2 - 2 - 15 ..... felting excange

I know, I know,

I was late (again)

But I already phoned Helma,

telling her that the little felted piece "HEARTS" would arrive soon.

When the (postcard size) piece for her was dry

I could start with the embroidery

which  (as I 've said before)

is really fun on felt !!!

Because I chose turquoise/blue for the piece

I thought it was nice to embroider with contrast colours.

The whitish hearts btw are made with cotton batting

under silk chiffon, which works like a resist.

Because

I was in fact too late sending my piece,

I tried to make it up to her and made something extra :

(When the little extra heart was finished with a key ring

I was so eager to send it all off 

that I forgot to make a last picture)

I hope she likes it.

In fact making the heart was so much fun 

that I couldn't resist making a few more

;-)

lovely red again

Today I received

a new red felted piece

of our monthly felting-exchange.

It is such a delight to get an envelope 

of which you know it has some 

lovely surprise inside !

(even the envelope itself looked good)

It's great to see how everyone 

get their inspiration from just the words

"something in red"

Thanks Anneke, I love it !

I'm quite late with my own felted piece

but the start is there

Lots more to be done !!!

*

These past few weeks I was busy for daughter

She needed a special leather vest

(she's starting with a training for "fire"woman

for a sweat lodge and needs some special clothing for that)

She had a wonderful piece of leather for it

and we managed to create this.

It still needs some thought how to make a good closure on the back.

She will also make a burned drawing on it.

Then there was her favourite jeans that had a near tear

on her bum and knee, so .....

mom ... please ...... ?

So I found some remnants of supple printed jeans fabric

and quilted trough both fabrics

*

Then we had a birthday boy

who needed something sweet for his classmates

(...... halfway the "minecraft blocks" ......)

but we had a LOT of help from our junior cook !!!

*

And because the rabbit piece is nearly finished

it was time to make a new start on another cat piece

it will be a  night  cat

;-)

a beast indeed

When I did Jude's "Patchwork Beasts" class 

(in 2010, but it's still in the "shop"  :-) ... !)

she had several different methodes 

with which she let us make a beast.

One, was a really simple pieced beast, out of a few small squares,

or rectangles,

just like I made the rabbit.

Then you could "dress" it up

with all kinds of tiny scraps on the surrounding space,

which I did on the rabbit too.

Raw edge, or needle turned appliqué,

it just doesn't matter :

no rules here !

Stitches on the upside,

      a bunny tail .....       and          a raw edge flower pice.

The "grassy" leaves are double with tiny quilt stitches

and the other leaf was sewed and then turned

to the right side and closed.

Yes, it's less than 2 cm.

(only part of it will be joined to the background)

There are only a few bits of the background left to be seen :

embroidered bits of a white linen blouse.

  

I'm not sure yet, but I don't think

this is a sweet bunny

....

it's more like a fierce rabbit !

It's not exactly the Monty Python Killer Rabbit

but

it is not a "Flappie" either

I have to explane this :

"Flappie" is a hilarious song of a great Dutch comedian,

about what happened when the pet rabbit 

ended up in the pot for the xmas dinner

..... 

(everybody in Holland knows the song)

:-)

This was made of the patched beast I made for Jude's class :
all of the background gone, the beast was only stitched on.
(it was called "Show me your teeth"
and was a present for our dentist, who retired)

what's next

Ha, 

that is always "the problem" when one thing

is finished

...

"A warm heart brightens up your day"

A detailed look of the left part

Here it is :

mounted on a painted canvas

(15 x 15 cm)

(only one side is striped, the other three are gray and lighter gray)

So then it was on to the next one.

I started like we did start a long time ago 

during the "beasts" class with Jude :

piecing a simple beast

(rabbit)

(hey, maybe Joe triggered that with the tale

about the rabbit near his front door  ;-) ...?) 

It's a rather tame rabbit ...... but that can change

After that I dressed up its surroundings with scraps

and glue-stitched them to the background.

In the meantime there were two grandchildren to take care of :

the little one, and the big girl, who was sick

(but wanted to "make something" after she had slept for a while)

Lots of woolen felt in my stash, 

so :

mama and baby owl were "born"

a heart (is what we need)

I picked up an "old" piece 

with a heart

that was only pinned to the background.

Now I'm working on it again

Left in the background 

is a bit I received some years ago from Australia (Jacky)

The heart has some very old bits in it

and one small piece with only half a "flower"

so I completed it's form in stitch

It gets a black and white tail

(thanks Jude)

The black and white strip on the side I remember from years ago

in a workshop with Mirjam Pet.

*

Today our little grandson wore

(like a real Dutchman)

wooden shoes

(they are his mom's old ones !) 

Oh, how he loves the sound he is making

when he wears them 

!!!

And :

he looooves to clean up

(that all the droplets were on the outside

didn't bother him)

*

And finally :

 je suis 

 Charlie 

Because

violence is 

never ever

the solution 

for any problem

in the world

what a man ... !

Daughter and I went on a shopping tour yesterday.

We went by Ferry boat and bike to Rotterdam.

It was a cold and rainy day.

We went to our favourite cloths shop of 

Cora Kemperman

(who had sale !)

We went to some other shops too

and had a delicious lunch at "Spirit" (De Groene Passage)

where you can eat the best organic and vegetarian food !

Then we cycled back in wind and rain to the boat

that took us home to our village.

And   there   was  . . . . .

home baked apple pie !!!

Ohhhh ... what a man !

Still warm apple pie, with a little whipped cream

and a cup of coffee / tea

warmed us up real soon.

This is also Man's work :

his new mandala colouring book !
*

The tour to town was a success regarding the clothes

;-)

1 - 1 - 15 .... new beginnings ...

I started on new things but cannot show them yet,
so first an "old" one :

this little cat-friend Betsy

arrived safely in her new home yesterday

(so here she is, all of her)

She started like a rather regular nine-patch

(just like Jude's "strays" ...)

and 

next to it, the finished bit, turned over.

(I started stitching the face and then decided to add another thin cloth layer)

I mounted the finished quiltlet on a little 15 x 15cm canvas

before I send it away.

And, with a brand new year starting there is time 

for some more stitching and felting too

I wish everyone 

lots and lots of good things in this year 2015 !

I know, there will be not-so-good and maybe even a few bad things this year ...

because that's the way how life goes,

But I do hope the good things massively outnumber the not-so-good ones !

Good luck everybody

Let's make it a good year