it is filled with ribbons and buttons and craft books galore and oozing vintage charm.

I didn't dare break the no photography rule so you'll have to take my word for it.
I did sneak a quick iphone pic through the door though. The clothes so charmingly displayed up there are the actual samples from my favourite Citronille pattern book, the one I used to make Florence's birthday outfit. Once again, I am star struck by fabric creations - hopeless case!


I was very restrained and only came out with three half yards of Liberty to add to my ever growing stash. There are more Paris cushions in the works, the first of which will go to my Blogiversary giveaway winner. I hadn't forgotten!


My human random name generator picked...


...Genie of Paris and Beyond. This is perfect because when we met in March, Genie kindly gave me a lovely necklace that she had made and I gave her a Super U shopping bag (albeit with a cool Paris design!). Congratulations, Genie! I'll be in touch to work on your design with you.