all kinds of different things

We had a little birthday boy last week

so there were lots of festivities !

At school, here, at home ...

(oh my ... 5 already ?

so long ago that he was that tiny baby ?

time flies ! )

A most wonderful present !!!

*

Yesterday daughter, a friend and I

went to the "Knitting fair" (Brei- en Haakdagen) in Rijswijk.

Lots of stalls with goodies

to make into new knitting, crochet

or spinning projects, and lots of inspiration.

So much to choose from ...

*

I was very busy last week

making some new textile necklaces

It progresses so very  s l o w l y  :

the fabric needs to be stuffed, closed

and turned into pumpkin shapes.

making some tiny matching crocheted flowers,

felted balls are being embroidered,

finding the "right" beads

then string it all on waxed cord,

.....

I hope to finish more than one to take to the market

in Ouwerkerk (Zeeland) on Pentecost Monday

(and five amulet pendants are finished now)

*

During a nice sunny day

I darned some of my oldest socks

(I was lucky to find still some leftover bits that matched)

It was really fun sitting there

looking at all the flowers of May

The Allium roseum "jungle" almost in bloom !

Next week the weather will be fine :

so more garden-time !

a blue day

Yesterday was a

blue day

and ... it was a day full of magic !

Eight ladies and a nice teacher, Elly Poldervaart, explored 

(along the edges of)

the  v a s t  realm of indigo.

(surely that is too much to fathom in just one day,

I think you can study years on that !) 

After the introduction

Elly started making an organic indigo vat,

according to the instructions of "Indigo-guru"

botanist and chemist Michel Garcia

A look inside the magic pot !

We then all started with a length of  thin woolen fabric (etamine)

to fold, clamp or stitch shibori-wise.

(it was very silent then ...)

(totally forgot to take pictures of my own stitching)

We had a good lunch

(although we didn't have "time" for that  ;-) ...)
and started "dipping" after that,
or
continued stitching, like me

Checking temperature,
checking pH
and putting the first one in.

Tah-daaaaaaah

There it is
yellow, green ... and then slowly
BLUE

After that ...
it started raining !!!
(and no small drops)
So everything was moved a bit, to the bicycle storage
(Elly's studio is in an old school building)

Slowly, one by one
the magic blue cloths appeared !

Hmmmmmm ...... unpicking the threads
took quite some time and effort !

In the end we could put in
some more items that we brought with us.

Then, too soon, it was time to tidy up and put all the work on the table

Thanks Elly
it was a day of magic !

At home waited Man with yummy lasagna
(another treat !)
and some more rinsing and unpicking
...........

My green silk strip
and ...

moons !!!


What a day ...

BLUE  !!!

preparations

Indigo, holds something 

magic

for me.

And because the process isn't easy at all,

because I don't have much room

(inside or outside) for dyeing

I'm very happy that I'm attending an 

indigo workshop

tomorrow !

Yeaaahhh !

So this week was time for preparations for that.

On some lovely green silk
(a birthday present from last year)
I started stitching ...
and pulling tight !

I don't know all the Japanese names
for the different kinds of shibori
but you can find a LOT about it on the net.

The whole green strip is stitched now
and now I'm busy on an old T shirt of daughter
and an off white silk "camisole"

I'm delighted to have little bits of fabric
on which I can dye my own indigo  moons 
(like the ones Glennis and Jude make)

One piece finished :
ready for the dye pot !

Oh my : May !

Our days are good ...

But when you look back

you often wonder where they went !

So enjoy each and every day !

New small items are emerging

out of tiny scraps :

new textile jewels.

"the circle of water"

Though they are not very big

6 x 10 cm  (2.5 x 4 ")

they take a lot of time,

deciding every little step in the process :
deciding which scraps go best with each other,
choosing threads to stitch with,

finding the right beads to go with the tiny symbols,

using this or that way to hang these

textile pendants.

"happy colours" about halfway

"mother Earth nurtures"

(nearly there)

"blue heaven"

(a lot more thinking and stitching needed)
*

And the garden ..... ?

just goes on and on and on ...

;-)