GROW YOUR BLOG PARTY & GIVEAWAY!

Vicki 
our very treasured blogging friend

of

http://vicki-2bagsfull.blogspot.com/

is throwing a 'Grow Your Blog' party

and I've joined in!
THANK YOU
Vicki for organising and hosting
this wonderful event for us!

WELCOME

and lovely to meet you

especially if you are visiting my blog

for the first time and as part

of GYB party!

Where I call home!

My name is Shane and I live in

New Zealand in the

beautiful South Pacific region.

My blogging adventure started

almost three years ago with
this post here
and I was thrilled to bits when
14 lovely people left me a comment
and gave me the confidence to carry on.

(I confess my first comment came from my son)!!!
...but the second came from
Tracey of
French Larkspur
I was on the road to great adventure!!!

I've been so lucky to make some
wonderful new friends along the way
who have widened my horizons
beyond anything I could have imagined.

I love all things French!

At the top of my list are my

french granddaughters

whom I visit almost every year,
I wish I could visit more often....
And yes - I'm a Francophile!

♥

I hope you'll have time to wander

around my blog.

Books, music and the arts 
are my passion.

Walking is another pastime and I took
this photo on an amble in the
countryside when I was in France
last year.
In the distance is the village
where my family live!

A Christmas stocking I embroidered for one of my granddaughters last year.

Rose's very yummy Carrot Cup Cakes!

I belong to a small embroidery group,
as you can see the delicious cakes we enjoy
are an added bonus!!

This year I want to learn something new
 so.... I'm about to delve into the world of
patchwork and quilting
and these are the fabrics I've collected so far!

I'm hoping via Vicki's blog party
I will meet some experienced quilters
who will join my blog and give
me advice and encouragement
along the way!!!

I really enjoy creating

collages, tags and books

out of old fabrics and lace I collect,

some at brocantes when I'm in France .

I enjoy being at home

making things for the house

pottering about in the kitchen

and developing my ever-

evolving garden.

♥  GIVEAWAY  ♥

Please enter my giveaway by leaving

me a comment on this post.

There are no fixed rules

so you don't have to be a follower to enter
(although naturally I would  love you to
become one via Google Friend Connect
so I can grow my blog)

however

JUST LEAVE ME A COMMENT AND YOU'RE IN!!!
Please make sure I can contact you
by leaving your email address below your comment!

The draw will take place on

Friday 1st February
New Zealand time!

Bonne chance mes amies!

Country Living is a beautiful

magazine put out once a year by

New Zealand House & Garden.

It's jam packed full of

inspiring country interiors

and gardens

as well as yummy recipes.

I just know you'll love it!!!

(in the parcel I will also tuck in
a few other bits of KIWIANA -
google that to see what I mean!!)

THANK YOU

so much for popping in to see me!

I would love you to become

a part of my blog.

THANK YOU 
again dear Vicki
for so generously giving of your
precious time to organise
this wonderful party
to help us all to
GROW OUR BLOGS!

Please click here to return to Vicki's
list of bloggers who have joined
THE PARTY OF THE YEAR!!!.

Take care dear friends

and please be kind to one other

hugs

Shane ♥

Sit down here with me for a cuppa and a lovely chat!

General Gallieni - a very dashing Frenchman!

How nice it is to join Vee

in her first

Note Card Party of 2013!

My friend Dawn has a huge

bush of this wonderful old

tea rose - General Gallieni

in her garden.

It has blooms continuously

from Spring through to Autumn.

I love how the blooms vary

from soft pink to rose

then apricot to deep red.

A mixed bowl with Iceberg

is lovely too.

The bowl sits on the hutch

between our kitchen and

dining room.

A good place for the 'General'

with the Eiffel Tower in

the background

he should feel at home!

Thank you Vee for hosting

another Note Card Party

I'm looking forward to

visiting as many of you

as I can.

WELCOME

to my new followers

Thank you to all my friends

for visiting my blog

I appreciate all your comments.

Take care and

be kind to one another

hugs

Shane ♥

Chicken and Olives... the recipe!

Sorry girls I know I promised to post this recipe

a couple of days ago but...

I've had the dreaded flu

in the middle of Summer - how does that happen?

...and I'm feeling suitably

sorry for myself..sniff. cough!!! 

I've been dosing myself up with

all manner of weird and wonderful potions!

My advice to family and friends for sore throats

is to swallow a peeled clove of garlic

wrapped in a spoon of the best honey...

(last thing at night) 

then magically come morning

your sore throat has gone!

Did I take my own advice?

unfortunately no...

I was feeling so miserable I couldn't think

of anything, so I've let it ride it's course

in between popping panadol and 

sipping "Gee's Linctus".

An old remedy for coughs

that the pharmacist will make up!

Enough of my ailments....!!!

CHICKEN AND OLIVES - THE RECIPE

 click on the picture to enlarge so you can print it off!

When you do this you'll see the page is splattered

with bits of this and that,

which tells you it's a very well used recipe!

It's a one dish recipe which is what I

love about it.

I often add a lemon cut into ⅛ ths

(leave skin on).

I serve it with a simple green salad.

The recipe is from this book.

Julie is a well known New Zealand cook

with many stimulating books published.

You may be able to order it from your

local library if you're interested!

On my kitchen bench today is a new pot

of herbs, basil chives and coriander.

Behind it is a plate I bought at a market years ago

it's a copy of an Italian design I think.

Sitting in front of my recipe book holder

are two large cups

we have our first coffee of the morning

from these!!

They are from Provence and the

mark on the back is "Terre Provence"!

I haven't used one recipe from this book

but I love the beautiful images

of French life

my daily reminder of where

my family live!

ONLY THREE DAYS TO GO TO

I just checked Vicki's blog and 331

bloggers have joined now.

Go here

to join us and have some fun

meeting new bloggers and

learning more about the world we live in!

THANK YOU

dear friends for popping in to see me

and leaving your lovely comments!

WELCOME

to me new followers - I'm so glad you're here!

TAKE CARE and

be kind to one another

hugs and love

Shane ♥

Wish I was here - would you like to join me?!

Summertime in Russell

(click on photo to enlarge)

We've just returned from another
few days away.
This time up north to 
Russell in the Bay of Islands,
a beautiful part of New Zealand.
I've shown you photos before
as we always spend time up
here during summer. 

(click on photo to enlarge)

A view of the bay at low tide
from the deck with
just a few seagulls mulling about.

We enjoyed some wonderful

sunsets while sitting on the deck

each evening.

I hope you are all happily settling
into the new year
and keeping snug and warm
if it's winter where you are!

Tomorrow I will share with you
our family's favorite chicken recipe!

Linking to
James' Weekend Reflections


Oh and don't forget to join
Vicki's
GROW YOUR BLOG PARTY
see the button on my side bar
255 have already signed up
why don't you join us and 
have some fun!


THANK YOU 
all for popping in and
reading my posts, especially
my dear friends who leave
such encouraging comments.

WELCOME
to my new followers too!

Take care and
be kind to one another.
hugs
Shane ♥

My very talented friends...

Late last year four of us got

together for an "Angel" themed

swap for Christmas.

Above is a beautiful angel collage - many of

you will recognise it as the work

of our friend Suzy Quaife 

a very talented fibre and textile artist.

Please visit her blog to see more of her

amazing work.

http://suziqusthreadworks.blogspot.com/

Suzy used one of my favourite
 rennaisance  angel images

as the focal point of her collage.
Then she embellised around it
as only Suzy can,
with treasured pieces from her
lace doily and fabric collection.

Lilla created one of her lovely
paper dolls, embellishing her with
specially died muslin, lace, silk and
delicate golden gossamer wings
befitting a Christmas Angel!
Other special touches of a gold cross,
gold bead and a pearl and
threads of gold glitter to
hi-light her gown.

Lilla is well known to most of my followers
as I often refer to her in my posts.

She is the most generous person I've
met while blogging.
Lilla freely shares her collage,
book making and other techniques
with easy to follow videos on her blog
http://justlilla.blogspot.com/


I've had the pleasure of meeting
Lilla in person on one of her
visits home to New Zealand.
She is a very fun person to be with,
a great shopper (bonus points) and
I learnt so much from her in
that one brief meeting - 
thank you dear Lilla!

You won't be disappointed when
you visit Lilla's blog and also her shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lilla

My dear friend Rhonda of
http://alittlebitfrench.blogspot.com/

was also in our swap.
She made each of us a mini lace collage with
the beautiful Guardian Angels image
a perfect addition to my tree.

Thank you to my three dear friends
for the precious gifts you sent me.

I'm sure my dear friend Dorthe of

http://denlillelade.blogspot.com/

needs no introduction either!

Before Christmas while reading her blog

I spied these sweet little angels,

hand made by Dorthe!

They were perfect to tie to the outside

of Christmas parcels going off to my

three granddaughters in France!

Dorthe sent them at supersonic speed

(thank you for your special effort dear Dorthe)

so the parcel arrived on the other side

of the world well in time to catch Santa's sleigh!
(and to the delight of the girls too)!

Also included in her parcel was a very

special present for me,

a Dorthe designed angel for my tree,

I'm so appreciative

thank you dear Dorthe - you're an angel too!!!

I just had to show you Dorthe's

beautiful Christmas wrapping tissue.

I wish our shops would source

something vintage like this!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/denlillelade?ref=em

Above is the address for Dorthe's shop,

she will be re-stocking it from time to time

but things sell very quickly so keep

going back for a look!!!!

Here's a very fun party to join!!!

If you haven't already heard about
Vicki's
Grow Your Blog Party
please click on the above link
(or the button on my side bar)
to read all about it.
Vicki is another of Blogland's
most generous and kind souls
who always looks after people.

Thank you

to all my followers

for visiting my blog

especially those of you who leave

me your lovely comments.

I'm looking forward to another year of blogging

and meeting and making

more like minded friends along the way!

Take care

be kind to one another

hugs and love

Shane ♥

One of the angel collages I made for 
our swap
(I borrowed Suzy's photo!)