fooling Easter ?

Easter on the first of April,

funny  ...

though we're a LOT happier than a year ago

(when we spent the day in hospital !

happy to have left thát behind us ...)

A gray day today

and not very warm too !

Not at all what you expect on Easter.

So why not make our own nice day :

Spring flowers from daughter

a bunch of (good old) Easter bunnies

and one of my gouache paintings that I've been making

the last three months.

A happy weekend to you all out there !

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)

for another baby

Although the machine stitching was awful on the velvet tricot,

I persevered

and made another bunny,

for another baby.

In fact it's for the new born niece of the first baby

(though she isn't exactly a baby any more

because it took me soooo long to make the present)

Tomorrow both bunnies will be on their way in the mail.

Hmmmm : a bit of a puzzle ..... inside out ..... halfway there .....

So it's a flat bunny, with a head (a tiny rattle inside) ,

some space for your finger to wiggle the head,

a little bunny tail,

and some funny loops to hold onto.

(but, as I see it now : it's quite possible it is the Easter Bunny ....)

something for a baby

Still need to work on my secrets

But it's not going very fast.

Need to think ... and re-think ... and try out something,

(so why not make a real go for that try-out)

.....

that's what I did today.

I started to work with some "nickie" velvet tricot

(don't know if that's the right word for it ...)

It is nice and soft and rich in colour

and :

absolutely awful to stitch on the machine

it rolls up at the sides,

it shifts

it stretches

(when you don't want it to roll up, shift or stretch ...)

.....

I used it before ... and also made some small things.

Today again, I really got a lot more respect for all those tiny Chinese fingers

that are making lovely little dolls out of this material

(for ridiculous little money)

This little fellow I made a lóóóóóng time ago

so I didn't remember thát well how awful the stitching was.

I could not find the pattern so I had to measure him up.

The head with the ears (smaller inside) was a bit tricky

because I had to make a pattern myself

but it turned out quite good.

Then, after dinner, some eyes, a nose, mouth and whiskers

and the bunny looked friendly back at me

.....

and finished !
(not an impressive "production" for the better part of a day)

Ready to send him/her off.