Mayday, Mayday

I can’t believe it is already the 1st of May – surely I’ve only just put away the Christmas decorations.   It is a ferié (or public holiday) here in France so nobody will be working which seems ironic on a day called ‘ La ‘Fête du Travail’ but, there you go.  As it falls on a Tuesday, the schools and lots of public offices didn’t bother to open yesterday (Monday) –   they take the extra day as a ‘pont’ or bridge between.  A bit cheekyI suppose but then I’ve always thought it a bit strange that, in the U.K. for example, dates get moved around and tacked on to the beginning or end of a weekend for convenience.  Surely the 1st May should be commemorated on the 1st May regardless of whereabouts in the week it falls.  Anyway, in an uncharacteristic display of laissez faire about tax and paperwork, today is the only day in the year where the French allow anybody to set up stall and sell Lily of the Valley plants with impunity.

Remember the sewing machine cover I was making?  Well, here it finally is -If, like Mr. Tialys, you think my dog looks like a seal then please keep your comments to yourself!!  He didn’t and was sorry afterwards.

We undertook this rather challenging  project in my mini sewing group of 3 and this is Sandra’s house which fitted the hard cover of her machine perfectly so she left out the cardboard reinforcements and just pulled the fabric cover over the original rigid plastic one.

The vide grenier season is starting to pick up and, despite weather warnings last weekend, a big one took place in a nearby village.  Madamoiselle Tialys the elder had a stall and had been busy combing the house for modern junk to sell whilst I was busy buying antique and vintage  junk from other people to bring home again.  So, of course, the house never gets any emptier but, in my opinion anyway, it gets more interesting.

and the pièce de résistance………

isn’t it beautiful?

I was touched by the concern of my blogger friend Al (aka Houdini)  because I hadn’t posted for a while.  It’s the  cyber equivalent of a friendly neighbour coming round to see why you haven’t been taking in the milk  and newspapers and fearing that you might have tripped, hit your head and  be lying prone beneath a pile of cats and a german shepherd.  So,  thank you Al!

As I’ve talked about 1st May in France and my title for this post is two thirds of the traditional distress call, I was reminded that the use of ‘Mayday’ is said to originate from the French ‘M’aidez’ which, of course, means ‘help me’.  I had known that at one time but then forgotten – as I have forgotten so many bits of trivia – so, just in case you had too, it might come in useful at a pub quiz.

House Clearance – But Not Mine!

  I went to my first house clearance yesterday.   I had known it was going to take place for a few weeks but didn’t really fancy going.  The thought of rummaging through somebody’s belongings whilst they stand by just feels a bit strange to me – especially as I do know the lady involved.  Then, I had to go practically right past her front door so thought I would drop in. 

Apparently, she is moving to be nearer a friend and, although she will still be in France, she is moving from a large house to a tiny appartment and has no room for many of her things.  Mr. Tialys and I have discussed downsizing in our dotage because this house will probably become too much to maintain and the garden especially, being mountainous, would start to run amok.  In the meantime, I continue to expand into the space available – some may say ‘unavailable’ .

This large plaster angel was apparently made by her father, who was a sculptor, around 50 years ago.  She has a few knocks here and there where I think she must have fallen off a wall but I thought she was still charming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was glad that she had stuck little price labels on most things as it avoided the embarassment of constantly asking the price.

Love this mirror, I think it is German.    Anna is actually Swiss and has collected many beautiful things from France, Switzerland and Germany.

This unusual inkstand had been in her family for quite a while.

An old, tin lined wooden box which would have been used for putting hot coals in and then used as a heater or even hot plate.

 However, when I saw this, it was time to call Mr. Tialys, who was happily at home with available car, to come (via the cashpoint!) and help me.  I’ve always fancied one of these and it is nicely aged with splotches on the leather – or patina as I like to call it – but still in great shape.  I can’t tell you how difficult it was getting it up the stairs to our first floor sitting room but I’m sure you can imagine.   I think I provided most of the huff and puff and ‘ow, it’s on my foot’  noises whilst Mr. T. provided most of the muscle power but, hey ho, if you have a 6’4″ husband surely it is incumbent upon you to make the most of him.

I will consider it a ‘fostering’ or temporary adoption as my daughter already has her eye on it.

So, all in all, I was very glad I went and, although she was sad to see some of her items going, Anna said she felt it was quite liberating to be shedding herself of  ’things’  in this next stage of her life.  One day I expect I will feel the same and then I will have my own house clearance.  In the meantime I am still available to give old and gorgeous things  a good home which I like the sound of as it makes me feel charitable rather than acquisitive.

By the way, I haven’t forgotten that the Scott giveaway ends today and, later on, after the massive response I had(!) I will see if I still have one of the girls’ newborn baby hats from which to draw the 3 or 4 entries.  Sarcasm? Moi?

Branded!

I’ve been wanting to get some custom made tape from my friend Anna  for ages, to use as seam tabs in some of the things I make and maybe as package headers.  Anyway, I finally got round to it and a few font, design and colour decisions later, here’s the result.

How flash am I?

I have also been faffing about with a bit more jewellery making as I can’t resist those glass domes that you put over images – they look so effective.  Here’s one I made earlier posing against a pretty little vintage jewellery box I found the other day which turned out, once I got it home, to be Japanese not French.  Which doesn’t really matter except I tend to ‘specialise’ in French things with a bit of the rest of Europe thrown in occasionally.  Still, a charming vintage item is a charming vintage item wherever it comes from and I’m the boss of my shop so there!

Watch this space as tonight, probably, if there’s nothing good on the telly, I’m going to recover the lampshade on an old standard lamp that I found recently, with some stunning vintage Liberty fabric.  If the results are good, I’ll be putting the photos on here, if not, forget I said anything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buy In Haste – Buy More At Leisure

…Or so the saying goes now that I have reinvented it to suit my purposes. 

I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly impatient person but, once I decide to make something, I want to do it straight away or as straight away as possible.  So when I saw some really cute clasp purses made from Liberty fabric I felt the urge to create.  Trouble is, instead of just ordering the kit from the place I saw it, I decided that I didn’t really need the fabric from the kit as I already have a good supply of Liberty cottons and the purse frame on its own was silly money and I knew I could get a better deal elsewhere so off I went to surf the net.  Which, of course, is where the problems start.  I fell in love with some purse frames and ordered them from one place.  Then I ordered a PDF tutorial to make the purse in what I thought was the right size from another place.  Well, it was the right size but not the right shape.  The tutorial was for a rectangular shaped purse frame and mine is curved(ish).  The ‘ish’ is important because then I bought another PDF tutorial for a curved shape but then realised that mine is a cross between the two.  This is so typical of me.  Anyway, I ended up designing my own and here it is – be kind, it was my first attempt, even though I was cavalier and used Liberty and linen being falsely over-confident in my own abilities.

I’m not entirely happy with it.  I want one that comes up over the ends of the hinges more and has a flat bottom.  Still, I have some more purse frames on order and, this time, I think I have ordered the right ones for the right tutorials so there might be all different shapes and sizes coming up.  Although I may well have moved on to something else by then. 

On my way back from dropping Madamoiselle Tialys the Elder at her guitar lesson and popping in to Carrefour for some ‘bits’ having remembered that  Mr. T. does like to have some food in the house when he comes back at weekends, I went for a rummage in the junk shop as I do.  I found some pieces for my shop but I also saw this bowl which is absolutely huge – I think it was part of a pitcher and basin set – and cracked, chipped and discoloured to death – but it’s such a gorgeous pattern I just had to have it.  Well, they only wanted a euro for it - so I couldn’t just leave it there.  You will see that I have cunningly disguised all the deficiencies by turning the good side outward and filling it with huge hydrangea heads – who would know?

Do Your Research!

I found some rusty old tins in a dark, dingy corner of an even darker, dingier junk shop.  I didn’t know what they were exactly but I thought they looked interesting so I bought them, took them home and started my research.  My main clue was the brand name ‘La Perpetuelle’ and what came up was a French site who had one for sale and explained that these were used by ‘Les Poilus’ in the trenches in the First World War to keep their rations in. 

And I was off!

I asked Madamoiselle Tialys’s French boyfriend why the French soldiers were called ‘les poilus’ and he said it was because they couldn’t shave very easily in the trenches and became hairy (poilu).  How interesting!  I photographed the tins with a photograph of Mr Tialys’s grandfather who did fight in the trenches but was English although he may well have become ‘poilu’ too.  You should have read the  description in my draft listing for my shop – it was soooo fascinating.

Then, I was going to do a blog post about the item PLUS the story of how Grandpa Tialys was bayoneted  in the fighting and was so afraid that the German soldiers would finish him off, he lay pretending to be dead for several days, presumably without sustenance and in terrible pain.  Then, when they did find him and realised he was alive, they took him to hospital and treated him better than he could have imagined!  By all accounts, he was a miserable old sod but then, expriencing life in the trenches, who wouldn’t be?

Anyway, Mr. Tialys and I were rather troubled by the method of getting into the glass jar inside the tin.  Where would you find a screwdriver in the trenches?  It looked rather fiddly for men up to their knees in mud and desperate for something to eat.  So I had another look around the internet and found somebody else claiming that these are old conserve jars dating from the 19th century which makes more sense to me and so that’s what I’m going to go with even though it’s not as exciting.   

Unless you know different………………

Grandpa Tialys still got his day on my blog though!

 

 

Win a Tialys Reindeer Tubby – Holiday Season Giveaway

As the season of goodwill approaches I’ve decided to do a little giveaway competition for my regular readers and anybody else who cares to enter.  However, as I have Scrooge like tendencies, I thought I’d make you work a little bit for the prize which is one of my little fabric storage tubs in holiday mood, a Reindeer Tubby, just like this

What do you have to do to win this useful little piece of eye candy for your home this festive season?  Simple, you just have to come up with an idea for a use for one of my more obscure vintage finds so that Mr. Tialys doesn’t make me put it in the bin.

It is an old insulator from a telegraph pole in France.  I have lusted after ones from the U.S. before on Etsy but, because they are heavy, the shipping was a bit of a deterrant.  However, the ones I’ve seen are around the size that you would stand a tea-light in whereas this one is massive.  I had to buy it though as the glass is a lovely turquoise colour, it is free standing, it is a great shape and because it was very cheap. 

Any ideas?  Standing on it’s rounded end, it measures 7 inches high and the bowl shape that is on top is 6.5 inches in diameter.  The glass is very thick and the whole thing is heavy.

Please save the object from a shattering end by suggesting a good use for it and win one of my fabulous fabric tubbies at the same time. 

You have until 5th December to make a suggestion or even just a comment will do if you can’t think of anything – that’s how festively generous I’m feeling.   On the 6th December the winner will be selected the old fashioned way with all entries being put in a hat and one name pulled out by a disinterested party (i.e. any one of my family!).    All welcome – I will ship the prize worldwide.

How to Interest a Reluctant Man in Shopping for Vintage

Mr. Tialys was very taken with some of  my vintage French linen discoveries at the vide grenier on Sunday.

I wonder why.

(Perhaps he thought I might actually do some housework)

Hidden Treasures

 Today I had a meeting at my youngest daughter’s school which, for reasons I won’t bore you with, I wasn’t looking forward to.  Unusually for me, I arrived early so went into a local dépot vente (loosely translated, junk shop) to kill some time.  Look what I found!

Some gorgeous, wicker and jute wrapped old demijohns.  Apparently, the big old glass bottles were used to transport wine, olive oil and other liquid produce and the wicker wrapping protected the glass inside.

I must admit, I’d never given a thought to the beautiful old glass inside before but, when I started to research them, I found some  photographs where they have used the ones from which the wicker covering has perished to make eyecatching displays.

I can see that a couple of mine are a beautiful turquoise blue colour but the wicker covering is in such good condition I don’t want to remove it so I’ll wait and see if I can find a more knackered one that I don’t mind stripping down.

If you want to know more about these old bottles which are becoming beloved of home designers, just click on the image above and it will take you to a page from Antique  Bottle  and Glass Collector Magazine (who knew?) and an interesting article  which goes into more  detail. 

I might put a couple in my vintage shop – as there is a limit to how many of my finds Mr. Tialys will countenance me keeping, as you know.  I’ll have to check on shipping but I guess the wicker will protect them very well as they used to bump along in carts on unmade roads and below decks in stormy seas at one time without coming to any harm.

 

Loving the Rust

Vide grenier season is here – hoorah!  I went to two local ones yesterday and even managed to drag Mr. Tialys along with the promise of plants for sale.  They were listed as vide grenier (empty your attic) and vide jardin (empty your garden) so he was tempted  but any hopes were dashed as, to be honest, people don’t seem to raise their own plants here as much as they do in the U.K. – well, not in my neck of the woods anyway.  So, there were a few sad herbs stuck in mini pots and a couple of cactus plants so all his hopes were cruelly dashed and he just had to help me carry my haul instead.

See how I look after him?  I bought him a gorgeous, rusty, non functional stove to use as a plant pot.  Look at that gorgeous lid.

I’ve got a large version of this Larousse illustrated dictionary which I have dismembered for various purposes as it was in quite bad condition but this one, from 1939, is gorgeous and will be kept intact and used as a prop in my photos and for looking through occasionally.

Another Keeper

I know I say I’m often tempted to keep my vintage finds, rather than put them in the shop, but the gorgeous vintage pillow case in this collage had my name on it (or my monogram anyway) so, of course, it’s definitely a keeper.