a (hot but) FABULOUS day

Today I went with a dear friend of mine

to the Paper Biennial 2016

in the Rijswijk Museum.

In fact it was a birthday present

a bit overdue !

(for me it was first the usual bike - boat - bike to the train station in Rotterdam,

then together to Rijswijk by train and a bus to the museum)

We had coffee and pie in the lovely museum garden.

There was a film with interviews with some of the paper artists first

and then we started with the exhibition.

It's amazing what artworks people can make out of paper !
(just click on the pictures to see them bigger)

Some were made especially for the exhibition in this museum !

(ahhhhh ... still have to find all the names)

In the museum shop there was something beautiful

I really couldn't resist ...

this amazing book

with LOTS of cutout pages

by 

Rebecca Dautremer

It was such a wonderful day !!!
Thanks Maartje !

mending a hole

 

There was a hole in a brand new trouser

of little grandson

(someone probably snipped off a thread

and snipped into the fabric as well)

 

Although daughter is a good seamstress herself ...

these kind of things always end up on my plate

 

Then

I had an idea !

The little one likes books,

now he knows there is always someone who will read aloud, and

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

is his favorite of late :

he loves to poke his tiny fingers through all the holes

 

First some interface on the inside

 

my green embroidery floss and a cup of tea

and a sharp needle

.....

 

and this is what I ended up with !

 

(so sorry the little one can't see the caterpillar on his bum ...

or ... I might make the butterfly,

if he gets a hole on his knee)

?

 



40 !

 

These last weeks I've been busy,

but nothing of that ever appeared here

...

because it was a secret !

 

Today daughter celebrates a special birthday :

 

*  40  *

 

Oh my ... 

yes, that means :

 I've grown forty years older as well,

since that sunny Spring day she was born !

No, the time didn't pass in the blink of an eye,

we've had lots of wonderful times together

 

(and some not so wonderful, but that's life)

 

and she "gave us" also three wonderful grandchildren.

 

These wet (!) felted cats were one of her presents today

They are look-alikes of her own two Birma cats

(that stay at our house at the moment)

 

 

 

 

I made them with a PDF tutorial

I bought from my German blogging-friend Gabi

her felted animals are awesome !!!

 

 

But there was another present.

(I did this before, for two friends : and it was always a big succes !)

 

I had a little heart-shaped book

and asked a lot of family and friends to write / draw

something for her in it.

 

The book started its journey

but very soon I realized it wouldn't be finished in time,

if it was really sent to every person on the list.

...

So I started sending out double pages

to people who lived far away,

and asked them to return the finished page to me,

that helped a lot !

Ha, it was so special to recieve an envelope and open it !

 

But you can't imagine how many people thought

they weren't "creative"  enough ...

but let me tell you :

all the pages were special !!!

 

Then ...

the little book started to loose pages like leaves in autumn

GRRRRRRRRRRR

 

I finally solved the problem by buying a good sketch book

from my art supplies shop

and swithched the pages into that ... saved

pffffffffft !

 

 

 

 

 

 

A random selection of the pages

(so don't believe it when people say they're not creative)

 

Instead of drawing  I did some (thin) stitching

(which I had to hide when daughter payed us

an unexpected visit)

 

The fun part (for me) is

that there are bits and pieces of far-away blogging friends in it

(thank you Jude, Eva, Sus and Heike)

 

It was really a special gift !

I want to deeply thank all those people who participated

to make it a succes

 

!



felting-exchange and ... the BOOK

It has been a busy month in certain ways

(not always concerning textiles)

But when you have lots of things you have to give your attention to,

other things remain undone :

like : my felt-exchange piece for this month

(it will be the first thing I do

after my boro jacket is finished)

I, on the other hand, recieved my felted "sunny" piece !

Thank you Jolan !!!

(a very appropriate photo was there to accompany it!)

*

On Friday we brought my quilt to Gouda

(in the rain, so no sight-seeing)

and I could take a look into the new book !

Then the next day a packet came,

there it was :

the BOOK 

 a wonderful cover with work of Willy Doreleijers

(a peek inside  ...  ;-) ...)

Ha, the next "stop" is May 1 in Arti Legi 

(Markt 27,  Gouda)

the most wonderful building 

for all this fine work !

(mmmmmmm, I'm very proud indeed)