19 - 1 - 19 ... T A S T

The year had a quiet start :

I love that

after all the hussle and bussle of December.

Now January halfway gone ...

I am making sketches again for new pictures,

forming ideas of  "stories" ...

painting them will take a while.

But

I started something else :

T A S T 

No, not "task", though it is,

but Take A Stitch Tuesday.

I found this accidentally

and it reminded of my try two years back :

something similar but abandoned very soon.

Let's see what this year brings ...

An old IKEA cushion cover I found

(the back is almost totally white)

A thread-nest with odds and ends of other

stitching projects

The start of  T A S T  at the back side of the coverlet.

Me, I was stitching on Thursday

and catching up the first three weeks :

chain stitch, fly stitch and buttonhole stitch

(with variations if you want to)

All familiar to me so time to play !

(I hope it's allowed to stitch on other days too ?

at least I did !)

Start at the front ...

(HA, someone in the TAST - community

is using the very same coverlet ...)

enjoy !

Holidays give many opportunities.

You can spend them with family

with friends

with the cat / the dog

or alone

("home alone" can be sooo good,

though there still is that movie

they show almost every year about this time ... )

You can party

you can cook / eat some extravagant dinner

or just look what's in the fridge

...

Everyone can choose (I hope)

what suites her or him best.

The main thing is :

  ENJOY  

(these last few weeks I've enjoyed another

online felting class

made quite a few felted birds,

and made some special presents

that will be unwrapped in two days)

But

in case you are one of the many people

who have to WORK right now

then I hope you catch some

  happy time  

later !

king or fisher ?

It might become a mild

addiction

.....

Soon after making the very first bird

I started to use a felting needle :

not too much,

but just to make sure I start off with the right shape.

That way I'm able to follow more closely

the colour pattern on the bird.

King or Fisher ???

We don't hardly ever see them here, kingfishers.

They are quite rare

Years ago I saw a bright blue flash

from a branch near the water behind our garden

and knew what it must have been right away !

(never seen one since)

(no harm done)

(hmmmm ... sure lóóks like an addiction)

one bird in the hand ...

Like last year

I'm participating in an online felting class

of Corinna Nitschmann.

Though I don't have a lot of time

to do some big felting right now,

but there's the possibility to save these lessons for later

(like the wrist warmers and the skirt)

But the little birds that adorned a felted vessel

were sooooooooo CUTE

I had to try them right away !

A tiny bit of wool

lukewarm water, soap

and nimble hands

do the trick.

A small great tit was the result !

And because it's such fun ...

(a blue tit without a picture)

a wren

and a tail tit.

Always love it when in winter these little ones

come foraging in a group !

Maybe I even make one of these special visitors in felt !

(ring-necked parakeets are more and more common here)

shoes

After all the Pink Ribbon activity in October

came some serious felting

in the first two weekends of November.

The regional group

of our Dutch felting society

(VKG)

gave us the opportunity

to make shoes or boots.

(some of the members did a real shoe-workshop,

then made another pair and then

five of them wanted to teach us)

With three together

we carpooled to the tree-nursery region

where one of the members has a felting studio

in a greenhouse.

The sun was shining ...

but at first it was COLD !

(but we were warned :

and had many layers of clothing !)

After measuring our feet

we had to adjust the lasts according to those measures.

Iiiiiiieeeee not nice, cutting into the styrofoam !

We also made the reinforcement for the heel

Weighing the wool, making the resist for the felt,

and having a nice lunch filled up that first day.

The next day the serious felting began !

Still COLD but the sun heated up the greenhouse quit nicely.

Starting with the  B I G  resist !

The first of many layers ! 

After working for a considerable time

I could cut the form in half

making two shoes

After a bit more felting I put in the lasts

and continued felting

to let them shrink to the form.

We took the half finished shoes home.

Luckily I could take out the lasts without

having to cut the sole !!!

Then there was more felting, till they fit around my feet !

After they were dry I could cut the shape I wanted :

I decided for booties instead of shoes with laces.

Next weekend was the final day :

punching holes for laces,

gluing in the contrefort and putting on the soles.

...........

Ta-daaaaah !

Very happy !

(some others too !)

It was a LOT of work

but soooooo much FUN !

the final PINK result

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT !

Oh boy, it has been a while 

After finishing the last Pink Ribbon jewel

on Wednesday October 31

there was the start of a lot-of-hard-work workshop :

felting shoes !

It was a lot of FUN but it was quite cold

and a LOT of hard work indeed !

(3 days)

But more on thát later !

Although, at the beginning of the month,

I didn't know if I would be able

to keep it up till the end,

I luckily did !!!

(but I still must be careful with my back)

The very last EXTRA jewels

that I had to make

will be going to the post next week !

Then the final amount I can transfer to PINK  RIBBON will be

€  525.-

I want to THANK all the generous buyers

who made this possible !

Madelon, Alet, Karen, Gerda, 

Baukje, Simone,

Ellen, Dee, Joke, Siets,

Sjaak, Evelien, Sandra,

Larisa, Corinna, Anke, Ulrike,

 Hazel , Maria, Nancy,

Catherina, Delia,

Kate, Jolan

THANK YOU ALL

SO VERY VERY MUCH !

(you might count the names and NOT come to 31 ...
that's because there were people who bought 
MORE than one jewel !!!)

:-)

..... only two left ... ?

This weekend I'm VERY busy with

two felting workshops !

One started yesterday

which continues tomorrow,

and an extra (small) one today !

I will tell about those later

but :

there are still

TWO Pink Ribbon Jewels left !!! 

NOTHING   left now  !

That must be a mistake

the PURPLE  HEART  pendant (day 16)

SOLD  !

and

the FISH brooch  (day 29)

SOLD !

There is surely someone out there

who wants one of these

(or both)

for a donation of

€ 10

(each)

You'll become the proud owner of a lovely jewel

(for yourself or for a friend)

AND

you support a good cause !

Just send me an email at

fiberrainbow@gmail.com

(or leave a message down here at the "comments")

I hope I can send these lovelies to someone soon