expo - le montage

I spent Wednesday  morning ironing my quilts for the patchwork exhibition.  Carefully rolled I delivered them to Laguepie for the "triage". All very organised, the expo quilts were sorted into small/ medium/large and carefully stacked on tables.

By the time we returned Thursday morning the quilts resembled more a jumble sale scrummage heaped on those same tables and the "fun" was well under way. All day the quilts have been hung, taken down , re sorted, re hung, changed about, taken down again , rehung until the strongest will prevailed.

The positioning of my Yuan tryptich became something of an "histoire" - it was eventually decided it looked lovely with the white boutie. It was displayed to good effect as it had been designed with the three side by side and not topped and tailed ( I am afraid during the day I got a bit "artistic darling" and have no doubt made some enemies - what was that about the strongest will?)

Laguepie salles des fetes is not exactly a gem and has a distinctly down at heel feel . However, by the end of today, with the judicious use of bamboo and sheeting as well as some splendid quilts it has to be said the somewhat chaotic system has resulted in an exhibition worth the name.

Michèle - secretary of Starpatch - the calm at the centre of the storm!

Emilleuro

5 years ago today our adopted cat presented us with four kittens. After rearing them she left and we found a home for one of the kittens. Sadly the female, Purdy, was killed on the road leaving us with "the boys" Dylan and Emile.








Way back on 1st December we discovered Emile in the shed with an obviously broken leg. In fact both back legs were broken and there has followed a seemingly never ending tale of woe. One leg , in fact the one which we were first told was the more serious, has healed well but the other is proving very problematic with the bone taking what seems like forever to heal. Poor Emile has had a total of 5 operations ( the latest today) and is still not out of the woods. This week he will stay at the vets and afterwards it will be a case of more time being kept indoors , mostly in the cage to stop him climbing and jumping. Not an ideal life for a very outdoor cat.





The vets bills are obviously mounting too and we are getting very used to the hour's drive to Montauban - cat complaining most of the way!

A new name - Emilleuro seems appropriate.

a day of discovery

It is always the same - someone points out something you have never noticed before and suddenly they are everywhere.

This week we had a day out in the Lot with some French friends. We diverted into one village where they make "epi de faitage" - they are decorative finnials in ceramic or stone at the apex of a roof. I had never heard of them or really noticed them at all but now I am seeing them everywhere.

It was a day for discovering new things - we had travelled into the Lot especially to go to a restaurant which specialises in a traditional dish called  Le Mique an interesting variation on a petit salé. The restuarant was packed, everyone eating the speciality dish and not an English voice to be heard.

The afternoon destination was another tiny village to see the Zadkine museum. We had heard of  Ossip Zadkine as he had lived near our home for part of his life but were not really familiar with his work. The museum had some really impressive wooden and bronze sculptures.

This beauty was carved from a tree found by Zadkine at Caylus just a5 kms or so from us ( apparently the largest he ever used)