1 - 1 - '21

HAPPY  NEW  YEAR !

 The first day of a fresh new year !
(may 2021 bring a lot better days that the strange 2020 !)

It was a very quiet New Year's Eve :
just the two of us (lockdown)
and almost no fireworks
(hoping for less casualties in the already overfilled hospitals)
and little to eat and drink
(because of stomach ache)

But to celebrate this fresh start
I post the last thing I stitched in 2020 :
another bird for Mandy Pattullo's workshop.

a crested tit

This is not a bird that we'll see in our garden
he belongs in more wooded areas.
But one summer holiday (some years back)
he visited the garden of the holiday house we then stayed

I first made a background
piecing random bits together, like Jude taught us,
and I only used the backside of the fabric
for more subdued colours.
(the pictures are bad because it was already rather dark when I took them)

working with little snippets
with another picture for guidance.

Planning more . . .

happy holidays !

This strange year  2020   is rapidly coming to an end.

For a very long time
the Stitch Club has given a lot of much needed distraction and fun
to textile loving people all over the world :
a new warm community has been formed during that time.

Some workshops were more fun than others :
and not everyone likes the same things, thank heaven
it would be a monotonous world  haha !

The last workshop so far
the second one by Mandy Pattullo
was one that I saw on her blog, but could never follow :
birds made of textile collages !
This was one of the few workshops that almost everybody LOVED !

I use this robin to wish you all,
wherever you are,
lovely (but most probably very QUIET) holidays
and all the best for the new year

2021

Stay safe (and sane)
and happy stitching !!!

new "stitch" things . . .

The year is rapidly coming to a close now.
Though normally December is a month of festivities
everything is just a bit stranger now.

"Sinterklaas"
(the Dutch feast mainly for children
and tongue-in-cheek verses for grown-ups)
was held but with "keeping our distance"

And also Christmas will be under the same rules,
because LOCKDOWN has hit us again
since last Tuesday !
This strange Corona / Covid year
makes everybody uncomfortable
but thank heaven we're all healthy in our little circle !

The one and only "constant"
is the Stitch Club !!!

Jennifer Collier and Richard McVetis
were the last two.

For Jennifer we made a glove out of paper.
No, one is not able to wear a glove like that :
it's just a decorative item.

I didn't use the pattern that was given,
but traced my own hand.
The paper I used came from a Owfam / Novib calendar :

such beautiful photos to choose from.
And besides that the paper it strong enough to stitch through !
The back and thumb were from a page of one of Man's

colouring books  (one he didn't like very much  ;-)  !)

On the edge came some special lacy stitch

not easy but it worked out in the end.

Some weeks ago I had found my old wedding gloves,
still pristine, because used only one day, hahaha !

I had to make an effort to put them on :

my arthritis hands are not the same size as they once were !!!

For the workshop of Richard McVetis
I had to find a photo and simplify and trace it.
Richards used architecture
but any other picture would do too.
In my photo program I couldn't find the pictures of Rotterdam
that I was looking for, but then I found a magazine
about the harbour of Rotterdam.
There was one I liked !

I waited a long time and hesitated
HOW and more so IF
I wanted to stitch on it
. . . . .

This is the finished piece :
stitched, but not too much

(but I'm still not sure whether it was the best way . . .)

and the winner is . . .

I waited ten days 
(ha, appropriate I thought)
but now we have a winner for the 

10 years blogging giveaway

MARIA  !

Congratulations Maria,

and please send me your address !

ready for the draw . . .

Sorry for the others . . .
(there will be something like this  some other day
and then you may win ! )

Have a good week everyone !

giveaway at last

I already said
that November is slow for me
but now I'm picking up the pace again !

The last Stitch Club workshop
by Ali Ferguson
who told us (in her wonderful Scottish accent) how to make a book from scratch.
(I'm busy, but am not able to show anything : gifts in the making)

I also knitted socks as a present for a dear old friend
(and she doesn't know yet . . .)

And at last there was time to work on the

GIVEAWAY  !

Ten years of blogging went by
but I had to postpone this celebration
because I was simply TOO busy
with my Textile Jewels for Pink Ribbon.

It all started (after reading / following lots of blogs about art and stitching)
with a leap of faith to participate in Jude Hill's online class
"Patchwork Beasts"
Someone in that wonderful stitching community convinced me
that blogging was easy-peasy . . .
(and the rest is history !)

"Stitching is done with the heart"

(+/-  7 x 24 cm)
GIVEAWAY !

   the start                    and                 finished        

There are hearts, one with an indigo dyed striped moon,
on a piece of break-down-printed sturdy cotton,
rainbow kantha stitched,
and a bit of my "magic thread".

You can probably understand why I had to "borrow"
Jude's black-and-white nine patch :
she is the source !

Thanks
(again)
Jude !

If you want to participate in this fun play
please leave a message in the comments.
I will be drawing a "winner"
in about ten days.

Happy stitching to you all !

WOW !!!

November is SLOW

I know that by now :
all the hustle and bustle,
the soaring energy of every day's pressure
to deliver a new Textile Jewel
that is just what October means to me
. . . . .

I even promised a giveaway by now for 10 years blogging ...

I haven't that ready yet
because something more important came along


(someone desperately in  need of some good vibes)

So you still have to wait a bit longer for that !

BUT
now all the Jewels have been sent
to their new owners
I can say this October gave

a splendid result for PINK  RIBBON  !

€ 700,-

I want to thank all those lovely customers
who made this possible,
because there were MANY extra donations !
(and we topped it up to a round number)

 SIMONE  , SANDRA ,
ALET , SIETS , 
 ELKE  , TWINK ,   MADELON , 
JOLAN , BAUKJE , JOKE ,
JOEKIE , ELLY ,
LEONIE , KAREN , DEA ,
MORAG , PETRA ,
LARISA , INGRID



THANK YOU ALL
VERY MUCH !

I am very happy :
it was really worth the effort !

Clever readers might ask :
why not 31 names . . .
well.
because some people just did their
"Christmas shopping"
right here !

;-)

don't forget . . . . .

Tomorrow a lot of Pink Ribbon Jewels
will go in the mail.
They go to their new owners.
I think they will be happy :
as the "real thing"
is  always  better  than the picture !

But
there are still two lovely ones
that need to go to a new home too !

NO :

This one is SOLD too   ;-) 

This one is SOLD !

Two more options
to increase the amount of money
that I can transfer to  PINK  RIBBON  !