Annabel Vita

This last trip to France we didn’t go crazy on the souvenirs. A basket. Two postcards for our top tens. Some address labels from Carrefour. My favourite pepper with the spices in it.  (Oh, and I got some jelly shoes for river swimming.)

And, at one point during the afternoon we spent lolling here…

… I suddenly realised the lovely river rocks would make perfect pattern weights for when I’m cutting out with my rotary cutter.

So we selected a few favourites and here are my new pattern weights in action (I keep them in a little le creuset dish).

I used a permanent marker to add the name of the river we were in to the rocks, so they’ll always remind me of that lovely, sunny afternoon in the cool, clear water. I intend to add to my collection slowly, one or two each time we visit a pebble beach. If we go back to the Dordogne sometime, I might add ’2012′ to this batch.

Hooray!

PS. Note to self and others: don’t go crazy with this, a couple of pebbles where pebbles are plentiful (they form islands in the middle of the Dordogne there’s so many!) (but I should have just taken one or two, just the same) is fine, but be better than me and remember to leave nature as much like you found it as possible.

I love useful souvenirs (see above comment about pepper and address labels!) – it means that reminders of happy times are weaved into every day life. Plus useful souvenirs tend to need less dusting (she says, as if she ever dusts). What are your favourite souvenirs?

PPS. I already have a pebble collection on the printer’s tray, so maybe I’ll make pattern weights out of those too!

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• Wild swimming in France (annabelvita.com)