new start

After I finished the big bag for daughter

there were days of

TOTALLY  NOTHING

because of the extreme

HEAT

 that we had here :

40 degrees Celsius

is quite unusual for our little country .....

Climate Change is presenting itself !

Staying inside (and reading) was the only wise thing to do.

Luckily the weekend brought

some rain (that the garden needed badly) and cooler weather.

Time to start something new.

Building it up with snippets in blues and greens,

a small piece : 15 x 15 cm  

(5.9 x 5.9") 

(on the right is what lóóks like Megamendung,

but it's made by Kaffe Fasset ...)

All of the snippets are "glue-stitched" down :
you see it on the back, NOT up front !

(eternal thanks, Jude ,
for ever in your debt   ;-)  !)

good craft

The jacket 

daughter started on some weeks ago

is finally finished.

(it's not easy for a mother of three

to find enough time for such a big felting task)

We are very satisfied with the end result.

We both made a jacket before,

but that was in a workshop with Anneke Copier,

some years ago and never came to making another one ourselves

(untill now !)

Making a good closure isn't one of the easiast parts

because you don't want the button holes and buttons

to tear the felt apart

(though felt is really tough material !)

That's why she stitched a narrow leather strip

on both insides to give the closure more firmness.

In the end I made the (simple) buttonholes

and stitched the buttons on.

These real horn buttons were once my mom's :

she bought them on a holiday in Austria

where she was always on the look-out for special things. 

A true FIRE woman jacket !

*

Under my sewing machine 

the "jeweled squares" are growing more and more.

Our smallest grandson loves to stack them

size by size

when they are laid down on the floor.

(he thinks I shouldn't lay them on the floor at all !)

And when the "little one" isn't using his chair ...

there's another "little one" who is using it instead

especially when the sun is shining

;-)

a beast indeed

When I did Jude's "Patchwork Beasts" class 

(in 2010, but it's still in the "shop"  :-) ... !)

she had several different methodes 

with which she let us make a beast.

One, was a really simple pieced beast, out of a few small squares,

or rectangles,

just like I made the rabbit.

Then you could "dress" it up

with all kinds of tiny scraps on the surrounding space,

which I did on the rabbit too.

Raw edge, or needle turned appliqué,

it just doesn't matter :

no rules here !

Stitches on the upside,

      a bunny tail .....       and          a raw edge flower pice.

The "grassy" leaves are double with tiny quilt stitches

and the other leaf was sewed and then turned

to the right side and closed.

Yes, it's less than 2 cm.

(only part of it will be joined to the background)

There are only a few bits of the background left to be seen :

embroidered bits of a white linen blouse.

  

I'm not sure yet, but I don't think

this is a sweet bunny

....

it's more like a fierce rabbit !

It's not exactly the Monty Python Killer Rabbit

but

it is not a "Flappie" either

I have to explane this :

"Flappie" is a hilarious song of a great Dutch comedian,

about what happened when the pet rabbit 

ended up in the pot for the xmas dinner

..... 

(everybody in Holland knows the song)

:-)

This was made of the patched beast I made for Jude's class :
all of the background gone, the beast was only stitched on.
(it was called "Show me your teeth"
and was a present for our dentist, who retired)

...I wonder ...

Yesterday there were two lovely sisters

(no not mine)

who wanted to know a bit about patchwork and quilting.

We had a busy day

with a lot of talking, showing, explaining

and ofcourse stitching !!!

a lunch break, and more stitching !

They went home satisfied and I think there will be at least one

who will continue stitching

*

The garden had a much needed shower

so at the moment it is very

green

(.... and other colours ofcourse ...)

*

At last .....

I started some shibori stitching !

While I was going through my stash for the dyeing wokshop

with Pam de Groot in July, I found some lovely thin

white curtains (IKEA ... bought a long time ago)

After washing and ironing I tore them up in not too narrow strips.

Then I looked for Natima's tutorial on the stitching.

(She and Glennis Dolce are back from their trip to Japan !)

what a lot of work !!!

And the next step : the dyeing....

I have some pre-reduced Indigo

(but have never used it before)

... I wonder .....

*

Another try-out : 

after seeing beautiful purple stains on silk

on Jude's blog ánd after studying a bit in India's Eco-dyeing book :

....I wonder ....

what will become of this ?

(time will tell !)