Le Rouvray (April 25)

It was looking miserable outside - again - so I thought a trip to the fabric shop Le Rouvray was in order today.  It doesn't open until 1pm, so I spent the morning reading and writing and doing the washing.  When I walk in my front door there is a large cupboard on my right, and then another one next to it.

 Ta-da!

The process French people use is to take two tablets, unwrap them and put them in a net bag and put the bag in with the clothes.

Watching me assemble the clothes drier/airer would have been funny, I think, but I did it!

 

After all that domesticity, I got the metro to Maubert Mutualite and found my way to the tiny street, rue des Grands Degres, where Le Rouvray is.  It's a stone's throw from the Seine and a view of Notre Dame (note only one bouquiniste is braving the weather)

and near bookshops like this.

It's a constant puzzle to me how specialty shops never seem to open, and when they do, have no one in them, yet they survive.  The area also held some interesting shops with arty wares.

Le Rouvray is small but full of gorgeous fabric and some vintage glassware and cups and saucers - that sort of thing. 

The woman behind the counter was not the same one I saw on the website, so I imagine ownership has changed recently.  I bought some French/Le Rouvray fabrics, and she threw in some extra offcut pieces, including this orange one. 

I said I liked orange - and she does too - in fact, her counter is covered in this fabric to cheer her and her visitors if the weather is looking gloomy.  Not suprisingly, it was in place today.