some progress

Slowly the spring felt / fabric is growing

First I cut a piece of batting to the right size

and put a thin cotton backing to it

so now I have an even thicknes everywhere

The cut-outs of the felt will become flowerbulbs with chrochet roots 

And here is a little ground elf who's watching the bulbs grow,

there will be more of them

( and I must decide where to put my magic thread ) 

Today I had something else to do :

making a mandala for the daughter of friends, who is getting married tomorrow

... it went in the mail this afternoon !

What a day to get married :

the first of April !

We wish them a lot of sunshine

and many happy laughs

!

Have a good laugh, all of you tomorrow !

new beginnings

Although March is nearly over

I'm starting with a new felt / fabric

at last

I chose one of my felted pieces :

the green-brown one seemed appropriate to me

for spring

and .... yes

I cut some holes in it !

In the garden there are also

many new beginnings

with the warm weather of the last few days.

Alchemilla

Fritellaria meleagris

Hosta

....something new ....

and something old ...

( this reminds me very much of the dyed silk ribbons

Glennis makes )

lost .... and found

Last Friday daughter and I went to our special day out :

Textiel Plus dag

in Deventer,

a textile lovers Fair

organized by the Dutch magazine "Textiel-Plus"

That's where we always get a lot of inspiration and supplies.

We parked at the other side of the river

and took the little ferry-boat across to the city centre,

there we waited for another friend who lives

more in that neighbourhood.

All of a sudden I realized I had lost my newly made pendant :

only the string was left .... !

I walked back all the way to the ferry ...

but did not find it ... I truely hope that whoever

found it will enjoy wearing it

.......

( I learned one thing :

to attach the string better next time ! )

On the Fair we spoke with people we met before or did workshops with 

and we bought some lovely stuff !

hand dyed wool from "Moeder Aarde"

needle felt, and lots of cotton scrim and silk for dyeing

a bunch of old fabrics

and some Kaffe Fassett's

At last : "clouds" by Kaffe is just like

the Indonesian batik "clouds" Jude is often using !

I'm very happy with it.

After a cup of tea we said goodbye to our friend and drove home :

a day well spend !!!

spring !

On this first spring day it was really

spring

Beautiful sunshine and hardly any wind

it was so good in the garden !

the special narcissus "Rip van Winkle"

a tiny tulip

and mister swan grooming

waiting for his lady friend to arrive.

And in the afternoon :

there she was !

They "danced " in the water as if they were looking in the mirror

( They were very busy later on :

they might be making their nest right opposite to our garden )

an experience

Yesterday we went to the Spring fair

for which daughter and me worked so hard the last few weeks.

It really was a springy day with sunny weather

though still a bit cold

we had a table inside the building so we only saw sunshine.

But ...

there where very few people visiting

so we sold only a few items from our little "felt shop" 

Although we met and spoke to

some very nice people ! 

We gave our cards

and there might be some new customers

for a felt workshop.

( We had our table next the "chocolate" people

their son has a small company that makes

the most mmmmmmmmm delicious bonbons :

 well ..... ofcourse we tasted them ! )

Well we learned a great deal from this Spring fair experience.

You must be better prepared what kind of people you can expect

( stall holders and public )

before you "jump in"

Also the planning and preparing beforehand

takes a lot of time and thinking.

That doesn't mean we're sorry we did it : oh no !

Now we have a nice starting point for the next one ...

We are not supposed to earn a living selling our felt products

( only think of the time it takes, making these items )

but this way we might  extend, invest and grow in this

technique we both so love.

moon walk

Not exactly like Michael Jackson did it

but I liked this name

for my February felt / fabric

( maybe I stick to "musical" names for all of them !? )

moon walk

( you might have noticed the magic thread : 

thát will be in every piece of this year too ! )

... all the stitches on the back ...

back at last !

I'm back on the internet at last

I must tell you :

it was quiet, but it wasn't fun !

The computer went to the repair man

and had to be cleaned

of 4 viruses

And now all programs are júst a bit different

( that is not funny either !!! )

 So now I 've a lot of catching up to do,

but for this first day I'm giving some

"background information"

literally, I mean

This is my felt / fabric piece of last month

( I showed already a few bits and pieces )

To achieve the same thickness everywhere

I cut out the piece of the batting where the felt is,

then I put a very thin cotton layer to keep all things together.

I don't mind that in the end

you see all the stitches I made

I don't want to hide them under another backing fabric.

Because this piece is about the night sky

with stars and the moon

I suddenly thought it needed something else

like ....

"a black hole"

so I really made a neat hole !

 Although it finally became a "red dwarf"

( because on a white wall any hole becomes a "white" hole )

and please don't ask me the astrnomical explanation !

I found some funny bits that I altered with stitches

and added

lots and lots and lots

of tiny stars

......

GRRRRRRR ........

The internet is fabulous

......

but

at the moment there is 

nothing

!

At first there were some minor problems

with our computer

and then :

all of the internet was

closed down !

So for the moment only an apology,

no pictures,

no stories,

no work. 

(of course everything goes on as normal here,

just not on my blog)

Hope to see you soon to do some catching up

with new work and pictures.