Pommes de Terre

GR&DF French is such a lovely language - to hear to speak to read - and I thought it would be nice to have a little more French in my life. Dear Myriam leaves such nice comments in French and my extra rusty language skills are creaking back to life. I took French from the 7th to 12th grades and then 3 more years at University and at one time was pretty good. Sadly as I have grown older and not used the language much I have lost so much. The last time I visited lovely France about 6 years back (can it be that long ago??) I made out pretty well as I worked up my skills for a few weeks before travelling. It was a trip that started and ended in Paris but took me south through Lyon and Avignon to Nice. With a side trip to Monaco (where I broke my right foot - but that's another story). From Nice we travelled to Arles, Carcassone then onto Lourdes - such lovely bright sunshine filled cities. Then to Bordeaux and back north through the Dordogne to the Loire valley. Stopping off at a few chateaux including my very favorite -

Chenonceaux on the Cher

Then back to Paris and home. The last half of trip after the foot issue saw me hobbling about but determined to see as much as I could.

This brings me in a round about way to the title today. Pommes de terre - what a super way to say potato!! Apples of the earth...could it be more descriptive? Yesterday was Wednesday and that include a visit to the farmers market - It seemed pretty slim pickings for some reason. I got over there a bit later than I usually do so that may have had something to do with it. Included in my regular purchases of tomatoes, Brussels sprouts and kettle korn - staples don't you know!! I picked up some collard greens (love those greens!!) and some beautiful Yukon gold potatoes. Here is a snap of the selection from the stand I got them from...

Aren't they gorgeous!! There is something lovely to look at if you take a moment to see as my Granny would say! The Yukon Gold ones are the yellow ones towards the back.

Thank you all for the nice comments about the sampler and the pidges - it was very sad - and it continues. The mama stink eye is still hanging around where the little pidges where. She was there for the longest time yesterday and then again this morning just perched there not understanding what has happened. It just brings a lump to the throat to see her, but how to make her understand - I haven't a clue - as Pigeons are not known for their brilliance - not by a long shot. I would think at some point she will just give it up and move on.

I got to thinking about a comment from yesterday - from Luned - she asked "I'd love to know what the colours are and how you chose them - did you go for the closest coloured silks to the listed DMC or choose ones you liked? Were they ones you already had from other projects or did you go shopping?" What an interesting question. I read it yesterday and thought about it off and on last night and this morning. Getting the little grey cells just moving about. Here is a sort of answer and the process I went through to get to the colour choices I made for this sampler - The colours listed with the chart where only a list of DMC choices with no other option like NPI, CC, GAST - I knew from the start that I wanted to do this piece in silk. As with many things I do for myself I first think of the end piece and what I want it to eventually look like. As I have done with other things I first pulled the suggested DMC colours and laid them out to see what the palette would be. I then took out my collection of Belle Soie Silks and started to pull the colours that would be closest to the DMC. Some of the DMC colours where just shades of each other and with Belle Soie being an over dyed often I came up against a single silk choice having two or more of the DMC colours in one piece. When that happened I just pulled a colour I thought would look nice and complement the others. I have also changed up the palette to include two additional colours - a black (Noir) and a brown (Briar Patch) - for the black birds and the squirrels. Right now the border is comprised of the soft pink of Rustique, that great dark green of Attic Tea and that pale yellowish Sandy Beach and I think it looks super. I use this edgar method often if I don't like a colour choice or palette. For "This is the Day" sampler I pulled all the suggested floss and then took out the ones I did not like using other complimentary colours from my stash. If I don't find a colour in my stash I like I will buy something that I think will go - for one project I was trying to find a good rusty orange colour - so I sifted through the different over dyed colours available and ended up buying about 12 different skeins to see if one would hit me right and fit in. I hope that convoluted explanation was clear. I wonder how other stitchers choose different colours for pieces - or change up the palette???

I do thank you for stopping - and for the kind comments!!!

Take care,
edgar