stitching continues

On this last day of July

the weather was good enough

to do some stitching in the garden.

I'm busy with a slightly bigger one

than last time :

20 x 50 cm

( +/-  8" x 19.5")

(I know there are canvases that size,

so I won't have the problem

that I need to make my own

like the 15 x 15 cm ...)

All the scraps in place and

invisibly basted to the hand dyed piece

The back, with the   b  i  g   stitches 

And because lots of scraps were out

(I keep them in colour family in rolls, or plastic bags or small boxes)

there came another one 

(ahhhh, Jackie and Nat might recognize some bits  ;-) ...) 

But I don't know yet what the main colour for the stitching will be :

???????

I put the "red" piece

on some other fabric ... but no

the colours were too "noisy" to work on

(though I know it's meant to be folded under when finished !)

so back to the original piece.

So after I gathered the colours (yes, silks too)

I could start stitching

A long way to go !

blue moon . . .

When I was laying together all the green scraps

for another stitching piece

there suddenly was a blue moon on one of them ...

Well, clearly that was it :

"Blue Moon"

it should be.

(ahhhh ... and that old Blue Moon song from long ago, by Ella or by Billy )

The piece from scratch

(or should I say : from scraps ?)

halfway through ...

working from all sides

And then the finished piece

front                    and                     back

Some more details of the stitching.

Just very simple stitches :

running stitch (kantha or sometimes flat stitch)

and buttonhole stitch

in silk  and cotton or rayon embroidery floss.

Stitching I did outside in the garden,

but when it was too HOT ... I fled inside !

*

B.t.w. garden ...

THIS

is what I'm doing to my New Dawn rose right now :

a severe case of

black spot  !

(I think I'll have to spray, next year ...)

________

But other things are doing great !!!

Perovskia

Thalictrum delavayi

Phlox (Utopia)

moonday

Time and again

I tried to capture the moon on a photo

(but it was always

just a black rectangle

with a tiny hole in it)

Different this time :

I was really early in the evening ...

the ful summer moon

Yes, thát was it : 

the surrounding sky was always too dark already !

(the only problem now was keeping the camera steady)

*

Prepared some green scraps

the way Jude does, to get a fuzzy edge !

...

for more stitching !

little star

Today I finished the

"little star"

It will end up on a canvas

with the thin dark blue fabric folded under.

(you can see the stones through the dark blue edge now : that thin !)

It was good sitting in the garden,

stitching.

Plan to do more !

*

Felting Exchange !

Yeeeeeah ! I received a new felted piece yesterday !

Sorry : it is much more purple in real life !!!

The envelope was a piece of art too !

Thanks Jolan, I love it !

*

And since both of my own pieces are in their new homes

I can show the pictures now

before the final bits

"Flower meadow"

"People"

(or perhaps : Blah blah, blah ?)

(no more felting exchange for me till September !)

silk floss

On the Weavers Market in Hoorn last Wednesday

I met again Ien Rappoldt.

Always when I see her on markets

I admire the wonderful things she brought

from her travels to south-west China

particularly from the Miao and Dong people

("click" ... sorry, only in Dutch, but the pictures speak for themselves)

She not only collects beautiful embroidery items,

she learns the techniques from the local people there !

I once bought an original old sewing case

and we have her book about the Miao.

In the old sewing case were still some silk threads left,

but this time I bought a variety of wonderful colours in silk !

Mmmmmmm ...today I started stitching with it.

I had began with a lot of blue scraps

(invisibly basted on a thin backing fabric ... I started even two pieces !)

The small one

(15 x 15 cm)

Love the "dotted" kantha stitch !

This time Ien Rappoldt also had these lovely 

hexahedron good luck charms the Dong people make.

There was a little booklet,

strips of paper and some yarn went with it

so you can make your own !

My first !

(the hexahedron is an origami one,
that was lying around, made by granddaughter)

weavers market

WOW, WOW, WOW !

What a wonderful day we had !

Thanks

daughter, Caroline, Pauline, Jolanda, Margriet and Helma !

But oh my, it was

WET 

in the early hours of the market !!!

The rain came pouring down

and that was no fun :

we had to take refuge

under stalls, in shops and restaurants !

Just too bad for the many stall holders

who had to protect their goods with large plastic sheets

and hope for the best !

But eventually it stopped raining

And then, it was gooood  ;-)

Just a colourful impression of some of the wonderful goodies !

(click on the pictures to see them bigger)

Of course daughter and I took some of the goodies home

Yes, some very special things !

Jacket : daughter's ...

belt : mine ...

and lots of stuff for felting, spinning (knitting)

and embroidery.

One of the felting-exchange friends couldn't come

so I had to take one of the felt pieces home with me again.

I'll wait with those pictures

till that one arrived there via the mail.