a finished project

The autumn colours in the garden

are fading away all to quickly.

But even on the ground the display is still beautiful

almost magical ...

magical ???

The one Dahlia I had this year, I planted in a pot,

to prevent an early death by slugs and snails.

But probably the spot wasn't sunny enough,

ánd ...

I pinched out the top to make it grow a bit broader.

Thát it didn't like :

it didn't want to grow at all

in the beginning.

But now, finally :

one gorgeous flower

worthwhile waiting for !

( a promess for next year : and no pinching thén ! )

( in fact she's even darker than here on the photo )

*

Last year on the Handwerkbeurs ( crafts fair )

daughter saw someone in one of the yarn stalls wearing a lovely vest

She complimented the lady and had a good look at it ... 

and started after she found the right sort of yarn.

Well, sometimes things take a bit longer

than you think they will

especially when there's no pattern at all, just that memory

of something beautiful .....

There was a lot of discussion, and making those horrible

( but necessary ) gauge samples,

a lot of doing and on-doing

( like cutting a part of the bottom of the too long sleeves )

.....

But finally today

the whole project was finished  !

Crochet and knitting, and crochet again ...

the front

and the back

( the true colours lie somewhere in between because of the flash light )

A very proud and happy daughter !

dye

Last Saturday daughter and I visited the "Handwerkbeurs" in Rotterdam

(a crafts fair)

Daughter bought some lovely yarns for new knitting projects,

I, a book with patterns for tiny "Waldorf " dolls,

some beautiful variegated DMC,

some fat quarters of quilt fabric

and I collected a bag with stuff for Procion dyeing

that I had ordered in advance.

Today I had ( another ) fun day dyeing

with my friend W

( long ago she learned me a few bits and tricks about quilting )

On the first day we mixed the procion dye

with the thick gel, prepared screens with it

and let them dry for a couple of weeks.

Today came the second part : the actual printing on fabric

... on a well protected table !

The "break down" printing was fun !

The fresh gel dissolves by and by the dried dye on the screens

and gives prints that become gradually weaker as you go  

 After the screens were totally "worn out" we cleaned them

and also tried

printing with paper resists. 

Later on we have to steam iron the fabric

and wash out the excess dye.

( first mission accomplished ! ! )