Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Maypole dancing!

Isn't this a darling photo?
Tante Laurie at the BSC posted it.
She said it was fine to put it here in our blog.
I do so wish I could dance around a Maypole. It would be Such Fun, don't you think?
I will try to get dear Maman to find us a Maypole.
Love from Zoe.

Yvette Marie's 2nd year at the Bleu Manoir!

Here I am, celebrating 2 years in Maman's home!
Maman has learned a great deal about sewing for me since 2009.
I am very happy about that. I have so many clothes now. They are all very pretty.
Maman spring cleaned the doll cabinet. She set us all up inside in our prettiest clothes.
We barely fit. Do you see anyone new in this photo?
Love from Yvette Marie xoxoxo

Saturday, May 14, 2011

New Clothes!!!!

Here are all the clothes that Tante Sarah Jean made for the past 2 years.
I think she sews much, much faster than Maman!
The clothes are very pretty.
We are busy dividing them up.
Our new sisters are going through our clothes closet too.
There's nothing like sharing!

Helena really likes the white smocked dress.
I like the teal dupioni silk dress.
Maman needs to take a photo of us wearing our new things.
Merci beacoup, Tante Sarah Jean!
Love from Yvette Marie xoxoxo

Thursday, May 12, 2011

New sisters!

Hello everyone!
This picture was taken 2 weeks ago, when I visited Tante Sarah Jean on the Island.
She TRADED her little Bleuettes for two of Maman's large dolls.
All of us are very happy with that!
Here is Emily on the left, and Phoebe on the right.
They came back home with us on the big ferry.
They also came with a HUGE load of clothes all made by Tante Sarah Jean.
I will get Maman to take some photos of the clothes.
Love from Yvette Marie xoxoxo

Sunday, May 8, 2011

HAPPY MAMAN'S DAY!

Here is me and my Maman.
I just loved going to Vancouver Island with her and visiting with Tante Sarah Jean!
I would love to have a yellow jacket like Maman's.
I think she should make me one. What do you think?

Here is Maman as a little girl many years ago. Maman told me it was 50 years ago!
Wow. That is a long time ago. That is Maman's Maman holding her. Isn't her Maman beautiful?
Love from Yvette Marie xoxoxo

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Something really cute!

Tante Dierdre has these 2 pictures on her website.
We really love Tante Dierdre an awful lot.
She is very nice.
She is transcribing the French patterns into English.
This means that Maman won't get a headache trying out new patterns.
The above picture shows little girls before they get their new French magazine.

This is after La Semaine de Suzette comes to the door!
Maman has a few copies of this magazine.
They are very old and delicate.
If you would like to visit Tante Deirdre's website, please click here:

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Smocking lesson Part 2

Last Wednesday Maman sewed ALL DAY LONG.
I think she was desperate to finish the smocking dress.
She even woke up that night trying to remember everything she had learned.
Sarah Jean taught her how to do the baby wave stitch.
That was on the next row of dots. It was complicated but Maman managed it.
It poured all day long.

Under the first row of baby wave stitches, Maman made a second row of upside down baby waves.
Do you see that they look like a diamond pattern?
Underneath that she did a row of cable stitches.

After lunch she used the sewing machine downstairs and sewed the dress together.
Sarah Jean taught her a really nice finishing stitch for the sleeves.

Here is a close up of the smocking. Isn't it lovely?
Love from Yvette Marie. xoxoxo

A smocking lesson!

Maman and I went for a wonderful retreat with Sr. Sarah Jean last week.
Sarah Jean lives in Saanich on Vancouver Island.
I got to go on the big ferry. It was a lot of fun except I was encased in bubble wrap!
But I could feel the motion of the ferry.
As soon as possible Maman took me out and we began to cut out a new dress for me!
This was after supper last Tuesday.
Sarah Jean put smocking dots on the back of the fabric.

Here is what the smocking dots look like. Sarah Jean made extra rows by re-doing the pattern.
Then she showed Maman how to put a running stitch through the dots all the way to the end.
You make a knot at the beginning and leave a long thread at the end and knot the ends together.

Sarah Jean spreads the gathers evenly using a big blue comb.
Isn't that funny?
Maman learned all this in one night!

She also learned the basic stitch which is the cable stitch.
She did a row of cable stitch along the first row of dots.
I think the green thread matches perfectly.
We had lots of fun on the Island.
I will post more later.
Love from Yvette Marie xoxoxo