Saturday, February 23, 2013

French Vanilla ~ (a shop I love)

I've written about French Vanilla before...
the lovely French themed gift shop in the Oak Bay area of town.
I pop in every month to pick up my copy of Jeanne D'Arc magazine and to peruse what is new and exciting.

There are lovely linens, soaps, scarves, accessories and an array of home decor items.
She also stocks and sells Anne Sloan Chalk Paint and is planning to have classes on how to refurbish furniture by using this paint. There is no prep work involved so it saves oodles of time and the results are quite remarkable.
Sheila has a great eye and her shop is full of enticing and tempting items.
If you live in town you really must pop in and check out her wonderful wares.


                             I love black and white and this pillow is well made...



I love the pattern and it's perfect for my kitchen bench seat.

The pillow is hand made locally by a retired woman who loves to sew.
It turns out our children went to school together and I remember them having after school play dates and driving them on school field trips.


She has used a different fabric pattern for the back 
and she made some beautiful fabric covered buttons using the same print as the front.

The pillow is filled with a down insert and is plump allowing comfort at my back.

~ ~ ~

Recently I have been getting a LOT of spam on my blog.
I am not sure what that means in the whole scheme of things
perhaps it is because I do not have word verification enabled 
or perhaps it's because I have been getting more traffic to my site.
(which I do like!)

In any event it is rather tedious deleting these comments and not all of them go into the spam filter.
I am wondering how many of you would be reluctant to comment if I were to enable word verification?
When I comment on other blogs often the verification slows me down as the numbers are blurry.
My eyes are not what they used to be even with glasses!

So reader what is your opinion?
~ ~ ~
Aside from spam dinner is a weeknight special
 a pot roast simmering on the stove, 
potatoes are boiling waiting to be mashed 
and I need to prepare the peas.

Leftovers for Mr. HB's sandwiches tomorrow and maybe even dinner Friday night!

The week feels extra long...
work has been a struggle
I'm a wee bit grumpy.

The city has been digging up our road as there are two new houses going in across the street on the corner
and the storm drains needed upgrading so our driveway was the target zone...
the jack hammering shook the house 
 the cats were startled, 
the windows rattled, 
knick knacks vibrated and skidded on the shelves
there is a big hole out front right now 
 it should be filled in soon and then we can park our vehicles in our regular spots
the gravel driveway 
and in front of our Humble Bungalow.

How has your week been?



25 comments:

Sheila said...

I loathe word verification - it completely turns me off commenting on a blog. I approve all comments (rather than having them appearing right away), so I can delete any spam that way.

You can change your settings from your Dashboard -->Settings--Posts and Comments. Make sure you look at "Who can comment?" (I no longer allow Anonymous comments, sadly, due to high amounts of spam and have mine set to "Only registered users"), and I have my "Comment Moderation" set to Always.

It has cut back on my spam considerably. Remember that if you do get spam when moderating, click the box beside the comment and then hit "Spam" so that the Blogger elves can watch for that kind of spam and improve their filters. Deleting spam works, of course, but doesn't stop the spam.

And your pillow is lovely! How nice to have that connection with the lady who made it.

Pondside said...

It's a favourite stop for me too - just this morning, in fact. The pillow is sweet - did you take it home?
I really don't like word verification. I just check for spam and mark any such comments in the 'settings' page. I get o e every couple of days but never from the same site.

Ms Maple said...

Shame about the spam, but I agree with Sheila and Pondside re word verification. However, if you go that route, I will still comment!!! I hope the pillow came home with you and cured the grumpiness :-) My week has been rather non-eventful, but nice. We too are having roast ... roast chicken from the Safeway deli that I am happy to have not cooked! Enjoy your weekend -- go back and get the pillow if it didn't come home! xxx

Madame Là-bas said...

I often find the letters hard to distinguish with the word verification. Sometimes it takes me a couple of times to get it. I really like the style of French Vanilla. My daughter has an old maple set and I think that we are going to refinish it in grey as she is a black and white fan.

the gardener's cottage said...

your pillow is gorgeous leslie!

i have been getting huge amounts of spam also. i don't know what is up with that.

i don't like the word verification either. it sometimes takes 3 times to get it right. no one has time for that. i know i don't. but what are we to do?

Adrienne Shubin said...

Cute pillow! It's so you.

I don't get any spam ever since I disabled the "anonymous" option. I was reluctant to do it because I had people commenting under anon. But then I decided that if someone really wants to comment, they can make up a name for that particular comment - there is no need to reveal a real name if a commenter doesn't want to.
Word verification is awful and I would not encourage you to go that route. I would still leave you comments though because I like you so much, but I do loathe reading those captchas.

mette said...

Don´t like the word verification either, nor the checking before my comment appears in sight.
The pillow looks great and if it is handmade, the better.
My week?
A lot of driving, for a good cause..

Anonymous said...

That cushion is beautiful.
I've been getting more too, but I'd rather just delete them than put on the dreaded word verification, I give up after two tries if anyone has that, it does my head in.

Anonymous said...

Interesting Sheila, I didn't know that, I will now hit spam and not delete.

Leanne said...

What a lovely shop I must check it out. A couple of months ago "the Daily" did showcase on the French Vanilla shop and hightlighted "Anne Sloan" chalk paint. Love the cushions that you found there too :)
I don't have a blog....love to persue yours and a couple of others though.
My week has been very good for I just signed up for the TC-10K and now the training begins.

Kristien62 said...

Sorry that spam is clogging up your site, but if you need to use the verification option, I really don't mind. I love the blog and enjoy my visits. Your area seems to have some lovely shops, something my neck of the woods lacks. There are a few gift shops and jewelry shops that are different, but clothing boutiques seem to have been driven out over the years.

The pillows are delightful. I'm especially drawn to them because I do love black and white. Have a great weekend.

Duchesse said...

I suggest you put WV back. You are writing a lovely blog for FREE. Why donate more of your time removing junk? A few seconds spent on WV is a very small price for me to pay.

Judith said...

Have been busy making mugs of tea for the men planting new mixed county hedging around the grounds/fields.
The stripped cushion looks good on your bench.WF is ugh takes too many trys,and I just refuse to use it now.Ida

Judith said...

Meant country hedging! Ida

Coulda shoulda woulda said...

i can barely read the numbers and I have contact lenses on!

to be honest it is a real put off - if someone has it - i rarely comment bc it is too tiring.

lovely cushion btw

Anonymous said...

I love the style of french Vanilla , I wont pay the over inflated cost for AS chalk paint though I am afraid . I have gone the trhrifty route myself and mixed my own using plaster of paris , and water . I finish with briwax dark and light and my results are just as lovely I think. I wash my furniture down and dry it , use a latex bonding primer , two coats of my paint , sometimes one and I am done. I sign as anonymous but with my name , I dont want to have to join anything under the profile to be able to comment , I dont mind word verification either.Donna

vicki archer said...

It seems like heaps of my favourite blogs have had a spam problem... the comment moderation is a bit annoying but sometimes it just has to be...:)

Love the pillows... so cute...
Have a wonderful weekend... xv

La Vie Quotidienne said...

I think disabling annonymous helps but I haven't done it yet. I really dislike the word verification.

Your pillow is adorable, I am in the process of making some pillows for my couch and I am inspired by the use of the different fabric that your seamstress used ~ elegant!

Sandra said...

Fabulous pillows. Love them.
Please do not enable word verification. Many times I can not make out the numbers or the letters and I just give up. There has to be another way.

JudyMac said...

I went to a fabulous estate sale yesterday that was about an hour's drive outside of town. Spent more than I should have, but it really made my week! It was an almost spring-like day, we found a great spot for lunch, and brought home great finds.
Not wild about word verification, but I usually go along with it. If I haven't cracked the code after second try, then I move on down the road. And speaking of roads, hope your neighborhood road project is cleared out soon.

KSL said...

Not a fan of WV - it's very hard and annoying to decipher. Love your pillow, I'm a rooster fan.

Sheree said...

The little chicks are soooooo cute!

I knew some people who had banty hens and those little hens could protect their chicks from the cats.

LPC said...

I don't mind word verification. Or, maybe it's better said this way, I've come to accept it.

Anonymous said...

Trés joli coussin tissus de style français dit toile de joye magnifique en noir et blanc
Trés bon dimanche
MYRIAM de france

the veg artist said...

Re Word Verification - fine by me. If I can'e decipher it, I enlarge the whole page to 400% (I use Microsoft, so bottom right hand corner, use the drop down arrow by the 100% and select 400%). I can always make the w/v characters out then! Restore to 100% with one click on the 400%.
Sorry if this is just too obvious for some people - just thought it might help some of your readers.