"Katia's" shawl

The shawl I made in Katia's workshop

was nearly finished when I took it home.

I knew I wanted to do some stitching with the machine

(like Katia herself does)

and also some stitching by hand.

But when trying it on when it was totally dry

made me realize I didn't like the way it lay around my neck.

I like it because it's beautiful

but I also want it to be comfortable and warm !

I had my doubts about making it wet again

and trying to shrink it some more

in the right place

.....

I decided against that 

but made some very narrow pleats instead !

That just did the trick  ;-)

The pleats (that you can see at the back of the collar)

take enough of the extra space away

so now it fits much better.

I'm very happy with the way the silk

(habotai and chiffon)

that Fiona handdyed for me some time ago merges into the wool.

The habotai took a bit more effort 

(uhhhhm ..... a sander) 

but it looks very nice !

The "button" was in fact a mother of pearl disc

with only one big hole .....

so I put a little felted ball on top.

(for the inside of the machine stitching

I used the same rayon thread 

but only in a dark turquoise colour so you hardly notice it)

Very happy !

Thanks again Katia !

more water

There was time in the sun to stitch a bit more

on "water"

The little pleats are stitched.

They are there because I added Jude's cloud.

So the strip on the left side had to come down a bit : 

I didn't want to loose the nice "lightning" on it.

But then I realized I had stitched the bottom part already, so ...

pleats

I discovered something else.

Normaly I use one or two strands of  DMC embroidery floss,

I especially love the variegated colours.

But you can also find silk thread !

When you cut "doupion silk" the thicker weft threads come loose very easy.

Don't throw them away ! You can very good stitch with them !!!

The lavender thread in the needle is left-over doupion silk !

( easy also in the split- backstitch ! )

*

Something happened in the water next to the garden this afternoon.

A pair of swans with kids were on the little island, resting and grooming.

Then a lone male swam came with much noise of wing flapping.

"Papa" came down from his island while "Mama" and her two youngsters

disappeared through the "back door"

Then there was some real show-off !

they were trying to intimidate each other ....

... broad wings, heads back ... turning and turning around each other ...

It was really quite impressive and spectacular !

( but no harm done ! )

After a good five minutes or so

each one shook his tail, flapped his wings ....

and went his own way

( that would be the way to fight a war ...! )