last May day ...

What a wonderful garden-month it was.

One kind of flowers succeeding the next.

Lots of colours.

Ornithogalum magnum.

And in the water :

tiny white ships, huddled together for safety.

That wonderful water tank I bought for spraying

big felting projects, was fun to play with

in the sunny garden too :

not helping with felting this time,

but watering the plants ...

*

I'm still working for the market on next Monday

(Pentecost) in Ouwerkerk  (Zeeland)

The necklaces are slowly emerging

out of all the different elements that are gathered on the table.

Lots of choices to be made, colours to combine ...

Will it be like that ?

No ... like this !

There was some funny fabric for ages 

(yes, at least 35 years ...) in my stash

that caught my eye :

it would be just suited for little "project-bags"

like this.

just big enough for a 100 grams ball, for new socks (?) 

Even a sock needles-safety-pouch could fit in.
Even a loop to hang it on your chair or arm !

HA !

No cat would find and play with your precious yarn !!!

Hope to see some of you on Monday

in Ouwerkerk !

Bigger even than last year

and we're hoping for the same sunny weather !
(free entrance !)

wordless Wednesday

all kinds of different things

We had a little birthday boy last week

so there were lots of festivities !

At school, here, at home ...

(oh my ... 5 already ?

so long ago that he was that tiny baby ?

time flies ! )

A most wonderful present !!!

*

Yesterday daughter, a friend and I

went to the "Knitting fair" (Brei- en Haakdagen) in Rijswijk.

Lots of stalls with goodies

to make into new knitting, crochet

or spinning projects, and lots of inspiration.

So much to choose from ...

*

I was very busy last week

making some new textile necklaces

It progresses so very  s l o w l y  :

the fabric needs to be stuffed, closed

and turned into pumpkin shapes.

making some tiny matching crocheted flowers,

felted balls are being embroidered,

finding the "right" beads

then string it all on waxed cord,

.....

I hope to finish more than one to take to the market

in Ouwerkerk (Zeeland) on Pentecost Monday

(and five amulet pendants are finished now)

*

During a nice sunny day

I darned some of my oldest socks

(I was lucky to find still some leftover bits that matched)

It was really fun sitting there

looking at all the flowers of May

The Allium roseum "jungle" almost in bloom !

Next week the weather will be fine :

so more garden-time !

a blue day

Yesterday was a

blue day

and ... it was a day full of magic !

Eight ladies and a nice teacher, Elly Poldervaart, explored 

(along the edges of)

the  v a s t  realm of indigo.

(surely that is too much to fathom in just one day,

I think you can study years on that !) 

After the introduction

Elly started making an organic indigo vat,

according to the instructions of "Indigo-guru"

botanist and chemist Michel Garcia

A look inside the magic pot !

We then all started with a length of  thin woolen fabric (etamine)

to fold, clamp or stitch shibori-wise.

(it was very silent then ...)

(totally forgot to take pictures of my own stitching)

We had a good lunch

(although we didn't have "time" for that  ;-) ...)
and started "dipping" after that,
or
continued stitching, like me

Checking temperature,
checking pH
and putting the first one in.

Tah-daaaaaaah

There it is
yellow, green ... and then slowly
BLUE

After that ...
it started raining !!!
(and no small drops)
So everything was moved a bit, to the bicycle storage
(Elly's studio is in an old school building)

Slowly, one by one
the magic blue cloths appeared !

Hmmmmmm ...... unpicking the threads
took quite some time and effort !

In the end we could put in
some more items that we brought with us.

Then, too soon, it was time to tidy up and put all the work on the table

Thanks Elly
it was a day of magic !

At home waited Man with yummy lasagna
(another treat !)
and some more rinsing and unpicking
...........

My green silk strip
and ...

moons !!!


What a day ...

BLUE  !!!