maandag 31 augustus 2015

unseen

Since I'm back from the holidays
the Sun and moons piece
is my steady companion.

I started adding a little piece of Birgit´s lace
but then ...
stitches, stitches and even more stitches.
I even took the piece to the St´nB in Rotterdam last Saturday !

And now, on this last day of August,

again  more stitches.

In places where I´ve been already before with blues
I go back in with other colours,
like the Salmon Moon.

I pick a colour from my big "thread nest"



and just look for a place that needs some more stitches.

I did some stitches on the legs of the Butterfly Moon
and she looks a lot better since I fixed the left side of her blue wings 
with fine lines of split backstitch
so it´s more of a unity with the other `megamendung` parts.

Large pieces, that were still only the loose, swirly blue fabric,
are now firmly quilted to the back
(although you hardly see anything of it !)


The dark (striped) circle behind the sun
will be more clear when I finish the red stitches around it.

A lot more (unseen) stitches needed
.....
slowly going !



maandag 24 augustus 2015

restart

It has been an aweful long time since I unrolled my
to do some stitching ...
The fact that I took it with me on holiday
was to restart stitching 
ánd to show it to Birgit when we visited her.

(because I know how eager "textile people" are
to see the "real" thing with their hands, 
rather than just looking at it on a photograph)

With the actual cloth on the table
it's easier to explain what you have been doing.

(with or without a cat lying on it  .....)

Although there wasn't enough quiet time to restart thén
I indeed did a restart, now I'm home again.
(and the little repair tast for the classroom 
of my former collegue Ada is finished :
school started again today !)

I forgot to show last time
the gorgeous indigo handdyed Baby-Alpaca wool
that Birgit gave me as a present !

And since the little extra : blue dyed lace,
fits so well with the colours
of the "Sun and Moons"
I had to stitch a little piece of it into it !

I may find yet another place for the next bit too ...

First invisible "glue-stitch" and then some thread beads.


vrijdag 21 augustus 2015

a special person

Since I started blogging
almost five years ago 
(uhhhhhhm ... that long already ?)
I've "met" a lot of nice people,
starting of course with Jude and her warm circle
of slow-stitching friends,
and also others e.g. after my on-line felting course of Fiona Duthie.
But because I read German easily too
I "met" others in Germany, Austria and Switserland.
Meeting people in Blogland is fun
and it's wonderful experience
to make an exchange with someone :
so you send and get a surprise, 
really on your doormat ;-)

But  it is even more fun
when the possibility occurs
to meet in real life !

The very first time that we arranged that 
was three years ago with Gabi (Filzkram)

drinking coffee

and admiring her wonderful studio.

This year it turned out that we were having our family holiday
very near to where Birgit (Olann-Wolle) lives.

We've had contact before so it was easy to take the step
to arrange a meeting.
It was (again) no surprise 
that I was going to meet a wonderful person.

We had lovely warm (hot even) weather
so had coffee, and later lunch, with  Birgit and husband on the terras.
(and talked a LOT )

We toured around the garden, with the neighbour's young cows,
which are used as lawn mower,

Birgit's three sheep,
we  looked at her vegetable plot,
and  even picked some raspberries ... 

Then we went inside (it was really hot then)
and I showed the things I took with me from home
which I thought she would like to see "with her hands"
(uhuh ... that's the way textile-lovers lóók !) 

But there was someone else :
Älfi  (one of Birgit's three (in fact four) cats)
came in and found his rightful place
on my "Sun and Moons"

Oh my,
that day was much, much, much too short !!!!!
We could have talked for many more hours
(so we agreed on seeing each other again  ;-) !)


THANK  YOU  VERY  MUCH  BIRGIT !
(and Kai)

For this wonderful day
and for being such a lovely person !


dinsdag 18 augustus 2015

lots of family days

The first two weeks of August
were for our family :
away with daughter and the kids !

We stayed in Holland :
so not driving very far
and there are beatiful places in our own country !

The weather was quite good.
We stayed near the holiday cottage
doing our own fun things :





But we also made small trips to fun places :

a fun play park just around the corner


medieval feast


(highly recommended trip to go to with kids ...
ha ! and also fun for the "big ones")


and last but not least to a fruit picking garden.
(a lot went in the bucket .... and a lot in the mouth !)

We went home one day early, because of the heavy rains
that started on Saturday evening ...
(and went on till last night !)

At home the garden gave a sorry sight :
my two big boxwood trees


GRRRRRRR

Today when the weather was dry again I started with the tall one ...

... the sad end of a proud boxwood tree

Tomorrow probably the next one ...
or later when there is room again in the waste container.


zaterdag 1 augustus 2015

August !

Today it was double August for us !


(and "us" meaning the knitting group
that started some years ago at the Alpaca farm,
then stopped, and went "on tour" this year
because it was fun, and we wanted it to continue)

So for me : 
bike, boat, bike in the other direction than normally :
namely to Dordrecht now.

We were in this holiday month not meeting
at one of our member's places, but, 
at the wonderful restaurant

It is housed in the former pump building
and water tower of the Dordrecht Waterworks

After the entrance you first get to the bakery and a market,
where you can buy the most wonderful presents
(for someone, or yourself)

Then you come to the restaurant part and then ...

to the terras and the garden !
With the hotel ...
in the water tower !
The garden is used to grow a lot of their own vegetables
(you can buy some of those in the little market too !)

Chatting and knitting
and drinking coffee and tea.

(and none of us could resist the de-li-ci-ous cakes !!!)

The weather was okay, and we had a wonderful morning !

If you ever go to Dordrecht ...
go visit Villa Augustus :
a true experience !