"B" for bumblebee

The fun challenge by Yaroslava Troynich
to make an (existing) animal
in any creative way you can think of
had the letter "B" for July.

There were MANY animals to choose from
but for me the choice was easy this time :
the  BUMBLEBEE

Bumblebees live in colonies, gathering food and raising the young.
The queen, that hibernates underground during winter,
starts eating and makes a new nest in early spring.
Females have pollen baskets on the hind legs.
Their long hairy tongue is very useful to reach the nectar
that is hidden deep down in tube-like flowers.
They have a stinger, that does not detach after use,
but they hardly ever sting when they visit flowers
(but DON'T disturb their nest !!!)
Sadly the numbers of these insects too
are decreasing
which is bad for nature, and for us !

I love my garden and I'm always glad to see many insects,
especially the big teddy-bear-like bumblebees !

Years ago I made some wet felted bugs,
but of course I looked at many pictures before starting
this new insect.

The body wasn't a real problem,
but because bumblebees have these sturdy hairy legs
I chose to make them out of felt as well
(instead of the wire that I used for the bugs . . .)

And I can tell you :
that was a really fiddly business !!!

The wings, bumblebees have four,
were made on the machine, free motion stitching on polyester sheer.

Thanks Yara,
it was fun again !

needle lace

 The Stitch Club workshop that I started again with
was by Bridget Steel-Yessop
(it was in fact the second one, but I didn't do the first)
Needle lace has a variety of different stitches
but she taught us one, and stuck to that.

We should first make a square, to learn and try the stitches
then do a more complicated work : an insect with wings !

 
Adding beads into the work was my own choice
and was really fun to do.

After the lace was completed it was taken
off the temporary background
et voilá : lace !

(my next piece is finished, but needs to be stitched on a canvas 
and then photographed)

*

For May I still had a task to do for the
BIBABO WILD MARATHON

Because I was late again I was looking for a way out :

no felting this time !!!

I took my wonderful Karisma colour pencils
and did the task for May :

an animal starting with the letter "H"

AND
extra . . . it hád to be in only black and white

This is an ENORMOUS  Hercules beetle,

the biggest, plus the "horn" that only males have
(which speaks for itself !)

is about 17 cm !!!!!
NO WAY I would pick that one up
. . . . .

But luckily I was just in time yesterday !!!

thank you !

Walk Art Markt in Zeist :

a wonderful market day !
Not the rain that was predicted,
but quite some clouds, a bit of sun
and a bit of wind from time to time.

Ready for the start !

A VERY quiet morning with no sales at all
(and that's not very encouraging I can tell you . . .)
but the afternoon made up for everything !
Ohhhh and so happy our youngest grandson came by
and later his big sister

(who saved me from some bad telephone inconvenience . . .
hmmmm, that's REALLY not my "forte" !!!!!)

Many nice talks and compliments about my work
and a lot of explaining how I do my gouache paintings,
the felting and the little textile pieces.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH
dear customers,
I hope you enjoy the lovely items you bought
for a looooong time !

There were quite a few new things I could take with me today
but they came back home with me  . . .

(including a new fish an a new beetle)

No worry :
in two weeks time on Sunday
there is another Art Market in Baarn !

Hope to see you then !

day 28

A bit confusing :

back to "winter-time"

which means sleeping an hour longer

eating an hour later ...

(always hate this transition :

hope they change it back into ONE time

like it used to be, long ago)

A cold day, but the sun is out.

Good to remember those warm days

in the summer garden :

the humming of insects,

the fluttering butterflies !

Here is my Pink Ribbon Textile Jewel

for day 28 :

a BUTTERFLY brooch, fabric and felt,

free motion machine stitching

with rayon thread.

The Orange Tip butterfly :

a memory of summer for you !

For a donation  of

 € 10 

SOLD  !

this jewel can be yours,

for yourself or as a present to someone dear

You just need to send me an email at

fiberrainbow@gmail.com

(or leave a note down here at the comments)

ALL the money goes to Pink Ribbon !

" ORANGE TIP "

Hope to see you tomorrow with another textile jewel !

day 21

Today we had a lovely party day for Man

with dear family and friends !

(good I worked ahead a bit for this day)

When I saw this lovely picture of a friend's garden

and knew then that I wanted to use it sometime.

Here is my Pink Ribbon Textile Jewel

for day  21 :

a  BUTTERFLY  brooch,

free motion machine stitched with rayon on silk

and some hand stitching too, felt back

(7 x 4 cm)

(2.75 x 1.55")

For a donation of (at least)

€ 10

SOLD  !

this happy memory of summer

can be yours.

All you need to do is email me at

fiberrainbow@gmail.com

All the money you donate goes to the Pink Ribbon Fund !

"AURELIA"

Hope to see you again tomorrow

with a new textile jewel !

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 !

day 28

The Pink Ribbon challenge

is only lasting three more days

after today.

A cloudy day, but my thoughts were

on sunnier (garden) times.

Living next to the water

brings all kinds of critters near !

(I think the colour of that triangle did it ...)

The PINK  RIBBON  Textile Jewel for day 28

A wet felted turquoise triangle pendant,

with a textile bead, embroidered and with beaded fringe,

on a long wax cord with slip knots.

A light airy reminder of warm summer days

For a donation of 

€ 10

SOLD !

(or more)

this pendant can be yours,

to wear yourself

or to give away as a present

to someone dear.

All you need to do is send me an email at

fiberrainbow@gmail.com

and we'll arrange what comes next.

ALL the money will go to the Pink Ribbon Fund !

"AIR DANCER"

See you tomorrow

with my next Textile Jewel !

and some more ...

When you start and the going is GOOD

.....

why stop ?

So here are more felted shells.

(I'm not the only one :

lots of other participants of  

Corinna Nitschmann 's on-line course

did exactly the same and felted several shells !)

For this one I used black (Bergschaf ?? but not very good)

mixed with glittering "Angelina" fibers

and little bits if green and yellow

(that my dear friend Birgit dyed and gave me)

The black fibers were very short,

made lousy felt and kept coming off in the process.

GRRRRRRR

(we have some more ... but it will be difficult where to use it !)

Some stitches, with linen thread, to secure the folded top.

It shrunk very good    ....    and the next spiral one. 

(I secured the top of the spiral ones with invisible thread)

And this wonderful shell was done by Nature

and a talented person !!!

(NO, not me ... daughter brought it home for me

from some Festival !)

Ahhhh, and I totally forgot

to show the wonderful little bum bag daughter made

out of an old leather shirt !

(also a talented person !)

;-)

Last but not least : some visitors in the garden

Small, but beautiful !

Easter holiday over

Warm sweaters and home-knit socks

it was the best to wear
these Easter holidays !

But in the end

we had this cold but sunny day :

just right to look for Easter eggs 

a big basket to be filled ...

(the garden is so green ... I hope we found them all )

Man made a big browny cake

and we had a lovely dinner at the end of the day.

I used up a lot of Saturday (at the St'nB)

and Sunday doing very tiny crochet

with some of the "birthday-balls" of fine "Scheepjes" cotton !

I made some extra presents

a tiny monkey !

The youngest grandson adores his "Jacobus" monkey(s)

daughter made for him when he was born

and he still sleeps with them !

So when I saw this tiny crocheted monkey

.....

I had to try make one !

(sorry ... only in Dutch)

Though the tiny pieces gave me a headache

(and I could hardly hold them between my fingers !)

I managed to finish one ...

and started on the next !!!

For big brother   ;-)   ... they both LOVE green !

(the "girls" had some crochet flower for their key ring) 

I really LOVED the challenge

but

making tiny amigurumi will NOT be my new hobby !!!

(though I might try one or two .....)