dinsdag 30 december 2014

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  !

zondag 21 december 2014

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.

zaterdag 20 december 2014

... 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)

vrijdag 19 december 2014

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 !


zondag 14 december 2014

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)


donderdag 11 december 2014

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.


dinsdag 9 december 2014

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 !


vrijdag 28 november 2014

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  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
!!!!!

woensdag 26 november 2014

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 !


woensdag 19 november 2014

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)