sun - day

The day started with some rain.

Then, the sun came out and I went into the garden

...

and found the shoes I had been wearing yesterday :

soaking wet on the stairs to the water 

GRRRRRRRR

(totally forgot about them after I took them off 

when I came home from the Rotterdam "Stitch")

Some tiny visitors in the garden clearly had enjoyed the rain

a mini toad

We should have gone to visit my brother,

but my sister-in-law was ill.

Instead daughter came by with her youngest

and brought me this wonderful present !

She spun the yarn herself

of lovely soft Icelandic wool.

Love alllll the greens !

And no better way for a child 

than spend a sunny day in the garden with some 

water !

:-)

After Jackie (Stitchworks) told me the mandala arrived safely

I now can show all of it

mandala

Drawing a mandala for Jackie (Stitchworks)

was a good start

for the birth-mandala

that I still had to make 

for the new born son of my nephew and his wife.

I used the same blue paper and the Nilgella from the garden

The beginning ...

... and the end.

I wrapped it carefully with some leftover plastic

(from a bath-goodies box)

and send it off

(We will bring the frame for it later, when we visit)

continuing challenge ... and

The fun "Challenge" 

Sara started several weeks ago

is nearing it's end.

All the instructions for the possible pages are done 

and so is the one for the cover.

That leaves only the binding of the pages.

You might recall, my theme for the challenge booklet is

"lines" 

This is the last page I made,

though in fact it will be the first or the second one of the booklet.

On the fabric that I've sewn to the back

is written :

"a line
is a dot

that went for a walk"

(that would have been said by Paul Klee)

In one of the instructions Sara suggested to integrate some thin wire.

I had this shiny green wire in my stash

and made the leaves with nail polish.

(another suggestion)

For the cover, I made three parts.

I worked a bit more on them

and I think they're okay now

Back, spine and front.

I made the spine probably too wide,

but I didn't know how thick the stack of pages would be 

.....

This Sunday we'll probably get the last instruction for binding the pages,

though some have allready finished ther booklet.

Anyway, it was a fun thing to participade !

!
Almost forgot : I won a give away !!!

At Jackie's blog Stitchworks

I LOVE the work she makes and she greatly inspires me !
(well, I say "I never ever win"  and I didn't expect to this time either ...)

Today arrived a lovely pouch,
hand painted and stitched !

with a super fun "button"

I was so delighted I made her a "thank-you-mandala"

which went in the mail right away

(ha, only a sneak peek for you)

solstice

The highlight of summer ?

It is, in our dance around the sun

but not when you think of the weather at the moment ...

Nevertheless

my Summer Solstice piece is finished.

(just in time yesterday evening,

to participate in a solstice fire daughter and her best friend had

noooo, they didn't burn it, I think )

Summer Solstice 2014

Still think it was such a good idea to start 

with the woven fabric strips.

Though it wasn't easy to stitch

because the cotton scraps that Sus dyed herself,

was such tightly woven cotton, that it was hard to pull the needle 

with the thick cotton that I used most of the time, through.

(even needed pliers sometimes !)

I hope for a lot of "real" warm summer still to come,

and  "down under"  ...  slowly but surely, the days will get longer.

wordless Wednesday

tending to solstice

Although it's still a few days

Summer Solstice

isn't very far away.

I thought that was as good a reason as any other

to start another little stitched piece.

What better way to start than 

a bit of weaving.

Yes, I admit that Jude still has this influence on me ...

(and I think I'll never lose that :

don't want to either  ;-) !)

Then came , as always,

the invisible basting to the backing

And "here comes the sun"

Lots more to be done

;-)

a lovely day ( 14 - 6 - 14 )

A lovely quiet day.

Not rushing to the Stitch'n Bitch this time

but staying in the village 

where the organic (cheese) farm held open house,

a wonderful trip for our youngest grandson

Lots of cows of course, but this horse with his wonderful socks

came close enough to give a pat.

But he probably liked the slide best !

Or was it the giant tractor ???

In the end 

the sun came out and I had some wonderful time in the garden

(well a slug this size is rather harmless, but ..... )

a bit more challenge

Due to my work for the market

the last three weeks,

Sara's Challenge came a bit to a standstill

So I had to catch up a bit today.

According to Sara's instructions

there was first a bit of knitting 

(or crochet)

and integrate this into the needle felted page.

I didn't make any halfway pictures

so there's only the finished page.

I took some double sockyarn for the crochet.

Different stitches, and some chain loops at the end of the piece.

The needle felt is thin behind the crochet (left)

and thicker on the right side.

This time I just started with the crochet, and no further plan.

What to do next, what "line" could be there ?

The chain loops made a wavy line so then

"gymnastics with a long ribbon" jumped to my mind !

I'm always amazed, how these girls

make their wonderful exercise

with the loooooong swirling ribbon

without tripping over it !

(A tiny sketch on the back of an envelope to know what the girl must look like) 

*

And my "pink ribbon" lottery rabbit went in the mail this afternoon

to a new home in Kamperland.


(oops ..... it's already Saturday ... wrong date ...
off to bed  ;-) !)

a bit of this and that

Oh my, what a wonderful bright full moon,

earlier this evening.

I love it when the moon is there, in a still rather bright sky.

I recieved my May felting-exchange piece

last week. 

It was a bit late, but never mind :

it's supposed to be fun, not a must.

But that doesn't mean it is easy

to imagine what it must look like.

On the card that came with the piece 

Jolan told that she tried different things ....

But when she was sure what to make for the Sara Lechner Challenge

(that we're both in) 

she started all over again and was happy

with what she made for me 

 ... and so am I 

Finally,

(though there wasn't a lot of money in my lottery box)

the little rabbit goes to Mrs Clement

in Zeeland

68

;-)

knocked out ... but it was fun

This morning the alarm went off early
because daughter and I were making our trip
to the market in Zeeland.

The forecast said sunny weather
but heavy thunderstorms late in the afternoon,
well, we would deal with that later.

When we arrived in bright sunshine
we set up the small marquee
(that we bought yesterday)

in a lovely spot next to a walnut tree.

One of the boxes with yummy stuff to unpack

After our two makeshift sides were fastened
there was quite a bit of wind
.....
would it remain standing ???

The wind was probably caused by some storm elsewhere
but it died down relatively quickly
pfffffffffffft !
(relieved)

THIS was what our stall looked like 

with daughter's wonderful sun-and-moon rug as focal point !!!

Daughter brought her spinning wheel

 and we had a little lottery for Pink Ribbon

Later the sun came out again and it became really hot !

Lots of friends visited and we sat together

in the shade of the walnut tree.

We got many compliments on our work

and we sold some items too    ;-) 

But the daughter of the owner made a tour along the stalls

in the afternoon, "that heavy rain was expected soon" !

That was the signal to end the fun ...

much earlier then intended.

But on the way back we still expected (and got) 

a lot of traffic on the road.

At home, Man had some dinner ready for us

and only then I realised how knocked out I was

but :

we had a fun day !

 (and we hope our buyers will be happy with their purchases)

many, many stitches

I work in waves.

Waves of felting,

knitting,

drawing,

stitching.

These last few days I did many, many, many stitches.

On the back of this number 2 tiny quilt

you can see them far better than on the front side

(hi hi hi, I like this picture)

It all started like this :

an idea, a glue-stitched background

and some snippets of cloth.

(this time most of the snippets came from Sus,

a lovely present she once sent me)

After a lot of stitches with one or two threads embroidery floss

.....

this is the final face,   meooooow !

But, as I mentioned before, I work in waves, so :

another start, number 3 : grass !

And

(it's getting monotonous)

many, many, many more stitches

.....

WHAT'S  THAT,  HIDDEN  IN  THE  GRASS ?

(I'm not cheating)

it's me : 

Cheetah 

(15  x  15cm)

Why am I working so hard ???

Daughter and I are going to a market on 2nd Pentecost

(this Monday)

in Ouwerkerk, Zeeland

(and I will also take these beauties with me)

Hope to see you there  ;-)