photo-start

Yes, why not a photo-start
instead of a photo-finish ???
Well, here the photo was the inspiration,
it was the beginning of another wonderful STITCH CLUB workshop by
Sue Stone

I think it was Sue's fourth workshop already,
but she never stops to amaze me
with her thorough way of teaching !
She made three series of little works and added
plenty of ideas and "what-if's" !

Finding a suitable photo was my first step
but when I found one, all else followed suite :
our granddaughter at 4 showing her swimming goggles
(she will be 22 very soon !)

The first work in just stitch

The result after many many stitches

Then came the next piece with a lot of appliqué.

Ohhhhh . . . a puzzle of many different pieces of fabric

All the puzzle pieces in place and ready to stitch

Number two finished

The last one was trial and error :
wrong kind of fabric at first !!!

better choice for after unpicking the first try !

And number three finished

The very last step will be to frame them,
probably separately.
Each on measures about 16 x 17 cm.

solstice and more

 The   l o n g e s t   day already in this year,
where did the first half go ?
At least we had SUMMER for the last two weeks !
Some heavy shower yesterday :
much needed in the garden
(and the rest of nature !!!)
I didn't make any special solstice stitching this time
hmmmm, maybe later ?

Yesterday our youngest grandson
came "around the back" with a friend from school

(just before the big shower came )

The STITCH CLUB "white-work" workshop
wasn't really for me :
because of the colour (or rather lack of it !)
and the straight lines, but I tried in the same curtain fabric
with lots of fun "threads" . . .

I liked making texture with the stuff to wrap presents !

For this month's challenge for the
#bibabowildmarathon 
the letter "O" came out of the raffle !
There were many many animals to choose from :

Otter, Ocelot, Okapi, Octopus, Ostrich, Orangutan,
and also Ooievaar and Olifant (in Dutch !)
But I chose :
ORYX

a beautiful antelope from the dry parts of east Africa.
( endangered . . . like so MANY other animals )

I made a finger puppet so I had to work small.

Making the pattern of the colours wasn't easy !

Meet Oliver the Oryx !

It was all wet felted in one piece,
just the horns, which can be more than a meter in real life,
were separately and attached in the end

Another fun project completed !

Easter Sunday (post 1111)

Months are flowing into each other
with all kinds of appointments that keep us busy.
But luckily there is also time
for stitching and painting
and 
family !
No matter how big the grandchildren grow,
looking for Easter eggs in the garden is always FUN !
So today they hunted for eggs
(hmmm, one is still somewhere hidden in the green !)
and later had a yummy dinner.

Yesterday I finished my first gouache painting
to replace the ones I sold last year on the art market.

I have three more sketches ready
for a few more
(but I surely won't finish them all before May 13,
perhaps only one !)

(detail)

day 10

Yesterday, so on Sunday,
we had a beautiful full moon
Today is Monday
. . .
or should I rather say :

Moonday  ?

On Mondays we usually have
daughter and kid(s) coming over for dinner.
The youngest comes right after school is finished.
And today he helped me out
making the thin cord for today's pendant
(from a very young age
he also LOVED to help me roll my felt !)

My PINK RIBBON Textile Jewel
for day  10 :

a two sided wet felted pendant on a silk textile bead
and a mother-of-pearl disc,
stitched with seed beads, cotton and silk om one side,
and little textile pieces incorporated in the felt at the other side.
(8 x 5 cm,   3.15 x 2")

For a donation
of (at least)

  € 15  

SOLD !

this wonderful Full Moon can be yours
Or you could make it a present for someone dear !
You just need to send me an email at
  fiberrainbow@gmail.com  
or tell me that you want it in the comments below
(though you can surely use the "comments"
in the normal way too !!!)
Paypal is possible and easy !

ALL the money will go to PINK RIBBON !

"FULL  MOON"

I'm totally out of wax cord,
so the little helping hands were much appreciated
so that's why he could show today's Jewel !

Hope to see you tomorrow
for a brand new Textile Jewel for Pink Ribbon !

last day of Mai . . .

Though it is cold
(for Mai)
we had such a splendid week :
the Harry Potter party
for out youngest grandson (10)

He, and his friends, will surely remember
this for ever and ever !

Daughter did a fantastic job organizing it all.

It was a kind of scavenger hunt
with stops at our and a friend's house

We had a lot to prepare beforehand,
and I could help her out to make some of the items needed.
We made wands.

(and a box that they would fit in)



A sign to go on the door.

And of course there had to be a Sorting Hat !!!

Though not all the preparations were successful :
like the test to make "slime", in MY kitchen (!)
(some awful gooey stuff children love to play with)


However, later at home with the right ingredients,
she made a good recipe for it.

There were also lots of things to try out potions !

On the big day we were lucky to have no rain
and eight children were eager to start !
After a bit of a walk and questions to answer
they arrived here to receive their wands !

From here they went to a friends house
to be "sorted" into their Houses.
They finally arrived at "Hogwarts"
to play some Quidditch,
made some frightful "Azkeban" videos,

make potions and that fun gooey stuff . . .
and of course !

And enjoyed
THE  BEST  PARTY  EVER !

one leaving the nest . . .

The eldest of our grandchildren
is leaving the nest !
(ohhhh I remember that day when daughter
went to live on her own in the big city !)

On the evening of my birthday
she went to Leiden with her friend
to view an apartment . . .
That is a difficult job in Holland :
there is a serious shortage of affordable housing !

It must have been a really lucky day,
because later she called that they had it !!!

That asked for something special :
I followed the lead of my dear friend Hazel
and stitched a tiny house for them
that I gave on Easter Monday.

First dreaming of a house
and now on cloud 9 that they found one !!!

They got the key on
22 - 4 - '22
We wish them happy times there !

(Thanks Hazel !)

Of course there were EGGS on that day too
(and it doesn't matter how old you are !)

;-)

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 !

day 22

Last night and today we had a guest child
which is always fun.
Though I didn't have much time
because of the stitching,
Granddad is always a good partner for games
(and soaking a bit in the bath tub
is fun as well !)

Sometimes, the stitching takes much more time than you imagine
especially when you're not happy with the first result
so unpicking and stitching anew
is necessary.

Here is my  PINK  RIBBON  Textile Jewel for day 22 :

a wet felted hollow brooch,
stitched with cotton and silver thread,
some sequins and beads
(5.5 cm     2.2")

For a donation of
(at least)

 € 15 

SOLD  !

this distinguished gray jewel can be yours
to adorn your garment
or it makes a lovely present for someone dear !
You just need to send me an email at
  fiberrainbow@gmail.com  
(or tell me in the comments below this post)
and we'll arrange the next steps.
(PayPal is possible and easy)

ALL the donated money goes to Pink Ribbon !

 "ELEGANCE" 

And guess what ???

Tomorrow I have a new Textile Jewel
for you !
Come and have a look !

August ??

 Oh my
time is rushing by more quickly
than you think it does
. . . . .
Not true of course when you think back of all the fun
(or sad) things that have indeed happened.
We've had enough of both lately
but I will limit myself to the fun things.

There were of course more Stitch Club workshops :
another one of Sue Stone,
Debbie Smyth
Maria Thomas,
and now Jean Draper.

For Sue it was :
tell a story, take a person and background
and add some text.
But since I'm still slowly stitching on my "Joetta Maue portrait"
of our youngest grandson, I took and animal instead of a person,
the fox

 And I LOVE that clever text
where ALL the letters of the alphabet are
in one English sentence.

Some pieces of vintage fabric are really soft to stitch on
and the Inktense pencils did the job very well

When I thought I was finished, 
I found a snippet on the floor that was just right
for adding some different colour too !

detail

The work Debbie Smyth makes is really awesome
but I wasn't in the mood
for hammering many many pins in wood
so that workshop is left for another time.


Then came Maria Thomas.
Working with "faux" shisha-mirrors and putting
all kinds of memorabilia on cloth
was really fun to do.
I chose (again) a colour scheme of
black / gray / white /  and a touch of red.
It turned out that most of my fabrics
were striped or checked but that was okay.
I decided to use my extensive stash of clothing labels
but I was low on mirrors and bottle caps !!!

Bits and pieces collected for a good start.

Everything pinned in place !

And then something beautiful happened !!!

Because I mentioned on the members page of Stitch Club
that I didn't have any shisha mirrors,
a Dutch member (in fact two : sisters !) offered to send me
some really big sequins instead !!!

Then I said, why don't I come and get them myself
(because I already knew they live in a town nearby !!!
So yesterday I went on bike and Ferry
and visited my textile friends !!!
Now that was fun !
We talked long about lots of things
and it was great to see and FEEL the textile pieces.
I went home (much later than I thought)
with a little stash of sequins and even bottle caps !
(hmmmm . . . next piece)

THANKS  WIL  AND  HILDE  !

Half of my piece
and in need of a few more kantha stitches !

*

And what is a summer without some "water-fun" ???
That is the advantage of a garden next to water

:-)