a surprising start

Sometimes 

a surprise 

can take your breath away

...

this one did !

Today was the first time I went out again 

(with daughter and two kids to Rotterdam)

after almost a month of being housebound

due to my silly stumble down the stairs.

After visiting the first shop,

we walked slowly to our biggest book store

where I had coffee and a bagel

while the others did some more shopping.

Then, when I came home

I found this totally unexpected packet

.....

from 

AUSTRALIA  !

In it was "a belated Christmas present" :

the most gorgeously coloured 

hand deyed yarn 

FIRE  !

I'll be honest :

my heart skipped a beat, and it brought tears to my eyes

What a gorgeous present

from someone that lives literally 

on the other side of the earth !

(Ha, I remember,
 when I was in primary school,
a-a-a-a-ges ago,
our teacher told us, that, 
if we would travel down the earth,
like in an elevator,
right through the hot center, 
we would come up 
(with our feet first) 
in Australia !)

THANK YOU VERY MUCH,  ANNE !!!

(what special and beautiful things can come from Blog-land .....   ;-)  !)

happy new year

On this last day of 2013

I wish all my friends out there

a more peaceful, 

a less greedy,

(with more re-use)

a happy,

a creative and colourful

world 

for all of us 

in 

2014

Let's do it !

(and don't forget to laugh a bit every day)

;-)

happy holidays

Wishing all the best for the Holidays

to my blog-land friends :

may your days be happy and warm

(hopefully power restored in the UK, and maybe elsewhere in Canada too)

Lots of love to you all

*

(3FM Serious Request grand total 

up till tonight 9.05 pm when the Glass House opened up again :

€ 12.302.747,- )

;-)

Fair

Tired

That's what I was, after two days Christmas Fair.
(though Man helped me all the time)

(HA ... b.t.w. walking goes better now :

today without any help of the crutch !)

The start at Friday morning

My lottery for "3FM Serious Request" went well 

I will send the money tomorrow

(though it was not as much as last year)

The "request" is this year for money for the Red Cross 

to try banish diarrhea out of the lives of small children in Africa

because of the lack of clean drinking water

(money raised till Sunday night  : € 4.328.242,- )

The boy Finn was the winner

who guessed the right amount of origami cranes in the bowl !

There were 

48

(folded by our two big grandchildren,

who didn't know how many there were either,

because I had a lot of cranes everywhere in the house

which they had made months ago  ;-)  !)

Tomorrow the felted "Rainbow bird"

will go to Finn

(I phoned his mum today)

last minute things !

That's what I'm busy doing right now !!

Stitching beads (and safety pins) on flowers.

Sewing on buttons.

Stitching book covers.

Finishing bags :

I thought I'll use a simple method,

but in the end it turns out to be not simple at all  !

(I don't think I will stitch felted bags together ever again)

Stuffing fishes.

("gefillte Fisch")

Man decided to make stained-glass stars.

Though it was extra workload for me, 

I stitched them this time on the machine

and Man burned them,

outside :

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR !

I had to make another "beast"

though nót from the sea this time :

Iiiiieeeeeee .... I like him 

And today on tóp of all the other things 

(I really couldn't help myself)

I made a little (very rare)

"Rainbow bird"

for my lottery at the Christmas Fair

this Friday and Saturday !

;-)

Little grandson had some fun too

(I still need that one from time to time)

Sunday was :

 a wonderful day !

I could ride with a dear felting friend to Amersfoort

where the one-day exhibition was

Though not every participant of the felting-exchange 

could make it, I saw old and new friends.

Some had been very busy on Saturday

putting everything in the right place,

and the last bits were done 

on Sunday morning.

Some of the year-round collections :

a beautiful book, with the little felts inside !

Other work

I had a ride home again,

where dinner was ready,

so later that night I still had enough energy

to lay out a new fish :

here he is, spitting out his template !

finished today !

(little) step ...

... by (little) step

I'm making progress,

still a bit of "wheely" chair 

or one crutch for support

...

Today was my first day out again 

(to the "Christmassy" Alpaca Farm)

We had tea, coffee,

yummy sweets,

chicken soup 

and talked a LOT
(and did a stitch or two)

Someone even spun a chunky yarn 

with christmas lights in it !!!

FUN !

The last few days I've been busy with felting

little bags.

While Man started with our Christmas cards,

on which I added a little (embellisher) felted star 

;-)

Ha, tomorrow I will meet all the ladies of the year-round

felting-exchange !

We will see all the 144 card size felts 

(plus some other artwork of each person)