WARNING : "Pinktober"

Yes that's right :
it is nearly October again.
And many of you visiting here know what that means

PINK RIBBON Awareness month

and my PINK RIBBON Challenge to make a Textile Jewel 
every single day during this month
. . . . .

but
there are problems regarding all of this.

I think "old age" is finally catching up on me.
After intensive felting and hauling around boxes and stuff
during the art markets something "went"in my back
and gave me severe pain, so I couldn't do anything
but sit still and read a book.
I must say things have improved a bit since then
but I'm still not able to do much with arms and hands.

It saddens me deeply
that after twelve years doing my PINK RIBBON Challenge
(very dear to me as former breast cancer patient)
it seems that making a Textile Jewel every day
might not be possible this time

I still have hope
(but need to be realistic too)

Bear with me
it might be not as bad as expected
but I felt it necessary to warn in advance

I hope to see you in two days !

THANK YOU !

What a lovely day it was
last Saturday at the GRIETMARKT !

Daughter accompanied me there
and helped hauling all the stuff, that is in several boxes,
parking the car, preparing the stall
and setting up her own spinning wheel
(for demonstration)
At ten o'clock we were ready to start !

There was a cup of tea/coffee and a sweet tasty cookie
from the GRIET market organisation.
The weather was great :
no rain and much sunshine (though not too hot !)
There were many nice people to talk with
about the proces of my painting, felting and stitching.
I received many sweet compliments
and several people who bought items !

THANK  YOU  so much
and I hope you enjoy all your purchases
for a long time to come.

It was so nice to see a ceramicist again
who was my "neighbour" on the market many years ago :
she primarily creates birds.
It was just fun to see her love for barn owls

and my own stitched barn owl !

THANK  YOU
GRIETMARKT

for another well organised event !

barn owl

 There he is
or is it a she ?
There isn't much difference in appearance :
the females are a bit bigger
the males are a bit paler in colour.

It was so much fun to make this bird !
I like owls in general but I haven't "met" them
in real life very often, a real "wild one" I mean.

The painted canvas for it is ready
but I didn't have the time yet to stitch the fabric on.

I'm very happy with how all the tiny bits of my stash
came together nicely.

This one will be coming with me to Amerongen
this Saturday !

September

The first of September today,
and after a few days of sunshine and rain
you can smell it in the garden :
autumn is near !

Oh sure,
there still are some raspberries on the bush
the rose has some flowers again
the phlox start blooming for the second
(or third) time
but something is changing
and I can smell it before I really see it.

But for my last Art Market I'm working
on some new items to take with me.
One is a new bird piece
bigger than the usual 20 x 20 cm.
The dark blue background was made already a long time ago,
now I have the right bird to go with it
a barn owl.

This was a week ago
but I was busy stitching and forgot to take
new photos of the progress yet.
The tiniest bits are attached now but lots more stitching is needed.

Besides all this there is the plan for some more felting too
. . . . . 

Warmond

You could say the weather forecast for today
wasn't exactly sunny
. . . .
but we (my dear friend Anet and I)
didn't think that it would be that bad

We arrived well in time in Warmond
to set up the stall and park the car on the parking lot some further away.
But we were halfway finished when a few drops fell,
and we decided it would be wise
to clamp the large white canvas sheets to the back of the stall.
And exactly that moment the rain came pouring down !!!
(thank you Anet you are such a great help !)
Stool wet, chairs wet, we wet.
Thank heaven the paintings were up (or under) the stall.
Hmmm, all stall holders were struggling
to keep their art and themselves dry.

No it didn't last very long
but, after a dry spell a new shower came.
(I was soooo happy I had packed the clamps and the big sheets)
Wet and dry alternated until early afternoon.

But YES there were customers too !
Although not as many of course
as there would have been in dry weather.
but I'm very grateful to the people that did come
with whom we had many lovely talks about my art.

The brand new Sea Spirit (see the previous post)
has a new home and one of my textile birds too.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH
I hope you enjoy your purchase a loooong time !

In two weeks time on Saturday (with daughter) to AMERONGEN

GRIETMARKT

(hopefully with better weather . . .)

GRIETMARKT . . .

In three weeks time I will be at the
on 12 September  10.00 - 17.00

GRIETMARKT

the Art Market in
Amerongen

Today I finished the third of my brand new hanging dolls.
You've seen the Flower Spirit (Flora)
the Tree Spirit
and now the Sea Spirit
is also finished.

Hmmm I broke three needles of my embellisher machine
on the lovely velvet tricot with little sequins on it
. . . . .
(now I have to find out where I can order new needles !)

Making holes in shells isn't an easy task either
(even with my nice Dremel tool !)

It shows "you can't win them all"

Even the backside is now nicely finished
with my "Fiberrainbow" label stitched on.

I also found a nice box
so the dolls can be transported safely
in three weeks time to Amerongen

BUT
. . .
first I'll have an Art Market with only my paintings 
next Sunday August 30 in
11.00 - 16.00

WARMOND
 

hanging 2 doll finished

 My visit to the hardware store was successful
so my Tree Spirit is finally finished :
I drilled tiny holes to attach the wooden arm,
fixed the hand and added another twig to the shoulder.

Now on to the next one : a Sea Spirit 

:-)