Looking back to Spring and Summer in France Part 2 (May)

It is bitterly cold this morning here on the Channel coast, so I am cheering myself up with another look back at France 2017. Done April, so its May next :-). Be prepared for a whole month's worth of photos, lolol.

May 2017, what a wonderful month it was. Our youngest son drove out to visit us very early on in May, he loves the cottage and being surrounded by all the peace and quiet of the countryside so much. The dogs of course, were very happy to see him

The mornings were often very misty and with an eery atmosphere 

Our closest neighbours, the Charolais cows, were enjoying all the fresh new greens

and I was enjoying the first flower on my newly planted peony

while Hector was enjoying his first outing on his lounger

10th May, and we planted out some brassica ( and boy, did they turn out great! )

The weather was pretty good and by the middle of May, the grass and wildflowers were growing like crazy. I adore the daisies

Every day, the view from the cottage presents a different scene, always beautiful

and our Poppy girl loves nothing better than sitting in the lower field, admiring the view and watching the world go by

whilst Hector sorts out the settee and plays at being a couch potato

Mind you, they both like their creature comforts. They don't mind sprawling out on the grass 

but they do prefer their very own outdoor beds, lolol. Hector has his own lounger, and we had to build Poppy her own sandpit bed, because she kept laying down on every bit of freshly dug ground in the veggie patch or flower beds

Flowers, aaah yes. I don't have a flower garden, our so called garden is more of a field, lol, but I do have a couple of new rose borders and I do love my flowers in pots and baskets. Some of the roses first

another newly planted peony

and my beloved antique flower trolly, flower bed and pot plants

My potted herb garden by the front door

One of the great delights of being at the cottage, sitting outside with good friends, enjoying food, wine and great views

oh, and being able to hang huge pieces of knotted lace on the washing line in the garden, can't do that at home in the UK

Love love love salads for lunch, of course eaten under the trees in the garden

Some of nature's beauty collected to be admired indoors

And I leave you with these amazing shades of green on one of our trees

Roses,

but not from the garden! Fact is, I only have a couple of rose bushes in the garden, and they are VERY old and not all that brilliant. Also, when it rains, they get heavy and tend to droop over the front path ( which is windy and steep-ish ) and you can't help brushing against them and getting showered in droplets. Which is exactly what happened to me this morning when I went out shopping. Humph. Plus, the roses which I did brush against dropped their pretty pink petals all over me and the path!

However, being covered in rose petals and rain droplets made me think of all the rose fabrics I have acquired over the years. There is such a vast variety, from the prettiest faded 19th Century rose fabrics ( which I have sold ages ago, waah ) to the funky 50s textured ones, the modern 70s/80s one and the brand new treasures by designers such as Lene Bjerre, Cath Kidson, Cabbages & Roses ( which I hanker after, sigh ).

So, have a look at the vastly different fabrics which I have pulled out of my fabric stash. Its only a small selection of rose fabrics, just a little tasteroo -

Starting off with some small designs


to some larger designs, which I love, framed with plain antique French linen, preferably unbleached


And here are a few more modern ones, a mix of dress and curtain fabrics


These fabrics from the 50s I really adore, their weird and wonderful texture makes them so very tactile, and I do love fondling fabrics, lol ( I know, I am a very sad case ) -


The second fabric above is like a huckaback towel, very odd but very lovely.

And this one, well, is that shiny or is that SHINY?


The last one is probably one of my favourite rose fabrics. I got it at a vide greniers in Bourgogne. It was all scrunched up at the bottom of a box under the table, and the stall holder laughed herself silly when I asked to buy it. Ok, so it had tiny holes, was torn in places and made up of small pieces sewn together, but it was sooo beautifully faded! 50cents later it was mine, all mine! The colour of the roses is a really fabulous dusky pinky apricot, and the leaves are a very faded olivy green. I just adore it. And one day, whatever I'll be able to salvage between the little holes, will be used for a very special project. Of course, I have no idea what that'll be yet, lol


Now I am suffering from fabric overload, so thats enough for one day. More fabric fun another day. Byeee for now x