Mlle Magpie

Blog Giveaway/Summer Vacation

School just finished for the kids and we're off for our two week summer vacation at the farmhouse. While I'm also having a blog vacation, I'm having a giveaway - I'm now 100+ posts! For my giveaway I've decided to part with one of my prettiest crinolines.

This ivory beauty has a cotton lining underneath and is super sweet. You could wear it with a t-shirt, or hang it up in your bedroom, or whatever you like...

Just leave a comment over the next two weeks and your email address and I'll randomly pick the winner when I get back. 

See you after my vacation!

Mlle Magpie

Totally Tulle

I love tulle. Tutus, vintage prom dresses, wedding veils and crinolines. This little posy detail is from one of my newest prom dresses. I also have a new crinoline.

I call it a crazy crinoline. It's made up of three different colours of tulle - turquoise, pink and yellow. Normally I wouldn't buy such a wild and crazy crinoline, but I kind of have a project in mind for it. 

I'm planning on taking apart those rambunctious ruffled layers of tulle and try using the separated pieces as a sort of valance on a couple of windows.

I will let you know how it turns out.

Mlle Magpie

p.s. I'm well over 100 posts now, but I've delayed plans for a giveaway so that it would coincide with my summer vacation which starts this weekend, so stay tuned.

Garden Green

The city garden is very green and lush these days, punctuated with little bits of pinks and blues, here and there...

Those pale pink daisies are right beside my David Austin rose, a pale pink Leander, which is getting ready to bloom. I do hope I will see it bloom before we leave for our summer vacation this weekend.

Mlle Magpie

Garden Roses

The first of my garden roses have started blooming. Pink, of course.

What could be more beautiful?

Mlle Magpie

Flea Market Finds

Miss B. and I made it to the flea market on Saturday morning. Let me tell you, not even bad asthma and me being away at the farmhouse (that's right, I drove all the way back in on Saturday morning!) will deter a couple of die-hard flea market fans. We didn't have to bring a wheelchair after all, but good thing Miss B. bought a fabulous French velvet tufted chair for herself because it sure came in handy for sitting breaks. This flea market comes only twice a year and is a mere five minutes from Miss B.'s house. Have a look at what I found...

I plan to make a necklace using one of the pocket watches. Since I never have enough time to do all the things I want to do, how a-propos, non?

The Singer Dressmaking Guide from the 50's was one of my favourite finds. Only $2.

Besides the romantic tufted velvet chair, Miss B. found other lovely treasures, including religious cards from Italy, a vintage jewellery box and a gorgeous lacy petticoat from the 30's. 

What could be more fun on a Saturday morning, than visiting a flea market and searching for treasures with your best friend? Hope you had a great weekend too!

Mlle Magpie

A Couple of New Things

Last weekend at the farmhouse, besides hanging out in my "nest", drinking coffee, reading magazines, replanting all the plants that died in our vegetable and cutting garden due to unseasonably cold weather and hail, I dropped by some of my favourite shops in town to chat with Duane and Richard, Lucie and Larry. Sometimes I try not to visit these lovely people because I always end up finding something in their shops. For example, this is what I found in Duane and Richard's shop.

I know exactly where I will be putting this blue bookcase next weekend at the farmhouse. There will of course be vintage books on it.

And this is what I found at Lucie and Larry's shop.

Lucie and Larry just came back from a vacation trip to France, so I was just catching up with them, when this statue of St. Anne inadvertently caught my eye. I love religious statuary, and I actually have a small collection of St. Anne statues, so she had to come home with me. She seems very happy in my seafoam green hutch.

Mlle Magpie

p.s. I couldn't go to the Farm Chicks Show last weekend, as so many blogging gals did, but Miss B. and I are going to the flea market this weekend, no matter what! Even if I have to take my sick friend there in a wheelchair! We just can't miss it, not even for a bad asthma attack (let's just not tell her doctor, ok?)!

A Favourite Photo

(image from Ville Kulla)

As much as I like the whites and creams, mixed in with a bit of brown, I am always very much attracted to seafoam green. I love this photo because it captures a lot of my favourite things. 

Mlle Magpie

A British Home With a Vintage Vibe

If you looked closely in my favourite farmhouse nook, you would see that I had a new magazine sitting on my "two-cafe setee". I also lament the recent demise of several favourite magazines, like "Country Home" and "Canadian Home and Country". Sometimes we have to look a little farther away to get our magazine fix, so I got the latest issue of the British "Livingetc.", featuring the fabulous British home of Paul Massey.

Paul has an amazing kitchen, complete with that British classic, the Aga oven. I must say, when I was a university student in London, Ontario (many years ago), I took a cooking class at a shop that had one in the back, in the cooking kitchen, and have been fascinated and intrigued by them ever since.

That's the refrigerator in the corner there, nicely inobtrusive. Love that set of white pots - I wonder how he keeps them so clean?

Paul also has a lovely living room. Very peaceful, and tranquil. And those white painted floors - I just have such a thing for them.

I really like this little nook off of the fireplace. I think I just might be on the lookout for some shabby shutters out there, just to add a little "je ne sais quoi" to a little corner of my own somewhere...

Mlle Magpie

Favourite Farmhouse Nook

This is my favourite farmhouse nook. It's in a little corner of our dinette, by a window. When we're at the farmhouse this is where I wake up in the morning with my coffee, sans favourite blogs, of course (no tv, no computer, no internet at the farmhouse). What I do have is a nice view outside the window, and my favourite magazines. Husband calls it my nest.

I love the framed print that is hanging above my nook. Found at a junk shop in Montreal.

And let me tell you the story about the daybed below.

Husband and I call it the "two-cafe setee". We bought this old daybed/setee at the Porte de Vanves flea market in Paris when I was living there as a graduate student. Since we didn't own a car, it wouldn't fit into a bus or a taxi, and we were young, we carried it all the way back to my studio apartment in the 15ieme arrondissement, by foot! Needless to say, it got a bit heavy to carry all the way home so we ended up stopping twice to take breaks along the way at a couple of cafes. Thank goodness there's a cafe at almost every corner in Paris! Hence, the "two-cafe setee". When I finished my studies in Paris, I brought the setee back to Canada with me and eventually we reupholstered it, and had a slip-cover made for it. Tres pratique for my little nest, especially since my children often cuddle up with me there too :)

Mlle Magpie

My New Dollhouse Collage

Look at this amazing Doll House Collage I found here. I think it is just so adorable - it was made by the super talented Tiffany of Shabby Scraps. For the moment this sweet little creation is gracing our piano, but I think I will be moving it around to different places in our house, over time...

Mlle Magpie