a basted heart

When I started to "weave a little sunshine" for Jude

I began with the sun-rays

and I knew that the round weaving

would NOT be easy

(and I didn't want to many ruffles)

First I thought of cutting the strips on the bias,

that way you can easily force them around

but eventually I tore very narrow strips,

wetted them lightly

and then stretched them in the curve I needed :

it worked perfectly !

But ... when you are carried away with your good ideas 

you tend to forget certain things :

did you already bast the underground ???

.......

(of course I must say : I got carried away and then I forgot certain things)

So before I could start to baste down all the warp and weft strips ...

I had to put them very careful aside

and do my "forgotten" underground bast !

(if you don't use your head .... )

And now : I'm done !

not a single pin there anymore

Ta - daaaa !

All these tiny strips and scraps have finally become

ONE

(you know what : this is what you can do with it now !)

and after that it looks the same as the picture above

;-)

small weave

I'm always working at several pieces at a time

( that might easily lead to UFO's ) 

but normally it's not a problem at all.

I switch from one to another

when I don't know how to continue

and then, after working on something else,

all of a sudden I get a bright idea and I know how to go on

( that's the way it works for me )

.... so while the heart is still waiting, I finished a very small weave

which I started with the narrow strips cut from my stash

( 1 and 2 cm )

it is partly a double weave

Because I didn't know what to do with the little ends that stood out

I cut them into tiny points

and it worked out quite well

After stitching, cutting holes,

and again more stitching,

I finished it this morning with a loop and a button :

et voilà

... but ofcourse ... 

you could also hang it on the wall ...

( looks a bit like a ... centipede ... now I see it like this ! )

a heart

For my first piece in Jude's CWB class

I tore up strips and started weaving

.........

then I realized that I had quite a stash of  left-over strips

from the "Michael James"quilt I made a few years ago

cut strips, but why not use them ?

In class someone started a heart ....

Jude then set the pace

and now hearts are popping up all over the globe !

I also had a try

I basted it with normal basting thread on a piece of white cotton

now what

hang it in a tree ?

Because there is a lot of snow and cold wind over there, Jude said :

"weave me a bit of sunshine"

.....

and that's what I'm trying now

Still a lot of thinking, re-arranging and stitching to do

but I like the beginning so far

......

Sock knitting will have to stop a bit says my elbow

I finished the so far last pair tonight :

do you like mrs. Bigfoot and mr. Smallfoot ?

 same yarn, different way

a cold but sunny day

Today turned out to be a nice sunny day

although it's still really winter :

with a cold cutting wind.

But the garden side of our house faces south

and thus it was a fabulous day to do some gardening

removing last year's old growth 

fallen over by the snow, ice and wind.

there is enough still standing tall

but the bin was full

the rest is for the next time !

By the way

when you're a mermaid :

be  v-e-r-y  careful when you brush your hair . . .

;-)

Boro start

For Jude's class I'm getting started now

but still in a slow pace.

I had some catching up to do

and a lot of thinking

and

...

enjoying  all the wonderful works that other people

have already begun

There is some amazing stuff there !!!

And Jude inspires us all

tearing strips

a not very spectecular try-out

and the blouse I intend to work on

( that was already in the give-away-bag )

I started some anchored weaving in (very) red

that will become a bag

( still needs to be basted down on some thin backing )

and .... there were some new felted pieces

it's like painting with wool fibers !

My new monthly projects will be 

a felted piece incorporated

with cotton or silk fabric and a lot of stitches and beads

a slow start

Jude's Boro-class has a slow start.

First we had to make piles :

- of the "old" things we thought we could use or needed mending,

- of WIP's or UFO's,

- of small scraps devided by colour

........

( I don't have very much old stuff

the other two piles I have )

.......

then the power lines went down

caused by ice and rain

......

today came the introduction

......

it's a really slow start that fits great with "slow cloth"

......

and I don't mind

I think it's good to have some time

to think about the things that are about to happen !

So :

I started on my felted sea

This needs a lot of thinking too :

because it's quite a new way for me to use felt

The combination of felt and thin cotton, silk or even lace

requires a lot of thinking before cutting !!

( I already asked Sara for advice )

I 'm working on the sides already

( and maybe that's too soon

but right now it's the best option )

Where there's no felt, there is batting,

and I used a very thin fabric as backing.

But I don't think I'll add another backing fabric

after the embellishing and quilting is done

before the BORO-storm

Last week I was knitting, knitting, knitting.

The present socks were finished in time

I gave them on Saturday to the "birthday-boy"

he tried them on right away

and they fitted nicely

 pffffft !

( Normally I think it's rather funny to have to "different coloured" socks

because the yarn on the boll is variegated and you never know

where in the colour scheme your sock is finished

and which colour the next sock will start with ........

this time I didn't dare doing that, so they look quite the same )

For another birthday I felted a poppy

here it's not finished yet, but just to show how much

( with two thin layers ) it shrunk, because I used the paper

as a template to put the wool down !

And another piece of wet felt that I will use like Sara Lechner

just started ...

and done !

( A4 paper )

Show you later what I will do with it.

It will be good to do something different from time to time

when I need time to think things over

in Jude's BORO-class

( starting in two days )

And believe it or not

altough it's still January and it might start freezing again

Spring is in the air ....!

presents

When it's your birthday you often get presents

but

sometimes you get presents

when it's not your birthday at all !!!

I love those unexpected presents

Last Saturday someone brought me a little plastic bag

with a true treasure in it :

and when I sorted them out it looked like this :

ready to join the bags with the greens, the browns, the blues.

the reds, the yellows .....

ready waiting for the stitching in Jude's Boro class

a treasure

( thanks Hermien )

The red socks are finished and the present socks on the way

exciting !

What an exciting coming together it was

today with the Stitch 'n Bitch group in Rotterdam

like e real New Year's Reception !

The waiters became a bit nervous with so many

cackling knitting women.

( Sorry ladies )

Daughter bought some lovely dresses

at Cora Kemperman's

a wellknown Dutch Fashion-designer

( ánd with a great corporate social responsibility )

 Sorry : only 6 shops in Holland and 3 in Belgium

We had lunch and bought some sock yarn .....

a pair for me

a pair for ...

( that's still a secret ! )

 O yes ! and in a week or two Jude's Boro Class is starting,
hip hip hurrah !

bad luck ...

No, no, no, no, no

it was definitely NOT the right felting wool

I did (against better judgement) another bit of

rolling ...

but

NO

This was something my daughter was working on,

but mine wasn't any better

no felting, no shrinking,

no nothing

So :

sorry Sara, no more rolling

sorry Kaite, no needle felting either

and yes Jude, it must be some "finish"

bad luck ...

next time better, with the wool we always use !

(but first finishing another pair of socks)

1 / 1 / 11

A new year, a new day

.......

another year, another day

.......

life just goes on and on and on

and

so does the stitching

...

Basting the woven strips of "August" to a very thin backing

Now I will start looking for flowers

(Daughter's socks are finished : just closed the 12 stitches of the toe for her)