radiant

When we came home last week 

I saw one of my plants had a nice surprise for me :

two big flower buds !

(the plant is no longer very beautiful ,

she's in need of a new bigger pot, I think)

In the evening the strong (almost tóó) sweet fragrance 

told me they had opened up

Two little sisters hanging together

(they were quite a bit smaller than they cán be,

the white petals nearly 7 / 8 cm while they can be 11cm !)

Today I received in the mail my last felting-exchange sun

With it a very lovely (well chosen) postcard

a portrait by the Dutch artist Jan Sluijters

Thanks a lot Anneke

I'm very happy with my last radiant autumn sun !

(my circle is complete too)

sunshine

Yes, I received another little felted piece

of our felting-exchange.

Every time there's an unknown envelope in the mailbox

I love to open my surprise packet.

(this one was a bit late due to the holiday time

but that's okay)

another bit of sunshine !

thanks Judith

The little rug daughter made over a week ago

looks just like a curly moon

but it won't stay white forever :

she planned a dye-day 

and it will be fun to see what it looks like afterwards !

In the next weeks 

there will be a lot to do,

so most probably there will be no time 

for blogging

....

Never mind that :

I'll be back

and will show what progress

I (hopefully) made on the sun and 13 moons !

Here it is ..... remember ?

Hmmmm ... I neglected this one a bit,

while working on my crochet shawl / scarf.

Thát one's finished now, blocked, and dry

(but no photo yet) 

Ha, just realized :

all photos are of circles 

So, enjoy the last bit of summer while it lasts, as I will do,

and enjoy the nearing of spring when you're somewhere "down under"

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.

belated

I totally forgot about my November felting exchange

Yes

a little late

but that was due to all the Blogger fuss 

So here is the little felt piece I recieved for last month

solar eclipse

Ha, the fun thing was

it was sent in an envelope

that was made out of a newspaper page

with a stamp on it of course

(but the post missed it : there was an uncancelled stamp on it ha, ha !) 

Thanks Margot !

And this is what I made for the theme abstract

for my November partner

After it had dried, I started stitching

but ...

forgot to take a picture before I sent it off

:-(

sunny bag

When I had this friend over who felted the red bag

I didn't do much else than a bit of knitting

(and making coffee, tea and lunch)

I don't have enough space

for "more than one bag at the time"

That's okay, but I always start felting myself

right after such a day.

I planned this new bag

to fit especially to a jacket that I made for myself

out of silk / linen five years ago

(remember for wich occasion  ;-)  !)

I will make a picture of it later, with the bag ...

Sunny colours : golden yellow, pink and a bit magenta

The Ginkgo leaves are no coincidence !

I used the same template as the one for my orange bag

(last year) and the friend's red bag

There's the Ginkgo (a bit of pre-felt) 

and I used some netting in order to prevent that the design might shift

It really took a long time and repeated corrections

before the spirals stayed in place.

(the spiral is a bit more pink than here on the photo)

Now I must wait till it's completely dry so I can fix the strap

and a little magnet as a closure.

Happy

sunny autumn day

Because the two bigger grandchildren

have autumn break this week

we went on the bike and by boat

to the museum (de Kunsthal) in Rotterdam

(yes ! 7 paintings were stolen last week from this museum :

what a lousy way to celebrate your 25 anniversary !!!)

We had such a fun day :

looking at paintings (Avant Gardes)

and sculptures ( a lot of naked women by Maillol)

modeling with clay

making a viewing box

walking on a treadmill (with music and a painting in front of you)

and having a drink and some sweet pie

on a bench at the river

in the warm sunshine

(a fun painting ... ha, could have been by Kaffe Fassett ...)

And home again

(near our beloved windmills)

...

I found a very thick envelope on the doormat

containing my next felting exchange piece of Joke

sunny !