summer solstice

The longest day :

summer is here

though you would not have said that the last few days when

torrential rains came down and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

But this afternoon : there he was

and the garden looked happy and green

( It is so funny when you realize that on the opposite side of the globe

it it the shortest day !

I saw that at T's place : cold days and mushrooms

and it's getting dark around four in the afternoon ! )
*
We ate a warm and colourful dinner :
a recipe I learned a long time ago from a friend's brother
who was an air steward and brought it home from Persia.

First a lot of crying cutting unions ...

... in the pan with minced meat (or a vegatarian replacement for that)

a full tea spoon of spicy curry powder and tomato purée and some water

let it stew for ten minutes

then add chunky pieces of apple and five minutes after that

add the sliced banana :

a delicious meal with lots of  sun  in it !

I think I take a little blogbreak

doing some other necessary things for a while ...

see you later

another one

When you start making something,

new ideas keep popping up as you go.

The solution to that :

have another go

four layers : two white, two yellow .... and a swirl

tadaaaaaah !

a bowl

Also better photos (without the bottle !) of yesterday's vase

(not a very watertight one I confess, but you can put a glass one in it)

For this one I used only two layers of white

More experimenting will follow I guess ...

felting

It's so good when you can teach people

a little bit of the things you like doing yourself.

Having been a teacher all my life,

it's kind of a natural thing

that I want to pass on my knowledge

and make others as enthousiastic as I am.

The results of three ladies felting yesterday

and close up :

*

It's obvious after such a lovely day that I want to do something myself,

so today a new try out

...and the result is looking a bit funny because there 

still is a one-litre bottle inside

till it's fully dry

a vase

knitting

We had a lot of rain today,

so on to the knitting

instead of working in the garden.

The plants though were very happy with a good soak

(they were gladly dripping)

There was a pattern of a shawl

from our favourite yarn shop that I wanted to try

(the Drops yarn was in my stash)

It ís a kind of "Baktus" pattern

(increasing at one side every four rows)

One side is strait and the other side has a lacey bit

of twelve repeating rows.

Pffft ...

it takes a long time to get accustomed to these twelve rows !!!

But for some easy knitting

there is ofcourse my second sock!

a present

When I got home from some shopping yesterday

my garden friend (one of the "quilt sisters") had dropped of a present

quite a heavy one, to be honest !

Two giant garbage bags, though not filled with trash :

there was some big Polygonatum (Salomon's seal),

Verbena hastata and a giant Thallictrum !!!

(one sister is leaving the country, so her garden is emptied by garden friends)

As I have a small garden (which is already overflowing ...)

I had to make some space for these lovely newcomers !!!

That wasn't easy,

but there are always some plants

that get the benefit of the doubt for some time.

But

when something else comes along ...

So I had to do a lot of thinking today

then a lot of digging,

and filling wateringcans,

and filling holes.

Tiring,

but fun !

And ofcourse there were also some creatures to watch

this tiny toad

(there are bigger ones too)

.....

and in the water  

this Great crested grebe

that had a hard time swallowing his/her big-fish-lunch

*

(Tonight full moon : hope there are no clouds like yesterday)

little ones

Living with water next to the garden is fun !

There is always something to look at

(even only the water ... is sometimes enough)

But this time of the year visitors are passing by regularly

No ..... I don't think these are beatiful ....

these I like better, there are seven little ones

(yes, one is behind mummy's back)

but

sometimes someone else is there

just waiting ...

for a little "snack" to swim by

.....

And when I'm not watching all these creatures

I'm knitting again

inside or outside,

enjoying the warm summer sun

(though the colours already talk of fall)

garden again

Today there wasn't too much sun

so I had to do a long postponed job :

this box-tree was badly in need of a haircut ...

... and so was the other one.

I usually do it a bit earlier in the season when all the surrounding plants

are not yet thát high, but the sunny weather prevented it.

So today was a good day for that haircut !

You see ? Els Scissorhand was here !

( I added another layer as well )

In my (small) garden certain colours are "forbidden" :

bright poppy-red, orange and bright yellow.

I go more for all the blues, purples, dark reds, magenta and pinks,

white and a bit of mild buttery yellow.

like this .... !

So what came over me buying this Cosmos ????

( it didn't have a flower than ! )

very  orange  I would say ....

 but I love it !

hummm ... and I hope to get some seeds for next year.

...I wonder ...

Yesterday there were two lovely sisters

(no not mine)

who wanted to know a bit about patchwork and quilting.

We had a busy day

with a lot of talking, showing, explaining

and ofcourse stitching !!!

a lunch break, and more stitching !

They went home satisfied and I think there will be at least one

who will continue stitching

*

The garden had a much needed shower

so at the moment it is very

green

(.... and other colours ofcourse ...)

*

At last .....

I started some shibori stitching !

While I was going through my stash for the dyeing wokshop

with Pam de Groot in July, I found some lovely thin

white curtains (IKEA ... bought a long time ago)

After washing and ironing I tore them up in not too narrow strips.

Then I looked for Natima's tutorial on the stitching.

(She and Glennis Dolce are back from their trip to Japan !)

what a lot of work !!!

And the next step : the dyeing....

I have some pre-reduced Indigo

(but have never used it before)

... I wonder .....

*

Another try-out : 

after seeing beautiful purple stains on silk

on Jude's blog ánd after studying a bit in India's Eco-dyeing book :

....I wonder ....

what will become of this ?

(time will tell !)

square moon

Here she finally is :

my

Square Moon

on the border is written 

"what if    ...    the moon    ...    was a sqaure ?"

The idea came up during Jude's

Whispering Sun, moon, stars  series

She had asked herself some time before : what-if the sun was a sqaure ?

so I asked myself what if the moon was square ...

(because I had some lovely off-white nine patches with which

I made some "biscornu's")

(the inchies came from the chequer board plan that didn't work out as such, 

the biscornu was one that was blue on both sides)

This is what the nine patch moon looks like now :

the square moon

*

(on to the next wip)



it runs in the family

It's always fun to see

when people have the same enthusiasm for certain things

as you have :

when you see

"that it runs in the family"

Daughter and I are true textile lovers :

we look at fabric and fibers with our hands !

But look at the grandchildren :

after the careful start with knitting,

now there is stitching !

A tiny jacket ... and the very first colourblanket : green like the gras

where he loves to play football (soccer)

She made him / her all by herself !

(with just a little help)

*

These are the last stitches on the Square moon

two corners

... and last but not least :

a little bit of magic thread around the moon. !

.....

(Tomorrow I'll take another photo of the whole piece :

there wasn't enough light anymore to take a good one)