7 - 7 - 15 .... after a busy weekend ...

Yesterday was a really quiet day

I needed that 

after this busy weekend !

It was HOT

and on Saturday we (Man and me) 

went to the sheepfold in Ermelo

where we were meeting 

six women of the last felting-exchange group 

(ha : a very appropriate meeting place)

It was so hot this last week

that the sheep were kept inside the sheepfold 

in stead of going on the moors !!!

(luckily they were without their thick coat,

except of course the lambs !)

In the shade of a lovely big oak tree

we had coffee and a pot luck lunch !

We could admire all the work that was made during the year

and then took it home again with us

after deciding it had been FUN :

so there will be another felting-exchange !

*

Later that day daughter and I made the last preparations

for the next day on the MAF-festival market

Last stitches on some items for me

and daughter made a lovely "lettuce" jacket

for the little white felted bunny :

the prize for the lottery for the benefit of the 

"Nationaal bossenfonds"

(forest fund)

(he will soon go to little Tessa, who guessed correctly

how many felted balls were in the jar !)

So, after a short (HOT) night we went to Zeewolde ...

we built our tent

and attended the opening with the other stallholders and staff

Then we started with our first mini workshop :

felting a small cuff ...

... and then stitching it with lots of beads and sequins !

(hmmmmm : lucky to be in the shade of the tent !!!)

All went well

and everybody was happy
until at five o'clock .....

the foretold thunderstorm came nearer !

Lots of people (and some stallholders) had already disappeared 

but it seemed the real storm would pass by at some distance ...

It did,

but not the wind !

The wind got hold of  our tent

and it was blown down, while we were grasping it ...

pfffft : our strong neighbour stallholder rescued us !

Within seven minutes it was all over :

the wind had disappeared and the sun came back 

Not one thing damaged of our goodies

(and just some rings torn off the tent)

so all ended well

;-)

And it all ended with a fire and a celebration

for Mother Earth

What a wonderful day

*

Today there were some other artists of our family busy

the litle one "discovered" painting 

(with a bucket of water and a brush)

though he rather wanted to paint like his big sister ...

She showed us earlier this zentangle in her sketchbook

and her painting ended up like this !

So the little one did some more paiting on the paving slabs

(and was happy with it)

hot in July

While summer solstice was a kind of drizzly day,

at the end of June and now in July

the summer is in full swing :

it's HOT !

We keep the doors and windows closed

to keep the heat out as much as possible

only to open them up very late in the evening.

Last night it stayed well over 25 degrees

...

Lots of time to make some new items

for the MAF-Festival (and market)

this Sunday :

a "dance" waistband 

(leastwise : there are tiny bells sewn onto it,

so it jingles as you move)

(MAF : Mother Earth Family festival)

It was so much fun to look for bright and "bling" goodies

in my vast stash.

But some of the ribbon (also with the pompons) I bought

last week on the Rotterdam weekly market.

I lóve those tiny pompons

except :

I  DON'T like it that my thread

catches time and again behind them !!!

I just need to sew on the bands to tie it.

A detailed peek.

And here is another one in blue

That little "baby" ...  is just a matching cuff

Another detail.

Of course the cuff has a little bell too !

And yet another, in black and white.

It was hard to find some good black-and-white flowers

(I didn't have a big felted one)

so I took this gorgeous big silk peony and bow

as a bright pink accent.

I sat in the garden just now,
sewing on the black and white one in the last daylight,
listening to the quiet, lazy songs of several blackbirds
singing their latest tunes
.... mmmmmm
warm summer nights !