dinsdag 31 december 2013

happy new year

On this last day of 2013
I wish all my friends out there
a more peaceful, 
a less greedy,
(with more re-use)
a happy,
a creative and colourful
world 
for all of us 
in 
2014
Let's do it !

(and don't forget to laugh a bit every day)

;-)

dinsdag 24 december 2013

happy holidays

Wishing all the best for the Holidays
to my blog-land friends :

may your days be happy and warm

(hopefully power restored in the UK, and maybe elsewhere in Canada too)


Lots of love to you all

*


(3FM Serious Request grand total 
up till tonight 9.05 pm when the Glass House opened up again :
€ 12.302.747,- )

;-)

zondag 22 december 2013

Fair

Tired
That's what I was, after two days Christmas Fair.
(though Man helped me all the time)

(HA ... b.t.w. walking goes better now :
today without any help of the crutch !)


The start at Friday morning

My lottery for "3FM Serious Request" went well 

I will send the money tomorrow
(though it was not as much as last year)
The "request" is this year for money for the Red Cross 
to try banish diarrhea out of the lives of small children in Africa
because of the lack of clean drinking water

(money raised till Sunday night  : € 4.328.242,- )


The boy Finn was the winner
who guessed the right amount of origami cranes in the bowl !

There were 
48
(folded by our two big grandchildren,
who didn't know how many there were either,
because I had a lot of cranes everywhere in the house
which they had made months ago  ;-)  !)

Tomorrow the felted "Rainbow bird"
will go to Finn
(I phoned his mum today)


woensdag 18 december 2013

last minute things !

That's what I'm busy doing right now !!

Stitching beads (and safety pins) on flowers.

Sewing on buttons.

Stitching book covers.

Finishing bags :
I thought I'll use a simple method,
but in the end it turns out to be not simple at all  !
(I don't think I will stitch felted bags together ever again)

Stuffing fishes.
("gefillte Fisch")

Man decided to make stained-glass stars.


Though it was extra workload for me, 
I stitched them this time on the machine
and Man burned them,
outside :
BRRRRRRRRRRRRR !

I had to make another "beast"
though nót from the sea this time :


Iiiiieeeeeee .... I like him 

And today on tóp of all the other things 
(I really couldn't help myself)
I made a little (very rare)
"Rainbow bird"

for my lottery at the Christmas Fair
this Friday and Saturday !

;-)


Little grandson had some fun too

(I still need that one from time to time)

maandag 16 december 2013

Sunday was :

 a wonderful day !

I could ride with a dear felting friend to Amersfoort
where the one-day exhibition was

Though not every participant of the felting-exchange 
could make it, I saw old and new friends.

Some had been very busy on Saturday
putting everything in the right place,
and the last bits were done 
on Sunday morning.


Some of the year-round collections :





a beautiful book, with the little felts inside !



Other work

I had a ride home again,
where dinner was ready,
so later that night I still had enough energy
to lay out a new fish :

here he is, spitting out his template !

finished today !








zaterdag 14 december 2013

(little) step ...

... by (little) step
I'm making progress,
still a bit of "wheely" chair 
or one crutch for support
...

Today was my first day out again 
(to the "Christmassy" Alpaca Farm)
We had tea, coffee,
yummy sweets,
chicken soup 
and talked a LOT
(and did a stitch or two)

Someone even spun a chunky yarn 
with christmas lights in it !!!

FUN !

The last few days I've been busy with felting

little bags.

While Man started with our Christmas cards,

on which I added a little (embellisher) felted star 

;-)

Ha, tomorrow I will meet all the ladies of the year-round
felting-exchange !
We will see all the 144 card size felts 
(plus some other artwork of each person)



dinsdag 10 december 2013

a good day

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...
so simple to make a day ... to  a good day

 One :  my GP came by, and assured me 
all would be well again in a couple of weeks 
ánd it would be best to start again 
with the painkillers
(I stopped last Sunday, I don't like too much pills) 
So I did

Two :  then came the postman
who brought this  big  (expected) envelope !


You might remember I participated again 
in another felting exchange ?

Well ... this is the result !!!

In the envelope I received today was
a booklet
with 15  (!)  differently made flowers 
with their descriptions
and 
five of those flowers for me !




WOW
that was, what made my day a really good day

;-)

What a rich gift
to see all these lovely, different "flowers"
in lots of different techniques.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH 
TANJA
!
And of course a big thank you to all the other participants !

It was so much fun to discover that two of the names
were quite familiar :
they were also in my first (monthly) felting exchange
ánd
I recieved one of their flowers !

(I hope to be recovered enough, so I see you two on Sunday ... !)


zondag 8 december 2013

mishap

Normally the 5th of December is a fun day in the Netherlands,
we celebrate "Sinterklaas" : a real feast for the children
(who get lots of presents )

This year it was nót such a fun day ..... in the morning :
I fell of the stairs, at home ...
just three steps
but that was enough for so much pain
that I couldn't get up again.
In the hospital 
it turned out that nor pubis neither pelvis were broken
Pffffffffffft

At home again Man got the chair with little wheels downstairs
(that normally stands in front of the computer) 
so now I'm carting around on or behind it
(I went upstairs on my bum to get here) 

Luckily daughter and the three grandchildren 
came down to us 
(instead of the other way round)

Hurray ..... we still could celebrate !!!

But,
misfortune seldom comes alone :
the next day, two grandchildren and I got the flu !
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
*
Before all this ... I had started with the seahorse and fish
for the Chistmas Fair

It's fun to see how much felt shrinks, by looking at the two fish

almost dry ... ánd the same size

Today I just felt a bit better,
ate something
and 
felted another sea horse 
(sitting on a chair and wheeling around to collect the stuff I needed)




maandag 2 december 2013

fishy business ?

Working for the Christmas Fair 
gives me the opportunity (or urge)
to try some new things.

This time my inspiration is what lives in the sea.
Not very Christmassy you might think,
but that isn't specifically required.

I love seahorses !!!

(though  NOT  the dried ones cast in plastic !!!)



in progress

Then another creature came along


They're waiting to be rinsed in vinegar,
but I'll do that later,
when there are more 

Both templates tore when I pulled them out
(never mind that : I have lots and lots more of that)

When they're dry
(I will probably do some stitching)
and stuff them (a bit) with wool .