balls

Early May we had the Stitch Club workshop by (the Dutch)
Mirjam Gielen
making a six-segment object.

I chose some purples from my stash
and special fabric I bought last year on a textile fair.

Then came the fun part to decorate them.
On the turquoise one I started with woven picots
(always so much fun to make)
and then I added seed beads in the colours of the hexagons.

For number two I decided on stacked running stitch.

Of course a running stitch is easy BUT
if you want them really close together a lot more is asked.
And you can only do a few rounds with one length of thread . . .
so filling this ball took "ages" !!!
The different reds go nicely with the purple.

More than halfway down I changed the pattern
into small dots.

After this workshop we had some "quiet time"
and, to be honest I liked that very much.
As a Stitch Club member from the very start
I'm amazed in how many workshop I participated !
(and to be even more honest : not everything is finished,

there are still quite a few WIPs to be considered   :-/  )

This last week we had something new and fun though :
zoom sessions with a lot of SC members from all over the world

and it was so much FUN to see each other and stitch a bit together !
Those were wonderful events
a fantastic STITCH COMMUNITY !

24 - 7 - '24 wordless Wednesday

 

new fun

Last Saturday we had a fun workshop
by Saar Snoek
(a young Dutch felting artist)
with members of the Dutch felting society
(Viltkontaktgroep)

We made leaves or flowers with thin stems
and she had a fun headdress to show off the technique.
I made two simple leaves then.
I always need some time to let things stew
. . . . .
but today I came up with a brooch using
that same technique in it.

Making the thin flower stems into some decorative swirls !

Of course I could have stitched them on
but for felters the fun is always to make it in one go :
no needle and thread needed !

Nearly there . . .

These were some of the results of the members on Saturday,
a lot of colourful leaves and flowers

FELTING !

Oh YES,
I definitely need capital letters
to talk about what I'm doing right now !

I subscribed to a FELTING course
of Corinna Nitschmann
who has this 10 days of FUN with felting !
Five workshops, five teachers :
Dadmar Binder
Mihály Vetró
Bea Németh
Márti Csille
and Nadia Szabó

(luckily there are a few days "off" in between)

Until now I did "only" three,
but the other two workshops I'll do later.
It is really great fun to work with renowned felting artists
and learn another few tricks !

:-)

Not everything I did is totally finished
so for now only the result
of what I did today.

(die tentaklierte Warzenpiepe)
"beast with warts and tentacles"

This is the "backside" with some "gold" visible
(though nót in the picture) that is inside.

It is stuffed with kitchen paper right now
so it can dry in the right shape.
I might also do some stitching on it
but I'm not sure yet right now,
at least I have to wait for it to be totally dry.

(later more)

day 23

LATE, LATE; LATE !
Just finished my jewel for today
because I was away all day !
And what a FUN day it was :
the regional day for our part of the country
of the "VKG"
(Vilt Kontakt Groep)
that is :
the Dutch Felting Association
in Gouda this time.
With about twenty women we worked on the tutorial
"Creative Sparks"
the Canadian felting artist Fiona Durhie did online some months ago.
Not finished by far, so with "homework" back home
(which took a lot longer because of some
major maintenance on a highway tunnel)

So first some tea and a lovely dinner made by Man
before there was time for stitching !

But now, there's my  PINK  RIBBON  Textile Jewel for day 23 :

a wet felted hollow pendant with some silk and gold inside
stitched with many seed beads
on an adjustable string
(11 x 6 cm)

For a donation fo
(at least)

€ 15

SOLD  !

this gorgeous jewel can be yours,
for yourself to wear
or to give it to someone dear !
You just need to send me an email at
  fiberrainbow@gamil.com  
and we'll arrange the rest !

ALL the donated money goes to Pin Ribbon !

"RUSTY"

For a new Textile Jewel
you just have to be here tomorrow

;-)

eco-printing

Yesterday was a wonderful day
for daughter and me :
a LIVE workshop eco-printing
with Carla van Belle !
The weather looked fine in the morning but it was very cold,
it was more like the first day of March
than the first of May !!!
The workshop was outside in the garden
so no big problems considering Covid
but we needed our warm sweaters and coats !

Lots of preparations were made at home beforehand.
We made four different samples in the morning.
I was glad that I had some experience already
from Caroline Nixon's Stitch Club workshop !

After lunch we could work on something of our own choice.
Daughter had an old silk camisole
and I had an old white cotton blouse.

We were really lucky that our garden is facing south,
that means all plants are slightly earlier
than somewhere else.
I had collected leaves of the New Dawn rose
and many kinds of Geraniums.
Daughter had found a bunch of Eucalyptus in the flower shop.

When working with stuff like this,
it is always difficult to remember to take pictures regularly . . .
so hardly anything of the process.
(never mind . . . if you're interested : take a workshop
it is really FUN !!!)

When we had had another cup of coffee / tea with some sweets
and had seen lots of Carla's beautiful work
(when all our stuff was bundled up and steaming in the pot)




the first bundles could be opened up and admired !

Daughter was quite happy with the result !

But I took my bundle home to let it cool down over night 
and promised to show pictures later.

Washed and ironed :

and the back

Daughter's silk camisole !


HAPPY !!!

THANKS, Carla for a lovely workshop !

colour me a rainbow

After the treasure container (of Debbie Lyddon's workshop)

for my little ladybug was finished,

I had another idea :

when you love rainbows why not paint bits of fabric

to make vessels

and make a rainbow of vessels !

Sketching and thinking came first

and then the rainbow on the "washing line"

Making the vessels and making the peepholes

 Hmmm ... stitching can be a dangerous business !

The stack is done except the top edge ...

I didn't have a fixed idea of how to keep the vessels together

but I incorporated a tiny wire loop

while stitching the top edge

and on the bottom (shallow) one I made two loops.

There was this tiny glass bird

that I bought about two years ago from a fellow artist

on an art market

that I thought of as the next "treasure to hide"

But I didn't want to put this bird

in the cage of the top vessel :

no place for a bird !

But ... what is at the end of the rainbow ???

Of course GOLD !

The rainbow of vessels spread out on the floor

(only some sequins and seed beads ...)

A rainbow of vessels

a container

A new workshop

by textile artist Debbie Lyddon

She makes amazing work

mostly inspired by the coastal area

where she lives in the UK

She demonstrated how to make a container (vessel, pouch)

for some treasure

(to find for yourself outside

or in the house)

In my search for something special

I landed with a box with a collection

of ladybugs

(the ladybugs used to be in the downstairs toilet,

but when that got renovated

the ladybugs went into a box

and never came out of there again)

I painted the fabric, made a template and started sewing.

The fun thing is the peep hole in it

where you can see a tiny bit of what's inside

I like it

(and am thinking about some other treasure

to give a special hiding place !)

a blue day

Yesterday was a

blue day

and ... it was a day full of magic !

Eight ladies and a nice teacher, Elly Poldervaart, explored 

(along the edges of)

the  v a s t  realm of indigo.

(surely that is too much to fathom in just one day,

I think you can study years on that !) 

After the introduction

Elly started making an organic indigo vat,

according to the instructions of "Indigo-guru"

botanist and chemist Michel Garcia

A look inside the magic pot !

We then all started with a length of  thin woolen fabric (etamine)

to fold, clamp or stitch shibori-wise.

(it was very silent then ...)

(totally forgot to take pictures of my own stitching)

We had a good lunch

(although we didn't have "time" for that  ;-) ...)
and started "dipping" after that,
or
continued stitching, like me

Checking temperature,
checking pH
and putting the first one in.

Tah-daaaaaaah

There it is
yellow, green ... and then slowly
BLUE

After that ...
it started raining !!!
(and no small drops)
So everything was moved a bit, to the bicycle storage
(Elly's studio is in an old school building)

Slowly, one by one
the magic blue cloths appeared !

Hmmmmmm ...... unpicking the threads
took quite some time and effort !

In the end we could put in
some more items that we brought with us.

Then, too soon, it was time to tidy up and put all the work on the table

Thanks Elly
it was a day of magic !

At home waited Man with yummy lasagna
(another treat !)
and some more rinsing and unpicking
...........

My green silk strip
and ...

moons !!!


What a day ...

BLUE  !!!