dinsdag 27 mei 2014

late and early

After all the beautiful sunshine days
you could say the weather today was 
disappointing.
In fact it rained alllllll day long.


What better way to use such a day
than to do someting that you should have done
a long time ago
Ha,  ofcourse there are a lot of such things ...
(like cleaning up the room I'm sitting in right now)
but in this case I mean
making this month's felting-exchange piece.

The theme was "parts" and "uniting"
The idea for it was long in my head,
but every time I wanted to get started
something else happened.

Four parts in dark lilac and three shades of turqoise,
at the side the colour of one part runs along the side of the next.

Four spikes in the same colours, put into opposite coloured parts.
Then I cut open the top layer.

I liked it this way, but ... as I have to send it in the mail 

I opted for this version.

HA ! then onto the next !

The theme for next month was a bit awkward :
"autumn colours"
(well, the exchange goes on for a whole year ....
and some people do love autumn best)

So, in the middle of the green spring : autumn !

First some different coloured spikes, then, they were covered with "autumn"

All felting by hand, otherwise the veins would have disappeared.

And then :


cutting into the surface of the veins 
to reveal the colours inside
;-)

Later in the afternoon
I sewed some seed beads and stitches 
on the "parts" one


Tomorrow both pieces will be in the mail
and I hope each one of the receivers likes her piece.






zaterdag 24 mei 2014

transient beauty

I'm always waiting for some special flowers 
to appear.
They're there one moment
...
and gone the next.
(well not thát quick of course ...
but in a manner of speaking short-lived)

Ta-daaaaah 
Papaver orientale
(a perennial plant)

Some years I wait and there's not a flower in sight
but this time :

three beauties together
(and more to come)

*
For my challenge with the embellisher
I made two more "lines"

"lifeline"
(without the string, the kite will fall down / die)
and


"washing line"

(I did the washing line another time 
because I wasn't satisfied with the first one)

Now waiting for Sara's next instruction, this weekend
;-)

woensdag 21 mei 2014

more challenge

Although it's already the fourth week
of Sara's challenge
I didn't get around making any new pages.
That's often how it goes :
ideas need some time to stew.
All the "input" has to be turned around and around
in my head, even if I'm not thinking specifically
of making something.

My theme was clear to me 
and I have some little sketches with ideas
but what I'm actually making
can change 
...

One of the lines I thought about were roads,
railway lines, coast/shore line
so I had an old road map
of which I just snipped off a piece
 to somehow use in a page.

It just so happened to be a part of "Zeeland"
in the South West of our country.

All of a sudden it came to me what to write,
after I made the back 
with a blue piece of wool on the embellisher
and punched the map onto it :

In February 1953 
a violent storm together with spring tide
caused a major flooding in a big part of Holland
especially in Zeeland.
I was almost 6 yaers old and I remember very well, 
how far, even in Rotterdam, the water had risen. 


I also finished another page I had prepared earlier.

First I just made some thin lines in running stitch
before I started "writing" with the machine.

  I "wrote" the same words on a piece of  fabric
that I will use as backing of the page.

The fourth week's instruction was one big letter on a page,
like in a medieval manuscript ...
but in fact I did already 
a big "E" on a page.

(maybe I give it another go)


dinsdag 20 mei 2014

birthday boy

Last Sunday we had a birthday boy :
youngest grandson is two years old now !

Still a bit shy after his nap,
with mom's present 
already tight in his arms :
a bear to accompany his two little monkeys
We brought with us the other present
that his mom chose for him
which was delivered at our house
to keep it a secret.


It didn't take long before he knew
how to handle the bike 

;-)


One of the other presents :
paper and thick pencils.

It was a wonderful day!
(With the first present he didn't quite catch what to do with it,
but he quickly learned that there was something fun
inside the colourful paper !)

The next day the bear had his portrait taken,

so he can be a star on "Ravelry"

*
Today was probably the last hot day,
so I took some more pictures of the garden



(one of the last blue irises)



donderdag 15 mei 2014

so very special !

Love and friendship
 
Those things make life so special.
 
This afternoon I came home from baby-sitting
my youngest grandson,
to hear that a package arrived.
Oh yes, we ordered a (walking) bike
for the little one who has his second birthday
this Sunday.
 
No, no :
another package arrived too !
 
I must tell you I expected a small package, or a letter,
but this was BIG !
Daughter was there too and she stayed
to see me open it
 
A lot of ahhhhh's and ohhhhh's
 
(I think you can agree with that)
 
My dear blogging and felting friend
(yes, the one I had this wonderful on-line felting class with)
had promesed to dye some silk for me
for my final piece for the class.
So that was something I expected,
but not this gorgeous stash,
for lots and lots of felting and knitting fun !!!
 
amazingly handdyed yarns
 
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH,  FIONA !
 
I'm over the (full) moon !
 
I can finally start with my final class project
and some wonderful knitting.
 
Uhhhhm ... about knitting
 :
I found a pattern for the "Kauni" yarn
I bought last summer in Zwolle during the holiday.
 
(yes, you see :  I really love those colours Fiona picked for me !)
 
*
 
And a last peek in the garden
(green after allllll the rain, and now enjoying the sun again)
 
 
 
 
 


woensdag 14 mei 2014

Ohhh, that moon (14 - 5 - 14)

Yesterday evening
when I shut down the computer
a wonderful full moon shone through the curtains.
 
I stepped out on the balcony
and tried for the umpteenth time
to take a picture of it
...
and once more :
nothing good enough to show
(I don't know how other people do it)
 
It made me want to draw one today instead,
as tonight is our last mandala evening for this season.
 

 
I combined it with a bit of garden :
the Allium roseum have spread everywhere
but I don't mind.
I love their delicate withish pink petals
 
 
They spread
because (good) bulbs underground do,
but also because they have lots of tiny brood bulbs
at the bottom of the flower cluster
;-)
 
I thought the moon and my Alliums to be an excellent combination
for an extra mandala today
 
 


dinsdag 13 mei 2014

a bright day

Some days are bright
because there is sunshine
 
But some days are bright
because there is friendship
 
Today was a friendship day !
 
My dear blogging friend Mirjam
(though a lot of people refer to her as "Stins")
visited me today.
We had a date before,
but then there were things that came "in between"
so I was glad everything worked out all right today.
 
She made me this lovely crochet mandala.
 
 
The plan was :
to do some wet felting
.....
but first we had coffee and talked a lot.
 
Daughter came by, to meet Mirjam
and we talked some more.
 
We looked in the garden
and talked about our gardens and the different plants.
(so talked a lot)
 
 
Mirjam (and her two men and cats) moved to a new house last year.
 I then brought her some cuttings from my garden
and now I had some more.
 
We had lunch
and 
yes ... you can guess what we did.
 
In the end we had talked an awful lot and had fun
 but ..... there was no time for felting today
(ha : we talked a lot about felting !!!)
 
When she left, we almost forgot to take
the little plants I had collected for her again,
but just in time she remembered.
:-)
We put them in a big plastic box.
 
I will take that home again,
next time
when I'm visiting her !
 
THANKS Mirjam,
I had a wonderful bright day !
 
 
 

zondag 11 mei 2014

mother's day

Daughter,
who is a mother herself
and who visited us today
(to do some knitting on my old knitting machine)
reminded me :
 
THE MOM SONG !!!
 
Please go over there and have a good laugh,
now
and any other day !
 
Here's the link :
 
                                     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nem0bkErGVY
 
 
Happy Mother's day



dinsdag 6 mei 2014

Sara said ...

Sara said :
"that's part of the challenge,
not knowing what comes next !"
Well ...
it is true : I like to be in controle
But it's also true :
when you're aware of the next step in the process
it influences the move(s) you make.
I think it would have been better
if we would have known
we needed some kind of focal point
in the design of the first page
.....
So
I put my first "first" page aside
and started with another idea I had for lines
lines in a face
(eyebrows, eyeliner, crow's feet, wrinkles)

After a light drizzle in the morning
there was a bit of Sunshine this afternoon,
enough to sit on the treshold
and do some stitching.

Wink ... a new "first" page !

     The second page               with a hole in it  
                        
and the two pages together


Now I'll wait for Sara's next move
.....

;-)