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Click on the picture for a closeup view

Week 6 of the Randje per week SAL *here* brought bands 13 and 14. The charts are posted on the Randje per week blog at 11pm (midnight in Holland) each Friday evening and I go to check them out as soon as they are released. I stitched these two bands on Saturday afternoon which afternoon I now refer to as my 'Randje afternoon'! And now I have to wait until next Friday for the next two bands. In the meantime, and being impatient for new bands,  I have brought some lacy-edged banding and will be stitching another of these band samplers of my own compilation which will include not only borders/edges but alphabets too.  

As this sampler will also include family names, dates of birth and death, to leave for future generations I decided to keep a small journal. This beautiful tiny French journal was given to me by my dear friend Angela and is perfect to add additional information and thoughts as I go along. Thank you Angela!

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This weekend is the Aguilles en fête needlework fair in Paris. I had decided not to go this year but as the time got nearer I changed my mind and quickly go online to try to book Eurostar tickets for both Kirby and I but alas although there were seats available on the early train the only ones available for the return journey were at 3.15pm which would only allowed a very short time at the fair. Next year I will make an earlier decision and hopefully take advantage of the offers and as when they are released. 

Photograph by Valie

However, my dear French friend Valie did get to go to the fair so she very kindly shopped for me. She managed to get me a pair of the latest scissors from M Roulot of Nogent. These are gorgeous and I rather like what looks like tiny spools on the handles towards the blades. I can't wait to get these in my hands!

Photograph by Valie

I also asked Valie to look for vintage spools for me and she managed to find these. I am hoping that one will fit my Randje banding but if not they will look great in my display cabinet as they are. Thank you Valie for getting the spools and scissors for me.  

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2013 is the 10th birthday/anniversary of the l'aiguille en fête. Our hotel must have known the 'Bond' girls were in town as our room was aptly numbered! Although we arrived in Paris on the day before the show, I thought you would rather see the AEF pictures first so I will post more pictures next time of how we spent our afternoon on the Wednesday!

We arrived at the new venue, Hall 6 at the Porte de Versailles and, as soon as we had disposed of our coats and luggage, we made our way immediately to Aisle C, number 5.4 where we knew we would find Monsieur Roulot and his delightful family and his wonderful display of hand-made scissors. 

Although there were a pair or three of his amazing (and very expensive) scissors that really took my heart, I was extremely good and only purchased some of his less expensive versions. Does five pairs count as 'some'? I originally purchased four pairs but passing by later in the day, I espied another pair which just had to come back with me.

I was actually quite restrained this trip and none of these charms made their way into my bag although Kirby wasn't quite so restrained! At the end of the day she was 'Euro'd out' so it was good that I was able to buy her a chocolate bar at the Eurostar terminal at the Gare du Nord!

I was tempted by this tiny china pot with a some very pretty hand-made pins.

At the end of a very tiring day Kirby rested on the floor before our metro trip back to the Gare du Nord surrounded by our luggage and her purchases.

All of the above pictures are clickable for close up views.

My dear French friend and her family had once again invited us to join her family for a couple of days and I would like to thank her. As usual we exchanged gifts and more of this in my next post.

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Floor Plan of the l'aiguille en fête - click for a closeup view

No stitching to show or nothing I can show at present as I have been working on gifts so instead I thought I would post a picture of the floor plan of the AEF which needlework fair is in Paris from February 14-17. Kirby and I are all ready for our trip - our Eurostar tickets and hotel have been booked since October last year! We are leaving next Wednesday and will arrive in Paris at noon or 1pm French time. My dear French friend Valie will be at the Gare du Nord to meet us and we have planned a lovely afternoon/evening catching up. I have printed out the above floor plan and have marked those exhibits I really must not miss. The first visit will be at C5.4 - Cisellerie - which, of course, is M Roulot of Nogent's wonderful scissors where I am sure many of my Euros will find their way. My camera is charged so you can share our experience again this year so please come back for my next post.

It's bitterly cold here in the south east part of the UK but we have no snow, unlike those people is the north west part of the US so I have decided to forego our daily walk so I can work on Part 6 of the SAL JHA 1905 which was released in the early hours of yesterday morning. Part 7, which is a woven border, is also available for download on Simone's blog *here*. I am not sure whether or not I will stitch this part as I want the sampler to fit perfectly inside a 6" frame so I will decide once Part 6 is done. Thank you Simone for sharing this delightful sampler with us.

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