wordless wednesday

12 - 12 - 12

a lovely weekend and ..... a giveaway !

Last weekend we had our grandchildren staying over

( and the cats )

They love all the extra attention,

and doing things together is great fun.

Man found a "Loupe" puzzle in the attic to start with

and I found an "old" package of small origami papers

and a book to work from.

( After a while I knew them by heart again ... )

On the last, very sunny day, I had some canvases,

brushes and acrylic paint.

( I wasn't in the mood to carry down two easels from the attic

so they worked on two little tables ... )

They were very proud

with the results !

*

It is hard to believe

but true :

one whole year went by since I started this blog

On the first of October 2010

( kind of nervous )

I made the "giant" step  to begin a blog

because otherwise I would terribly miss my new textile friends

from the Patchwork Beasts Class I took with Jude Hill that summer :

I never regretted it !

To celebrate this joyful event I'm stitching ...

on a small

giveaway

To join this giveaway, please leave a comment on this post

( through this weekend )

On monday October 3rd

I will draw the lucky winner

!!!

I know that there are people who read this blog

and never ever leave a comment, because they don't know how ....

I can only say : please try !

If you're not familiar with commenting :

write something,

follow the intructions and pick "anonymous" when asked for a "profile"

and add your name in the text piece

so I will know who you are.

Then I can include you in this fun game !!!

*

I'm back to stitching :

on a piece I started during the

Sun, moon, stars class from Jude in May

Not finished yet, but it's going fine.

I ripped off some bits and added instead a piece of Jude's

megamendung clouds

From the beginning there was a piece with a feather on it ...

After stitching ( and seeing ) só many beautiful feathers

for Jude's Magic Feather Project

there had to appear more on this "Star" piece

( you'll see the rest when finished )

finally !

Just one week ago that I had my first day (of two)

of Pam's workshop at Dorie's place.

Dorie doesn't live close by

so I was very pleased that I could stay for two nights 

with my long-time friend Anita, and having time to chat too.

( her house is only a five-minute-drive away from Nes a/d Amstel,

so I didn't have to get up really early! )

It was so nice, gathering up with a bunch of creative women

and a lovely teacher in a place where there was

room enough to hold a big party !

Unfortunately the weather was very bad on both days

but inside there was fun !

I'm new to eco-dyeing so I didn't know exactly what plants to bring

but others had enough and would give me some

so there was no problem.

It was kind of magic !!!

but I must say my results could have been better ...

although on the silk they were fine

We all worked very hard and made a lot of bundles :

... a tent full of them !

The next day we had to decide what pattern to use

and to start stitching all the bits and pieces together :

that had to be finished by lunchtime ...

( .... nobody actually was .... )

After lunch some of us started felting.

And now I must confess : I was faaaaar too hasty

and didn't do a very good job.

That's why I wasn't very pleased with the

first fiiting session with Pam ...

... but she gave me a lot of good advice and on I went !

There was a dye pot ready for a final dye of the garment ...

but no one was ready for thát

.....

so Dorie cut up some pieces of her own silk and needle felt

and made good use of it !!!

*

I must say that it took me some time after I got back home

to view the results of this workshop.

And, when I'm completely honest, I had hoped for a bit more colour

that I actually had got ...

( there wasn't very much "rainbow" there !!!) 

Btw, I got some lovely advice from Kaite, for the néxt dyeing session !

( Thanks Kaite !!! )

So after a LOT of hesitating and thinking

I finally finished the little vest today !

yeaaaaaah !

I roughed up the already half felted (!) parts with a woolcomb

( especially the edges that had to be folded over )

and put an extra layer ón or únder them

of the coloured needle felt I still had left.

... it worked quite well I'm glad to say !

Then I did some serious felting

( this time without haste ! )

and finally :

I could try it on !!!

( I don't have a tailor's dummy so I had to be the dummy myself,

wich was nót too nice because it was still quite damp

and although the sun was shining it was quite clammy and cold after a while ....

but now it's drying on the table ...! )

THANKS  PAM

for being such a wonderful teacher !

something special !

Today I recieved a very special present.

With the envelope still sealed,

I was already "over the moon"

because I knew the envelope came from Jude !!!

WOW Megamendung !!!

(the real one)

.... and lots of other pieces ....

.... moons ....

.... and Jude's magic thread ....

and ...

one of Jude's stitched hearts !

Ideas, ideas whirling around in my head ...

....what a treasure ....

Thanks Jude !

mother's day well spent

Mother's day is the day that I like to visit

the spring garden fair in

Arboretum Trompenburg

 in Rotterdam

Our garden is overflowing

but ...

there is always that tiny spot where there is room

for that special plant you always wanted !

So, with my dearest garden friend, I went te Rotterdam

this beautiful sunny morning.

There are some special nurseries with the most beautiful plants.

But this time of the year is the best moment to admire

the huge collection Rhododendrons they have

in the Arboretum.

They have them in e v e r y colour !

From white, all pinks, red, orange, yellow, to the deepest purple.

(real blue is the only exeption)

really amazing colours

WOW !

(I don't tink I said too much)

But there are also many, many other beautiful trees

After coffee and cake in the dappled shade under the trees

we went home very satisfied in the afternoon

with some bags with plants.

A mother's day well spent!

(Hey .... I hear it's finally raining now! At last! It has been very dry lately :

the gardens (and the farmers) will love that)