Fontevraud and the Vendee

Have been meaning to write a post about our weekend away all week but the days have just slipped away! Anyway, here is a brief(ish!) account of our travels.

On Friday we drove north from here - about three and a half hours - to Fontevraud which is in the Loire valley, roughly between Saumur and Chinon.
I have long wanted to visit the Abbey at Fontevraud and once got as far as the entrance only to find that then they closed for lunch and we needed to be on our way. However, now they are open all day which is much more civilised!
Fontevraud's main claim to fame for the English is that two of our Kings and a Queen were buried there. Sadly their remains are long gone but their effigies still remain and are given centre stage in the beautifully restored Abbey church.

These are the effigies of HenryII and his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. Eleanor is represented holding a book which is significant as it is the first time that a woman was shown  that way - up until then women were just represented with crossed hands.

Their son, Richard the Lion Heart is also there.

The fourth effigie is of Isabelle of Angouleme who was the wife of John Lackland, Henry and Eleanor's youngest son.

Unusually it is carved from wood.

I loved the ironwork on the Chruch doors - especially the little faces!

The Abbey was founded in 1101 and was a religious comunity for both men and women although unusually, according to wishes of the founder, Robert d'Arbrissel, an abbess was always in authority! The last abbess left the abbey in 1792 when it was closed due to the Revolution.
When it re-opened in the early 1800's it was converted into a prison for both men and women and was considered one of the toughest in France. It remained a prison until 1965. During that time parts of the abbey were open to the public but since then extensive restorations have taken place and still are.

Chapelle St Benoit

Refectory

There is masses to see here including this amazing light installation by Claude Leveque in what was once the monks dormitory.

And this amazing construction which was the kitchens.

 The main chimney which was surrounded by a series of smaller chimneys.

Lots more lovely things but too many to show here. A great visit and I hope I go again.

On Saturday it rained, and rained, and rained..................
However, we had places to see so off we went. We had stayed overnight in Cholet (no sign of Madam Cholet sadly) and headed further west into the Vendee.
Our first stop was la Chabotterie a beautiful house which was the scene of the arrest of General Charette at the end of the counter revolution in the Vendee in 1796.
Unfortunately we had not done our research quite well enough as it was closed for renovations! However, we were able to walk around the park and had a view of the amazing gardens.

Such a shame we could not get inside.

Well, that is all I have time for - the rest of our Vendee trip will have to wait.

Have a good weekend

Lin

Postcards

Back in September I showed you this lovely postcard that I received from Susan (pop over there and look at the beautiful dress she has made from hand made paper!)

I have never shown you the card that I sent her so now is a good time as I sent one of the same 'Honesty' series to Fiona who has sent me this beautiful daisy card

Tiny, perfect patchwork with very fine stippling in the centre and on the background. I love it, thank you very much Fiona.

This is the card that I sent to Fiona

(sorry about the scew wiff scan!)

And this is the one I sent to Susan

I like to work in a series when I am making postcards - it's a good chance to experiment with different ideas.
For these cards I dyed the pelmet vilene background and then ironed on painted bondaweb. This was then printed all over with a stamp which says ' The way to know life is to love many things' which I love. But the idea was not for it to be read clearly, just to create some movement in the background. The lovely silvery honesty seed heads were laid on next, covered with a sheer fabric and ironed into place. The machine detail was added last.
Busy working on a couple more postcards at the moment - more about them later. Meanwhile looking forward to a weekend away in the Loire valley and the Vendee - more about them later too!
Have a good weekend.

Lin

Socks!!

Every now and again I have the urge to knit a pair of socks! Not really sure why. But they are a small project which is technically challenging and they give the opportunity to be creative so maybe that is it.

Knitting 'stockings' was once a wage earner for many familys from Elizabethan times until the mid 1800's when mechanisation took over. I find the history of knitting a fascinating subject - unlike the 'leisure activity' it is now, it was once a skilled craft practised by men with it's own guilds.

Anyway, I have just completed a pair which I enjoyed knitting. As I hate repeating things they are not the same but have matching cuffs, heels and toes.

I have been busy sewing too but as everything is for gifts I am not showing pictures!

After a very mild autumn, temperatures have dipped over the last few days. There has not been an abundance of autumn colour here sadly. The sumach was splendid but I got there too late with the camera!

So most of the leaves are on the ground!

These few were still clinging on.

There is some other colour around the garden.

We are off to the coast tomorrow so I am looking forward to a day out. The weather forecast is good - lets hope it is right.

Thanks for dropping by.

Lin

FNSI and another Mystery!

Friday Night Sew In is hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Quilts and FNSI for October has come at a very opportune moment.
In August I signed up for another Mystery Quilt with the amazing Heather Spence at Heather Spence Designs. This is my third MQ with Heather and I have to say that there is as much fun to be had with the facebook group as there is to making the quilt! What a wonderful group of ladies and Heather and her husband keep us all in line.
The Mystery started two weeks ago and so clue #3 arrived today - as I said, very opportune for FNSI.
I have not been blogging about this quilt as it is a surprise gift and so I don't want to give anything away. However, for FNSI, I am making an exception, without giving anything away! There is quite a lot to do for clue #3 and so I have only completed the first part today. This involves sewing together two 4.5" x 2.5" strips at right angles to end up with a 6.5" strip.

Of course I am adding the extra row of stitching to turn my bonus HST's into little squares.

It has been a beautiful sunny day here so have spent time in the garden rather than cracking on with the clue.
So tomorrow I need to get all these pieces pressed and ready for the next stage. There is a lot to do in this clue to be ready for next Friday.

Have a good weekend and happy stitching.

Lin

Pretty Pouch Swap

The Pretty Pouch Swap was hosted by Kim whose lovely blog is Lilypatchquilts. Thank you very much for hosting this Kim.
This was not a secret swap so we knew who we were making for and were able to email each other to find out our likes and dislikes! My swap partner turned out to be - Kim!
Here is the pouch I made for Kim.

As we decided on a holiday to Spain after I had signed up for the swap I needed something that I could work on while we were away. So this Jacobs ladder pouch which is entirely hand sewn was the perfect holiday project. I added the lace to the front of the flap to make it extra pretty and special.
I promised Kim a gift from Spain and this black bull fridge magnet is the symbol of Andalucia - the southern part of Spain where we were staying. (You can read about my trip to Spain in my previous two blogs).

I also added some lavender bags using lavender from our garden, a notebook and some chocolate treats.

Kim's pouch for me arrived a few days ago.
Here is the lovely pouch that she made for me

Such gorgeous colours and a very generous size. And generous is the word for the amazing amount of goodies packed inside. This was my first swap and I can see I have a lot to learn!

The sharp eyed amongst you may notice that this packet is empty!

These were scrumptious and I must admit were devoured within half an hour of opening the package!

These cards were hand made by Kim

And these fabrics are gorgeous especially the fruity one with it's hint of gold.
Thank you very much Kim - this has all been great fun.

Happy stitching

Lin

A little more from Spain and some Africa

During the second week of our holiday we spent some time in Algeciras which is just across the bay from Gibraltar. Algeciras is a busy port with not much for the tourist but it was a convenient place to stay.We met up with friends and our menfolk spent their days on the beach at Tarifa watching the bird migration.
We ladies however spent a lovely day wandering round the narow streets and squares of Tarifa, browsing in shops, churches and gardens.
Tarifa is the southernmost point in Spain and therefore the closest point to Africa although we could not see it because of the haze. There is lots of moorish influence to the architecture in Tarifa and an exotic feel.

On our second day we did a day trip to Morocco. A fast ferry took us from Algeciras across to Cueta which is a tiny bit of Spain in Africa. Then a mini bus took us across the border into Morocco and to the town of Tetuan which I loved. We were taken round the medina, or old town which I found fascinating. The narrow alleyways were lined with vendors with  tiny shops behind them.

This is a Berber lady wearing her distinctive hat.

Red doors are to residential properties

                          green doors for commerce.

This bread oven was just visible from the street.

The threads on the shelves of this tiny shop are all silk - and there were several more shops just like this! No time to stop and shop though!

In the same area there were lots of shops like this one, making and sellng braids and belts.

Numerous tiny workrooms with one or two ancient sewing machines and their machinists - I did wonder where they had room to cut out what they were sewing.
Lots of shops selling finished garments, fabrics, scarves and other wonderful textiles.

We had a delicious traditional Moroccan lunch whilst being entertained by some roguish looking musicians in a very highly decorated room.

Even the ladies had this amazing ceiling!

After lunch we were taken to Tangier from where we would have been able to see Tarifa if it had not been for the haze!

There was a very heavy police presence and masses of red and green Moroccan flags flying everywhere. This we were told, was because the King was on a two day visit to the city.
The medina here had much wider streets and seemed much more commercial.

The coffee was expensive and we were constantly pestered by trinket vendors.
Tetuan I would love to visit again - Tangiers not!

From there it was back to Cueta and the return ferry to Algeciras. And the next day we were on our way home.

Lots of lovely memories and some fantastic inspiration from my pictures. I hope you have enjoyed seeing them.

Lin