an updated lunch carrier

Do you pack your lunch or do you buy lunch at work?
Mon Cheri and I are lunch packing people,
it saves time and money,
and it is usually healthier.
But it means lunch box/carrier!

Here is my latest version:

(there is a large consumption of V8 in this house!)

A few years ago, I made this lunch carrier for Mon Cheri

and it worked really well, but it was really time for an update.

So I actually reused the pattern and made a new version,

with a better lining.

Last year, when I remade my lunch bag,

I used some waterproof lining and it makes it so easy to clean messes and spills.
So I did the same thing with this lunch carrier:

It almost makes it a little stiffer.

It is the same fabric that I used to line my apple bag.

I used 3 different prints for the bag, all related to wine.

The main one is quite discreet since it is just wine names

but it adds a little whimsy.

Happy sewing!

a fall Luckett trip

Last weekend, we went to the fall Lucketts event

to check out the design house,

as we have been doing over the last few years.

I could not resist posing in front on their new mural!
Here are a few pictures of what caught my attention:

The orange chair on the front porch with a great greyhound,

which always reminds me of Black Dog.

The subtle fall decoration on the mantel and the beautiful baskets.

The giant clock and the neat bags, made of recycling mailing pouches.

The awesome poisonous mushroom print, just like back home.

The beautiful horse photo and the neat fuzzy blanket,

I wish we had space for such a picture!

And finally the display of these white purses on the dark walls, very dramatic!
Happy Fall!

a pillow for travelling dreams

As we are saying goodbye to this summer, it is fun to look back to some of our previous vacations, dreaming of past and future travels, as close as a day trip in DC, or as far away as Provence....

So I sewed this linen pillow,

with paper pieced book covers!

The pattern is "tall tale" from "Quilt with Kate",

available on Craftsy here (free).

I used a print from Robert Kaufman "Dream vacation",

choosing 4 post cards of places we have visited,

some recently, some a long time ago,

and mixing prints for the spines and the pages.

This is not my first time playing with books.

Previously I had made a book bag with spines of book:

also in linen and that time, some Liberty of London.

This pillow is perfect to snuggle on the chair,

dreaming of next year's summer vacation...

Happy sewing!

a cute little bib for a special bebe

Just before going to Provence, my sister informed us she was pregnant, Yeah! So of course, I rushed to make a sweet bib to give her while we were there. (it was a big family gathering)

I used my favorite bib pattern and a couple of new prints to make this sweet little number.

Since we did not know at the time the baby's gender,

I went with a neutral palette of beige, off-white and muted aqua,

the prints are so cute!

Now we know this bebe is going to be a little girl, so I am going to get to play with pink! Happy sewing!

the perfect summer treat: peach crumble

I have been purchasing peaches by the half bushel at my local orchard

(where we get our apples in the fall),

they are delicious but we might have a few too many....

So I make peach crumble regularly!

In the past years, I have made peach pie and peach cobbler, both really good, but the pie takes too long, and  found the cobbler a little too soft.
So I tried peach crumble and this is perfect: fast, easy and a little crunchy!
I make many at once so that I can share with friends, so my recipe is pretty free form....
for the peach: lots of ripe peaches, cut in pieces, a little lemon juice a little sugar a dash of cinnamon a little flour (I do not measure these parts) Let the peach marinate in the mixture for a few minutes, while making the crumble.
for the crumble portion: 1 part flour 1 part (and a little more) oat 1/2 part brown sugar 1/2 part (or a little less) salted butter, cold and cut in tiny pieces Mix the top 3, then add the butter and mix by hands. (with 1 part being 1 cup, I was able to do 3 crumbles: 2 medium/large one small, the red one in the pic)

Grease the bottom of a pan (or multiple, big or small) add the peaches and then distribute the crumble, I like to not put too much, I like the peaches to be the main event! Bake for 1h at 350. Enjoy warm or cold, with or without ice cream, I am more of a plain peach crumble myself.

Happy day!

other treasure from provence

Last time I wrote about strolling through the streets of Uzes, well it is not the only locations to find cool stuff, it is basically everywhere.
More upnorth, almost in the Cevennes (mountains), there are some very famous potteries, famous enough to have been in Versailles a few centuries ago.
It is the vase d'anduze:
picture from the website.
So I wanted to bring back a few of those,  just like the ones from Uzes.... but once again, it does not fit in a small suitcase, so my mom found me a mini one!

So cute right?!
It is from the same factory and has all the colors. And now there is some thyme growing in it, no olive tree for this little pot!

Of course there is lavender. I did not purchase any as my mom grows her own in Brittany, and it was still too early for this harvest. But you can find some in many places.
And finally there are horses! Beautiful white/beige horses, smaller than the ones we see here. They are Camargue horses. Guess who wanted to bring one home?

The little girl whose hair matches the horse's mane, of course!

No surprise here, Miss C. did not get a horse,

or did she?

in front of Alphonse Daudet's moulin.

In les Baux de Provence, she found a beautiful white stuffed horse,

and he came home with us, his name: Camargue, bien sur!

And this concludes our trip to Provence,

I hope to go again, hopefully we will not wait another 20 years!

Happy day!