18 - 3 - 18

(ahhhh ... the previous "18" went by unnoticed ...)

Time
...
They say,

sometimes time stands still and sometimes time flies.

Of course that's not true :

it depends on our own perception

of what we are doing

that makes time fly or stand still ...

Today we had a special birthday dinner

for our daughter :

she had her 44th birthday yesterday !

(that's why I said time flies :

I remember her small self on the Sunday she was born so well !!!)

Pasta di mamma

Homemade pasta, broccoli, baked tomatoes, baked salmon,

avocado, homemade pesto, tomato sauce, a green salad

and "tarte tatin" for dessert !

And like the last two months

there is the on-going story of paint

Friends !

summer ???

Is it really summer ?

At this moment there is so much rain falling in big showers

that it looks more like autumn !

We hope for some dryer weather

from now on ...

Sure daughter does hope so :

she wants to go to a "castlefest" party in Lisse.

She needed some special additions to her clothes

and I helped her a bit.

This bodice was made out of leather

and I hammered the eyelets in.

From a leftover piece she made a cuff

The hare has to be made permanent with her burning tool

I did some felting today

(noooo,  I won't show that because it will be a gift)

and since daughter was having diner here

I made the special recipe

"Kip in de Hoed"

(Chicken in the Hat)

For those who don't understand Dutch :

puff pastry, chickenbreast, hot currypowder

(uhhhm ... I don't like instant sauce from a package !)

pitted cherries, 6 ginger balls, 1 garlic clove

(and we always put in some fried onion and a zucchinni !)

and some crème fraîche.

Line a springform tin with the puff pastry and

before you put the fried mixture with all ingredients in,

add some spoons of breadcrumbs first at the bottom.

Add a cover of puff pastry and then a good half hour

in the oven

...

YUMMY !!!!!

Bon appetit !

valentine ... and a riddle

Daughter has been here yesterday and today

to do some serious felting.

When you are busy like that

it is always a treat to have dinner together.

After the hat that she wanted to make

was well on its way

we cooked together.

The desert was made of the leftover dough
of the pie

Beet root pie with lots of goat cheese

(and some other vegetables I had in the refrigerator)

The last layer of the hat

Still not completely dry, but ready for the photo

And because felting is such fun

I started something of my own in the kitchen.

Hmmmm 

what would that be 

.......

Any  ideas ?

lovely red again

Today I received

a new red felted piece

of our monthly felting-exchange.

It is such a delight to get an envelope 

of which you know it has some 

lovely surprise inside !

(even the envelope itself looked good)

It's great to see how everyone 

get their inspiration from just the words

"something in red"

Thanks Anneke, I love it !

I'm quite late with my own felted piece

but the start is there

Lots more to be done !!!

*

These past few weeks I was busy for daughter

She needed a special leather vest

(she's starting with a training for "fire"woman

for a sweat lodge and needs some special clothing for that)

She had a wonderful piece of leather for it

and we managed to create this.

It still needs some thought how to make a good closure on the back.

She will also make a burned drawing on it.

Then there was her favourite jeans that had a near tear

on her bum and knee, so .....

mom ... please ...... ?

So I found some remnants of supple printed jeans fabric

and quilted trough both fabrics

*

Then we had a birthday boy

who needed something sweet for his classmates

(...... halfway the "minecraft blocks" ......)

but we had a LOT of help from our junior cook !!!

*

And because the rabbit piece is nearly finished

it was time to make a new start on another cat piece

it will be a  night  cat

;-)

block ?

We probably all know that there's something

that's called a "writer's-block"

...

But, could there also be a 

"stitcher's block" 

???

Well I think there might be such a thing !

I have this to-do list

with several felting and stitching items on it :

things I promised to do

things I planned to do 

things I need to finish

(before September rushed by)

and all the time  ..... nothing happened !

Not that I did nothing at all

in fact I did a lot of fun things :

I read books

I knitted 

(and knitted, and knitted, and knitted)

(very thin yarn, bat wing sleeves, 3mm needles)

I visited a friend

but ..... nothing from my list !!!

Tonight,

after making a yummy dinner with home-made pasta

grilled vegetables, home-made pesto and salmon

I all of a sudden made a start with one of my stitching projects 

This a woven base for something I promised to do for someone

I think I'm in the mood again

yeaaaah !

a big thank you

Time and again it happens :

a pleasant surprise is coming through the mailbox.

This time I got some advance notice

but I had completely forgotten about it

.....

In the envelope was a brown paper bag

and inside that :

the promised "scraps"

Well ..... yeah

"scraps"

but placed on the floor the patch grew bigger and bigger

multicoloured beauties on end

(if I had laid them out without overlap it would have been a square metre !)

Even some lovely glittering thread !

Thank you SUS !!!!

(a warm coloured gift, from a warm friend, living in a cold country)

*

All that gave me spirit enough to draw

a comfort mandala
for a very sad family

(of which I'll only show a small piece)

.....

Even Man has started with his mandalas again

 But he has other talents too,

like the homemade sausage rolls

for granddaughter's postponed birthday party last Saturday

Mmmmmmmmmm

they were goooood, not a single one left

needle and fork

Although I did a lot of other things

ánd I didn't sign up for Jude's "Magic Cloth" series ...

needle and thread have started itching again

( not literally ofcourse )

Add to that the wonderful scraps from Connie ...

I just started with some pieces and let it grow on it's own

.....

an idea is already forming in my mind to where it may lead

( about 28 x 28 cm  now ... )

*

Our wonderful daughter, a great cook,

was asking, when I spoke to her on the phone yesterday :

"shall I cook dinner for you tomorrow ?"

Well, ofcourse we said :

"Yes !!!"

So for me it was no cooking dinner tonight,

just eating and enjoying it !

( "Chicken under the hat"

pie with aubergine (eggplant), courgette (zucchini), chicken (but we had it

with veggie-replacement), ginger, spices and ....cherries ! )

summer solstice

The longest day :

summer is here

though you would not have said that the last few days when

torrential rains came down and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

But this afternoon : there he was

and the garden looked happy and green

( It is so funny when you realize that on the opposite side of the globe

it it the shortest day !

I saw that at T's place : cold days and mushrooms

and it's getting dark around four in the afternoon ! )
*
We ate a warm and colourful dinner :
a recipe I learned a long time ago from a friend's brother
who was an air steward and brought it home from Persia.

First a lot of crying cutting unions ...

... in the pan with minced meat (or a vegatarian replacement for that)

a full tea spoon of spicy curry powder and tomato purée and some water

let it stew for ten minutes

then add chunky pieces of apple and five minutes after that

add the sliced banana :

a delicious meal with lots of  sun  in it !

I think I take a little blogbreak

doing some other necessary things for a while ...

see you later

about cooking ... why not

After falling seriously ill and nasty treatment

now thirteen years ago

I switched to being (almost) a vegatarian

and subcribed to a weekly bag of organically grown fruit and vegetables.

(I love "Odin" on his eight legged horse !!!)

You never know what will be in it

(unless you look on the internet, which I hardly ever do)

but I learned to live with that

and even appreciate it!

... get inspired by what you have ...

(not a bad idea I think)

Today I made pie, as I often do

... dough from a tin (sorry)

preparing the filling ...

miwing it all together ...

adding some tomatoes on top for colour ...

and after 33 minutes in the oven ...

(I love funny numbers ... 30 or 35 is okay too)

DINNER IS SERVED !

*

(Hmmm , I  haven't finished the "caterpillar quilt" yet:

still some problems to be solved!)

..........