donderdag 25 juli 2013

growing ...

Things are growing :
older 
longer
more beautiful
more colourful
 (uglier sometimes)
anyway,
things change
...

It's so hot here the last few days
that sitting in the garden with something to stitch or crochet
is out of the question !
Inside it's much better

Though we had a birthday to attend today
(granddaughter turned 12)
there was still some time to hold a crochet hook 

... longer, more colourful ...

32 flowers and counting

(I'm not halfway there yet !!!)



zondag 21 juli 2013

more crochet

I had put my mind to a bit of Sophie Digard.
I do not intend to copy her
(couldn't, even if I wanted to)
but her art sure had triggered something in me !


All the squares I started with, were to go as in-betweens
for a bigger pattern with flowers.

It took me through a lot of Ravelry pages
before a Stitch'nBitch friend from Rotterdam
kindly send me the "Japanese flower" pattern
she uses for a shawl herself, thanks Elly !

But it just isn't me to go the easy way :
instead of the original 12 petals, I only made 8.
(better to connect with the squares)

So far, so good ...
(I thought) 

But when you look close up the first few finished rows,
it's clear that only the squares and flowers are connected ...
it was all too loose and sloppy !
(and making a connection between the squares didn't work either)
So :
I took a lot of my squares and frogged the outer (light coloured) round
of double crochet and made it into single crochet.

... NOT a very fun task ...
but it had to be done !
(ha, and most of the leftovers, were long enough to make new flower centers)

The also non-fun task was 
to start all over again with the whole shawl
(because : everything is connected as-you-go !!!)

... and here it is ... !

Now all the little parts are connected !

Oh but look :
there are more flowers in my summer garden !!!



Mmmmmm : Filipendula rubra 
("queen of the prairie" ... some queen, isn't she ?)






donderdag 18 juli 2013

something new ...

From time to time,
no matter what I'm making,
I start something néw, or even pick up something óld,
to get my mind from the thing I'm doing just then

(it might be the restless-nature-bit in me ... ?
anyway, that's how it goes)

something old                                             something new

Some days ago I discovered (through another blog) the name 
Sophie Digard
There is not much to be found about her,
just that she discovered crochet some odd years ago,
learned how to do it, 
and
got hooked !




I was so thrilled about the colours and patterns she uses 
that I wanted to try it right away !

So I left the little mitered (old) vest to dry on the blocking board
and started to make lots of little squares 
that will be part of my interpretation 
of Sophie's wonderful work.

But there is more "new" !

(had to do a bit of late-night babysitting before I could finish this post)

When I saw that Eva Nerling, a great German artist (and blogger),
made some new watercolours, I sent her an e-mail about it.
In fact we agreed to a "swap"

Today came the package with one of the watercolours for me


THANK YOU, Eva 
(Ha, ... I'm over the moon)

(Eva has to be a bit more patient before she receives my end of the bargain)




donderdag 11 juli 2013

sweet dreams ...

Today I finished my felting-exchange piece 
for this month.


It is for Caroline, one of the new friends I made 
on this wonderful workshop
with Sara Lechner
(almost a year ago now)

Her theme for the exchange is :

DREAM

I tried some technique a friend explaned to me
to get some ripples on the surface. 
As a matter of fact, I did two pieces
because I wasn't satisfied with the first one :
too big 
and the colours were a bit messy.
So I made a fresh start yesterday.


... work in progress ...

The ripples were not exactly as I wanted them
but this technique is still new to me 
so :
practice makes perfect

;-)

Then today came the rest of the fun : 
stitching !
Using  various variegated colours Cotton Perlé
and the new Rayon thread from Emma's

I called it "sweet dreams"

I put it in the mail this afternoon and
because I had to mail Caroline about something 
I told her not to look here if she didn't want to spoil the surprise.



maandag 8 juli 2013

sunshine, moonshine

Summer has really arrived,
so stitching (or reading) in the garden
is the best way to spend my day.

sunshine
I think the sun's face is done,
the rays will have to wait till later.


moonshine
As far as I know I have my thirteen moons
though a lot are still only pinned in position.
A blue velvet (Jude's) earth is waiting too.

It's good I'm not doing anything hasty :
I like to think things over, reposition pieces or even take them away



zaterdag 6 juli 2013

moon faces in the summer garden

I'm planning to make a lot of moons 
in my SUN piece. 

For the faces I use the old "Jude-method"
the way she showed us in the 
Patchwork Beasts class in 2010

Faces are drawn on the very thin base cloth with a fine pen 
("sharpie" or whatever, as long as it doesn't bleed too much on the fabric)

one done, one in the making, and two waiting
(the base fabric is an unsuccessful eco-dye on IKEA curtain)

The fun is, to stitch whatever I like

Mmmmmm the weather was SO good today!
So I was stitching in the garden.
Every now and then, a blackbird just brushed past my head :
they have their nest in the Wisteria against the house

Here are two chicks (two eyes) of three,
it's rather overcrowded 
and one is already flapping his/her wings !

The three little swans that frequently sitting opposite our garden
are growing nicely

... and grooming just like mom ...

The little feathers floating around :

just like little swans themselves 

And later in the day : FUN

playing with water !!!


maandag 1 juli 2013

envelopes !

Oh, how I lóve these mysterious envelopes 
that arrive in the mail from time to time !

Today I recieved my  sunny
felting-exchange piece

Yellows, greens and a bit of turquoise
and lots of sparkling yellow beads,
it's so much fun this felting-exchange !!!

And always there's some lovely card with it
that tells a bit of the "making-of" or the "why"

Thank you, Titia !

(do you really own these Blue Faced Leicester sheep ???)
I looooove those curls ... 
ha, probably because I have some curls of my own :
feather (curls) flock together !
*

In the afternoon I continued on my SUN-stitching
that I started yesterday.

There's already a lot more ... (a face)
but I didn't take a picture just now, because there isn't enough light anymore.

The embroidery thread on the left and on the far right 
came in the mail on Saturday.
It's very glossy hand painted rayon I bought from Emma in France.
She sells some wonderful things quilters and stitchers can use !
The colours are so gorgeous,
but working with it isn't very simple 
it curls up and tangles very easy,
but the luster is awesome !!! 

The deep purple and red is handpainted "Aurifil" cotton 
daughter gave me last September 
when she went to the "Handwerkbeurs" (Fair)
The two little bundles down in the middle
are silk thread that I used to bundle up 
my onion skin eco-dyeing try.