transformation

Transformation mostly takes effort and time

Last week in the garden I was checking

the leaves of the Polygonatum

(or Salomon's Seal)

which are eaten every year by caterpillars

of (not even a butterfly but) some black saw fly

and I saw this :

a bright orange ladybug

with long orange wings showing from under the shields.

He (or she) was resting on its old cocoon.

 After two and a half hour the wings were folded under

and there were vague dots appearing

Again that time later he still sat there,

but ready to go, it seamed !

(probably still resting after the hard work !)

*

Also last week I did more felting

and tried something a dear blogging friend in Germany did.

Danke schön Brigitte, du machst das so wunderbar !

This transformation from wool to felt

takes a lot of effort and time !

phase 1

phase 2 and 3

End result, still drying

(with the helping stitches still in)

Hmmmmm ... why stop at one ???

*

Today again some felting :

my "rolling" assistant (of way back)

needed some presents for his two teachers

for the end of this school year ...

(he was home with us early, because of the heatwave here in Holland !)

Well, why not try some real felting this time !
A tiny bag for a phone perhaps ???

He laid the wool himself for the first one
(and I started on the second)
Rubbing
rolling
counting

utter concentration !

And the result were two wonderful phone cases !

My phone (in plastic) in one ...
and the tiniest of toads on the other !
They still need a button for closure,
that will be next when they're dry !

*

And finally something very remarkable :
double special fundraising !!!

In Holland we have lots of water :
rivers, lakes, canals, you name it.
In winter it is good for ice skating (if it's cold enough)
and in summer for swimming.
We have a special ice skating tour in the northern part Friesland
that goes along eleven cities
and is more than 200 km long !!!

The former Olympic champion open-water-swimming
Maarten van der Weijden
(38)
tried this special eleven-cities-tour SWIMMING last year
(and "failed" after +/- 160 km)

Last Friday he started, and after almost
200 km and 70 hours of swimming
he arrived on Sunday in Leeuwarden

The last report so far was that he raised
€ 5.1 million
for cancer research !

Oh boy !
that's some fundraising !!!!!!!

(Maarten had, and was cured from cancer, when he was 19)