orange .....

April 30 is the day that a lot is coloured orange

in The Netherlands

On "Koninginnedag" or Queens day

our monarch celebrates her birthday,

though she really has her birthday in January

but then it is much too cold to celebrate anything outside.

(in fact it's a kind of national celebration day

whether you like the queen or not)

And, like it happens often on this day :

we had lovely sunny weather ! 

(because there were no grandchildren around

to visit all kind of festivities with,

it was a quiet day)

First I finished some secret things again :

two down ..... one to go !

Secondly I had some time in the garden for my new socks :

my knitting friend J gave me

this red-puple coloured yarn for my birthday

and she wore then the most wonderful knitted socks.

When I asked her about the pattern

it was "delivered" by her right away

Thanks J !

But ...

these will be my first ever toe-up socks

and the pattern is beautiful .... but not easy !!!

I might need J's help on one or two occasions ...

The magic-loop cast on went okay, thanks to You Tube

The first part of the pattern is now nearly finished

only two more times "chart one"

.....

And thirdly I had time to do my "carpenter - thing"
with the canopy stand for the cradle

finished and ready !

a carpenter ?

After my birthday (and in fact before that too)

April has been much and much too cold 

That means that I haven't been in the garden as much as I normally would be

Though, when the sun creeps out

from behind the heavy layers of clouds

I'm out there right away.

I love my Malus tree

it will have dark red leaves when the blossom fades away

From the garden I also picked some flowers

that I used for one of my secret projects

Tiny forget-me-nots

colour all of the garden blue at the moment

a lovely sight !

In fact my secret projects will have to be finished soon

... in about one and a half week of time ...

One of the extra "in-betweens" I did today made me remember

that, perhaps in another life,

I would liked to have been a carpenter !

Years ago, during winter holidays in Austria,

I loved to visit the shop

of the the old turner in wood :

mmmmmmmm that smell

of freshly cut wood when you entered there,

runnig your fingers along the grain

of the smooth sanded wood

(I use some of the items he made untill this very day)

It wasn't a very inspiring of difficult object,

just a needed one !

I like to have the proper tools so bought a 14mm drill  (ha !)

Tomorrow I'll fitt it to a little cradle 

dark colours

In the garden I love  dark red  colours.

In a nursery or garden centre I immediately notice that colour

(and buy it ...)

Here are a few examples

and the best one :

This spring has been very wet and cold lately

and today there were  dark  clouds too

and even hail stones :

.....

We are waiting for a bit of sunshine

( a lot of "garden" but that's okay on "earth day" )

step by step, stitch by stitch

Oh so slowly, 

things are growing ...

There isn't much to show really,

more to be done yet

The fun part for me

are the tiny pieces that I use

that come from fáááár away sometimes.

(from Jacky, from Jude, from Heike ...)

A lot of time is "lost" by thinking and re-thinking,

placing and re-placing,

which pieces of fabric are best for certain parts of the design

...... 

( please : patience, for there is nothing "real" to be seen )

happy me

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

happy  me

What a lovely party it was today !

Lots of dear family and friends visiting

lots of lovely presents and flowers

and even lots of sunshine,

so warm enough to sit outside 

66



a wet garden ... and stitches

These last few days were cold

and often wet too

but the garden shows it's spring beauty anyway !

(Brunnera "Jack Frost")

(yellow dead nettle)

*

I finished another secret project

and then made some  tiny stitches  too

These were done on the machine,

there will be a lot more stitching by hand

.......

And daughter herself

made the cutest monkey you can imagine

out of fingering yarn, so he's very small

He is called  

"Jacobus"

and knitted from the top of his head

down to his hands and feet

and the tip of his tail

all in one go !
(he sits on the only seam there is !)

Annita is, among other things, a talented knitter.

Taking a look at het site is very worth while ! 

The pattern was in Dutch,

but it might be in English too (?)

a present and something finished

What I like about the blogger-community is : 

the friends that get "real" all of a sudden

I got this e-mail some time ago

to tell me that I could pick something I liked

and that it then would come my way !

Lee send me two of her lovely fabric circles

(she makes one every day !)

Thanks Lee !

*

After we went to the alpaca farm yesterday

(with three generations !)

things continued at home :

granddaughter

daughter

and me ...

grrrrrrrr

I had to undo some machine stitching on the fabric basket

(yes ..... thát happens when you don't pay attention)

There was no serious damage done,

so after "a while" I could go on where I left off

The "Hobbs" batting would not stick to the lining fabric

so I had to secure it by hand,

then the inner and outer layer were pinned/stitched together,

turned and ..... finished

(one down, one to go)

A productive easter weekend

working, working

All the things I need to have finished soon

are more or less in progress.

But every now and then new things are coming in-between ...

so I need to be working steady on !

a secret crown ...

some repair needed (and done) ...

a fabric basket in the making ...

.....

pffffffffffffffft

sometimes I just need a time-out !

For that you can find me in the garden ! 

I lóóóóve spring !

(though it will be a rather cold easter weekend

and the full moon is hidden behind the clouds)

for another baby

Although the machine stitching was awful on the velvet tricot,

I persevered

and made another bunny,

for another baby.

In fact it's for the new born niece of the first baby

(though she isn't exactly a baby any more

because it took me soooo long to make the present)

Tomorrow both bunnies will be on their way in the mail.

Hmmmm : a bit of a puzzle ..... inside out ..... halfway there .....

So it's a flat bunny, with a head (a tiny rattle inside) ,

some space for your finger to wiggle the head,

a little bunny tail,

and some funny loops to hold onto.

(but, as I see it now : it's quite possible it is the Easter Bunny ....)