Bonne Année pour 2013...

Did you have a lovely Christmas? Lots of goodies, food & happy times? We do hope so.

Now Christmas is over, we are thinking towards the New Year & what will be in store for us. Will you be making New Year's resolutions? Will your resolve last or will you give in by the end of January? It's the good intentions that count and who knows, maybe this year, we manage to keep just one. 

The postcard above was found at a local brocante fair. In beautiful copperplate writing, the author expresses best wishes & kisses for the New Year to their children & uncle. Promising a letter to follow the next day - it's so touching.

We hope you have a very happy 2013 & all your wishes come true.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.....

 It's a beautiful sunny & warm day here in France. It doesn't really feel much like Christmas, not that we're complaining, we've enjoyed a café in the square this morning, watching a very realistic-looking Père Noël giving bonbons to the children. 
So lovely to see the joy on the little ones faces.

 The French celebrate on Christmas Eve with presents at midnight and a fête that will go on well into the wee small hours. We tend to follow the traditional English way by celebrating tomorrow.

How ever you celebrate we hope you have a very merry vintage Christmas.

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Fête

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas....

How are your Christmas preparations going? Busy, busy, busy, eh!

Don't get too stressed, take time to enjoy things too.

We love this time of year .........

.....decorating the home & dressing the tree, listening to carols, baking mince pies, toasting marshmallows, watching Christmas movies, wrapping presents, hanging up the stockings.....

.....special times that stay with you.

who ate all the (mince) pies?!.... 

only 6 sleeps to go........can't wait!


À bientôt,

Knock, Knock...

 

We've been out and about a lot this week &, as we love French doors, we took the opportunity to share some with you.

 from the very smart to the peeling paint

 village doors

sturdy, functional doors

 rustic doors

very heavy 13th c. church doors to keep out the English!

 historic doors

Left: A former lepers hospital dated 1745 with the welcome "devs noster refugium"
(God is our refuge) above the door.
Right: A resting place for pilgrims travelling to Spain on the chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle. The date over the door is 1798 & the shell, 
(symbol of Saint Jacques de Compostelle), to indicate pilgrims are welcome to stay.

Not a door but a window!
The shutter has been repaired with wood recycled from a packing box by a resourceful owner.

The door furniture can been really interesting too. Here is a little glimpse.....

door knockers come in all shapes & sizes

 sometimes they are grouped together

 or a latch type

 such a mix of styles

waiting for the Christmas post....

Don't forget to visit our shop and take advantage of our pre-Christmas offer.

 À bientôt,

Hidden Treasures....

We've had a busy week one way & another. A bit like Mrs Tiggywinkle as we've been washing & pressing lots of linens and lace. Although we don't collect linens from the hedgerows, sometime they look like they have been left out in the open! If this is the case, it calls for some gentle hand-washing & some careful stain removal.

When searching for treasure, we're not afraid to get our hands dirty. You have to look past the rows of Barbies & other modern day items to find a potential treasure lurking at the bottom of the box or hiding in a corner. Sometimes they look very sad at first, covered in dirt or mud....or worse! You have to look past the grime to see the potential.

One such treasure was this brooch. Dirty and forgotten among a box full of buttons, odd earrings & broken jewelry. But once cleaned it showed it's true beauty. The jury is out to whether it's gold as there are no visible marks but they appear to be seed pearls. Such pretty blue enamel which became the inspiration for the Petit Pica blue we use in our branding. For us, it doesn't really matter if it's real or not, or that it's a little bit chipped, we just love it.  It's difficult to age, so if there's any jewellery collectors out there who can throw some light on this, we'd love to hear. It's current home in on the pin-board in the Petit Pica atelier.

Apart from linens and lace, we will be adding other items to our shop in the future. 
Here's a little sneak preview.

A little apology.....sorry you've had to wait a bit for this post, we've been having a few Blogger teething troubles. Hopefully all sorted now.

À bientôt,

 

A Stitch In Time....

source unknown

Stitching has been on our minds a lot recently. Sewing hearts and sachets for the shop got us thinking of all the other women over the years who have sewn and embroidered linen. How many pricked fingers? Thankfully not ending up like sleeping beauty, although who wouldn't want to be kissed awake by a handsome prince!

Looking at some of the linens in our shop you can to see they are a labour of love.

Hours & hours spent perfecting the patterns and making such beautiful stitches.

Cross-stitch is a fairly simple stitch in comparison to others but one of our favourites.

The beauty is in it's simplicity, like lots of little kisses!

This tablecloth must have taken ages. It's so lovely, hundreds of stitches and the choice of colours, carried over in the 12 matching serviettes. This was obviously made for a large family. French meals times tend to be a family affair but this cloth was probably kept for special occasions. Imagine eating your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal on a table laid with this!
This would make a wonderful present too.

Cross-stitch is a favourite of the French too. Here are a couple of books from the petit pica bookcase. Made in France is a good example of how you can combine traditional stitches with a modern twist to make unique pieces for your home.

There are some great projects, like a very pretty marriage sampler.

The other book is Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont. Originally published in French, this was a common book for a young French girl to own to learn all types of handiwork. This is the English version and it's fascinating. Although there is no publish date, the inscription is dated 1914 & when it was published 750,000 copies had been sold in English, French, German & Italian; it is still available today.

Perhaps the original owner used it to make items for her beau who was serving at the front?

There are wonderful sections like "Embroidery upon white stuff" & "How to transpose and repeat patterns by means of two mirrors". Unfortunately this copy is a bit fragile so not practical for everyday use but luckily there is a free e-book available here.

We will be adding some newly acquired vintage embroidery linens to the shop soon. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up-to-date with the new additions. 

Lauren Bacall by Louise Dahl-Wolf (source)

See we're in good company! Love that sewing box!

Á bientôt,

Have a heart….

What do you get if you mix linen, gingham, lace, ribbon & buttons with a soupçon of lavender?

Give up? Why it’s easy…Petit Pica hearts & lavender gift sachets!

très jolie, n'est pas?

Last week was spent making a selection of these for the shop. We have lots of vintage lace & trims so it was really difficult to choose. There was lots of sighing to be heard in the Petit Pica atelier as we got carried away with all the vintage loveliness & not concentrating on the job in hand!

The hearts are made from a mixture of French linen, cotton gingham & vintage lace. These fabrics are often used to decorate French country homes. Each heart is finished with a vintage mother-of-pearl button.  The idea for the flower was taken from one of our vintage throws.

They are great for Christmas, hung from the tree or complimenting your other decorations. But they are not just for Christmas......they also look lovely all year round. Perhaps on a dresser, on hooks or door knobs; the perfect accessory to bring the French country look to your home. 

 Remember the lavender we picked a few weeks ago?  

 

This has been used in the lavender gift sachets. The scent is heavenly & they make the perfect complement with a gift voucher or card. Just slip the card under the lace & you have two presents in one! So much nicer than receiving just an envelope.

The vintage broderie anglaise lace has a lovely row of hearts on each side so perfect to give to someone you love. The ribbon trim is particularly one of our favourites as it has roses running through it. 

We have been very busy bees this week, as well as lots of sewing, we've also found time to photograph new items for the shop. Lots of goodies for Christmas.

Petit Pica Shop

Do you like the montage? Just a few linens that will be added to the shop this week. Lots of the items are great for the Christmas table or as presents. We are very tempted to keep the large blue striped & red check tablecloths for our Christmas tables but thought it was only fair to share with you!

It seems that hearts have been the theme for everything this week. See the pumpkin used to make the roasted pumpkin and thyme soup with Gruyère cheese .....

This delicious recipe perfect to take the chill off the Autumn days. It comes from Rick Stein's book "French Odyssey" which has some lovely recipes. By-the-way, that's not Pernod in the bottle, it's olive oil! These old water bottles make great oil & vinegar dispensers.

Á bientôt,

Find the book here