zondag 31 juli 2016

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 !

zaterdag 23 juli 2016

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)

maandag 18 juli 2016

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 !

zondag 17 juli 2016

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 !)

vrijdag 15 juli 2016

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)

woensdag 13 juli 2016

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.