PINK RESULT (and raffle)

Hi everyone
(drum roll)

the final result off my PINK  RIBBON  Challenge 2025

€ 875,-

(there are still two beauties left
but they will be sold another day, and it always takes a bit of time
and energy before all the last (extra) bits are made and sent)

Yeeeaaahhh !

I know I myself worked hard for this result,
but I wouldn't have reached this
without the help of all my wonderful customers
who donated so generously !

(a heart, harvest of our golden Ginkgo tree)

A very  BIG  THANK  YOU  to

JOLAN, ELKE, ALLISON,

MARTINA, NANNA,

JOKE, ANNE JULIA, MORAG,

NAYLSA, BIANCA,

MADELON, JUDITH,

JACCO, TWINK, FEMKE,

LARISA, KORINA, DAWN,

SUSANNE, JULIA,

MIRANDA, JOLANDA

(22 names because more than one
snapped up two or even more jewels !)

THANK  YOU
each and everyone of you
that supported me to
achieve this great result !

*

And the last bit for now :
out of 43 people the raffle chose

ANGELA
(from Germany)

for the 15 years anniversary giveaway piece !

wild marathon

I was in time !
I know it's now already July
but two days before the end of the challenge
I finished it :
Yara's  BIBABO Wild Marathon.

June was a special month (again)
because there was not only a letter
"V"
but it had to be something of the floral part of life :
a flower, a tree, lichen or even a fungus !
And, like always,
executed in any creative way you come up with !
(though I love to make something with wet felting)

Venusschoentje
(Lady's slipper, Cypripedium calceolus)

Orchids are very rare in temperate regions
and ask specific circumstances to grow.
I remember that I saw one of these flowers as a child
on holiday in the Alps, it was stunning.
And I always remembered !!!

It took some serious thinking how to make it.

The way we made stems in a "VKG" workshop by Saar Snoek
was just what I needed for this.
I also used some pre-felt for the dark leaves

It's always fun, when everything comes together just fine !

This was "June"
on to number three for July
. . . . .

24 - 4 - '24 : un-perfect 10 grams

Today I joined a small fun felting group :
the "un-perfect  10 grams" group

I had seen some of their work already
and thought that it would be nice to join them . . .
and just then, I was invited to take part !

Every now and then they set each other a challenge
using ONLY 10 grams of wool
What kind of wool or what colour
is up to one's own personal choice.
This time there were two more instructions :
- use a resist triangle no bigger than A4
- use NO SOAP at all when felting 
?????
Hmmmm, some will raise their eyebrows
felting ? and not using any soap ? is that possible ?

Well I know one thing for sure
on the steppes of Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan (?)
nomadic people make big rugs with lots of wool,
water and indeed : no soap at all !!!
(and they roll it behind a horse for some time as well, haha)

That's the amount of wool allowed
About 5.50 grams was red, the rest orange and pink in equal bits.

One side laid with half the red on the edges and pink in the center
turned and ready for the layers on side two.
One thing that really struck me was
the difficulty getting the wool WET through and through !!!
Normally just a tiny bit of soap does the trick very easily.

Gently rubbing with pressure and the tiniest of movement
under a sheet of bubble wrap
did the trick much easier than thought !

I removed the resist through a tiny slit
and closed this with my normal linen thread
Than more rolling (in cloth) and shaping
and soon after that it was done !

My finished piece
(I'll probably add some stitching when dry !)

The fun part was that tonight I met the other group members
in a special ZOOM meeting
where we told how things went,
good tips and some frustrations and showed the finished goodies.
Such different end products !!!

Thanks ladies
it was fun meeting you all and a fun challenge too !
On to the next meeting, in June !

the letter "N"

 This letter was the one in July for an animal one had to make for the
#bibabowildmarathon

Again a challenge for Yaroslava Troynich

 I chose the  NUDIBRANCH

Well, let me be completely honest :

I  DON'T  like slugs
in my garden,
but these ones live in the sea !

But when you have to pick one (living) animal 
that starts with a certain letter
then the choice is limited !  (and it must be executable)

Nudibranch means literally "naked gill"

Sea slugs (there are more than three thousand known species !)
don't have gills, like fish, but they breath
through the bulges and tentacles on their back.

They have tiny eyes on their backs too

but they get around mainly by feel and smell.
They pick up chemical clues from the water about
food, other nudibranchs or predators.

Many nudibranchs have the most fantastic shapes and colours,

to warn off that they might not be safe to eaten.
 

I started with a piece of old (failed) bag

that I roughed up with a cat brush,

a thin body and a thin strip and many "tentacles"

Because the blue (old) piece was thick

and already felted it didn't shrink very much.

A fun project !

a little experiment

On this last day of  May
I just had just enough time
for a little experiment
for Yaroslava's challenge :
the letter for this month for the
#bibabowildmarathon
is the "F"
but it also had to be a plant (or a mushroom)
Now that was an extra difficulty !
I had some flower in mind
but I decided in the end for the
FOLIOSE  LICHEN

"Lichen"
is a complex partnership,
a stable symbiotic association between a fungus and an alga.
Nature designs clever things !

On our roof tiles there are many
and in different colours too.
I chose a greenish one.

It turned out quite well
(and : on time to post in the group !)

(Tomorrow the second cataract op,
so more of Stitch Club later)

mending

 
I found some little paper bags with old used postage stamps,
unfortunately there were no more landscapes
but I might give it a go with some animal stamps
. . . . .
But there was something else
I could do this last week :
another Stitch Challenge on FB
by Textile Artists.org
(like the ones we had last year's spring)
This time by my favorite Merill Comeau.
"text in fabric"

I chose the word "mending"
something that isn't done very often
since the "throwaway society"
is more common than not.

I get a lot of little repairs from daughter and the kids
(two trousers waiting for me right now)
I love it when things are functional again
with just some fabric, thread and a little effort !

all kinds of small scraps
in not too bright colours.

and a variety of matching threads
(after basting everything down)

finished !

Here some detailed pictures
to show the details of the different ways
I stitched the letters down.

That was really FUN
. . .
and now on to doing the "real thing"
which has to be less visible !

hungry bunnies

I was afraid that the lovely Textile Artist.org Stitch Challenge

had come to an end last week

.....

But NO :

along came Anne Kelly !

I like the way she works and refers to folk art.

She uses old textiles

and all kinds of fragments, ribbons and lace

and then machine stitches over it all.

The folk art theme was a starting point here.

I made a design

but didn't necessarily want a vase in the center of it ...

That made me think of one of the stamps I made

(some years ago)

the one in the middle of row three,

the bunnies.

Hmmm ... what about bunnies, eating a carrot ???

Then I needed some background

and flowery fabrics

Lots and lots of snippets pinned to the background

Machine stitching and so many pins

isn't a good match ...

So I thought of something I learned a long time ago :

cover it all with a piece of tulle

and then stitch over it all !

And that's what I did.

I took dark pink tulle, but you can take

any colour you like, even black works well

The colour of the tulle kind of "fuses"

all the colours together.

But you can cut away the tulle in some places

to restore the brightness of the original colour.

After the machine stitching was done

I couched some ribbon, sewed some buttons

and made seed stitches

(criss-cross running stitches)

on the background.

"Hungry bunnies" 

 Detail with the tulle, machine and hand stitching

Thanks Anne Kelly,

it was fun !

more learning

YES

more stitching again !

This week in the TextileArtist.org group
it was Emily Jo Gibbs' turn
to show a bit how she works her magic.
She makes the most delicate portraits and still life pieces
with a hazy appearance because of
the silk organza she uses.
(check out her website!)

I know and love her work for quite some time
so I was delighted with this opportunity.

She showed how to make a "simple" piece
using a found twig and its shadow
.....

Finding an interesting twig shouldn't be a problem
in my garden and I found one
(even a flowering one)
but then :
daughter brought a beautiful hanging basket
with a fuchsia !!!

Change of plans for me !

"dancing"

Great way to make a sketch with a telephone nearby.


Finding the right fabric
is never a problem in my "home-shop" stash

nor was tracing the sketch (against the window)
to make the patterns

Cutting them however

was a fiddly business !!!
(f.y.i. the pattern was on A5 !)

After all the pieces were pinned then tacked in place

I selected my threads
and could the stitching start.

Great use of the telephone,

to see every detail in form and colour !

*

Today I finished the last stitches :
pistil and stamens
and decided
that it looked better when the flowers was lying down
(and not standing like a little ballerina)

A wonderful lesson

THANKS Emily !

keeping an eye ...

Sue Stone is an English textile artist

who makes stitched portraits.

Her sons made a special Textile Art site

where they give a stage to their mum

and other textile artists from all over the world.

In these strange times they initiated on FB

a "stitch challenge"

with every week another artist

to teach a tiny online workshop

about their own way with textiles,

starting with Sue Stone of course.

Next was Cas Holmes

and on April 6 Emily Tull

who explained how tho stitch an eye.

I was still busy stitching the piece for my friend

so I saw that video later in the week

....

and it very much appealed to me ! 

One piece finished ... ready to start something new !

For one I start with the end result

But it all started with

1. a photo

(hmmmmm ... hate making selfies : they look bad

and strangely askew most of the time)

2. a sketch (with pencil)

3. tracing the drawing in pen

and 4. the drawing (again in pen) on cloth
(an piece of linen from old trousers)

Hmmmm four "me's"

So not one eye
but both eyes ánd glasses

A collection of blues and grays and skin colours

Five slightly different  reds for my glasses

Starting the second eye.
I had some times five needles in my work
each with a different strand (or two)
embroidery floss



While working on this there were two more challenges :
by Richard McVetis and Emily Jo Gibbs

(so more to stitch !)

yippee ....!

It wasn't even as much work 

as I thought it would be

.....

The walls were stitched "invisibly"

(with the wire integrated in the seam)

A safety pin to hold the sides together while stitching.

(first stitching in bright sunlight,

half an hour later all was gray with splashing rain)

When the three walls were stitched together

I could add the last separate leaves

to hide the wires.

And here it is :

the Caterpillar House

another wall

And when caterpillars eat lots and lots

(and drive so many a gardener crazy)

they become a beautiful

butterfly

I'm very happy with the result for Sara's House Challenge !