Don't you love chocolates......

Most of, if not all, of us ladies have to admit to loving chocolate.  Now wouldn't you just love to receive a box of chocolates like this.....

 A gorgeous Parisien 1920's chocolate box.......

The chocolates had long gone, so it's back to the Cadbury's Roses and a cup of tea for me.  The box isn't quite so beautiful though.
Nickyx

Been very busy working on the barn......

Hi everyone.  We have been spending every minute working on the barn, hence I haven't been blogging much lately.  things are progressing, but it does take a long time when you are doing it yourselves as well as earning a living.  We are starting to paint the woodwork.  Things here have evolved in an organic way, we have used a lot of reclaimed timber which was in the barn before as we really wanted to keep a rustic country feel.

 The stairs you can see are temporary and we are looking for an old staircase we can alter to fit in.  You can see the back of the sofa, the floor level of the lounge area is raised and there will be railings like the ones you can see painted white at the top of the stairs running along the edge of this level, which break where the two steps are to walk up onto it.  We have just built a cupboard in under the stair area.....

 The main posts were old beams which were here and we have kept the old cowstalls as well, you can just see the edge of these to the right of the above picture.  You can just see the edge of the (temporary) stairs in this picture, these are to be changed so you have a small landing and then the stairs will come down to enable you to walk under them.

I hope you are getting the idea....  I will show you some more later.  I have to go now as I am waiting for the man to come to empty our (english) neighbour's fosse - I am going to translate.

Take care and enjoy your weekend.
Nickyx

Hi, sorry for the break in activity.... mum's been staying... cat disappeared....

Hi ladies, hope this finds you all well.  I've had my mum to stay for a week's holiday.  The weather was lovely, thankfully, so we spent a fair bit of time just sitting in the garden, drinking tea, eating cake, those little pleasures we girls like to pass our time with.  We'd pop into town have a wander around the shops, pick Holly up from school, but generally it was fairly low key and relaxed.  It was her 78th birthday (sshhh don't tell I told you all) while she was with us, so we went to Hautefort.  Unfortunately it had to choose that day to be grey and drizzly, but nonetheless we had a very pleasant walk around a very pretty little town with this huge chateau at it's centre.

We then drove back nearer to home and went to lunch in our favourite restaurant where the food is as brilliant at lunchtime as it is in the evening.  Always lovely white damask tablecloths, silver plated cutlery and a lady who sweeps the crumbs off the table between each course.  Mum isn't such a big eater, but she ate all her starter, terrine with crusty bread and salad, main course, filet of fish in beautiful citrus sauce with fresh tagliatelle and beautifully prepared little vegetables, then pudding too, tarte aux pommes on a lovely thin layer of flakey pastry and carefully sliced apples.

The little silk brocade screen above I bought very recently, a little shabby chic but still gorgeous.

This beautiful shell button with a very elegant lady in the centre, just the one unfortunately, but I couldn't leave it behind could I??

Then there was this toleware crumb tray and matching brush, all from the same little shop - lucky me.

Mum has gone to stay with my sister now and returns home to the UK tomorrow.  Even when you're 45 you still miss your mum when she goes home don't you?

Enjoy your weekend.
Nickyx

A lot has happened in the last week.....

Hello Ladies, I haven't been in blogland for the last week really. Been very pre-occupied with the new addition to the family.  I'd like to introduce you to Lily.  (Please excuse the litter tray in the background - it is clean - she had to be kept in for a few days because she was poorly).

As you can see she is rather cute.  So affectionate when she is in her bed, when she is outside though she seems to be a serious hunter, very aloof, you're obviously not a cool cat if you go up for a scratch behind the ear when you're meant to be on mouse duty....

You can spend a lot of time though, just popping to make sure she is ok.

Last Thursday Holly went to College (1st day) (our equivalent to secondary school).  I was more nervous than she was when we were standing in the playground waiting for the classes to be called out, we had to be there at 7.50am for an 8am start.  My two friends and I had to go for a coffee afterwards to calm our nerves.  It all went well and Holly came home happy and I'm sure a little more grown up (not possible probably, but you know what we mums are like).  

Monday was the next landmark day, 1st day on the school bus.  Up early, pick up 7.25am.  Home on the school bus too, so she got in at 6pm, lessons finish at 5.20pm.  A long day for my little girl (not so little really).   But she is handling it well and enjoying it too.

In between all these exciting events, I've been trying to buy the odd bit.  Found this sweet little box the other day, so pretty, all covered in shells and a little velvet pad, looked as though some very chic french lady had been keeping her hat pins in it.

Then I found this gorgeous quilt (boutis), not really old, but so very pretty I couldn't leave it behind....

 

With shabby chic roses, cornflowers and sweet peas.  Then there was the shabby chic roses picture to go with it.....

This is very pretty and painted on board too in it's painted frame - very country chic!

I've been house cleaning too, that's in between the sanding down that has been going on in the bathroom.  Mr. W. has been sanding down the the plasterboard joints so we can get some undercoat on it.  I can't wait until I can start decorating, a bit more to do in there yet though.


Mum arrives tomorrow from the UK, so that'll be nice as I haven't seen her for a few months.  So next week I'm going to be really busy what with cat supervision as well.


I hope you all have a great weekend, hopefully it looks as though the sun is going to shine on us.
Take care.
Nickyx

More of St Nectaire.....

I thought I'd show you this lovely little tray which I bought during my stay.  I just loved the crackly paint and those pretty handpainted roses.

Unfortunately at some point while taking the photos, the slidey thing was moved so the last half of the photos were taken on the largest size possible, which means they take ages and ages to load, well they probably never would load, onto my blog.

All I can say is the mountain scenery was breath taking, we even went up to the top in a cable car and it was like being on top of the world.

Then there were these gorgeous machine tapestry curtains with passementerie trimmed edges and peachy silk tie backs.  I was pleased to see these piled up on the floor in front of someone's stand.

A good length of unused metis fabric in a lovely soft cream, ideal for someone with an upholstery project in mind.

Also we have a new member of the family, a little grey tabby cat which Holly and I found on the road not far from the house last Wednesday, she has been at the vets for the last week and after much discussion and deliberation we have given her a new home.  She is very cute and I will take a photo of her when she is a little less nervous.  She looks a thousand times better than when we found her, so thin and covered in ticks and I don't know what else.

Must go now, been asked to make cups of tea for himself, and as he spent ages today making a special bed for the pussycat I'd better whiz off.  I'm being extra nice as he wasn't as keen as Holly and I.

Enjoy your evening.
Take care.
Nickyx

Last weekend in St Nectaire....

Last weekend we went to St Nectaire, there was a Folk Art and Antique Fair going on and some friends were stalling out.  A beautiful part of France with stunning scenery.  This was when we arrived on the Friday afternoon and some of the stallholders were just starting to set up.

Sat morning we got up early to be down in the village for 7am when the fair opened.  It was a very hot weekend.  We had a look around the fair, very interesting, bought a couple of things and then went on to the next town where there was a brocante.

This was part of the old town, very pretty....

An antique shop in one little street all closed up......

I liked this door in the palest of dove greys with it's decorative metalwork....

I am going to have to share the rest of our visit with you later, as I am having trouble loading the other photos.
Watch this space, enjoy your Saturday.
Nickyx

The two chairs no-one is allowed to sit on.....

Inspired after reading a post on 'Pink Roses' I thought I'd share with you pictures of the two chairs which sit either side of the buffet.  Beautiful old handpainted chairs, which we are not allowed to sit on, purely to look at and love.

Enjoy your evening.
Nickyx

A beautiful handmade silk blouse........

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I bought this beautiful handmade blouse at a brocante at the weekend.  It is so delicate with embroidered lace panels, pin pleats, handstitched seams and little button loops.  So much work.

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We visited the beautiful Puy-de-Dome area for the weekend, the scenery was stunning and the weather so hot.  I've taken lots of photos, but need to organise them a bit before I share them with you here.

Oh by the way, one of the ducks has started laying eggs, much to Holly's delight we've had one a day for the last four days.  The chickens are still thinking about it though.  I thought 'Honey'  the chicken was going to the day before yesterday, she was walking around all day like she didn't know what to do with herself, in of their house, out of it, in their baskets, out of them, but nothing happened.  Maybe soon...

Enjoy your day today and take care.
Nickyx

Lovely Blue and White Plates....

These are my lovely blue and white 'Asiatic Pheasant' plates I bought from Julie @ www.theclothshed.blogspot.com.  I was so pleased with them,  I like odd plates, particularly blue and white so was very pleased when Julie had these.

 I haven't used them yet though, I think I shall have to get a huge slice of chocolate cake to try them.

Enjoy the rest of your day.
Nickyx

A very bad blogger!!!!

Hi Ladies, just a note to say je suis très désolée (very sorry) I have't been in blogland for a week or so.  Been very busy here, had my eldest home for a week, which was nice, before he left again to go away with his girlfriend to the coast.  We've had early mornings at the vide greniers and bought lots of goodies which I will share with you, amongst which was a lovely paisley shawl, a stockman mannequin and other bits and bobs.

We've been shopping for school books for my daughter, who starts at Secondary School in
September, so we have a looong list of books, papers etc we have to get for her - managed to make a start on that yesterday - hoorah!!!   Another two weeks and she will be starting - getting the bus at 7.30am, school starts and 8am and finishes 5.30pm.  A long day - I think she'll be pretty tired in the first few weeks.

We're going away for long weekend on Friday morning, into the Puy-de-Dome where I've never visited, very pretty and quite mountainey (not sure if that's a proper word), so I'll take some photos to share with you.

I'm off to do some work now, the chateau above is very pretty, we had a pic-nic here on Sunday after the vide grenier.


Enjoy your day and take care.
Nickyx

Just wanted to share.........

this beautiful boudoir cushion I found at the weekend.  So pretty with it's hand painted basket and skillfully embroidered flowers.
Enjoy your evening.
Nickyx

A day out in the Dordogne....

Today with some family visiting from the uk we went into the Dordogne for the day to a beautiful town called Brantome.

 We walked along the bank on the far side (you can see the restaurant brollies) across a bridge and back along this side of the river, admiring the lovely flowers....

we walked back through the park and across the bridge you can see here, this is the back of Holly looking across the river, we were watching people in canoes......

The large building on the right of the picture is the old Abbey.  We had some lunch in one of the numerous restaurants.....

This old bicycle was outside the front door.   We did some window shopping - well who wouldn't?.... We ended the day with an hour's canoe trip on the river.  It was great fun, especially coming over the weir, there's a knack to it otherwise you end up stuck on the top.  We all got very wet, but the sun was shining, the children had a great time all to be topped off with a very welcome and very yummy ice cream.

I'm shattered and off to bed now, but before I go......

It's really worth a visit if you're in the area.  The white building with the blue shutters is a very nice and rather expensive hotel on the riverside.
Take care and goodnight.
Nickyx

 

One of my weekend finds.....

I thought I'd share a picture of this lovely little chest of drawers I found at the weekend, it has pretty painted floral panels on the sides and the top as well as little flowers around the handles.  I was so pleased when I spotted this on a stall at the brocante.
I'd quite like to keep it, but it is probably destined for ebay...
Enjoy your evening.
Nickyx

Swallows, swallows and more swallows.......

What a lovely early morning greeting.  Can you see all the little black dots on the lines, these are the swallows sitting outside our house this morning, I took this picture looking out of our bedroom window.  I counted 70 and then gave up.

We have them every year.  Enjoy your day.
Nickyx

Oh So Elegant 1920's fashion.....

I bought this old Paris Fashion magazine at the weekend.  I just loved the pictures of all the elegant ladies in their gorgeous creations....

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I don't know how you feel about this period in time, but I just love it, all those scrumptious fabrics and stunning designs......

Even the lingerie was trés chic.... what do you think?
I don't know whether to frame some of these pages, it seems such a shame to take the magazine apart. 
Enjoy your weekend.
Nickyx

Shabby Chic Flower Fabric....

I found this gorgeous piece of cotton fabric the other day.  With it's lovely soft pink background and pretty red and white flowers I just thought it was so pretty.

A pretty piece of fabric always makes me smile....

Nickyx

Two little dicky birds sitting in a wall......'or at least they should be....'

We have two little birds who nest every year in the wall of our pigsty (now laundry).  These two little sweety pies have been up to nothing but mischief over the last couple of days.  They are sooooo greedy and get so close to the outside edge that they keep falling out of their hole.  The trouble is they're not yet quite strong enough to fly.  So 'N' has to keep donning some gloves to put them back in, so that something doesn't get to them, i.e duck, chicken or other larger bird of prey.

Four times yesterday, it got to the point we were all on tenderhooks and kept checking every time we stepped outside the door.

Why is she showing us a picture of the wall you might be asking yourself, well I thought some of you many be interested in the finer points of stone masonary in the Limousin.... no, this is the little hole where these little sweeties kept falling from (virtually centre of picture).

Nickyx

Lots of Sun and Vintage Treasures....

We have had a lovely weekend, lots of lovely sun, time spent with friends and hunting for treasures too, what more could a girl want.  We had some friends over for a BBQ on Friday evening which was fun, with lots of chat a lovely bottle of wine from the vinyard of a friend of the friends who came, very drinkable if you know what I mean.  Lots of chat mostly about antiques between the men (both being antique dealers) and food, gardens and the children and brocanting between us girls.

The next moring we were up early, very normal for our weekends in the summer months.  We drove to a lovely town about 1hr away which sits on a hill with a chateau and lots of little streets full of people with stands full of things to sell.  No at this point I must apologise, I had the camera in my bag but with all the excitement and concentration too I totally forgot to get any photos to share with you.  We parked the car and walked up to a square where the streets then led off  like the legs of spider.  Quite narrow streets, with tall stone houses with painted shutters in lots of lovely colours and pots of flowers outside.  It was quite a workout really, you'd wander down these little streets totally engrossed in the contents of the stalls and then you'd get to the bottom and have to climb to the top again. 

 I had a rather good weekend, I found some lovely things, lengths of fabric, a large piece of beige and cream mattress ticking, some rather retro floral fabric in greys and pinks, some shabby chic little rosebuds with a blue stripe running inbetween, a small tablecloth hand hemmed around the edge in a liberty style paisley, a blue and cream ticking stripe large cushion cover with little tape ties and a length of pale blue and white toile de jouy.  A lovely old linen smock with cotton 3/4 sleeves, drawstring round the neckline and little MW monogram in red cross stitch at the centre front of the neck. Just scrumptious...

There is some lovely old passementerie trim a 3m length and a 4m length.  A lovely wide embroidered silk band with a black background with cornflowers and poppies embroidered down it's length, would look gorgeous down the side of some plain curtains maybe.  Then there was a pair of gilt metal curtain tie backs.

Whilst in the middle of all this buying my (BBQ) friend came up to me and asked if I had a large spare bag she could borrow as she was walking down to the bottom to collect something she had bought earlier and she was a little embarrassed to carry it up the hill again.  I only had bag I was using,  she said if I waited at the bar she'd show me and we'd have a coffee.  Her other half was already there waiting and she arrived and out of a black bin bag appeared a very cute nightdress case in the shape of a poodle sitting down, he was papier maché and covered with curly sheeps wool.  Very well made and with a very cute face and a slightly nodding head.  I don't know why she was embarrassed he was rather cute after all and her other half carried him back to their car proudly under his arm. 

 Sunday we were up again and off to one locally.  Set in the park of the small village chateau, it was great to have the shade of the trees on  such a hot day.  A couple of friends were selling there too, so Holly decided to stay with them and help while we went off to visit a couple of other vide greniers in the area.  We arrived back at lunchtime to find them all sitting round on garden chairs with a plate of chocolate cake in the centre.  We arrived just at the right time.  Very yummy chocolate brownies I must say.  It's a good job I do a fair bit of walking on weekends what with chocolate croissants and chocolate brownies this doesn't bode well for the figure....

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The two pierced metal vintage shades with their shabby chic paint finishes I thought would look great in a vintage kitchen and I just thought the little yellow painted hooks were adorable and couldn't leave those behind.


So all in all a good weekend, lots of walking, lots of wine and chocolate and time with friends.  Oh, and we managed to get Holly a racing bike in excellent condition at one of the V/G's so she was thrilled too.


Hope you all had a great weekend too, take care.
Nickyx