happy new year !

The last day of the year

.....

sometimes busy, busy, busy

but not every year

...

sometimes I'm reflective on such a day :

what happened this year

what did I do

(right or wrong)

what plans do I have for the near future 

...

but now it's just a quiet day

waiting for the clock to strike twelve

and hug my dearly loved family members

and welcome the new year

2013

*

I wish to you all the best,

peace

(badly needed in places !)

joy

and (very important too)

good health

For all my stitching, knitting and felting friends

all over the world

a lot of

creativity

(Ha, we have to wait another 10 hours,

but New Zealand, and I think Australia too, did already launch their firework !)

merry !

Merry Christmas

or

 feast of light  
or
turn of the season

for all my blogging friends

out there !

Serious Request

That is the name for a special action this time each year

by three Radio DJ's

who are living in a "glass house" for a week without food.

The benefits they get,
from people who pay money to hear special music

or is donated in some other way,

will go to the Red Cross

This year the motto is

"let's hear it for the babies"

The money will be spent to fight back

infant mortality in Africa

before, during or just after birth.

That's the charity I wanted to spend

my "Mouse-lottery" money on !

So here is the mouse

sitting on top of the Christmas decoration,

the ladybug money-box (still rather empty)

the glass jar with the felted balls

and pen and paper

to write down name, telephone and chosen number of balls !

It went very well !

There was € 111,65 in the ladybug

at the end of day two.

I topped it up till a nice round figure

and just send it off to Serious Request.

And ?

How many balls wére in the jar ???

66

(yes, just my age, ha !)

But ... because there were tree people with the right answer

I had to use a RNG

(random number generator)

At first we tried to use three felted balls,

but the "generator" didn't want to pick up any of them

so we used pieces of paper with names instead

It seemed one of them tasted very good ...

and Serena is the lucky one !

I phoned her and will bring her the mouse tomorrow.

(I was very sorry for the other two "winners"

so I'll send off a finger puppet mouse to each of them)

And the Christmas Fair ?

Two loooooooooong, but fun days

and I mostly sold to people I know !

(I was véry glad that one of the little quilts that were for sale

went to my dearest friend and former teaching-partner !

I know it gets a loving home !)

It has a name now too : "This it your wake-up call"

I sewed the little "felt-fabric" onto a canvas I painted first.

I think that's a nice solution for such small work

(though for me, textile work can easily hang on it's own)

Update on Serious Request :

when the three DJ's came out of the glass house

in the evening of the 24th

the total amount of money raised for the Red Cross was

€ 12.251.667, --

 

two more days

Preparations for the Christmas Fair

are nearing the end.

That is NOT because I'm almost

finished with all I wanted to do

...

but it's because

in two days time

the Fair starts,

this Friday ánd Saturday !

There are a lot of things that just will not be finished in time.

Creating craft and needlework is taking

a lot of time !

That's okay with me, but that means

I have to adjust my "targets"

So no more bags ...

just finishing off want I have so far,

and I'm very satisfied with

the new red one !

"Ages" ago we organized a big Christmas Fair

on the school I then worked,

with lots of things made by children

ánd a lot of their parents.

We had so much fun creating,

and the Fair was a HUGE succes !

Daughter reminded me that one of the great things then

was a lottery

with three wonderful prizes to win

(made by creative people)

Now I will have my own little lottery on the Fair :

people can guess how many felted balls there are in a glass jar

This will be the prize for the person who gets it (almost) right !

Mouse was made thanks to Gabi's

wonderful PDF tutorial

Thanks again Gabi !

(Off, finishing a few things ....)

belated

I totally forgot about my November felting exchange

Yes

a little late

but that was due to all the Blogger fuss 

So here is the little felt piece I recieved for last month

solar eclipse

Ha, the fun thing was

it was sent in an envelope

that was made out of a newspaper page

with a stamp on it of course

(but the post missed it : there was an uncancelled stamp on it ha, ha !) 

Thanks Margot !

And this is what I made for the theme abstract

for my November partner

After it had dried, I started stitching

but ...

forgot to take a picture before I sent it off

:-(

wordless wednesday

12 - 12 - 12

a little choir

... and we hear the angels singing ...

...

(noooo, of course not,

but why not pretend that we can hear them sing ?)

Some more of these little ladies will follow

and more mushrooms

though no edible ones,

yet

(and yes, a bag,

and some more stitching )

it took some time ...

Everything alright now ?

Well it took me quite some time

to think it over

and to get things done

...

And how about those three blind mice ???

you see :

not blind anymore !

(all the other mice have black eyes)

There was more done of course.

From Jana I ordered the PDF for the book cover she made some months ago.

I would have known how to do it myself

but I very much like to learn the last little bits from others

(and I think Jana makes breathtaking felt work)

this was the first one

Inside is a A5 size "dummy"

(that's what a book without print is called here) 

The worst part of it all 

(besides the cutting into the half-felted piece)

was drying the finished felt on the book

so it would definately be the right size !!!

I wrapped the cover ánd all the pages in cling foil

to avoid the book from getting wet 

Pfffffft !

And there was a bag with fishes

in a different shape this time

(no strap yet)

Lots more to do