walking (paper)

For week two of Shelley Rhodes workshop I made a "walk-strip"
inspired by photos of a SC member in Australia
who walked along the beach there.

This strip was far more abstract in mark making
and mainly made of different bits of paper
but also snippets of fabric

The strip was cut up and then
lots of tiny bits were added to make a new composition


trying little bits,
adding
changing
deciding

The finished little piece
(on a 13 x 18cm piece of watercolour paper)

walking

 The last two week took me walking 
photographing
and mark-making
for  STITCH  CLUB

Shelley Rhodes
gave a wonderful workshop that I liked very much !
But because my legs (knees) are not what they once used to be
my walk was just a small "around-the block" kind of walk
that's why I thought of a special way to depict that "block"
by making a square instead of the
suggested long strip.

After preparing and drawing my marks
with different materials
I could start adding stitch
which resulted in my final piece
that I then framed in a deep frame with glass on both sides.

some details of the stitching

I added some real alder seed cones
in the middle.
The fun thing is that in Dutch
the alder tree is called "els"
so what better way to make this really mine

:-) 

SC

Stitch Club
is keeping me busy
. . . . .
There are so many lovely members
in this stitching community so that is really half the fun !!!
Then there are great textile artists
who share with us some of their techniques and inside secrets
and who are willing to guide us
in our own process
giving encouragements and tips !

NO,
I haven't regretted it a bit
taking part in Stitch Club !

The previous two weeks were again
for Ali Ferguson
who taught us how to make a book (from scratch)
but now showed how she made a "memory-story-piece"

BUT
I first finished another very small piece
for the Jean Draper workshop !!!

*

Though I wasn't too keen on Ali's start with
mind mapping, I gave it a try
and ended up with a piece about my garden
(instead of "the kitchen")
;-)

The mind map
(and looking for all kinds of things that could go onto the piece)

the finished piece

stretched over a canvas !

wordless Wednesday

 

August ??

 Oh my
time is rushing by more quickly
than you think it does
. . . . .
Not true of course when you think back of all the fun
(or sad) things that have indeed happened.
We've had enough of both lately
but I will limit myself to the fun things.

There were of course more Stitch Club workshops :
another one of Sue Stone,
Debbie Smyth
Maria Thomas,
and now Jean Draper.

For Sue it was :
tell a story, take a person and background
and add some text.
But since I'm still slowly stitching on my "Joetta Maue portrait"
of our youngest grandson, I took and animal instead of a person,
the fox

 And I LOVE that clever text
where ALL the letters of the alphabet are
in one English sentence.

Some pieces of vintage fabric are really soft to stitch on
and the Inktense pencils did the job very well

When I thought I was finished, 
I found a snippet on the floor that was just right
for adding some different colour too !

detail

The work Debbie Smyth makes is really awesome
but I wasn't in the mood
for hammering many many pins in wood
so that workshop is left for another time.


Then came Maria Thomas.
Working with "faux" shisha-mirrors and putting
all kinds of memorabilia on cloth
was really fun to do.
I chose (again) a colour scheme of
black / gray / white /  and a touch of red.
It turned out that most of my fabrics
were striped or checked but that was okay.
I decided to use my extensive stash of clothing labels
but I was low on mirrors and bottle caps !!!

Bits and pieces collected for a good start.

Everything pinned in place !

And then something beautiful happened !!!

Because I mentioned on the members page of Stitch Club
that I didn't have any shisha mirrors,
a Dutch member (in fact two : sisters !) offered to send me
some really big sequins instead !!!

Then I said, why don't I come and get them myself
(because I already knew they live in a town nearby !!!
So yesterday I went on bike and Ferry
and visited my textile friends !!!
Now that was fun !
We talked long about lots of things
and it was great to see and FEEL the textile pieces.
I went home (much later than I thought)
with a little stash of sequins and even bottle caps !
(hmmmm . . . next piece)

THANKS  WIL  AND  HILDE  !

Half of my piece
and in need of a few more kantha stitches !

*

And what is a summer without some "water-fun" ???
That is the advantage of a garden next to water

:-)

can you believe it : 21

When you have a pet
you never know in advance
how long you will enjoy its company.
We (kind of) inherited daughter's Burmese cats
(brother and sister)

We had to let go of the big brown brother Bagheera

in January 2017

BUT

little blue sister

BELLA

(still going "strong")

has her  21st  birthday today !!!

Well,
she doesn't jump on the kitchen counter anymore
(but I have to lift her up)
to have her drops of water from the tap,
(which is much better than the water in your bowl !!)
she walks slowly and a bit shaky,
but she loves her food
(tells us when it's REALLY time for a bit more,
and asks for her cat treats
when Man comes down in the morning,
she loves to sit on your lap
but thinks her cushion is a fine place too
as long as we place it on the floor in the sun
or even outside.

She is a dear old lady
and all of us hope to have her around still a bit longer

wordless Wednesday