something for a baby

Still need to work on my secrets

But it's not going very fast.

Need to think ... and re-think ... and try out something,

(so why not make a real go for that try-out)

.....

that's what I did today.

I started to work with some "nickie" velvet tricot

(don't know if that's the right word for it ...)

It is nice and soft and rich in colour

and :

absolutely awful to stitch on the machine

it rolls up at the sides,

it shifts

it stretches

(when you don't want it to roll up, shift or stretch ...)

.....

I used it before ... and also made some small things.

Today again, I really got a lot more respect for all those tiny Chinese fingers

that are making lovely little dolls out of this material

(for ridiculous little money)

This little fellow I made a lóóóóóng time ago

so I didn't remember thát well how awful the stitching was.

I could not find the pattern so I had to measure him up.

The head with the ears (smaller inside) was a bit tricky

because I had to make a pattern myself

but it turned out quite good.

Then, after dinner, some eyes, a nose, mouth and whiskers

and the bunny looked friendly back at me

.....

and finished !
(not an impressive "production" for the better part of a day)

Ready to send him/her off.

and the winner ....

Well ...

in case you thought I had forgotten

that I promissed to give away my leap-day mandala 

.....

No ! 

in fact I wanted to wait till the next 29th

and that is today

and the winner is :

So please Anne, if you send me an e-mail with your address

this leap-day mandala comes flying to you

in Australia.

(sorry for the others, next time better,

though you won't have to wait another 4 years

for another give-away)

Here I want to show you the two mandalas of February and March

that we did in the series of the Tzolkin related drawings

February 8 : the Blue Monkey

(fun, playing, magic and transformation)

March 14 : the Red Snake

(instinct, survival, body wisdom and initiation)

*

Working on some stitching again

 Yes, I know,

very little to see

and I'll keep it that way for now because it's one of my secret projects

daffodils !

For me spring equals daffodils !

The birthday of our daughter (a week ago)

always is a good measuring point :

I remember coming home with her from the hospital

seeing all the daffodils along the roads and in the gardens

in full bloom

Last Saturday I had a wonderful felting day with my English friend J

who only recently started felting

but is really having a go at it, taking an on-line course,

making all kinds of things,

whenever she finds the time, next to her busy day job.

Though I work alone (or with daughter) most of the time

felting together gives a lot of inspiration

The idea for this bag was in my head for some time ...

since the daffodils started blooming

I often try something new ....

but that doesn't always work out the way I think, or want it to ...

I soon realized that the cord stems

would not easily attach to the laid-out background

hmmmmmm

.....

a bit of helping stitches with linen thread perhaps ?

(cheating a bit, but that did the trick

and was also needed for the flower on the flap)

(yuk ! ... that pink towel under the work !)

A bit of work on Sunday and today was needed to finish the job

It is drying now with a towel inside

and ...

some stitches on the flower so it dries the way I want

*

(will draw the winner of the leap-day mandala in two days ....)

WAS was .... and Spring is

"WAS"

was the lovely grey cat of my dear stitch-inspirator Jude.

She appeared in many posts :

walking in the woods

sitting on cloth Jude was working on 

even walking through the instruction video of the on-line class

.....

Now Was is "Walking Among Shadows" as Jude says

we will all miss her

So a bit of Daffodil sunshine to remember this wonderful feline creature

*

Speaking of sunshine :

that's what we have a lot at the moment

Spring is here !

One of the things that are exported from Holland

to the rest of the world are

flower bulbs
but we keep a lot of them here for ourselves

( and nót only in private gardens .... )

At the moment the edges of the streets are coloured

with bright yellow "sunshine" of Daffodils in bloom

or the soft blue of Scillas

Mmmmmmmmm ...

SPRING

( btw : nearly time to draw the winner of the "leap day" mandala ... )

bag !

Yesterday we visited a lovely party for two birthdays :

man's youngest brother and his friend.

She was the one who wanted me to make her a felted bag.

So, now she recieved it, I can show you

what it lookes like.

She loves purple and it had to go with a brown coat,

so she took some colour strips 

( the ones you choose your paint from )

and we matched it with the wool I had.

 Because these colours are very different I made a design

to merge them to a whole.

The front and back, and the flap are the opposite colours,

inside there is a double pocket

Like my own blue bag it has a double cord strap

To finish it of completely I made a little tag

out of the good old "krimpie dinkie" the shrinking plastic.

and stitched it to one of the straps

( I'll make some more of these little signature tags to hang on my things )

a lovely spring day !

Ahhhhh, what a lovely warm day it was today !

Mmmmmm ... in the garden we were

and even the chairs came down from upstairs !

Love to see the buds on this Black Elder growing bigger and bigger,

the Weeping Willow, at the other side of the water,

has a soft green haze.

Here my big magenta Geranium is getting started too, amazing colour !

Besides working a lot

to get rid of all the old dry remains of last year's growth

there was plenty of time to knit in the sun.

One of the side panels for the mitred little vest

I decided to colour my pattern so I won't end up

with two  identical squares next to each other,

this way it is a bit simpler

( although I cán change the colours if I like to ... )

*

Last Friday daughter came with a friend to felt some little slippers 

... wee baby boots ...

And because felting little boots is infectious :

( though it's a bit early in the year for strawberries ) 

helping hands ?

The mitred vest is slowly progressing

square by square.

But there are some other, secret assignments

that need my attention too.

Here, the helpers are joining in,

but in the beginning they are still sleeping in their warm spot ...

Then, when something interesting happens, they wake up.

Hmmmm ...

brushes, paint, water ..... ?

little sister has to check this out first :

well, this tastes very good !

When her big brother arrives, most of the fun is over for her, and she leaves

and after a small inspection, he gives his okay and leaves too ...

( and I can go do my business )

( a tiny sneak peek )

starting all over again

I started on this mitered little vest

in red colours some days ago.

Then, last week, my friend M visited me,

wearing the blue vest.

I asked her to take it with her so I could measure it

and decide what size to make the miters in the new red one

( she looks wonderful in it )

I decided to make less squares ánd use a smaller size needle  2,5

I made an extra sample with needle 2

Then I took it with me to the knitting group at the alpaca farm.

There, our new friend I

(who is making a gorgeous multicoloured BIG triangle shawl) 

said the knitting would probably become too stiff on that 2 needle.

I also realized that with one square less the pattern wouldn't fit anymore !

Thanks for the advice !

I started all over again !

ánd I dicided to add some bigger squares too !

That was partly because of the wonderful book

I found at our dear alpaca-lady's shop !

An very early birthday present !!!

Mmmmm ..... there will be more knitting, I guess

*

Uhhhh ...

more knitting ?

YES !

 

( pssssst : don't forget the giveaway .... )