L’heure du crime...

L’heure du crime

Minuit. Voici l’heure du crime.
Sortant d’une chambre voisine,
Un homme surgit dans le noir.

Il ôte ses souliers,
S’approche de l’armoire
Sur la pointe des pieds
Et saisit un couteau

Dont l’acier luit, bien aiguisé.
Puis, masquant ses yeux de fouine
Avec un pan de son manteau,
Il pénètre dans la cuisine
Et, d’un seul coup, comme un bourreau
Avant que ne crie la victime,
Ouvre le coeur d’un artichaut.

Maurice Carême

This is one of the poems M. had to study a little while ago. We liked it and she reminded me of it when she saw this artichoke lying on the counter.

But it's actually little H. who made me buy the artichoke, intrigued as she was by this beautiful plant (I believe they're beautiful too, especially the ones with a hint of purple in them - need to find one of those). Though a little early still - the artichoke season runs from June till the end of July here - they've recently shown up in our supermarkets and fruit and vegetable stores. I checked before buying to really make sure it was grown locally (well, in France that is) and it was. So, maybe I'm just wrong about the season...

Now I have a (one!) artichoke sitting on my counter waiting to get cooked and chopped up. The problem is I don't know that many recipes using artichokes except for this one (delicious) pasta dish with lots of olive oil, sundried tomatoes and poultry, of which I'm sure the kids won't like it because of the sundried tomatoes in it. So I think I'll just keep it simple for this one and have the kids taste it right after cooking or steaming with a tiny bit of lemon juice...
But I want to be prepared for the next one ending up in our grocery basket, so if you know of any good artichoke recipes feel free to let me know...

Cheers!


Note: I'm working on another tutorial - I have it all worked out in my mind. I just need to find some time to actually get to my sewing machine. I'll keep you posted...

Dames

I had another dental appointment today. Before you start thinking I have bad teeth: I don't - I just needed a couple of old fillings (close to 20 years old, I believe they were) replaced. No major dental works. And the good thing is, I have a great dentist! Very professional, gentle and no endless waiting in her waiting room. But still, I thought I deserved a little reward - the remainder of the laundry from our trip could wait another day. I decided to take (part of) the afternoon off and slipped my camera in my purse.

As the dental office is close to Place Trocadéro I headed back over there after. It's always fun to watch the tourists taking countless pictures and the vendors trying to sell their small replica's of the "Grande Dame". And I must admit that even though I no longer consider myself a tourist, I still like to watch the Eiffel Tower myself (the nicest view according to me of the Eiffel Tower, you actually get when you cross the Seine on metro line 6 between the Bir Hakeim and Passy stations - gorgeous!).

No "manifs" today on Trocadéro, and more vendors than tourists near "La Grande Dame" it seemed like (France has been seriously hit by the recession with about 20% less tourists than normally this time of the year). As I was standing there, however, I noticed the other "dames", how beautiful they were in this weird April light - the "dames" on the sides of "Le Palais de Chaillot". How frustrating it must be, not to get noticed, dominated by this huge and skinny iron structure. I wanted to put that straight and see how my new lens would do.

I'm not quite there yet with my DOF (depth of field), as you can see, but the statues of the Palais de Chaillot did make it slightly to the foreground...

Back!!

We're back! Back from a wonderful trip to the Alps! We went skiing with the kids for the first time ever and it was fun, so much fun! This definitely was the most relaxing vacation for us in years. The kids finally got to see snow. Real snow, not the kind of snow we had a couple of times here in Paris this winter (beautiful!!) and which vanished within hours. Though we were late in the season - and that is a real gamble even at high altitude - there was still enough snow to ski. And since it was the end of the season, it wasn't too crowded either which is nice when you're an absolute beginner.

All four of us signed up for classes at the ESF - l'Ecole du Ski Français, which literally translated means the school of French skiing, as opposed to any other kind of skiing, whatever that might be... Everyone did really great. Except for me that is, as I chickened out on the third day, something I regret now and which I'm not exactly proud of. Too scared of "le gaz" - the edge, isn't that a great expression?! Too scared to let go. I have a lot to catch up next time we go (and I will!) as everybody else in our family is moving up to the next level: M. got her "Flocon", H. her "Ourson" and K. got promoted to the next level too. These awards are not to be taken too lightly! We're talking about the ESF after all and as it goes with everything here in France you need to comply and prove you fulfill all requirements, or else...















As I quit my class, I had plenty of time to watch the kids while taking their classes. No regrets about that! It was great to see my girls coming down the slope, gracefully, full of confidence, with their bodies so flexible, all natural as if it were nothing... But it was also interesting to see their personalities reflected in their skiing style: M. very much in control, relaxed, soft and smooth - H. cutting short "les virages", mischievous, speedy, adding a little fantasy here and there. I wish I had taken a decent camera and not my point and shoot camera...
The first couple of days were actualy a little tough on us with H. She got extremely frustrated because we didn't let her go up the hill on the "tire-fesses" (a ski-tow) like we let her sister. All that changed as soon as K. grew more confident on his skis and took her between his legs on the "tire-fesses", something a lot of parents did with the younger ones. As days went by, she was able to go all the way up on her own. One time she really freaked me out by going all the way up on a slightly steeper piste, though she promised me she would get off halfway like she'd done during class. You should have seen the grin on her little face when she came skiing down!! It nearly gave me a heart attack, but yes, she was perfectly capable of doing it. Once started, she wouldn't stop - up and down that slope, a whole afternoon. That night she fell asleep on the couch, exhausted as she was...
At the end of the week, K. took M. with him to do a longer and more challenging (but still "green") piste. The one I didn't dare to come off and where I quit class. No problem for M., though!

Conclusion after one week in the Alps: we all got the hang of it (yes, me too!!) and we'll be going back! And next time "je ne vais pas louper le cours..."

A little bit of ski-related vocabulary:

tire-fesses: ski-tow, you put between your legs and which pulls you all the way up - you typically need to stand up straight, everything else, like sitting or leaning causing you to fall off...
la pente: the up-slope
l'aval: the down-slope
le gaz: the edge and everything beyond
piste: ski-slope, classified according to colors vert, blue, rouge et noir, with vert being very easy and noir extremely tough
chasse-neige: plow, one of the most important techniques as it allows you to stop and to make turns
chapeau pointu: same as chasse-neige, but used to explain the technique to young children
patiner: skate, technique used to get a little more speed

Another break... and a new blog!!

I won't be posting for a while - that is until spring break is over. We have one more week to go and I have some - hopefully - fun activities planned with the girls. More about that later, I'm sure. That and new tutorials - some things are brewing...

In the meantime, however, I'd like to introduce my new "other" blog:
// Between the lines // - Photographpy.
The title says it all. On this other blog, I'll just post photographs I made. The concept is very minimalistic. No or hardly any text - I want the pictures to speak for themselves, one photograph or one series of photographs per page, against a dark background. Have a look and don't hesitate to let me know what you think about it! Your comments, as always, are much appreciated!!

The new blog, however, doesn't mean the end of this one here. I'd like to reserve
// Between the lines // for showing my more crafty side, to post tutorials, or just to report about our lives here in Paris. I'll keep illustrating my posts with photographs, just like before. Nothing really will change over here.

I'm wishing you all a wonderful week and hope to find you back here or there soon!

Cheers,

P.

New lens :: experimenting

I finally got my new lens! An AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D - a lens highly recommended on the net by many Nikon (DSLR) users. It arrived yesterday, but I had to wait until today for running my first tests. And I guess I'll need a couple more test rounds before I can really say something meaningful about it. It definitely will take some time to get used to - just like with the other ones.

But here are some first test results: some pictures of lilacs - flowers reminding me of my childhood. Our neighbor would grow them in his backyard and every spring we would get plenty of them for putting in a vase. And so did my grandmother, who had the white ones in her backyard. I wonder if she would remember those... I need to ask her...

Versailles

I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend and all have recovered well from eating too much chocolate... Our Easter bunny played it safe this year and brought books for the girls, two large chocolate eggs and and a couple of Kinder-surprise eggs, well aware of our littlest one's allergies... And the girls seemed perfectly happy with that! So, no tummy aches here and lots of fun reading!

The weather was really nice here, for the entire Easter weekend - and still is! As K. had to finish off a couple of things for work, I decided to take the girls to Versailles on Sunday afternoon. We visited the "château" last Fall when the Jeff Koons exhibit was on (really cool!), so this time and because of the lovely weather we just wanted to visit the gardens. Luckily Marie-Antoinette's gardens are large enough to receive a large crowd, as crowded it was!
Unlike last Fall, now the fountains were on, which made the gardens even more beautiful. The only thing I'm not so sure about I liked, is the music that accompanies the fountains. I know a lot of people just go for that, like the lady in front of us while we were waiting in line at the entrance. But to me, it just didn't feel right. Don't get me wrong, I love baroque music and classical music in general. But I also like the sound of water clattering down. Now, it seemed there was a little too much of everything: music through the speakers, people chattering and water clattering... Though I can imagine listening to a live (!) classical concert near the fountains at night, being magical...

Anyway, we had a lovely afternoon. M. and me both brought our camera and H. took care of reading the map. She's just starting to read and got herself a map at the entrance. At some point, M. and me were taking pictures and we somehow lost her out of sight. It freaked me out given the large crowd, but Margot was the first one to spot her. She'd just continued walking - it was such a cute sight: that little girl, with her little nose stuck in the map, walking down the path, not aware of anything happening around her, of the crowd, of us not following...
I think M. captured it really well with her little camera...



And then the girls kept wondering what it must have been like in Marie-Antoinette's days - how/if she was able to walk along these long lanes, in a wide and heavy dress, with a heavy wig and high heels, about which one was her favorite fountain... Marie-Antoinette...

A little break...

With this picture I'm wishing every single one of you a Happy Easter and/or a very nice weekend.
I'm taking a couple of days off now from blogging, but I promise I'll be back somewhere mid next week...

Cheers!

Pascale

Leather

You see this beautiful leather? Hermes! Yes, Hermes, THE HERMES! At least that's what the lady at the store told me...

Last week, as I was heading back home from school with the girls, I passed this nice little "cordonnier" again. It's a nice little place - I should take my all time favorite boots there to see if they can still save them from the trash can, but I'm deviating... They do more than regular shoe repairs at that particular cordonnier. They create slippers on demand, sell little coin purses, belts, and have other small leather items as well.
This time, I noticed they had big, colorful leather skins in the store. So, I went inside and asked if maybe they were selling leather scraps too. No luck. The leather wasn't for sale and they didn't sell scraps either. But... the lady of the store knew of a place where they did sell leather, by the weight. She couldn't remember the exact name of the street, so she went through her entire (no kidding) inventory book and wrote down the address, even gave me directions to the store.
You see, that's another great thing about Paris and Parisians (and the French in general). When they notice you're really interested in something, they're happy to help you and to refer you to other places where you might find what you're looking for. This happened to me a couple of times already. I found out about "merceries", a great second hand Japanese bookstore, fabric stores, ... that way. Really nice! Thank you, guys!

A couple of days later, I decided to go over there and have a look. I found the place and it was just amazing, the assortment of leather they had: all sorts imaginable, in every finishing thinkable, in different thicknesses... But, all I could see were huge pieces. When I told the sales person about the cordonnier who had sent me and that I was looking for just small pieces, she took me to a couple of bins in the back of the store. Sold by the weight, with a minimum of one kilogram. Now, I have no idea what I'll be doing with one kilogram, but at the rate she told me, I would have been crazy not to buy any leather. I paid about the same amount for a tiny piece at a department store a while ago. I went through the bins, chose some orange, taupe and chocolate brown leather. Too bad, they didn't have purple...
After I'd paid, I chatted a bit with the sales person - while business men were running in out to make their choice - and she told me that they buy their scraps from... Hermes! Can you believe it!? I might not have a Hermes it-bag, but at least I have the scraps!!! And if Hermes says purple is out, then why bother! Although, I might reconsider that last one, as I really like purple!!

So far, I haven't had the time yet to make something out of it. But I do I have a couple of things in mind.
To be continued, ...

And the answer is...

... this:




A red metallic trash can with silver rim, turned upside down on a red metal drawer. That and no flash, low shutter speed and some swirly, elegant moves from me while holding the camera. I told you the answer would be rather disappointing! So congratulations, Jacqui, as you were right on!! This series "just happened" - I saw some nice curves and bright red as I walked in the room to empty the trash can. I did empty it and the rest you know...

Unfortunately, the "view on black"-link didn't work, as some of you let me know (Thanks for that!! I had no clue...). I guess it has to do with how my Flickr account was set up. However, I'm working on something new - another blog - where I'll show pictures only, on black. Very minimalistic - just pictures with no or hardly any text . It's still under construction but I'll let you know when it's ready to be launched!

What's this??

View on Black



View on Black

I'm having fun lately with making abstract photographs. These, I made yesterday. They're actually really nice, when seen on black (click the link underneath each photograph). You can leave a comment if you'd like to make a guess about what it is and I'll disclose later - with the risk of you being terribly disappointed...

Also, if you'd like to see more pictures in this series, feel free to check out my Red abstract Flickr set.

Drawstring bag - French seam :: a tutorial

Here's a short tutorial for the drawstring bags I showed you here, on Friday.
If you know a little bit of sewing, then I'm sure you know how to make a drawstring bag. Don't stop reading yet, however, as I want to show you how you can use the "French seam" to finish off the bag neatly on the inside. I used this technique primarily as I didn't want to line the bags - something you might want to consider if you want the fabric to be able to breathe like for linen bags or laundry bags. Yet, I wanted the bags to look "clean" on the inside. As I have a very basic sewing machine, with a not so great zigzag stitch for finishing seams, I prefer this method. And even with a decent zigzag stitch, the fabric still might start fraying (especially linen) when the bag is heavily used.

Therefore: the French seam! I hope you're still reading!

For one drawstring bag you'll need:

- a rectangular piece of fabric, I used a 70cmx45cm piece of oatmeal colored linen ( this roughly gives you a 32cm x39cm bag), seam allowances included (7cm at the top - i.e. at the longest side of the fabric before folding, 1cm at the bottom and 1.5cm on each side at the shorter end of the fabric). You can adjust the dimensions for a different size of bag but keep in mind to add the same seam allowances.
- optional: if you plan on adding an iron-transferred picture the way I did, you'll also need, according to the size of the image, a smaller piece of fabric, in my case white cotton, an image and iron-on-transfer paper.
- twill tape, in length about three times the width of your finished bag (in my case about one meter)
- pin needles, safety pin, thread and a sewing machine.

1. Optional: iron-on-transfer your image (don't forget to mirror before printing); I used a drawing from one of my girls as we made two of these bags as birthday present for two of her friends. Once cooled down and paper removed, position the image on your bag piece of fabric, pin down, and sew about 5mm from the edge - you can use a contrasting color to add some detail.


2. Fold the fabric in two (width-wise) and pin the side and bottom seams, the right (!) side of the fabric facing up.



3. About 7cm from the top (which we leave open for the drawstring tunnel later), start sewing the side and bottom seam, about 7mm from the side.



4. Clip the bottom corner



5. Pin each of the two top side seams (the ones you left open for the drawstring tunnel) inward when the right side is facing - as to finish of/secure the entrance of the drawstring tunnel



6. Now, sew the top side seams as close as possible to the side, all the way down to where your side seam (step 3) starts (7cm)



7. Now, here comes the "French" part: Turn the bag inside out and again pin the side and bottom seams - the previously sewn seams nicely tucked inside.



8. Starting at the top, sew the side and bottom seams 1cm away from the side - this to make sure the previous seam is tucked nicely inside and to prevent fabric peeking out on the good side. If you didn't get this right from the first time, don't worry, just stitch another row next to it but a little further from the side, this time. Important: in order to have a nice finishing at the top (tunnel entrance) as well make a slight corner as shown in the picture.
This is all there is to a French seam! No fraying fabric is showing on either side of the bag!! We're almost done with the bag!



9. Pin the drawstring tunnel as shown in the picture and sew as close as possible to the bottom of folded-in side.



10. Insert twill tape using a safety pin - tie a knot and DONE!



11. The inside of the bag should look like this:



There are many other uses for this French seam. I've used it to get a really sturdy seam on a pouch sling. I've also used this method on the side seams of a light weight cotton skirt, again because I didn't want any ugly zigzag or fraying fabric to show... Just keep in mind to double your seam allowance when doing so!

Good luck! I hope this explanation is sort of clear! If not, please, let me know!!


Please note, this tutorials is intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form without permission. Thanks for understanding!

Inspire Me Thursday :: Key

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential”

Winston Churchill



hex keys - "indispensable" for assembling furniture from a "Nordic furniture giant". We have countless...

Check out this link which takes the hex key to the next level...

For more hex key shots click here.

Scenery

to see - saw - seen



s[c]e(e)n[e]



saw

Birthday party season :: ctd

I made it! About right in time! I just finished two more drawstring bags, for two of M.'s friends this time. These two are slightly different from the other one I made earlier this week - in that I didn't line them, but used a particular technique to finish them off nicely on the inside. If you're interested in finding out what it was that I did, you're lucky, as I plan to write down everything in a tutorial, hopefully somewhere next week.

Don't you like the drawing? It's from M.'s hand - I love her black pen drawings... She made this picture after seeing the fashion insert in a newspaper. In case you're wondering - no, I don't own a Chanel purse...

Need to go now as I still have a zillion things to get done before I'll go pick up the girls from school!

Have a great weekend!
P.

Birthday party season

It has been a crazy week so far. Busy as usual - just a normal week except for an emergency dental appointment on my behalf - but with K. gone for most part of this week things have been a little wild for me. Today he'll be back, though! Everything back to normal...sort of. The girls have busy calendars right now - with sports events dominating last weekend and birthday parties the weekend to come - three to be precise (good two of M.'s friends have decided to have their parties together!)! So, we'll be busy wrapping presents the next few days. We got all of the presents yesterday, so that's a good thing, and the girls will take care of the wrapping. They like to do this themselves. They love to decorate their friends' presents and to write little messages on them. I always keep a stock of (colored) plain wrapping paper or craft paper at hand. With that and colorful markers they come a long way in giving the presents a little personal touch!

A couple of times I've also sewn a fabric bag to wrap the presents in. And that's exactly what I've been doing yesterday evening for H.'s best friend, whose birthday is coming up next Sunday. H. made a portrait, which I scanned and reduced and then printed on - yes, you've guessed it - iron-on transfer paper (I didn't forget to mirror-print this time - isn't that amazing?!). The result you can see above. I'm actually really pleased with the way it turned out. Making a drawstring bag like this is fairly easy. What makes this one special are the details, not in the least the nice portrait H. drew. She used opaque pigment markers which I got a long time ago. They're meant to be used on terracotta, tile, wood... but we've used them for many other "applications" as well, like decorating wrapped up presents... and now this portrait. They have this velvety look, almost like when using soft pastels, only they don't rub off like soft pastels do. And because of their opacity they are extremely well suited for scanning pictures, I noticed. Something to remember.

The bag was just hands-on sewing. Took the scissors - cut the fabric (linen and cotton, same as usual) - sewed the seams and that's basically it. I might write everything down, as I plan on making one for H. too. I did a drawstring bag for M. a long time ago (she liked it and is still using it!) but H. never got one of those. First, however, I need to make two more for M.'s friends. Though I think I might go for an even simpler version, without the lining to start with...

April 2009 Calendar!

I almost forgot, but we're April 1st already! So, here's the new set of calendars for this month. Since Easter is coming up soon, I chose one of the egg pictures from a while ago to be this month's picture. Both calendars will be available from the sidebar during the entire month.

I hope you came through the day without being fooled too much...