the flow continues ...

With this new embellisher "story-telling" piece I'm working on.

I encounter problems that need solving

that need some good thinking before I can continue.

Because I want all of the tale in this one piece,

using two sides was a good starting point :

as a setting where the story takes place.

But there are also some "players"

To give these "players" a clear place

I made them as a separate piece.

But because you'll see the back of that when it is in place

I had to cover up the not-so-nice back with some fabric.

(hmmmm ... that pointing finger was quite fiddly)

Sewn to the big part !

(and on the other side, the green fabric just blends in with the rest)

And boy, was I glad to come up with the best way 

to use my "magic thread" !

Not just somewhere, hidden along some edge,

but prominently and as an element of the tale.

(to be continued)

in the flow (of a tale)

While the little booklet of Sara's Challenge 

is finished now

the  f l o w of the embellisher is still going

so why not take advantage of that.

There was a story in some book that I liked,

and now I want to make something tangible of that

 The start is to make a layer out of wool (and some scraps)

and carry on till it's dense enough.

I want to use both sides of the piece

The story is about a mysterious

and wonderful bird

that hardly anyone has ever seen a glimpse of

A tiny wet felted bird with crochet wings,

and part of the "inside" forest taking shape

.....

I made the tiniest stitches on the chest and back of the bird

and then adorned it with the wonderful silk ribbon

from Emma's shop in France ! 

(it will be a challenge how to adjust the bird to the piece,

but that will be one of the very last steps in the process !)

The bright "outside"

and the darker "inside" so far

(to be continued)

finished Challenge !

I think after almost eight weeks

after Sara started her Challenge for us,

I've finished the booklet.

"Along the Lines"

In fact it has become quite thick :

7 x 7 x 10 cm

That is because I made a lot of pages.

With the first instructions Sara gave us,

she suggested to think of a number of items

you could make for your chosen theme.

(so, I started thinking and made

about ten little sketches for possible pages

for my "lines" theme)

I ended up with 10 pages. 

In fact there are 11 but I sewed two together.

On top of the considerable number of pages, 

I backed every page with fabric,

so I didn't have be careful with the embroidery stitches.

On the backing fabric is machine-written what "line" it's about

The next step was to make buttonhole stitches on the spine-side

of all the pages.

Then, 

stitching every page to an extra piece of felt, and after that

attaching this piece to the cover spine

.....

front and back cover sewn to it, and :

FINITO !

Dear Sara,

it was a wonderful challenge that you initiated 

THANK YOU  for that.

It was a joy to work on it 

and encounter a lot of nice people

who participated in it 

sun - day

The day started with some rain.

Then, the sun came out and I went into the garden

...

and found the shoes I had been wearing yesterday :

soaking wet on the stairs to the water 

GRRRRRRRR

(totally forgot about them after I took them off 

when I came home from the Rotterdam "Stitch")

Some tiny visitors in the garden clearly had enjoyed the rain

a mini toad

We should have gone to visit my brother,

but my sister-in-law was ill.

Instead daughter came by with her youngest

and brought me this wonderful present !

She spun the yarn herself

of lovely soft Icelandic wool.

Love alllll the greens !

And no better way for a child 

than spend a sunny day in the garden with some 

water !

:-)

After Jackie (Stitchworks) told me the mandala arrived safely

I now can show all of it

mandala

Drawing a mandala for Jackie (Stitchworks)

was a good start

for the birth-mandala

that I still had to make 

for the new born son of my nephew and his wife.

I used the same blue paper and the Nilgella from the garden

The beginning ...

... and the end.

I wrapped it carefully with some leftover plastic

(from a bath-goodies box)

and send it off

(We will bring the frame for it later, when we visit)

continuing challenge ... and

The fun "Challenge" 

Sara started several weeks ago

is nearing it's end.

All the instructions for the possible pages are done 

and so is the one for the cover.

That leaves only the binding of the pages.

You might recall, my theme for the challenge booklet is

"lines" 

This is the last page I made,

though in fact it will be the first or the second one of the booklet.

On the fabric that I've sewn to the back

is written :

"a line
is a dot

that went for a walk"

(that would have been said by Paul Klee)

In one of the instructions Sara suggested to integrate some thin wire.

I had this shiny green wire in my stash

and made the leaves with nail polish.

(another suggestion)

For the cover, I made three parts.

I worked a bit more on them

and I think they're okay now

Back, spine and front.

I made the spine probably too wide,

but I didn't know how thick the stack of pages would be 

.....

This Sunday we'll probably get the last instruction for binding the pages,

though some have allready finished ther booklet.

Anyway, it was a fun thing to participade !

!
Almost forgot : I won a give away !!!

At Jackie's blog Stitchworks

I LOVE the work she makes and she greatly inspires me !
(well, I say "I never ever win"  and I didn't expect to this time either ...)

Today arrived a lovely pouch,
hand painted and stitched !

with a super fun "button"

I was so delighted I made her a "thank-you-mandala"

which went in the mail right away

(ha, only a sneak peek for you)

solstice

The highlight of summer ?

It is, in our dance around the sun

but not when you think of the weather at the moment ...

Nevertheless

my Summer Solstice piece is finished.

(just in time yesterday evening,

to participate in a solstice fire daughter and her best friend had

noooo, they didn't burn it, I think )

Summer Solstice 2014

Still think it was such a good idea to start 

with the woven fabric strips.

Though it wasn't easy to stitch

because the cotton scraps that Sus dyed herself,

was such tightly woven cotton, that it was hard to pull the needle 

with the thick cotton that I used most of the time, through.

(even needed pliers sometimes !)

I hope for a lot of "real" warm summer still to come,

and  "down under"  ...  slowly but surely, the days will get longer.