that was wonderful !

Tired but very satisfied I was yesterday :
another successful market !

One of my very favorite pieces
found a very loving home
with a family of six.
It's always sooooo lovely
when you know your work is ending up in a good place !
(and this one surely is)

"Octopussy's Garden"

(I'm sorry but I couldn't find the picture
where it was mounted on the (in blues) painted canvas,
it must be somewhere)

I'll surely miss it,
but knowing where it has gone 
makes it all worth while !

THANK  YOU !!!

Here are some of the pictures of the MANY steps taken
before it ended up like this.

Of course also a big thank you to all the other lovely customers
both in Baarn and in Rotterdam !
For all the compliments and the purchases.

It will be a while before there is another Art Market

because first it will be
PINKTOBER
very soon.

For now enough time for some stitching
and a bit more felting !

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)

change of season ?

A few days ago I found the first bright red leaf

of one of the trees in our garden.

I thought that a bit early

for halfway August !

But you never know for sure with this time of the year

all of a sudden the earth smells different,

a lot more spiders hanging around

(to catch you in the morning, when you're not aware of them yet)

a little earlier dark in the evening

...

Yes, certainly the first signs

of the change from summer to autumn.

Perhaps thát's why I chose these colours for a new bag

the day before yesterday

flaming autumn colours

( well ... I also like red hair ! )

And for this bag Fiona gave me a little push towards "nuno" felting again.

Daughter and I collected a lot of thin vintage shawls

in all different colours, but most of the time

we use them for nuno felted shawls or wraps.

For this bag I found a matching colour shawl

and although it's not silk, it did okay.

On the bottom and on the flap I joined some felted "tails"

For the front and the back I used four thin layers of wool roving

so now the size turned out better than with the red "Kaffe Fassett" bag

one third shrinkage is what we get most of the time

when we do all things right

( that's why we make the template so much bigger )

 So after rinsing out the soap properly

and a bit of vinegar in the last rinsing water

I left it drying a bit in the bathroom

But I had to look how it fits to my new socks

( up till the toe in yesterday's Stitch'nBitch company and on the fast ferry,

and the last tip this morning )

well .. quite a match

( but if someone might like it very much I might sell it )

The strap for this bag is still in the making,

like the one for the red "not - a - clutch" bag.

leaves

Man is studying Italian.

He does so for quite some years now

he loves the sound of that language !

It's very different from Dutch

so rather difficult to learn

but he's doing great.

He watches Italian tv ( with awful programs )

tries to read the sports page of Italian newspapers on internet

and sometimes he goes to an Italian movie with his class mates...

( no subtitles !!! )

For his conversation lessons he choose my quilts

as inspiration to talk about

and took some quilts with him to show.

There, someone loved this green one very much ...

and wants to buy it !!!

( I'm very proud ofcourse )

This is a detail of  "Caterpillar versus Polygonatum"

Every year I can hardly wait for the Solomon's seal ( Polygonatum )

to emerge from the ground :

misty gray-green leaves and tiny white bells.

And every year :

the caterpillars strike

and eat my beautiful plants till almost only the stems remain.

I made this quilt almost two years ago

for a contest in Holland called "Sporen" ( traces )

When it was almost finished

I got another good idea for the same motto

so made another quilt.

That one I entered in the contest ( and it was rejected )

Now I will gladly finish this "first born"

so it can go to a new home.

There are more funny things in the garden

this "monster" tulip

( who dares to enter here ? )

and I've never seen this one before :

it has a nose ( no, probably his mouth )

of almost 1 cm long !

... Pinoccio hover-fly ...?

an experience

Yesterday we went to the Spring fair

for which daughter and me worked so hard the last few weeks.

It really was a springy day with sunny weather

though still a bit cold

we had a table inside the building so we only saw sunshine.

But ...

there where very few people visiting

so we sold only a few items from our little "felt shop" 

Although we met and spoke to

some very nice people ! 

We gave our cards

and there might be some new customers

for a felt workshop.

( We had our table next the "chocolate" people

their son has a small company that makes

the most mmmmmmmmm delicious bonbons :

 well ..... ofcourse we tasted them ! )

Well we learned a great deal from this Spring fair experience.

You must be better prepared what kind of people you can expect

( stall holders and public )

before you "jump in"

Also the planning and preparing beforehand

takes a lot of time and thinking.

That doesn't mean we're sorry we did it : oh no !

Now we have a nice starting point for the next one ...

We are not supposed to earn a living selling our felt products

( only think of the time it takes, making these items )

but this way we might  extend, invest and grow in this

technique we both so love.