quiet ... quiet ... quiet

Yes it's quiet here,

the year walks quietly to its end.

We had lovely family days

and the rest was really quiet.

Just mending a bit

(not for me)

...

and knitting

(the zigzag pattern)

...

and making some more stars

(for the tree)

The jeans of daughter that were lying around for quite some time :

busy mending at last !

the beginning

the outside                   ...         and using pliers !!!

inside

(with some extra cotton fabric for strength)

*

Because the zigzag scarf pattern was so much fun

(using up all the sock yarn leftovers)

I thought I should make some socks

to go with the scarf

:-)

Now two socks on one circular needle

Nearly there !!!

!

I coloured some more wooden stars

such fun to do !

Some more for the tree ...

(which will be outside again soon !)

odds and ends

This year
2016

and December
is rushing to its end.

Well not really,

but it feels like that ...

and it's rather quiet on the creative end here.

Though I can tell

that I finally finished my "zigzag sock scarf"

(a name which asks for an explanation :

a scarf 

in a zigzag pattern

with leftover sock yarn)

I must confess that it was nearly lost :

I left the little bag on the boat

when I came back from Rotterdam some weeks ago

(there were a lot of other bags to take care of ...)

But last week it was reported found

so I picked it up ...

and started knitting right away !

(here the colours are better)

All there is left to do :

weave in the ends !!!

*

When the weather was great last week

I started the long postponed cutting

of some shrubs in the garden.

The dust bin for all the green stuff

was filled to the brim

so there is lots more still lying in the garden,

waiting for the next round ...

Today, on the other side of the water

some men were busy

making pollard willows of our willows again !

They had obviously waited too long :

the branches were as big as small trees !!!

(at my side of the water you can see

half the Buddleja cuttings still in the garden

and the "Black Knight" near the water, isn't even done yet)

*

And yesterday we had a very strange visitor (again)

a ring-necked parakeet !

These birds are NOT native birds here :
they either escaped from captivity
or
were just put "outside"
because their owners didn't like them anymore ...
(They originate from Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
but are good survivors now in many European countries !)

Very odd to see such a bright green bird
but they seem to flourish here
:-)

(this one is probably a youngster,
younger than the one we saw a few weeks ago :
this one doesn't have the dark ring
around its neck yet)

december .....

Ahhhhhh

first day of the last month of this year

.....

a bit of winter

As I could have predicted in advance :

November was a quiet month

after the frantic activities of October.

I made some more textile jewels

(just because it was fun)

but couldn't get myself

into starting something new.

But, I had to make my last two (!) pieces

for the felting exchange.

I made the one for October first :

a (big) fish

of which I totally forgot to take pictures

before I sent him off.

Then, in the last days of November

I fi-nal-ly had the idea

for the Zodiac sign Virgo
(the September piece !)

shrunk to the right size !

It was quickly dry on the radiator
and then came the fun :
embroidery

Finished,

... and it arrived safely, I heard !

I also received one of my
last "jewels" (corsages) I asked for

Ha, it's almost like Medusa's head ...
but I like it !
Thanks Paulien !

There was more interest in it  :

Ha, ha, ha !

*
And in a few days
we have the children's feast
"St Nicolaas"

(dress rehearsal)

we have a winner ....

Oh my ....

someone will be very happy

and others disappointed

Well that's the way it is, with this kind of thing

(maybe lucky another time !)

This super November moon

will go to :

who lives in Sweden

(or is it Finland ?)

Dear Emileitha,

send me an email with your address !

(that was yesterday evening, but I didn't

have time to post it .... so today it is !)

*

After making all these

Pink Ribbon textile jewels

I finally found time to make the BLUE earrings

that I wanted for a long time.

I have LOTS of earrings,

but not the blue I wanted

...

Yeaaaaah !

Of course the back is some tiny bit of Kaffe Fassett !

(that's the problem with making things yourself : 

most of the time,

you are the last person in line !!!)

*

Ohhhhh 

and now I have two more felting exchange pieces to make

Might finish them just before it all ends  

"your" full moon, maybe ... ???

Ohhhhh

I mentioned it a month ago :

October is my Blogaversary month !

But, as it was also my Pink Ribbon challenge month

the giveaway I promised

never got done

sorry

...

But, as they say :

better late than never !

Because the Textile Jewel ideas are still popping

I came up with this

(appropriate I think, with tomorrow being a full moon !)

A white felt brooch

with thirteen sequin-moons

(a whole year blogging "plus", six now years ...)

some white silk, some silver, a tiny bit of gold even

and variegated pastel French knots.

"FULL  MOON "

the making of ...

This  giveaway  can be for you !

Yes, really !

Just leave a comment under this post ...

You may be a blogging-friend for years

or

you may just have found me,

it doesn't matter,

leave a comment and join in

...

Next Sunday I'll draw a winner,

and wherever you live

this FULL  MOON  comes to you !

*

As a matter of fact I started with something else first

for this giveaway, but as I was working on that

it came to me that it had to be going

somewhere else,

it will travel to some really sad people

and I hope it helps them a bit

with their sorrow.

*

a very big THANK YOU

It took some time

but

I finally have the result of my

PINK RIBBON challenge of October :

€ 450,-

That was the donation I could make today
All of my Textile Jewels were sold !
With some extra on commission.

(yes, I know, two Jewels will soon go in the mail

to Aerdenhout and two more to Karlsruhe, Germany,

and then one more fish will be brought in person)

THANK YOU

 Alet , Ellen, Ria,  Madelon , Jolan, Mattie,

 Joke , Bernadette, VKG-ladies,  Ellen , Inge,  Siets , Simone,

Rina, Morag, Sandra, Linda, Doris. Larisa,  Gitte , Marion

 Maartje ,  Jane , Margreet,  Yvette 

for buying and for some extra donation !

Here is one of the last Pink Ribbon textile jewels I made

Not a  pendant this time, but a brooch.

Last week I received a surprise envelope

from my dear friend Doris !

(she said, she had "something" for me ...)

THANK  YOU soooooo much, Doris !

for this wonderful green/blue variegated silk thread

I had to use it right away :

I used it for the feather stitch on that last fish ...

and it's great to work with !

these are still left ...

I had to say that I still had left

five

of my Pink Ribbon Textile Jewels,

so just before dinner I put these five on FB

and intended to put them here too

.....

But right now

I only have three Jewels left !

Thank you Simone,

for being such a wonderful buyer !

Now two Jewels will go with you as presents

when you go visit the US shortly !

So here are the three

that have been "forgotten" until now

Each one of these make a lovely gift to someone !

€ 10

and one of them is yours

to give to a dear friend, sister, mother

...

I want to donate as much money to the Pink Ribbon Fund as I can !