maandag 31 december 2012

happy new year !

The last day of the year
.....
sometimes busy, busy, busy
but not every year
...
sometimes I'm reflective on such a day :
what happened this year
what did I do
(right or wrong)
what plans do I have for the near future 
...
but now it's just a quiet day
waiting for the clock to strike twelve
and hug my dearly loved family members

and welcome the new year
2013
*
I wish to you all the best,
peace
(badly needed in places !)
joy
and (very important too)
good health

For all my stitching, knitting and felting friends
all over the world
a lot of
creativity


(Ha, we have to wait another 10 hours,
but New Zealand, and I think Australia too, did already launch their firework !)

maandag 24 december 2012

merry !

Merry Christmas
or
 feast of light  
or
turn of the season
for all my blogging friends
out there !



zondag 23 december 2012

Serious Request

That is the name for a special action this time each year
by three Radio DJ's
who are living in a "glass house" for a week without food.
The benefits they get,
from people who pay money to hear special music
or is donated in some other way,
will go to the Red Cross

This year the motto is
"let's hear it for the babies"
The money will be spent to fight back
infant mortality in Africa
before, during or just after birth.

That's the charity I wanted to spend
my "Mouse-lottery" money on !

So here is the mouse
sitting on top of the Christmas decoration,
the ladybug money-box (still rather empty)
the glass jar with the felted balls
and pen and paper
to write down name, telephone and chosen number of balls !
It went very well !
There was € 111,65 in the ladybug
at the end of day two.
I topped it up till a nice round figure
and just send it off to Serious Request.

And ?
How many balls wére in the jar ???
66
(yes, just my age, ha !)
But ... because there were tree people with the right answer
I had to use a RNG
(random number generator)

At first we tried to use three felted balls,
but the "generator" didn't want to pick up any of them
so we used pieces of paper with names instead

It seemed one of them tasted very good ...

and Serena is the lucky one !
I phoned her and will bring her the mouse tomorrow.
(I was very sorry for the other two "winners"
so I'll send off a finger puppet mouse to each of them)

And the Christmas Fair ?
Two loooooooooong, but fun days
and I mostly sold to people I know !

(I was véry glad that one of the little quilts that were for sale
went to my dearest friend and former teaching-partner !
I know it gets a loving home !)

It has a name now too : "This it your wake-up call"

I sewed the little "felt-fabric" onto a canvas I painted first.
I think that's a nice solution for such small work
(though for me, textile work can easily hang on it's own)


Update on Serious Request :
when the three DJ's came out of the glass house
in the evening of the 24th
the total amount of money raised for the Red Cross was
€ 12.251.667, --

 

dinsdag 18 december 2012

two more days

Preparations for the Christmas Fair
are nearing the end.

That is NOT because I'm almost
finished with all I wanted to do
...
but it's because
in two days time
the Fair starts,
this Friday ánd Saturday !

There are a lot of things that just will not be finished in time.
Creating craft and needlework is taking
a lot of time !
That's okay with me, but that means
I have to adjust my "targets"
So no more bags ...
just finishing off want I have so far,
and I'm very satisfied with

the new red one !

"Ages" ago we organized a big Christmas Fair
on the school I then worked,
with lots of things made by children
ánd a lot of their parents.
We had so much fun creating,
and the Fair was a HUGE succes !
Daughter reminded me that one of the great things then
was a lottery
with three wonderful prizes to win
(made by creative people)

Now I will have my own little lottery on the Fair :
people can guess how many felted balls there are in a glass jar

This will be the prize for the person who gets it (almost) right !

Mouse was made thanks to Gabi's
wonderful PDF tutorial
Thanks again Gabi !


(Off, finishing a few things ....)

vrijdag 14 december 2012

belated

I totally forgot about my November felting exchange
Yes
a little late
but that was due to all the Blogger fuss 

So here is the little felt piece I recieved for last month
solar eclipse


Ha, the fun thing was
it was sent in an envelope
that was made out of a newspaper page
with a stamp on it of course
(but the post missed it : there was an uncancelled stamp on it ha, ha !) 

Thanks Margot !


And this is what I made for the theme abstract
for my November partner

After it had dried, I started stitching
but ...
forgot to take a picture before I sent it off

:-(




maandag 10 december 2012

a little choir

... and we hear the angels singing ...

...
(noooo, of course not,
but why not pretend that we can hear them sing ?)

Some more of these little ladies will follow
and more mushrooms

though no edible ones,
yet

(and yes, a bag,
and some more stitching )


vrijdag 7 december 2012

it took some time ...

Everything alright now ?
Well it took me quite some time
to think it over
and to get things done
...
And how about those three blind mice ???

you see :
not blind anymore !
(all the other mice have black eyes)

There was more done of course.
From Jana I ordered the PDF for the book cover she made some months ago.
I would have known how to do it myself
but I very much like to learn the last little bits from others
(and I think Jana makes breathtaking felt work)

this was the first one
Inside is a A5 size "dummy"
(that's what a book without print is called here) 

The worst part of it all 
(besides the cutting into the half-felted piece)
was drying the finished felt on the book
so it would definately be the right size !!!
I wrapped the cover ánd all the pages in cling foil
to avoid the book from getting wet 
Pfffffft !

And there was a bag with fishes
in a different shape this time
(no strap yet)



Lots more to do