May

Oh my

where did May go

.....

We went to the market

and had an (unexpected) SUNNY day !

(with some generous friends)

*

There was a little birthday boy ...

who got a BIG present

(that had to be assembled first)

Here he's on his first test drive !!!!!

I can tell you : happy !!!

(and a big brother who wanted to test-drive too.

but unfortunately is too big ...)

Hmmmm ...

these two little guys ?????

"Buurman en Buurman"

("neighbours")

heroes in a animated movie

and knitted by daughter

!!!!!

Remember the little naked guy in the garden ???

YES

he was one of them

(then, without anything to wear yet !)

*

The sheep in the petting zoo lost their coat

(daughter and a friend were there 

with their spinning wheel)

*

In May the garden is at its best

After the Bluebells came lots and lots of Allium roseum.

This lovely Thalictrum aguilegifolium I got in return

from a friend that I gave some seedlings and cuttings
I had collected for her
since last year.

(some of these Irises will follow the other plants to her garden,
that are all doing well !)

*

Pictures of my just finished piece for the felting exchange 

have to wait a bit :

it's just gone away in the mail !

So they come later

a special person

Since I started blogging

almost five years ago 

(uhhhhhhm ... that long already ?)

I've "met" a lot of nice people,

starting of course with Jude and her warm circle

of slow-stitching friends,

and also others e.g. after my on-line felting course of Fiona Duthie.

But because I read German easily too

I "met" others in Germany, Austria and Switserland.

Meeting people in Blogland is fun

and it's wonderful experience
to make an exchange with someone :
so you send and get a surprise, 

really on your doormat ;-)

But  it is even more fun

when the possibility occurs

to meet in real life !

The very first time that we arranged that 

was three years ago with Gabi (Filzkram)

drinking coffee

and admiring her wonderful studio.

This year it turned out that we were having our family holiday

very near to where Birgit (Olann-Wolle) lives.

We've had contact before so it was easy to take the step

to arrange a meeting.

It was (again) no surprise 

that I was going to meet a wonderful person.

We had lovely warm (hot even) weather

so had coffee, and later lunch, with  Birgit and husband on the terras.

(and talked a LOT )

We toured around the garden, with the neighbour's young cows,

which are used as lawn mower,

Birgit's three sheep,

we  looked at her vegetable plot,

and  even picked some raspberries ... 

Then we went inside (it was really hot then)

and I showed the things I took with me from home

which I thought she would like to see "with her hands"

(uhuh ... that's the way textile-lovers lóók !) 

But there was someone else :

Älfi  (one of Birgit's three (in fact four) cats)

came in and found his rightful place

on my "Sun and Moons"

Oh my,

that day was much, much, much too short !!!!!
We could have talked for many more hours

(so we agreed on seeing each other again  ;-) !)

THANK  YOU  VERY  MUCH  BIRGIT !

(and Kai)

For this wonderful day

and for being such a lovely person !

7 - 7 - 15 .... after a busy weekend ...

Yesterday was a really quiet day

I needed that 

after this busy weekend !

It was HOT

and on Saturday we (Man and me) 

went to the sheepfold in Ermelo

where we were meeting 

six women of the last felting-exchange group 

(ha : a very appropriate meeting place)

It was so hot this last week

that the sheep were kept inside the sheepfold 

in stead of going on the moors !!!

(luckily they were without their thick coat,

except of course the lambs !)

In the shade of a lovely big oak tree

we had coffee and a pot luck lunch !

We could admire all the work that was made during the year

and then took it home again with us

after deciding it had been FUN :

so there will be another felting-exchange !

*

Later that day daughter and I made the last preparations

for the next day on the MAF-festival market

Last stitches on some items for me

and daughter made a lovely "lettuce" jacket

for the little white felted bunny :

the prize for the lottery for the benefit of the 

"Nationaal bossenfonds"

(forest fund)

(he will soon go to little Tessa, who guessed correctly

how many felted balls were in the jar !)

So, after a short (HOT) night we went to Zeewolde ...

we built our tent

and attended the opening with the other stallholders and staff

Then we started with our first mini workshop :

felting a small cuff ...

... and then stitching it with lots of beads and sequins !

(hmmmmm : lucky to be in the shade of the tent !!!)

All went well

and everybody was happy
until at five o'clock .....

the foretold thunderstorm came nearer !

Lots of people (and some stallholders) had already disappeared 

but it seemed the real storm would pass by at some distance ...

It did,

but not the wind !

The wind got hold of  our tent

and it was blown down, while we were grasping it ...

pfffft : our strong neighbour stallholder rescued us !

Within seven minutes it was all over :

the wind had disappeared and the sun came back 

Not one thing damaged of our goodies

(and just some rings torn off the tent)

so all ended well

;-)

And it all ended with a fire and a celebration

for Mother Earth

What a wonderful day

*

Today there were some other artists of our family busy

the litle one "discovered" painting 

(with a bucket of water and a brush)

though he rather wanted to paint like his big sister ...

She showed us earlier this zentangle in her sketchbook

and her painting ended up like this !

So the little one did some more paiting on the paving slabs

(and was happy with it)

Nieuwpoort

Yesterday I went to Nieuwpoort

(instead of the St'nB in Rotterdam)

One of my favourite quilt/yarn shops

De Schapekop  (the sheep's head)

organized the knitting/crochet festival

in the little old fortified town of Nieuwpoort

(Nieuwpoort got municipal rights in 1283)

The dyke with the water doors 

and the sheep waiting to be shorn during the festivities

Fun decorationes of wool 

I went there by car, but some friends from Rotterdam came by bus,

and we found each other in the shop

Hmmmm ... lots of "Kaffe Fassett"

There were five other places to visit and see beautiful stuff !

One of the stall holders was a lady who's daughter Lisette lives in Peru.

She brings down many wonderful items 

when she visits her daughter there,

The fair price the Quechua women high in the Andes

get for their woven or knitted items

provides for living and for school for the children !

Wonderful craft !

I found some vintage lace bits and pieces

(nice to dye and then use in some felt or quiltlet)

a dark purple ball of sockyarn

and some wonderful green dyed silk (a present !)

And when we went back at the end of the day ...

the last sheep was shorn !

3 - 3 - 15 .... the "last" felting exchange

Oh yes : late again.

This last piece of our felting exchange 

was scheduled for February.

It went in the post today.

As you will probably understand the theme for this month was 

"sheep"

Now this should not have been a problem,

because I like sheep 

(though not their sound when they're grown-ups)

They "give" us their gorgeous warm coat

with which we have lost of fun 

knitting and felting !

But what to make for this felting exchange ???

One sheep, 

a ram with awesome horns,

a little lam, 

or even a flock of sheep and shepherd ? 

I couldn't decide and moreover

I wanted to make something funny

.....

Yesterday I started with a kind of heath landscape

for a background

.....

Then I thought it would be fun to change the woolen coat

for a knitted one !

But :

all my lovely sock (or thicker) yarns

are "superwash"

so it won't felt

The only solution then is, to make your own yarn :

spinning

Now I had vowed a long time ago 

that "spinning" is nót for me

(and daughter wanted to help out but was doing other things)

I made a spindle out of an old big whirligig

and tried my best to spin some even thread

(thread yes, even no !)

Then I knitted a small swatch

So on the heath landscape came a colourful sheep

with the swatch and some snippets of prefelt,

which I stitched to the back with some linen thread.

(Like I always do, when dealing with difficult parts

so things won't shift during the rolling process.

I take the thread out when all is finished)

Geurdie, I hope you like my "modern" sheep

it will be on your doorstep tomorrow !

In fact this colourful sheep isn't really the last one

of this year's exchange :

I have to do a last one for myself,

because there were only eleven women participating

So with that last one (something RED)

the circle will be closed.

;-)

envelopes !

Oh, how I lóve these mysterious envelopes 

that arrive in the mail from time to time !

Today I recieved my  sunny

felting-exchange piece

Yellows, greens and a bit of turquoise

and lots of sparkling yellow beads,

it's so much fun this felting-exchange !!!

And always there's some lovely card with it

that tells a bit of the "making-of" or the "why"

Thank you, Titia !

(do you really own these Blue Faced Leicester sheep ???)

I looooove those curls ... 

ha, probably because I have some curls of my own :

feather (curls) flock together !

*

In the afternoon I continued on my SUN-stitching

that I started yesterday.

There's already a lot more ... (a face)

but I didn't take a picture just now, because there isn't enough light anymore.

The embroidery thread on the left and on the far right 

came in the mail on Saturday.

It's very glossy hand painted rayon I bought from Emma in France.

She sells some wonderful things quilters and stitchers can use !

The colours are so gorgeous,

but working with it isn't very simple 

it curls up and tangles very easy,

but the luster is awesome !!! 

The deep purple and red is handpainted "Aurifil" cotton 

daughter gave me last September 

when she went to the "Handwerkbeurs" (Fair)

The two little bundles down in the middle

are silk thread that I used to bundle up 

my onion skin eco-dyeing try.