wordless Wednesday

new start

After I finished the big bag for daughter

there were days of

TOTALLY  NOTHING

because of the extreme

HEAT

 that we had here :

40 degrees Celsius

is quite unusual for our little country .....

Climate Change is presenting itself !

Staying inside (and reading) was the only wise thing to do.

Luckily the weekend brought

some rain (that the garden needed badly) and cooler weather.

Time to start something new.

Building it up with snippets in blues and greens,

a small piece : 15 x 15 cm  

(5.9 x 5.9") 

(on the right is what lóóks like Megamendung,

but it's made by Kaffe Fasset ...)

All of the snippets are "glue-stitched" down :
you see it on the back, NOT up front !

(eternal thanks, Jude ,
for ever in your debt   ;-)  !)

summer solstice

We're right here

on a hot first day of summer.

Right time and right temperature

for my little

Solstice piece

Summer Solstice 2017

It has a hot whirling center

in soft rainbow colours.

The cross hairs started as just a thin black line

in checkered fabric that I wove for the center.

Next I extended that line with dark stitch,

Then stitched my "magic thread" 

perpendicular of that first line.

At some places there's tulle on top.

Happy Solstice !

(either summer or winter)

nearly midsummer

Sometimes time rushes by

and I don't really notice

what date it is

(being retired does that to you)

But now I have started a small piece (15cm x 15cm)

for Summer  Solstice.

The weather is very warm right now

so why not take colours that match that !

Of course I started with

"glue-stitching" it all together,

so no nasty pins that catch your thread

when you start stitching !

In my stash was something a St'nB-friend gave me

It's the finest batiste

and believe it or not :

this is definitely hand stitched !!!

It's so hot right now

that the garden isn't the right place to do the stitching.

The sunshade down, the garden door closed,

to keep the heat from getting inside,

hmmmmmm ... that's better !

*

Here's the "Sweet Sunrise" piece of some days ago,

finished but not yet mounted on a canvas.

(I think the crochet is a bit from my Australian friend Jacky)

Love how the thick bundles of stitches work ...

A few weeks ago it was

"fish" time

See for yourself !

But not only for me,

also for Man who started drawing himself !

Around the drawings of his favorite colouring book

(always thought he couldn't ...)

Isn't that FUN !

birthday (and more)

I love birthdays,

even my own that says I'm a year older ...

A day to remember you're there,

count your big and small blessings

and enjoy the company

of family and friends.

It was a quiet day with lovely people

(which was good considering the circumstances of

the last two "unpleasant busy" weeks)

Many balls of thin cotton (Scheepjes Maxi Bonbon)

to use for some fine crochet.

And of course lots of flowers (for inside and outside)

*

Because Easter is near

I made some felted eggs.

(thanks felt-friend Tine, for the idea)

*

Of course I owe you the last picture

of mister "Starry Eyes"

It might lóók as though nothing much has changed

but there are hundreds more stitches.

*

The garden is more and more blue every day

Wishing you all a lovely Easter weekend

(though it will be rather COLD here !)

March marched by

Last day of March ...

sometimes I wonder where did the days go

I've been busy stitching again

You know I work in waves :

knitting wave

painting wave

drawing wave

felting wave

stitching wave

garden wave

...

(Yes, that last one was necessary

since spring has begun

and there was lots of stuff that

had to go in the "green" bin,

not finished there yet)

So :

stitching !

(lots of snippets that have a meaning to me

or come from far away, like the black-and-red shibori silk)

I always love the back

with the "glue-stitches" in place)

But I work at two at a time :

a nine-patch cat

Mister "Starry Eyes"

(he's almost finished but I didn't take a picture tonight)

I love it when I can use small bits in the pattern :

like the nose and the eye.

*

In the garden colours have changed from white and yellow

to blue and a bit of purple

*

(and tomorrow another "Alpaca" knitting day ...

back to the socks then)

wordless Wednesday

Vincent's cat

Before the holidays I prepared some small background cloths,

one of them with a cat :

a nine-patch cat

(the dark blue starry piece

is vintage kimono silk that Natima brought with her

when she visited Holland last year.

The cobalt blue stars at the bottom are from

a garment I once bought in Indonesia)

Because I like the "dotted" kantha-stitch really well

I used it in this one too.

Of course this cat became a "Jude" face

just like we learned in the Patchwork Beasts class.

cat in progress

Then, with the cat itself almost done

I started with the surroundings

There were already some random white stars,

but when I started kantha on the background

it occurred to me I could make some stitches perpendicular :

getting lots of tiny stars !

The last few days I stitched inside : 

too HOT to sit in the garden.

But today it was enjoyable to be outside again,

made my last stitches and also stitched on a bit of magic thread.

Making the last "kantha-stars" I thought :

starry, starry night

and then:

"Vincent's cat"

(later it will be mounted on a 20 x 20 cm canvas)

stars and paws