samples ...

More little samples

..............

but I still don't have a clear plan

(October's not that far away ...)

something new

Always when I'm floating around on the internet

I find new interesting things and ideas.

Quite some times I'm amazed

what people are making :

so many beautiful things are being made !

In the "felting business" I like very much what Gabi is doing :

I love her animals and "persons"

they're friendly and funny !

( I love it when people put some humour in their art,

like Annette Quentin-Stoll who wrote two wonderful books about felting )

I did my first try-out on figures a few days ago :

a little chicken

... and admired Gabi's work a lot more after that !

She gave a lot of good advise on her site

( but I had to cheat at the comb and the tail :

sorry, I used a felting needle ...! )

Although this wet-felting figures technique isn't quite so easy

I had another go today.

... started wrong, cheated again, this time with thread and needle ...

... had some better wool to fit all together ...

( a lot depends on the kind of wool you work with ! )

... and here the little fella finally was after some good hours of work

in his own soapy swimming pool !

I like him ( her ? )

although there isn't a real face yet.

That will come later

( and hair and cloths ofcourse .... )

april finished .... quilt finished !

Today is Koninginnedag (Queen's day) in Holland.

It's a day that a considerable part of our country is coloured

orange !

I like that colour but I didn't join the party.

Our queen (with a lot of her family)

celebrates her "birthday"

somewhere in Holland.

Though her real birthday is in Januari ...

but then it's a bit too cold to celebrate outside,

so she decided to stick with the date of her mother's birthday

for all the festivities.

I didn't go out or watch t.v.

because I wanted to finish my

Caterpillar quilt

... and I did !

After adding a lot of hand stitching

I put the machine on the table again :

I finally had to tackle the problem of the sides,

but a "normal" quilt binding didn't fitt to the design, so

......

I know from experience

that making a "zig zag" stitched border

can go terribly wrong !

brrrrrrrrrrr

After a few try outs I solved the problem

with this special press foot

(although it still wasn't easy)

Then I fixed the sleeve at the back

and added the parts that "stand out", after making them a bit stiffer

with some dissolved "water soluble fabric"

This is all you get right now ....

When the new owner has the quilt

then  I will show the whole picture.

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.

a basted heart

When I started to "weave a little sunshine" for Jude

I began with the sun-rays

and I knew that the round weaving

would NOT be easy

(and I didn't want to many ruffles)

First I thought of cutting the strips on the bias,

that way you can easily force them around

but eventually I tore very narrow strips,

wetted them lightly

and then stretched them in the curve I needed :

it worked perfectly !

But ... when you are carried away with your good ideas 

you tend to forget certain things :

did you already bast the underground ???

.......

(of course I must say : I got carried away and then I forgot certain things)

So before I could start to baste down all the warp and weft strips ...

I had to put them very careful aside

and do my "forgotten" underground bast !

(if you don't use your head .... )

And now : I'm done !

not a single pin there anymore

Ta - daaaa !

All these tiny strips and scraps have finally become

ONE

(you know what : this is what you can do with it now !)

and after that it looks the same as the picture above

;-)