what a pleasure !

Daughter and I went to a workshop at HAWAR

together with a dear UK friend (who lives in Holland)

As soon as I saw the announcement 

in the HAWAR news letter in spring that 

Judit Pócs

(from Hungary)

would be giving some workshops there

we started to make arrangements  to go !

Judit was one of the felting teachers

we definately wanted to go to

and now the opportunity came on our path !

We chose the 2-day jewelry workshop in the weekend

So early last Saturday morning we drove north to Oldeberkoop

(since we were early enough we could do a little shopping

in Meinie's wonderfully stuffed shop)

After coffee/thee and introductions we could start !

It was dicided we all would start with something small : a ring.

Judit explained the first steps 

and then everyone could start and try all the various little steps on their own.

(with lots of help from Judit if we weren't sure how to proceed)

Ahhhh ..... these wonderful strong and able hands !

All too soon 

it was time for the wonderful HAWAR lunch 

on the terras outside, because we had lovely sunny weather.

Lunch at HAWAR 

(this time prepared by Spanish Paco)

is always such a treat !

After lunch some continued the ring,

others started on a pendant or bracelet.

The three of us had a delicious dinner at Hotel Lunia 

after we brought our bags to the B&B.

Our homework was to make a design for what

we wanted to make the next day.

Some inspiration Judit brought with her

Our designs for pocket necklace/belt.

From the previous day we knew we had to work very hard

to be able to make a good start on our project.

There were so many little things you had to do 

before you could go on with the rest of the piece ...

felting is always thinking and planning ahead !!!!!!!

Well, it wasn't a big problem 

if the piece wasn't finished when we would be going home,

because we have been felting for quite some time now,

so know how to proceed ...

(in fact only one of us ladies had a really finished piece in the end)

Friend Jane worked really really hard,

daughter did finish the ring and little pocket here today,

my ring still needs some work, 

the little bag is nowhere near finished,

and the pendant (that I finished today) waits for 

embroidery and a cord with closure.

(it will be a "fire" necklace)

Lots still to do, but oh my,

what a load of new things we learned.

It was such a pleasure to have Judit for a teacher !!!!!

She's a great artist !

THANKS  JUDIT  !

I bought Judit's lovely book, so I can enjoy looking at her work

and probably get even more inspiration

 to maybe incorporate in my own work.

;-)

back !

We just came back of a lovely holiday

in a wooded part of our country.

We had lots and lots of sunshine

and some big showers 

which caused things like this.

We also visited a very special playground

where all of the grandchildren had the best of time

We also went to a very old (partly rebuild) paper mill

where they had the most wonderful place to air dry the paper

*

Then, last weekend, 

Daughter, a friend and I had a very special felting workshop

at HAWAR

Mmmmmm my head's still buzzing with all the new things !

(later more, still have to sort out the photos)

the tale ( 14 - 7 - 14 )

Yes !

All the last little bits and pieces 

are attached to the bigger piece.

The tale can be told !

I read this tale in the novel 

"Bone House"

by Betsy Tobin.

(the book is set in Elizabethan England  and the tale

 was told by one of the main characters in the book)

"Near a village lives, hidden in the woods, a wonderful mystrerious bird. 

All those who have ever seen a glimpse of it, tell their own wonderful story.

A traveler hears all the wonderful stories and is desperate to find this

miraculous bird. He then roams through the woods, without finding it, untill

in the end he does catch a glimpse of its beauty. He grabs his bow and 

shoots the bird. Then, where it fell down, he only finds a small gray black

little bird ..... At long last, he puts the dead bird in his bag and returns to 

the village. He tells the villagers that he saw the bird in the end ... and that 

it was just as wonderful as they all had told him. He tells them to keep

safe this wonderful miraculous bird and leaves the village, to never return."

The villagers

telling their strories about the beautifully coloured bird.

The mystrious bird 

(everyone tells a different story about its beauty)

The dark woods, with a glimpse of colour

The traveler shooting the bird

and when it falls to the ground, he only finds this.

But the story has to be kept alive ...

THE  END 

another player in the flow

My embellisher story-telling piece slowly continues

Another player had to be added.

Wel not exactly, because he was already there,

but now (only) he continues on the other side of the piece.

This little extra piece was also backed with a bit of green fabric,

I had to make a bow and arrow

and just had the right (thin and thick) coloured wire.

The string of the bow I poked through one hand,

and the bow was fastened in the middle to the stretched other hand :

stitched tightly between wool and fabric.

(then I just tied the thin wire around the bow)

Here I'm attaching the little piece to the backside of the "setting'"

More wire.

This time to make the whole piece standing upright

(fiddly business)

(to be continued)

I made two more "pages" for Sara's Challenge

But this at least one of them is for someone

in the group of "sister-challengers" 

We are waiting which name for each one of us 

comes out of the hat

;-)

So : no pictures

otherwise the surprise is gone.

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