a textile day !

Yesterday daughter and I visited the
"Textiel Festival"
in Amersfoort.



It was the last day of four days stuffed to the brim :
with the presence of all the major textile associations,
workshops, lectures, the results of a competition,
exhibitions through the (lovely old) city,
an Arts & Crafts market and
about 800 "hoops" ("Rondje Textiel")
filled with any textile technique
you can think of !!!

It was a sunny and (too) warm day
so we picked the things we liked most to visit.
I'm sorry to say we just missed "The Red Dress"
because we had to wait too long for a time-slot
but we're happy to have seen the "Colorminds"
and the three "LAK" ladies.
(and of course we came home with some goodies !)

It was a wonderful day !!!
A big THANK  YOU  to the organisation
and all the volunteers who made this possible !

a new bird, dogs and a guest

I've made a lot of birds
since the first little robin
after the workshop of Mandy Pattullo in Stitch Club.
And then along came Ann Smith of Persimmon Stdio Art
(during the fun week of "Making ZEN")
she had this mini workshop making a zipper pouch
with a blackbird on it.
No pouch for me, but the blackbird was a good idea
for the 20 x 20 cm background
that was lying around for a while, with nothing on it.

I loved Ann's idea of nót only using black.

I made a template for a blackbird,
found some snippets to add and the stitching fun could begin !

After the bird was attached I stitched the background
(after adding a bit of my "magic thread")

This time I attached the piece to a canvas
that I painted on the edges with matching colours

Painting the edges of a canvas
was something I also did earlier this week for daughter's work.
She made some fabulous pieces for
the handfasting ceremony of some friends.

She made the little dog portraits the way Susie Vickery taught us in SC !

Don't have to tell you that these presents were a SUCCESS !!!

And while daughter and kids were away to the handfasting party
WE
had a sweet guest to look after for those few days !

This beautiful boy isn't what you would call a daredevil
so a chair under the table was the preferred spot,
but that lasted only the first day.

He's home again now
(but he can come gladly some other time !) 

raffle . . . and parties !

Oh my, it took a while
for my leap day raffle to be completed
but now I have a winner !

ANNELIESE

*
Preparations for a big surprise party,
making a textile (3D) robin for another surprise and
putting together a mobile with lots of fun items
especially made by family and friends
for a 50 - birthday "girl"
our dear daughter !
(that's what robs you of a lot of time and energy
but it was totally worth it !!!)

Not really going back to "normal" yet :
last weekend another party
the coming weekend Easter at granddaughter's
and in a fortnight my own birthday party !!!

Hmmm, enough partying for some time after thát
and back to stitching and felting !!!

happy New Year ! (1 - 1 - '24)

Yesterday,
just in time, I finished the challenge
for Yara's Bibabo wild marathon

The letter was the "X" for December
a pretty tough one !
The creative challenge is that you make
a real living animal that starts with the chosen letter.
I waited for a long time
also because there was lots that needed doing
but in the end I checked the web page of the game.
there Yara always gives suggestions of the possibilities>
When I saw the "Xantus' Hummingbird" on her list
I knew definitely what to make !
(see the my insta-page for some extra information)
After looking at lots of pictures I made a start
with the slightly altered pattern we normally use for finger puppets.

So meet Xerxes !

Daughter's first bigger tattoo is a hummingbird !

So today I went to wish her a happy New Year at her home
(instead of the other way round : because of her broken ankle !)
and brought her the little birdie 
as a good start !

new start

With the help of daughter
I had a lovely market in BAARN :
beautiful weather,
lovely surroundings,
nice chats and lots of compliments
and customers.

I hope everyone enjoys their little artwork
for a loooong time,

THANK  YOU !

*
These last few weeks I skipped a few
of the Stitch Club workshops
because the felting and stitching for the markets
took up all my time.
But now it is time for
a new start

The workshop of  Katherine Diuguid
is the first again for me
(the others that I skipped will probably follow later)
Katherine gave us a kind of "watercolour" mixing design.
Having two different coloured strands of floss in the needle
is something I use often,
but now it is a more structured exercise.

The colour in the center

is mixed with the ones around it
and that gives a wonderful result !

halfway there !

February over

Whether "winter" is also over,
we have yet to see
. . . . .


The tiny bit of icing sugar this morning
can hardly be called SNOW !
(and we had LOTS of sunshine later)

Snow and ice is more for these "critters"

Another FUN workshop online by Yaroslava Troynich
to make these cute seals

*
And, though we feed the birds
to keep them alive through the cold season,
when someone flies (flees) the wrong way
the windows prove to be a deadly barrier !

a male finch

*

Last Sunday I kind of celebrated 25 years survival breast cancer !
And daughter brought today some delicious pastries
(from Rotterdam)  to celebrate it extra !

ART MARKET

We will have a wonderful start for September :

ART MARKET

in Baarn
(about 40 artists)

This time daughter accompanies me to help !
It is a first time over there too
and I hope it will be as much fun as the market in Zeist was.

I'm still busy felting right now :
all but one of the little belt pouches are sold
so I hope to take two new ones with me.

A turquoise one
again with a "stone" for closure.

Not quite finished yet :

the belt is still in the making.

If you live somewhere in the neighbourhood
it would be fun if you visit and we can have a chat !

I hope to see you there !

:-)

a sunny (birth) day

Bright sunshine
is not always a birthday present for me
but this year it was !!!

This was how the day began !

(tiny Ginkgo leaves are just starting to emerge !)

Family and a dear friend came for coffee
and stayed for lunch.
Daughter and grandchildren
came over too with sooo many lovely presents !

And imagine this :
I used to make almost all the cloths
when daughter was little . . .
and now she makes a FUN jacket for me !!!


It's not finished yet :
a lot of quilting and also stitching still to do
but I LOVE it already !!!

So
a perfect birthday !