bits and pieces .....

At the very end of the year

there are always

those little bits and pieces 

that need to be said, shown, or finished ...

Here are some of mine.

Only tiny bits of this little felted heart

were shown, because it was a present to daughter's best friend

who had her 50th birthday yesterday.

Lots of family and friends were asked

to make a little heart,

and a whole bunch came and were placed

on a "wild" piece of wood,

making it into a wonderful birthday present !

*

Winter isn't really winter (yet ?)

but it is great fun to help granddad to prepare

the bird feeder in case the cold suddenly arrives !

*

Making selfies is a silly business !

*

Two friends came for a felting workshop

just before christmas

A late start, too much talking and planning

made that they need to finish it all later

(uhhhm ... next year ...)

*

This :

was the perhaps most special (almost) full moon I saw this year

on the 24th of December,

(except the eclipse moon of course) 

There was this awesome ring around it !

*

But there was also a  B I G  piece that we did :

today we used this second last day of the year 2015

for some serious window painting business !!!

This picture from the net was the start

Enlarged using a grid,

to almost 2 x 1 meter.

The start of the other choice of this class : a "minion"

Me starting with number two : "Rio"

But we weren't the only "idiots" working during the school holidays ...

(they are painting again the little house that was built in my classroom

some 19 years ago to make room for more possibilities to play

in the rather small classroom)

Minion in progress ...

Daughter and me started with "Blue"

and granddaughter ...

steps into the family's footsteps

;-)

Almost done !!!

HA !

I think this is a nice present for the teacher 

when she starts school again on Monday

!!! 

And to ALL my dear friends out there in the world

who visit here in blogland :

I wish you a

peaceful

happy

healthy

creative

and colourful

2016

*

See you next year !

loooong ago ... and a new felting exchange start

November was rushing by

and the last month of the year is nearly upon us !

Time flies ...

That was what I thought 

when I received, a few weeks ago

an invitation for a reunion.

This photograph,

of a looooong time ago,

was put on FB ...

and it started the search for others who were in that class

in 1971 !

Some of the children of those days

which are adults of 50 now

still live here in this village

(like I still do ...

and that very young teacher was me)

Yesterday I met with a lot of those "little pupils" ...

I had a hard time recognizing some

and knew others right away !

(one of the "girls" even came all the way from Rome

where she has lived for 25 years)

IT  WAS  REALLY  FUN !

*

I finished and send away the four extra felted jewels

that were on commission

The end of November also meant 

that I needed to hurry finishing  my piece for the new

felting exchange !!!

The theme was 

"fish"

and it had to be bigger than the postcard size

of the last two years :

20 x 20 cm !

The start with some prefelt and a cobweb bit

There were more prefelt bits  for the fish 

and on the back I put two more layers for strength.

In the end it turned out the prefelt for the sea horse

was absolutely too thick ...

But :

with the stitching finished ...

a bit fuzzy

but definitely a sea horse

(I think)

Tomorrow it will go in the mail !

like in the old days ...

Last Monday

daughter started a big commission :

paintings on the windows of all the class rooms

of the school her children attend (ed)

It is the same school where I've worked happily 

all the years we lived in this village

untill I retired in '07

Painting on the windows was something I did

when we needed illustrations

for the themes that we were working along in our group

(age 4  - 6)

After I retired my old collegues

asked (on a regular basis) to help out again with it

and I did that, because it was fun !

This summer the school had a major refurbishment :

ALL the windows (and the roof)

were replaced.

That meant of course that all the window paintings

that were still there, were gone !!!

But this time it's the next generation

that is willing to do the (big) work !

(and I'm allowed to help her)

On Monday we started with the outline 

on four windows, today we started in colour.

(and outside the sheep are keeping the grass short !)

(hmmmm ... I hate that colour they chose for the roof

and you can see that not all the windows are there yet ...

neither is the front door !!!)

While daughter had an early start,

I came a bit later and started in the second class room

(the design is inspired by the illustrations of Dagmar Stam

and the drawings I made myself during all those years at school)

At the end of the morning daughter could almost start on the back ground ...

and the little one 

(not at school yet ... for he's only 3 years and 4 months)

loved to be in the classroom, watch the bigger children ...

and his mum painting.

Late in the afternoon we left for today, not yet finished ...

.....

To be continued !

what about selling ... ?

Aaaaah ...

this is a difficult story ...

Just a few days ago I decided 

NOT to participate 

in this year's Christmas market in our village.

It was a tough decision because I enjoyed 

it very much, these last two years.

It was fun : 

thinking about what to make

meeting all those people

and talk about making one's art

and selling it.

But all this has a down side too.

 I LOVE to make the different things for the market :

it may be felt, quiltlets, drawings, paintings,

(I like a lot of different techniques)

but

I HATE making my art

as if I'm working on a production line in a factory !

That really is no fun for me !

But at the same time this is the whole problem 

when participating to markets !!!

When people come to you and tell how lovely an item is ...

if ... it was just :

blue instead of green ...

purple instead of red ...

a bit bigger ...

a bit smaller ...

a bit different shape ...

(and so on)

So :

no more market for me this year !

Will I stop making art ?

Another NO

I can't stop being creative !

And I hardly ever think about selling when I'm busy.

But if there ever is something you really would like to "have"

......

just send me an email 

and we probably can work out something together !
I'm willing to take commisssions too

;-)

*

These two little friends were just adorable

(though big brown brother doesn't seam so pleased to share his throne)

*

These are some really old drawings I found

(while cleaning through clutter of old times)

I made them for our classroom door

when I was working with pre-schoolers :

our koala class bear was the main character

each time we started a new theme to work on

"autumn"

           "measuring"              and            "floating and sinking"

      

"the doctor"

and :  "friends" !

These were good memories when I found them again today  ;-)

I'll bring them to my friend and old colleague Ada

so she can use them again for the children

(they are about 50 x 65 cm each)