a carpenter ?

After my birthday (and in fact before that too)

April has been much and much too cold 

That means that I haven't been in the garden as much as I normally would be

Though, when the sun creeps out

from behind the heavy layers of clouds

I'm out there right away.

I love my Malus tree

it will have dark red leaves when the blossom fades away

From the garden I also picked some flowers

that I used for one of my secret projects

Tiny forget-me-nots

colour all of the garden blue at the moment

a lovely sight !

In fact my secret projects will have to be finished soon

... in about one and a half week of time ...

One of the extra "in-betweens" I did today made me remember

that, perhaps in another life,

I would liked to have been a carpenter !

Years ago, during winter holidays in Austria,

I loved to visit the shop

of the the old turner in wood :

mmmmmmmm that smell

of freshly cut wood when you entered there,

runnig your fingers along the grain

of the smooth sanded wood

(I use some of the items he made untill this very day)

It wasn't a very inspiring of difficult object,

just a needed one !

I like to have the proper tools so bought a 14mm drill  (ha !)

Tomorrow I'll fitt it to a little cradle 

step by step, stitch by stitch

Oh so slowly, 

things are growing ...

There isn't much to show really,

more to be done yet

The fun part for me

are the tiny pieces that I use

that come from fáááár away sometimes.

(from Jacky, from Jude, from Heike ...)

A lot of time is "lost" by thinking and re-thinking,

placing and re-placing,

which pieces of fabric are best for certain parts of the design

...... 

( please : patience, for there is nothing "real" to be seen )

a wet garden ... and stitches

These last few days were cold

and often wet too

but the garden shows it's spring beauty anyway !

(Brunnera "Jack Frost")

(yellow dead nettle)

*

I finished another secret project

and then made some  tiny stitches  too

These were done on the machine,

there will be a lot more stitching by hand

.......

And daughter herself

made the cutest monkey you can imagine

out of fingering yarn, so he's very small

He is called  

"Jacobus"

and knitted from the top of his head

down to his hands and feet

and the tip of his tail

all in one go !
(he sits on the only seam there is !)

Annita is, among other things, a talented knitter.

Taking a look at het site is very worth while ! 

The pattern was in Dutch,

but it might be in English too (?)

working, working

All the things I need to have finished soon

are more or less in progress.

But every now and then new things are coming in-between ...

so I need to be working steady on !

a secret crown ...

some repair needed (and done) ...

a fabric basket in the making ...

.....

pffffffffffffffft

sometimes I just need a time-out !

For that you can find me in the garden ! 

I lóóóóve spring !

(though it will be a rather cold easter weekend

and the full moon is hidden behind the clouds)

and the winner ....

Well ...

in case you thought I had forgotten

that I promissed to give away my leap-day mandala 

.....

No ! 

in fact I wanted to wait till the next 29th

and that is today

and the winner is :

So please Anne, if you send me an e-mail with your address

this leap-day mandala comes flying to you

in Australia.

(sorry for the others, next time better,

though you won't have to wait another 4 years

for another give-away)

Here I want to show you the two mandalas of February and March

that we did in the series of the Tzolkin related drawings

February 8 : the Blue Monkey

(fun, playing, magic and transformation)

March 14 : the Red Snake

(instinct, survival, body wisdom and initiation)

*

Working on some stitching again

 Yes, I know,

very little to see

and I'll keep it that way for now because it's one of my secret projects

helping hands ?

The mitred vest is slowly progressing

square by square.

But there are some other, secret assignments

that need my attention too.

Here, the helpers are joining in,

but in the beginning they are still sleeping in their warm spot ...

Then, when something interesting happens, they wake up.

Hmmmm ...

brushes, paint, water ..... ?

little sister has to check this out first :

well, this tastes very good !

When her big brother arrives, most of the fun is over for her, and she leaves

and after a small inspection, he gives his okay and leaves too ...

( and I can go do my business )

( a tiny sneak peek )

giving away a one-day-leap

This is a extra special extra day !

When you are born on this date you don't age as quickly

as áll the other people.

You might be a teenager of 15

and not look a bit like the 60 years they say you are ...

When I was very young ,

the boy next-door, my brother's friend,

had his birthday on the 29 th of February,

and I didn't understand why they said he was only three years old ...

A special leap year day calls for something special

I made a mandala for those who have only one birthday

every four years

(the paper is a bit darker blue than on this photo)

I started with the bright part on the top,

then came the dark part with the moon

Then the owl, the rabbit and the cat got their place in the other hearts.

So :

 if you think that you (or someone you like) deserve this special day

giveaway

please send me a comment why you think so

and you might be the lucky one !

( ... it doesn't have to be your birthday ... )