another one ....

The "felting exchange" (viltketting) 

with the ladies I met at Sara Lechner's workshop

that lasted a full year and ended last August,

was a lot of fun.

So, when I stumbled on another one

a bit different, but nevertheless a felting exchange,

I didn't hesitate long to participate.

For the tenth time (!)

Tanja, of the "Amore Fecit" blog, organizes this.

She asks you to make a felted item 5 times

(the theme is FLOWERS this year)

and send them to her, 

with a description how you did it, so that others can learn from it.

In the end you get 5 different items 

and a booklet with all the descriptions !

What a fun idea is that !!!

Though I had a lot of other thing planned

I started right away with a proto-type

and than I made the other ones.

The little ball I did with a felting needle first, so I could fasten it to the "stem" more easily

Voilá : a little bell shaped flower

with a key ring inside

(for a very special key, or, if you don't like that,

you can still use it as egg warmer ... ;-) ...)

They are all dry now and ready to send them to Tanja

;-)

let's fly away

I know,

it's still a long time ...

but my first angel is ready to fly away.

In the last photo 

you can see very well what the embellisher does :

the fibres of the yellow triangles migrate 

through the blue wool ánd the dotted fabric to the back

"Catching stars"

Some Noro yarn was needle felted with the embellisher,

some stitches and French knots with self striping sock yarn,
a bit of magic thread

and twelve very old mother-of-pearl buttons

complete the work.

( 20 cm x 20 cm )

Later on I will sew it on a painted canvas.

*

In the garden I found something odd / special :

at least four years ago I bought ánd planted some saffron crocuses

....

To my regret I never saw any of them !

untill today !!!

Here was  one  saffron crocus

and another, withered one, I apparently missed !

When I picked that one up :

it stained my fingers bright orange !!!

(hmmmmmm ... probably not enough to eco-dye ???)

wordless wednesday

playing

The technique on my new embellisher

isn't going very smooth yet

but I like it 

(though it's still a lot of trial and error)

tiny clippings of  felt will be incorporated

in the needle felted piece

Sara Lechner suggested synthetic felt and burn it with a soldering iron,

but I have only 100% woolen felt

(that's what I like best)

and I used a very old "buttonhole scissors"

that was once my mother's.

(Ohhhh .... I admire Rob Ryan's paper cutouts even móre now) 

Here it is : 

with the screw you can even adjust the length of the cut.

I started with the rusty squirrel 

and let the two angels wait a bit 

(there is still time for them)

Squirrel finished

(with magic thread in place)

new toy .... new exhibition

Ooooh ... it took me a   l o n g   time

but I finally bought 

an embellisher !

It's more than a year ago 

that I visited the workshop with Sara Lechner

She started as a quilter

but switched  to work with the embellisher

You can also use a simple felting needle

(or "Clover" felting tool)

but the embellisher does the job a lot easier !

It looks a lot like the simplest of sewing machines,

though you use no thread,

just wool rooving 

(and all kinds of other materials)

My studio assistant was having fun with the box ...

... and this swimming lady was my third try

(the first and the second ended up in the bin

hmmmm  ... I had forgotten much ...)

The size of this ??? ... very small

I usually photograph all things lying on the floor :

the boards are about 7 cm wide.

Onto the next

( broke the first needle ! there are five in the needle head ....

the needles have to be moving fast before you start moving your work !!! )

"mother and child"

machine or hand stitching is next

*

Tomorrow starts in Veldhoven, near Eindhoven, the show of the 

Open European Quilt Champignonships.

The author of our book "Art quilts in Nederland"

asked some of us to participate in another exhibition during the OEQC show.

The very talented collegue / friend Sary Maas 

brought her own work ánd my "I want to break free" pink torso to Veldhoven.

Man and me go to the show on Sunday 

and afterwards take the work home again.

swap time

Yes, I did it again :

I asked someone if she fancied a swap with me

;-)

This time it was Lynne

We met in Blogland and also had some e-mail contact

(that way you can talk a bit more personal)

Some time ago

she made these lovely stitched pincushions

out of felt and woolen fabric

really sweet.

So we agreed on a pincushion against a mandala drawing

Two different sides ... and a lovely card 

(with some other work of Lynne on the front)

Here it proudly stands in front of my "Concertina" felted vessel

I was sóóóó glad I recieved an e-mail tonight

that my drawing arrived safely at Lynne's house

(she had been away and I already feared the package had gone missing)

I did my best to capture Lynne in the mandala drawing :

she plays the fiddle, loooooves (all kinds of) music,

has this wonderful hat when performing

and has a lovely garden

.....

(and I heard "the Firebird" and it all came together)

A swap well executed

;-)

a winner !

Sorry, one day later than I told it would be 

but : 

there is a winner !

First the preparations : 20 names written on little pieces of paper,

then folding them together,

and out of the bowl jumped :

NANCY 

Please send me an e-mail with your address Nancy 

and the blogaversary piece will come your way.

Sorry, I have only one piece

but thank you to all the others for visiting and thus

encouraging me to keep blogging.

pink October

October means to me, among others :

breast cancer awareness

Every day, many people, 

women, (but also man !)

will have their nasty encounter with breast cancer.

In the "Western" world one out of ten women, 

(sometimes even one out of eight)

must start their fight against this disease,

and, because medical science continues to improve,

they have a good change to survive

!

though 

not everyone is that lucky

.....

So it's very important to do that check-up every month girls !

I'm wishing everyone who is in this situation

(or has a loved one that is)

lots of strength and all the best !

*

Don't forget there is still a giveaway that you can "winn" :

tomorrow

I will draw a winner !!!!!

October giveaway

( Ha, it's just after midnight here right now
so it's October !
"Down under" this new October day has already started,
Asia is asleep, and the America's are still busy in September )

THREE YEARS

I can hardly imagine that they have gone by so fast !

Well ..... no .... not really :

a lot of things have happened,

góód and some not so good,

but all in all  

three good years.

So here is all of my promised giveaway

" the last summer flowers sometimes remain until fall "

You can participate is this giveaway 

by leaving a comment to this post.

After the  next weekend I will draw a winner

and send it in the mail 

to wherever she or he lives

Just a photo to show you how big (small) it is.
I'll attach a piece of wire to hang it,
but if you prefer to use it as a bookmat for instance
it can easily be removed.

Good Luck everybody !