last one

This will be this year's last post

and I want to share

another bit of colour 

in these cold winter days.

(Snow over here, but it's melting away already)

A little kiss and all the best for you

dear blogging friends.

Thank you 

for making it a pleasure to go to blog-land.

Bits and pieces of colour 

to make a new little quiltlet

(but can't show you all of it yet)

These were some things I sewed before Xmas.

I made lots of this kind of stuff when I still worked

as a school teacher with the pre-schoolers.

It was such fun to do it again

An apple pie and a pizza

for a little cook as a Xmas present.

After the presents were unpacked,

we had our "gourmet" dinner together.

And then he baked and served us some pizza as dessert.

HAPPY  NEW  YEAR  !

winter solstice

It was the shortest day today

and not a very bright one.

So I sat near the window to finish

my little solstice quiltlet

Winter solstice 2014

For the sun rays using kantha stitches, worked out pretty good, I think.

(in fact with kantha stitching you use running stitches that

are paired neatly next to each other, which gives 

the funny looking rivulets in the fabric)

Here are the two solstice pieces sisterly (or is it brotherly ?)

next to each other.

And on the backside too.

The sun goes to its turning point and the days are (slowly)

getting longer.

(for the northern hemisphere that is ...)

I wish a lot of warm and bright days 

to anyone who need it.

... stitching ...

Slowly the "thread beads" gather

on the little solstice piece.

One half (on the diagonal) 

will be with light coloured "beads"

the other half will get much darker "beads"

Done

It was nice to connect the swirl that was on on the piece of fabric

with the swirl of the dark red lace

(a kind of dark solar flare)

There will be rays on the outside,

also in light and dark.

(tomorrow)

going to solstice and ... a present

It is really quiet down here.

(I visited the Christmas market here today :

and I'm very glad I decided over a month ago

not to participate this year ! 

I'm sorry to say that there were very few stands that I liked !

Really must find another type of market for my art.)

Because I made a little solstice quiltlet this summer

I thought it would be nice to make another one

this December.

I decided to make them "sisters in size"

20 x 20 cm

I "glue stitched" the first bits and then pinned down 

a lot of others scraps.

I started stitching, but didn't take a picture of the progress yet ...

My studio assistant was very much attracted to the boxes with scraps !

He loved to put them in his chair, the little buggy instead of his bear,

and opened and closed the lids ...

(I was glad he didn't tip them over) 

Then arrived in the mail a fun envelope :

Helmi had already send me an email for my address,

so I knew something was coming  ;-)

Thank you Helmi,

for this lovely surprise !!!

They will decorate the room or xmas tree this year !

Apart from the angels, there was also this fun little scrap 

with a goat (screen) printed on it 

She makes such fun things,

and I love what she teaches at schools !

sunday (14 - 12 - 14)

Yesterday I was in Rotterdam 

for our last Stitch'nBitch this year ánd

to buy some lovely smelling green on the big market :

time to make the house look a bit Christmassy

Outside near the front door

and inside in some nice big pots

I also did another try with some 

Eucalyptus leaves

(though I'm not very good at eco dyeing !)

Mmmmm ... see what I'll end up with this time ...

The last rays of the low sun on this sunny Sunday

shone far into the house

(it is clear we're nearing

Winter Solstice)

mandala and more

Yesterday was our last evening

with the mandala group this year.

In the meditation we had to stay in the "now"

no other thoughts than that

with music a.o.  music of Sarah Brightman.

It was a wonderful evening.

The last few days I was busy making the post cards 

for our Christmas and New Year good wishes.

A few years back I made a lot of stamps

out of eraser blocks.

(HEMA) 

Geninne Zlatkis, a very talented artist,
had made a wonderful tutorial

that showed it isn't a very difficult task

if you have some lino cutters and some special soft blocks.

(but simple eraser blocks work just as well !)

I made some new ones 

because I wanted two stamps facing each other

holding a bit of Washi tape

with 2015 on it.

(yuk : the washi tape is awful to write on !)

Now they are all ready for the mail.

december already ...

I really don't know where November went ...

and we're already in week two of December !

Time flies !

Last week we celebrated

the Sint Nicolaas feast

with daughter and grandchildren.

It was the first time for the youngest one.

In the morning we went to the school 

where big brother and his class mates 

waited for the arrival of Sint Nicolaas.

Of course the best part was unpacking the presents

later that afternoon !

The last, and biggest present of all :

a huge succes !

*

It was fun to visit my (big) brother again yesterday.

They had sold their house this summer and moved to an appartment.

Then they were away, we were all busy,

but yesterday we went there.

It was fun to see the painting I made for him years ago

still had a lovely place on the wall.

A piece of our garden for a special birthday

(70 x 50 cm)

*

I already told you that I was very unlucky with one of the 

Pink Ribbon postal consignments 

.......

but finally the second envelope with mandala's

(after the first one sadly had gone missing)

arrived safely at my friend Birgit's house.

Today arrived a very special "thank you"

;-)

A lovely rainbow of (natural) hand dyed wool

and a special lovely fragrant piece of soap !

(another blogland-friendship born)

Thanks Birgit !

what a friend !

Some people might say that :

Blog-land isn't the real world .....

and that you should stick to friends nearer to "home"

I don't agree with that.

Of course I love my "real life" friends around the corner.

But a lot of times, people I encounter in Blog-land,

become friends,

just as good as the "real life" ones !

It's not the first time that such a Blog friendship/admiration

results in something special

like this swap.

(and it will probably not be the last either)

This time I had a swap with Jana

She makes such wonderful felted flower mandalas

and I love the way she writes

about all the things that move her

in her work and daily life.

Yesterday her package to me arrived

and I was very still after I opened it.

The most beautiful rainbow coloured flower mandala was in it.

And yet there was more

There was a lovely card, packets with seeds, 

a smoke bundle of fragrant herbs,and some homemade fudge.

THANK YOU SÓ MUCH, JANA

you made me very happy and privileged person !!!

Because little grandson was there when the package arrived

he loved to take part in the unpacking

and admiring the wonderful soft flower !

His dear knitted bear got a warm blanket

This was my part of the swap

The felted "Earth" necklace went to Jana

(well, I was in the mood for mandalas, when I sent my package to her)

What a wonderful (far away)  friends I have

!!!!!

yes .... still here ...

I know :

it has been very quiet here.

Not a lot of things happening

except for a bit of knitting

(on two projects that should have been finished loooong ago ... )

some reading

and drawing some new mandalas.

the November mandala of our group

and one of the tiniest birds here : the goldcrest

For my Pink Ribbon challenge of last month

we managed to make a donation of

€ 200, -

(we topped it off till this nice round figure)

I sold 14 of my original drawings

(and hope that all the new owners are as happy as I am)

There was only one nasty problem

and something that has never ever happened to me before :

one envelope I send to Germany,

has gone missing 

!!!!!

We waited a long time if it would still arrive

but sadly it didn't !

Though only "the mail" was to blame

I had to find a solution

(and we did .... ha : on the telephone)

I hope this time everything will be allright !

*

From one of the felters of  the felting-exchange

I got a lovely new red piece

Thanks Margriet

I love the delicate stitching on it !

what about selling ... ?

Aaaaah ...

this is a difficult story ...

Just a few days ago I decided 

NOT to participate 

in this year's Christmas market in our village.

It was a tough decision because I enjoyed 

it very much, these last two years.

It was fun : 

thinking about what to make

meeting all those people

and talk about making one's art

and selling it.

But all this has a down side too.

 I LOVE to make the different things for the market :

it may be felt, quiltlets, drawings, paintings,

(I like a lot of different techniques)

but

I HATE making my art

as if I'm working on a production line in a factory !

That really is no fun for me !

But at the same time this is the whole problem 

when participating to markets !!!

When people come to you and tell how lovely an item is ...

if ... it was just :

blue instead of green ...

purple instead of red ...

a bit bigger ...

a bit smaller ...

a bit different shape ...

(and so on)

So :

no more market for me this year !

Will I stop making art ?

Another NO

I can't stop being creative !

And I hardly ever think about selling when I'm busy.

But if there ever is something you really would like to "have"

......

just send me an email 

and we probably can work out something together !
I'm willing to take commisssions too

;-)

*

These two little friends were just adorable

(though big brown brother doesn't seam so pleased to share his throne)

*

These are some really old drawings I found

(while cleaning through clutter of old times)

I made them for our classroom door

when I was working with pre-schoolers :

our koala class bear was the main character

each time we started a new theme to work on

"autumn"

           "measuring"              and            "floating and sinking"

      

"the doctor"

and :  "friends" !

These were good memories when I found them again today  ;-)

I'll bring them to my friend and old colleague Ada

so she can use them again for the children

(they are about 50 x 65 cm each)