Toile de Jouy Curtains for the Staircase

I´m back in Spain and my home sweet home needed a few upgrading as far as interior is concerned…so to speak. I´ve been postponing to make a few soft furnishings but the curtains in this staircase area need to be done before we go back to home base. The thought of having blue and white curtains in the area excited me. It´s a color combination I always want to use in my home.  

Down the coast I went and tried the first curtain store…too expensive, they only have  catalogs to choose from for an order. In other words fabrics were not in stock and I would have to wait for a few days for my order to arrive… I want the materials now before enthusiasm in sewing the curtains fades away. Well, besides the time factor, the fabrics I liked had been too pricey anyway. The second shop, which is small in size, is just a few steps away from the expensive shop and the prices of the fabric there are always reasonable…

  

So, I decided I want to buy a fabric in blue and white since I´ve got a few blue and white plates hanging on the wall. I´m into eclectic decorating, I have an american Quilt Sampler also hanging on the wall,  the plates are spanish … what fabric to get???

And when entering the small shop,  there it was, I saw a roll of blue and white toile de jouy in cotton and standing at one corner of the store. A love at first sight!!! I found my dream fabric and right away, asked the saleslady to cut 3 meters ... And oh, (!!!) the width of fabric in  Spain is 280 cm, double the width compared to the ones I buy inVienna. It was my lucky day, indeed!

I used a curtain band that is pencil pleated. I have used this almost in all the curtains I made for all window treatments of my home. It was sewn on the back of the curtain and pulled the strings according to the size needed. . I found the bargain hooks from a Chinese bazaar. The curtain holder is a black metal with a fleur de lys pole-ends that match the French Toile fabric. 

By basting beforehand, the curtains are easily sewn and the finish is more
professional once the sides are ironed.

Additional ceramic and glass lamp found at the flea market  in Vienna that

complimented  the curtains and the plates

 The blue and white wooden shelf was constructed by me...The blue corniche on top had been remainders of the ones used for the kitchen installation. 

My corporate world is now set-aside, and as an official retiree,  there are no stress  to deal with, so I took my time to do the curtains slowly. The two windows got their treatments and the way I see them , they look perfect!




This blog has been linked-up to :
Feathered Nest Friday
Home Sweet Home

Crispy Potato Fritters

We call it "Rösti" in Austria. I´m not even sure whether this is viennese dialect, but this fritter is simply heavenly to eat especially when crispy and hot. There are a couple of things to consider preparing this by-dish....don´t worry steps are simple and the secret to making crispy potato fritters  is choosing the right type of potato.

I prefer to use the ones for french fries. As there are so many sort of potatoes available in the market, you really really have to get the ones that are used for french fries..

Ingredients: ( Makes 4 fritters)

4 big potatoes (ask for the type used for french fries)

2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

   salt and pepper

   cooking oil

                                  

Preparation:
1. Peel potatoes and grate on a clean cloth or if you prefer, you can use the shredder accessory of your
    blender/mixer.

2. Extract the liquid-out of the potatoes by wringing the cloth tighter until no more
    liquid comes out.

3. Place the shredded potatoes in a bowl, add the betaen eggs + the rest of the
    ingredients.Season with salt and pepper and the ground garlic.

4. Fry in a pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil for about 2 minutes each side or until both
    sides become crispy and golden brown in color. Arrange on a platter and serve hot..
    May go with any grilled meat or can also be enjoyed as a snack with any sauce, mayonnaise...

Enjoy cooking! 

Collection of 34 Wildflower Arrangements - Part 2 ( 2016)

"we gathered the wildflowers

yes, life there seem'd one pure delight

as thro' the field we rov'd.

yes, life there seem'd one pure delight "

-  George Linley  

Hi everyone!

This is the second part of my wildflower arangements done 

between Spring and Summer of this year. And I´m proud to be 

able to present it in a collective form, that way you can see the different styles, 

different flowers and different vases I used for each of the bouquet. 

Part 1 is quite a lot , and the flowers in there were 

absolutely gorgeous and  so beautiful as the ones here in part 2.

My garden is very small and I have a conifer hedge all over
so I couldn´t plant flowering bushes on the ground as slugs would 
devastate all the flowers overnight in one sitting. It is in the night 
that they are active particularly after the rain.

      

This one on top is an arrangement of  all natural wildflowers, 

onion flowers and wild redberries.

                                      

The decanters were found at a local flea market

You might have noticed, that yellow roses were included in some 

of the arrangements. That is because my 22 year old rosebush had blooms 

that started in May til almost end of summer. I used these roses just to 

give the wildflowers some color contrasts. 

That wraps up on Part 2 of my wildflower collection. 

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at  my 
arrangements and bouquets . I hope you liked them!

 "And 't is my faith, that every flower 

enjoys the air it breathes".......William Woodsworth

It was nice to have you here!