Here comes the tease

One or two of my blogger friends like buttons. Thats a bit of an understatement, somewhat like saying the Ocean is a little bit wet. They love them, adore them, covet them. Just like I do, lol. Buttons are tactile, all the different shapes and sizes and designs, they need to be fondled. They can also be very colourful, and if not colourful, then they are shiny. SHINY, SHIMMERY MOTHER-OF-PEARL BUTTONS, for example. A little while ago I bought some tiny ones on cards from Floss at Troc, Broc & Recup', from her new Troc n Broc Vintage shop. They were gorgeous, and perfect for the projects I have in mind ( and will get round to sometime this century ). I am sure you saw them in her shop, but were too late to get them, because I had snapped some of them up!

Now, a button-loving girl can never have too many buttons, right? So I am always looking for buttons whenever I have a little womble around a bootfair, or in a charity shop. There are no vide greniers in our area in Bourgogne now until the spring, sigh, and there are only a couple of charity shops within reasonable distance. But I do visit those occasionally when we are at the cottage. They have become hugely expensive during the last few years, so I don't buy very much anymore, but on my last visit, I did bag a couple of things - a pair of the most gorgeous romantic, softly coloured rose curtains, absolutely fabulous 1950s curtains, and......... BUTTONS. Yep, about a million buttons. First, I found this huge glass jar full of buttons -


I didn't even look too closely, it had my name on it, I bought it. Then I found loose buttons in the bottom of boxes etc, and spent a good 20 mins or so picking out MOP buttons. Oh boy, it was like being a kid in a candystore. There is something so magical about MOP buttons, don't you think? The way they shimmer, the beautiful soft colours, changing all the time when you play with them. Then I found a little flat tin with more MOP buttons in it. I am sure by that time I was drooling. Luckily nobody noticed.

And this is it. The treasure. All the Mother of Pearl buttons I managed to dig out of the boxes, found in the huge jar of buttons, and the teeny tin -


I wish you could see the colours shimmering away, the photos are so crap, because of the artificial light ( flash just killed the shimmer completely ).

These are some of the more interesting shapes and designs -

And these are some of the dark shell buttons, which produce incredible "oil slick" colours -

Definitely fondleworthy, that little lot.

When I posted about the kitchen yesterday, I mentioned that in a lot of the "fermettes" in our area, the kitchen is part of the living area. I thought I'd show you the rest of the downstairs living area, that would illustrate it a bit better

As you come in through the front door, the kitchen area is straight ahead in the back


You can just see the dining area in the back there
And this is what we often wake up to -

The sun rising over the valley below us always leaves me feeling awestruck, and so thankful that we have this little piece of heaven on earth. See how the valley is completely filled with mist? Thats such an awesome sight.

The first couple of days at the cottage, we had really lovely weather and I got to enjoy the last roses of the season, before they were all ripped off a few days later in pretty horrendous storms


And thats where I have to stop. Gotta go and pick our darling granddaughter up and spend the day with her, probably crafting.

xxx