starshine

Two little pieces in progress

One is backed with very thin dark blue cloth

and the other one with some old bed sheet.

I stitched on both, but though the sheet was very old

it isn't easy stitching through that ...

(won't use it again)

Making the star "shine" was the first thing to do 

after glue-stitching (basting) everything together. 

I love the light shining through this very thin piece :

sunshine and starshine !

playing with beasts

We love it when our daughter and youngest grandson visits us.

(camera ready at all times)

playing with a labybug

I have a range of different size ladybugs 

(I once collected them)

This big one is very interesting because it moves and makes noise on batteries

though he doesn't figure out hów ..... yet

(it disappeared under the couch)

...

playing with a bird

(that doesn't fly away)

...

playing with the cat(s)

(who are very careful with him)

;-)

almost ... ?

The first day of October 

isn't thát far away, only one week,

which means :

my third  blogaversary 

(so hard to imagine : three years of blogging !)

Though I forgot the second one

(probably because I was too busy to notice)

this time my giveaway for the blogaversary is finished !

yes ... only a small part of it,

the rest of the quiltlet will be revealed in a week !

However ... I can show you something else.

Remember I made a little quilt for a friend ???

I just got an e-mail from Eva

that it arrived safely in Germany !

At first I only showed two small corners, but here it is

It is my part of the swap we made : a watercolour against a quiltlet 

(A4 size)

*

So just be a little patient and keep an eye on the calendar,

the giveaway might be coming your way in a few weeks time

.......

summer turning into fall

Always when the last days of summer are upon us

 something changes

in the smell of the garden :

more "earththy"

The temperature was still rather good,

though the sun was hardly there,

so it was excellent weather

to work in the garden.

Verbena bonariensis

(they always prefer a narrow crack instead of open ground)

... and lots of busy spinners weaving sticky threads

I also visited my dear garden friend R

who is my great garden-inspiration !

she really has green fingers 

It was fun to finally visit her allotment

where she grows vegetables but also lots of flowers

Mmmmmmm

I went home with some plants,

cucumbers, blackberries and raspberries 

a rainbow

Rainbows  

make me happy

I love the sun

love the rain 

(a little less, but where would this planet be without it !)

and together they give a rainbow

if you're lucky enough to see it !

I read somewhere :

Work isn't going anywhere when you show the rainbow to a child,

but ..... the rainbow doesn't wait till you're finished !

Today I drove an hour by car

to visit someone I met in Blog-land.

She once said to me she liked my garden ..... ;-)

During this growing season I saved for her : bulbs, seeds,

parts of plants that had grown too big for my garden,

and some days ago I sent her an e-mail to meet up.

So in my car were two crates with all the plants I had 

for the garden of their new home.

I arrived just at coffee time,

she opened the door

and then soon  :

CLICK 

We had coffee ... and talked

we had lunch ... and talked 

her son came home from school

(o my, thát late already ?)

and we talked some more

.....

In the end we just had time to unload the plants from the car

and take a walk in the garden.

Today was a rainbow day : I made a new real-life friend !

Thanks Mirjam

She gave me a present just before I left

a rainbow for me !!!

(click !)

... and the next

There were a lot of tiny stitches done

these last few days

...

In fact it was going so smoothly 

I was done before I knew it

Here only the left hand upper corner and the right hand lower corner ...

(with a bit of magic thread showing)

and signed at the back ...

(I'll show the whole picture when I know it arrived safely

it should be a bit of a surprise)

... and on to the next !

weaving, pinning and basting down the tiny parts

It may seem like an automatism, but it isn't

(it's the flow)

just slowly going

It's so much fun

to go through my little plastic box

with the tiniest scraps I have

to see if they fit into the new little quilt.

This sun might Jacky recognize, she once send it to me

A Kaffe Fassett scrap I also used on my Night Wings jacket

(Oh my, I will have to start something else real soon :

blogaversary coming up !!!)

Though today wasn't only for stitching :

daughter came over and I helped her a bit 

preparing a template for some "window painting"

she promised to do in the school.

(ha : the next generation goes painting, though maybe I'll go help her, it's fun !)

And finally I múst show you this :

the shawlette with beads daughter was working on

during our holidays is finished !

Her first ever spun wool !

(I have some of the same yarn in my stash !!!)

;-)

block ?

We probably all know that there's something

that's called a "writer's-block"

...

But, could there also be a 

"stitcher's block" 

???

Well I think there might be such a thing !

I have this to-do list

with several felting and stitching items on it :

things I promised to do

things I planned to do 

things I need to finish

(before September rushed by)

and all the time  ..... nothing happened !

Not that I did nothing at all

in fact I did a lot of fun things :

I read books

I knitted 

(and knitted, and knitted, and knitted)

(very thin yarn, bat wing sleeves, 3mm needles)

I visited a friend

but ..... nothing from my list !!!

Tonight,

after making a yummy dinner with home-made pasta

grilled vegetables, home-made pesto and salmon

I all of a sudden made a start with one of my stitching projects 

This a woven base for something I promised to do for someone

I think I'm in the mood again

yeaaaah !

mandala monday

Drawing mandalas is something I like to do

though I don't do it as often as I "should"

(this Wednesday our group starts for the new season)

But I often make one for special occasions

or for someone special.

Last Wednesday I decided I had to make such a mandala,

however, I needed time to get started :

I have to let it rest inside my head

before anything goes

...

today I was ready

I really hope she gets out of it, what I tried to put into it 

radiant

When we came home last week 

I saw one of my plants had a nice surprise for me :

two big flower buds !

(the plant is no longer very beautiful ,

she's in need of a new bigger pot, I think)

In the evening the strong (almost tóó) sweet fragrance 

told me they had opened up

Two little sisters hanging together

(they were quite a bit smaller than they cán be,

the white petals nearly 7 / 8 cm while they can be 11cm !)

Today I received in the mail my last felting-exchange sun

With it a very lovely (well chosen) postcard

a portrait by the Dutch artist Jan Sluijters

Thanks a lot Anneke

I'm very happy with my last radiant autumn sun !

(my circle is complete too)

odds and ends

Daughter's lovely bunch of flowers

immediately inspired me

to make my last piece for the felting-exchange :
flowers

The circle is complete !

Stitching on felt is so much fun !
(I know it has already been received by the recipient)

*

Stitching on the sun and moons goes a lot slower :

progress is barely visible ...

"just going" ..... o so slowly ...

*

And what might this be ???

some big hairy caterpillar perhaps ?

Oooo,  no !

it's just :  

108  cast on stitches pushed together 

to show how thin the yarn really is.

Rowan's "Kidsilk Haze Stripe"

Sóóóó beautiful