Ripe For The Picking

Dearest readers,

Do you find that sometimes putting words to pictures can be superfluous?

I could tell you that during one of those legendary l-o-n-g May public holidays here in France we turned our noses up at the unrelenting rain and went strawberry picking here.

I could also write that, contrary to the advice of Christene Ferber - France's lovingly nicknamed 'Fée des Confitures' ('Jam Fairy') - in this inspiring jam-making book, gathering strawberries on a late rainy afternoon did not noticeably taint their glorious taste, texture, or scent.

I would also be tempted to add that during our ensuing Jam Making Session Angélique 'helped' whereas eight-year old Tristan truly HELPED. (The zeal and care with which my son stirred those strawberries, sugar, and  lemon juice for almost half an hour contributed to our jam success, I am sure.)

I do believe, however, these pictures speak for themselves.

Of course with this strawberry jam came some happy inspiration.  You do know what's coming now, don't you? ;-)

Mademoiselle Fraises

showing a bit of leg...

and surprisingly not afraid of heights for a strawberry ground-hugging plant, I might add.

And her more timid and sweet-natured friend Mademoiselle Fruits Rouges...

whose ankles and ears are adorned with redcurrants, cherries, and strawberries, of course.

They have both been created for that delectable shop "La Maison d'Annie" mentioned in my previous post.  Both are ripe for the picking on this sunny day in May perched in our Elder Tree looking across at the nearby cherry tree urging its green cherries to ripen and enjoying the enthusiastic and repetitive song of our local cuckoo. Both will also be ripe for the picking if you are interested when I open my Etsy shop in the next few days. You have no idea how touched I was by your generous and enthusiastic comments on my last post.  Your presence here makes a world of difference.  I am so very, very grateful to you all.  Thank you.

 First, I am taking some time out from this rich and hectic period of theatre, dance, guitar rehearsals and music exams by taking a weekend trip to England. I am overjoyed at the thought of seeing my wonderful parents in Tunbridge Wells. I will be at Loop Knitting in London to meet - and I am very excited about this - Cécile Franconie who will be running an embroidered button workshop. I hugely admire her creative talent and am in awe of her eye for colour. Will anyone else be there? 

I will leave you with a parting glance from our two latest residents.

Actually forget the rabbits.   Gaspard is infinitely more charming!  And so, my friends, I will leave him with the last word for today.

'Take me for a walk through the vineyards.  Now.'

A bientôt,

Stephanie

ps If you have noticed any clumsy Frenchisms in my written English I would be grateful if you could let me know.  I need to cross the Channel more often to keep my English alive!

Bells Are The Best Birthday Gift

Hello wonderful readers on this post election day in France,

As our eldest daughter, Héloïse, turned sixteen on the last day of April, we celebrated the occasion with an Easter revival in between spectacular downpours of the most stubborn kind. 

Gracefully teetering between childhood and becoming an amazing young adult Héloïse seemed happy to participate in our second Easter egg hunt this season.  There is something to be said about celebrating such rituals when you feel like doing so, don't you think? 

And how about a birthday present hunt? 

First, the essential gift for my dancing daughter.

The next present will, I believe, GRAB your attention.  Are you ready?

The lilac is pretty enough but look at those silver bells.  They are exquisite, don't you think?  They are, of course, the beautiful work of the very talented Emma of Silverpebble.  A few weeks ago, when the weather was sunny for days on end, Héloïse and I were chatting about symbolism and I asked her which object she would choose to symbolise her birthday.  Perhaps eggs and daffodils, she thought, and then her answer rang clearly: bells!

Of course I knew Emma would transform this symbol into the perfect birthday necklace for a sweet sixteen year old.  It was such a pleasure to work with her.  She was quick, offered suggestions - church bells or sleigh bells? -  and kept me updated on her progress with mini videos of the bells tinkling.  Oh how those two adorable bells chime delightfully!  I need never worry about losing my daughter ever again ;-) 

Thank you so much Emma!  I cannot wait to commission another silver beauty from you!

Of course Héloïse's birthday inspired me to make something too. Something festive in theme and inspired by these colours:

This picture is taken from an amazing French book, compiled by three talented artists - Christine Ferber, Philippe Model and Bernhard Winkelmann - in which recipes have been concocted for Alice in Wonderland.  Its title is Merveilles, délicieuses recettes au pays d'Alice and you can find it here or here.  I will come back to this book in the near future.

Here is Mademoiselle Confetti, a sweet natured, party loving spring creature with a passion for cakes:

"Another rabbit?'', you kindly remark.  Yes, ANOTHER rabbit to mark a rather exciting moment.  Annie Joliveau, the owner of La Maison d'Annie, a beautiful shop, situated in an old house on the banks of the river Cisse in Vouvray, has commissioned me to create ten items for her boutique.  I am so excited!  Decisions have been made over the past couple of weeks during which I have suffered NO migraines.  I was so touched by your kindness and valuable advice following my last post and I taken heed of every single word you wrote.  My role as a mother is precious to me and needs to take precedence.  Angélique will be going to a lovely childminder one day a week.  This will not be a big transformation in her life but it will grant me a few hours to work on such commissions.  Madame De Saint Venant has also asked me to participate in a garden and crafts fair at Valmer Château in October.  You may recall I wrote an article about her sixteenth-century kitchen gardens last year?   She is a extraordinary lady and we have stayed in contact.

I am also thinking about opening an Etsy shop.  Very timidly I ask you; do you think there would be any takers for custommade rabbits?  I ought to reassure you that there won't be just rabbits.  Phew, you sigh! Your input on this matter will be very much appreciated!

So Happy Birthday, Héloïse.  May the next year bring you the dreams you deserve.

If any of you have a minute to spare and you fancy brushing up on your French skills, please take a quick look at her blog.  This little artist of mine has just drawn some thank you cards and I think they deserve a peek.  There's even a picture of Gaspard our puppy!

Thank you so much for being wonderful and kind and a warm welcome to my new followers.

A bientôt,

Stephanie

Waving Goodbye To The Daffodils

Dear readers,

The dazzling flash of yellow forsythias, which offer a splash of fleeting colour after a hard winter, fade and drop in March hedges barely fulfilling our craving for a fix of colour.  Usually daffodils bring the next cloud of bright sunshine-yellow much to the delight of all spring revellers.  This April sadly I have not seen them. While walking in and around our village I could say truthfully my eyes have been drawn upwards to marvel at the countless orchard trees in blossom.  I should also write that my eyes and thoughts have been turned inwards searching for solutions.  I have reached the conclusion that I cannot be a full-time mother and continue to work on the growing list of 'to be made to commission' and 'to be written by a deadline' items after dark when my children are asleep. My body has been sending me cleverly crafted signals which have stopped me dead in my tracks: migraines!  Oh, the migraines I have had! It's hard to find solutions when your head hurts, your children cheerfully chatter, your puppy makes that face again and your dreams are waiting in the wings to be made real.  For an impatient, easily inflamed soul like me the answers need to snap into place quick sharp; no dawdling, please.  We all know however that solutions and answers will only come in their own sweet time.  And so I bide my time and learn the art of patience.

The best remedy of course it to walk and gather inspiration from Mother Nature. Fortunately I have found the vivid yellows and greens of daffodils in other splendid forms. The lichen-covered vines are bursting forth.

Primroses are abundant in the undergrowth flanking the vineyards.

And rows upon rows of tulips sway like balloons in the breeze in this hillside garden lovingly tended by the deceased owner's daughter.

I had the joy of re-reading Anna Parkinson's wonderful book Nature's Alchemist: John Parkinson, Herbalist To Charles I, recently.  John Parkinson was, in my opinion, patience personified.  His lifelong passion for plants was intimately bound up with the struggles of faith during the turbulent early seventeenth century.  Despite his regular presence at the court of Charles I and his central London apothecary he kept a low profile, being a Catholic, quietly growing an extraordinary range of flowers for delight and pleasure in his garden in Covent Garden.  He carefully recorded them all and had them engraved for his exquisite book Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, first published in 1629.

John Parkinson's daffodil (no. 8) and those of his friends, illustration from Paradisus, 1629, taken from Anna Parkinson's book.

The most startling feature of John Parkinson's book, to quote, Anna Parkinson, "was that it was the first English book about plants to be devoted above all to their beauty".  He believed that one could create a paradise in the tiny enclave gardens to be found in the crowded city that London had become.  John also called this book his 'feminine' work, thinking of the gentlewomen among his clients for gynaecological remedies and beautiful plants who shared his love of flowers.  Anna Parkinson writes: "He often wrote about women's speech, their desires and their needs.  John's garden released feminine aspects of himself in which he revelled, such as his mircroscopic reverence for colour and detail. [...] When he recommended bulbs to his readers, he gave advice on how to care for them because 'I do wish all Gentlemen and Gentlewomen... to bee as careful whom they trust with the planting and replanting of these fine flowers as they would be with so many Jewels'.  Bulbs were expensive, especially tulip bulbs from Amsterdam, but for John these flowers were more precious than their mercenary value.  Working with his plants with the care and devotion that gentlewomen applied to their needlework, John wanted to show that nature could offer an equally satisfying result.".

The link made by John Parkinson between flowers and women's needlework fascinates me.  We all know how gardens lend themselves to a variety of art forms.  I am particularly drawn to how gardens may be transformed into bodily apparel.  The picture above of Daffy-Down-Dilly, taken from Salley Mavor's exquisite Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes and the garden inspired painting below by the artist Jess of Purpletreebird are both examples of what make me tick. 

As a tribute to those much loved and unseen daffodils and to ease my solution-finding mind I have knitted two cardigans using Rowan Tweed DK in Avocado Green and Rowan Fine Flecked Tweed in Leyburn Yellow.

One small,

One big.

One was knitted up in the blink of an eye whilst eating date and wholemeal scones and drinking Chai with my children.

The other required patience!  The Knitting Gods were laughing at my knitting zeal for halfway through my first effort I came to the sorry conclusion that - and you too will laugh - my tension was wrong!  Quick as a flash with a heavy sigh I switched from 3mm to 3.5mm needles and started all over again.  I could paint a poetic image here.  True, I spent a lot of time knitting this cardigan under apple trees in blossom over Easter but many hours were also spent fumbling through a haze of aching headaches.

Nevermind.  'Tis done now!

The human-sized cardigan is Orianna Eklund's Daffodil, which is a beautifully easy pattern to follow. The little folk sized cardigan is Claire Garland's doll clothes pattern conceived for her knitted Easter hare. If you aren't familiar with her enchanting blog dotpebbles to take a peek.

I leave you with a photograph of my constant companion's, Angélique's, helping hand. 

Thank you so much for patiently waiting for my return and your kind, kind words about my rabbits in the previous post.  I have been surprised and excited to see how in real life they seem to be in demand.  More on that later.

A bientôt,

Stephanie

Spring Introductions

Dear readers,

I am full of joy to be here with you today on this glorious day.

Please indulge my childlike enthusiasm here. 

I have succumbed to spring folly.  Whilst March is usually the month of hares I have been busy dreaming about rabbits.

Let me introduce you to:

Mademoiselle Potager,

Mademoiselle Myosotis (Forget Me Not),

Mademoiselle Viola,

and finally, Mademoiselle Jardin anglais and Mademoiselle Primavera.

These two have become good friends.

I started making these five -and it has been such a pleasure - a few weeks ago for a very special couple - Sylvie and Xavier - who have brought happiness into our family's life.  When we first arrived in Touraine in July 2009 I spent a year wandering like a lost soul looking for the perfect resting place.  I found plenty of gardens of course.  What a multitude of Edens there are nestled in the idyllic countryside on both the north and south banks of the Loire river.  (Can you imagine how excited I am that the garden season is soon upon us?  I cannot wait to share some of its magic with you.)  The kind of place I am referring to here  however is a special café or tea room to which you are drawn.  A place with the best quality products, beautiful, comfortable surroundings and warm people.

We found it in June 2010.  A newly built little corner of heaven most aptly built opposite the eleventh-century village church (how did they get planning permission for that, you might ask yourselves) just down the hill from our house.

This is Xavier hanging up the freshly concoted menu for lunch and his wife Sylvie is preparing blinis.

A perfect mix of restaurant, café and grocery shop which is also a space for exhibitions.

Most fortuitous indeed.

Wouldn't you love to come here for a drink and a chat?  I wish you could!  You would immediately understand my fondness for this lovingly crafted place which has become a success over the past two years.

Sylvie (pictured above) asked me if I could create a few rabbits for their shop to bring a bit of spring fever into the place.  A sort of pre-Easter exhibition with a garden theme.  I was delighted and so set to work often late in the evenings after the children were in bed and during quiet moments carved out of our busy lives thanks to Mickaël, my dear, patient husband.  These rabbits of mine are a little strange looking but their long, slender bodies lend themselves well to carefully stitched clothes and a little ornamentation.

There is also a beautiful walled garden arround this sunlit terrace with a large, gnarled apple tree which casts shade on this otherwise hot place in summer.  Sylvie and Xavier are passionate about gardening as well as food and art.  They really are the most wonderful of people.  I thank them both for giving me the chance to make some spring creatures for La Part Belle - which translates roughly into English as "The Best Portion" or "The Choice Slice" - and look forward to spending many, many happy moments in their company.

Thank you all so very, very much for your sweetly worded comments on my last post.  I still feel a need a little more time but I shall be back soonish.  In the meantime I will continue to visit your little corners of pleasure and I am so grateful you take the time to visit me here.

A bientôt,

Stephanie