The little things in life...

...that give us pleasure.

I love squared paper.  Call me a little retentive (probably a lot retentive would be more appropriate), but I love to write and make notes on squared paper.

In my teens I went on a French exchange from school and whilst in France bought some blocks of squared paper - which is commonly used here as school note books and scribble pads, and fell in love with it then.  On occasion I have found it in the UK, normally at one of those high street discount shops, or European supermarkets, but now I am here in France I get to use it all the time.

I like the way I can draw out designs on it and how easy it is to scale them up, I like the way I can make my own cross stitch patterns on it and see how they work out, and I like the way I can section it up to remind me of what I need to do, how to do it, and what I need in order to do it, basically I just like it!

Anyway - using my pad of squared paper, yesterday I drew up a pattern for a reversible bag on it, then scaled that up onto some of the glossy publicity paper, and started cutting up the vintage material I bought at the flea market on Sunday.

The hectic pace continues, after Wednesday's flooding of the field, which coincided with a job interview, and Thea's friend coming over, we had guests in the morning, visitors in the afternoon (at least two of the cars have now gone and my garden looks less like a scrapyard today) and went out for a meal last night.  

Typically French, the starter appears at 9.30 after two and half hours of aperos - we all fell on the food like the starving hordes, and it was midnight before we got to coffee.
Now I have to smarten myself up and get ready for work for my first day with my new client - I guess the general disorder 'chez nous' did not put off my new employer on Wednesday then!

With me in the dog house with the tower, I am back to the laptop - so before posting any photos will have to download all the software again first.  Bag photos will follow - although saying that I now can't remember whether I took any 'in progress' shots so it may just be the finished article.

At least the sun is out this morning.  I may even get some gardening done this afternoon - it's either that or a quick power nap when I get in from work.