Espritpatch

  Wishing you good health, peace and happiness for 2024 Céline

  Wishing you a peaceful time for Christmas Céline

  Just when I thought I'd finally have a sewing corner, I walked into the office/craft room on Friday morning to find it had about 1cm of water on the floor... we had heavy rains due to a thunderstorms and it seems that water accumulated under the floor of the room and eventually passed over the brand new laminate flooring that was laid about 3 months ago... 😭 Everything that was still piled on the floor was wet and I must admit there was quite a fair bit that had not going its space yet. So we quickly got all but the furniture out to no out all up and then proceed with our work day. I spent Saturday sorting out through everything to du what needed to be and evaluate the damages...  A few of my sewing supplies were soaked for a while so some ended stained or with colours running sadly... I had all the cut steps for the Gipsy Wife quilt on display Sunday to dry them out and my booklet got completely soaked too... Of course that's meant no other sewing since... thankfully my ma...

  Wishing you all a very happy Christmas! Celine

  In the last couple of weeks, my sewing space has gone through a massive declutter/tidy up. It is not perfect and there are still lots of stuff but I know in my heart this is the tidiest it will ever be!  So I thought it would be perfect time to snap a little picture :-) before I mess it up again.... I am definitely not a tidy quilter! Celine

  For most people in this part of the world, Christmas is different this year. No big family gathering, limited travel to avoid spreading this nasty virus. We would normally be in France visiting family, enjoying shared time together but not this year, we will wait until it is safe to do so. So yes, it is sad in some ways but I feel very grateful for all we have, I feel privileged and lucky as I know many have lost so much this year. Yes we have had some curved balls our way too (losing my job and being infected with Covid-19 comes to mind...) but they have been manageable and we have / are bouncing back. Difficult to know when the situation will improve, difficult to know what the future will be like but for now, let's make the most of what we have, treasure our loved ones and be patient and hopeful that things will get better. Wishing you a lovely Christmas whatever your plans are. Celine

The weather was OK on Sunday, i.e. it didn't rain so we took the opportunity to go on a walk in our local RSPB wood. It is only down the road but I must admit I had only been once! While we were walking, we saw lots of fungi/mushrooms including these beautiful but dangerous ones I remember seeing pictures of those on a poster my mum had from our local chemist warning that it was a dangerous species of mushroom but I had never, until now, seen one in reality. There were so many on our walks and some perfectly picturesque ones. Those cute fly amanita are nonetheless very toxic so we observed them but didn't touch them! It was all the more fitting that I finished my red mushroom for the Super Mario quilt this week. Linking to   Wednesday Wait Loss ,  Midweek Makers Celine

Last week I picked another one of the gorgeous cotton I ordered from Fabworks Mill Shop to make some more hankies. But then the fabric is so gorgeous that I thought I could also squeeze an Ogden cami rather than cut only a collection of squares. With that in mind, I cut out my Ogden cami first. And this time I lengthened it by 2.5'. I had meant to do that before but always forgot.. And I used all the bits left to cut as many hankies as I could. I managed to fit 10 in total, 8 squares at about 8' which I finished with a rolled hem and 2 squares at about 10' which I finished with mitered corners.  And then I added the girl's initial so they have one pile of 5 each I think they were pleased with them. Now I'm not sure which is the right side or the wrong side of my fabric? On one side, the moon, stars etc are white, while on the other side it is more tone on tone. First OPAM for April. Celine

Some useful/helpful sewing this afternoon, I used some scraps of double gaze left over from my Zadie jumpsuit to make some face masks. I used the pattern/tutorial from Bijou Lovely's website . I have made 7 so far and might make more if this becomes useful. This is one OPAM that I, of course, had not planned or envisaged making. Celine

Wishing you all a happy new creative year for 2020! Celine

2018 is gone and we are ready to welcome 2019, hard to think that 20 years ago we were anxiously waiting for millenium! I wish you a very good and healthy year, full of happiness and creativity. Celine

I have been very quiet in the last few weeks as we were away on an adventure to Hong-Kong and China. My best friend moved to Hong-Kong 2 years ago with her family so we planned a trip to visit them. It was such an experience to travel so far with all the family! And we had a fabulous time, we saw loads and did a lot without any incidents. China is such a different place and is so big and populated, it is almost overwhelming at time. Now we are back to the routine, kids are back a school and work has started again! But we have such great memories of an incredible adventure. I am sharing just a few shots below as of course, we took thousands of pictures! Hong-Kong Shanghai Xian Beijing Celine

Another week with hardly any sewing, and this mainly because of work with birthdays added to the mix. And of course, birthdays mean cakes too so I was again in the kitchen making cakes... One black forest cake at the request of the birthday boy, who is growing so fast and another Paddington Bear cake for the party girl! Celine

Lent started early this year and February is a busy month in our house for birthdays. So I have been baking for the birthdays. But I can't say that the baking has taken me away from the sewing, it is more work that has been so busy that I have hardly had time to sit at my machine and sew...  First of all was my middle daughter 9th birthday just before Lent. She went to school with cakes before half-term and then had a party and a "space theme" cakes with cupcakes to give away. And then this week-end is the turn of our youngest, whose official birthday is coming up. She is born on Christmas day so she has an official day in February to celebrate! She is a big Paddington fan so we tried a Paddington cake for her! And of course, there is more to come still. Celine

I wish you a healthy happy New Year. I hope you find lots of love, laughter and happiness along the way. Here's to a creative year with lots of new challenges. Celine

There hasn't been as much sewing as usual/planned/hoped because we have been away for a week, skiing in the French Alps. We have been really blessed on our week off with fantastic weather and good snow. We all went skiing and had a great week away. It was so nice to see the blue sky everyday and the bright white of the snow under the sun. I was planning lots of hand sewing while away but the weather was so good that the temptation of the slopes kept me away from the needles! We've returned nearly a week ago now but this week has been really busy with work but also with a nasty stomach bug that has sent me to bed for a full day. And finally there has been more baking for our little queen "official" birthday. Celine