tiny felts

When I saw daughter's little leather amulet bag

it was an inspiration for some tiny felts.

Three tiny bags with the flap folded over.

When they're completely dry, there will be a thin cord

through the top of the bag

(and around the neck)

My assistant today was very helpful

when I started the next one.

He even insisted to help me rolling !!!

Seeing that it was getting smaller and smaller

he thought it was a fun hat

... though better suited for his monkey

HA !

*

Daughter has been knitting some "earthmothers"

They posed for the picture on the garden stairs.

(the dark green one also of home spun wool)

The lovely rainbow-mother close up.

6 - 6 - 15 ... painting again

But

before I started again on my small paintings

I had to work on the felting - exchange :

namely a composition of all the pieces

that were send to me during the whole year.

I hadn't succeeded doing so with the exchange

of the previous year, with my "sunny" theme.

This time it was a bit easier

because I asked for 

"a red piece that could be hung" 

I fixed two stumps of old Buddleja wood together

and hung the pieces on the branches.

(if you want to see all the different pieces up close :

just click on the label felting-exchange in the sidebar)

With that task literally out of the way

(and in the mail)

I could go back to my paintings.

There are still two really small one that are 

in their first stage, and I'm still thinking how to continue.

So I took another old canvas

and started hiding what I painted some years ago under a new layer of paint,

and I just love to do an underpainting of red(s). 

Then another layer and rub till some of the red is back.

And once more : stenciling and printing

(the first layers of it, that is !)

Because I wanted to make a big bird,

I made a template of one out of heavy drawing paper.

An impression of the template in place, and after it was removed,

and here it is !

(50  x 40 cm)

(19.7"  x 15.7")

*

During the very warm last few days

the water lily showed her first flower of the year

in a beautiful pink (but too much sun for the picture)

the Meconopsis Cambrica (that I got from Gabi)

Nigella Damascena

and Iris Sibirica "purple haze"

Sitting in the garden with all these beauties around you 

is a sheer delight 

;-)

Nieuwpoort

Yesterday I went to Nieuwpoort

(instead of the St'nB in Rotterdam)

One of my favourite quilt/yarn shops

De Schapekop  (the sheep's head)

organized the knitting/crochet festival

in the little old fortified town of Nieuwpoort

(Nieuwpoort got municipal rights in 1283)

The dyke with the water doors 

and the sheep waiting to be shorn during the festivities

Fun decorationes of wool 

I went there by car, but some friends from Rotterdam came by bus,

and we found each other in the shop

Hmmmm ... lots of "Kaffe Fassett"

There were five other places to visit and see beautiful stuff !

One of the stall holders was a lady who's daughter Lisette lives in Peru.

She brings down many wonderful items 

when she visits her daughter there,

The fair price the Quechua women high in the Andes

get for their woven or knitted items

provides for living and for school for the children !

Wonderful craft !

I found some vintage lace bits and pieces

(nice to dye and then use in some felt or quiltlet)

a dark purple ball of sockyarn

and some wonderful green dyed silk (a present !)

And when we went back at the end of the day ...

the last sheep was shorn !

circles

It's a bit quiet over here.

Not that I'm doing nothing ...

but there is not so much to tell you about

because lots of things are just still 

in progress

I simply love circles,

anywhere

the moon, mandalas, Alliums ...

Right now the garden is "exploding" with

Alliums !

True purple sensation !

Allium Roseum just all around the garden

And in a wee corner next to the door

Allium Christophii ....

(yes, I put some dead heads  in the pots some years ago)

More circles out of fabric

waiting to become a necklace

like this

a bit of this, a bit of that ....

After the wonderful day in Leiden

I did some new layers on the painting,

started on a textile necklace,

got my last piece of the felting exchange

and 

we had a little birthday boy !

(so lots of fun things)

THREE years old

is our youngest grandson

Still a bit groggy from his afternoon nap ...

but unpacking the presents with many helping hands

cured him fast enough.

*

More layers on the painting

 Getting more and more to its final state

*

It was really fun to make these little balls

like tiny pumpkins ...

together they will make a fun necklace.

*

In the mail came a well known (by now) big envelope

with a small felted piece

of the felting exchange.

(I thóúght I still missed one, but wasn't sure from whom)

Ahhhh, Caroline, it doesn't matter at all

that it was so late :

it's here now and I love it !

Thank you !

(she apologized because they have been rebuilding their house

and all her stuff is packed up in boxes .......

oh my .... terrible 

hmmmm ... you love it when it's finished 

but you don't want to be in the process !!!)

*

Two days ago I took this wonderful bearded Iris from the garden

and put it in a little vase inside,

where the bud opened up really quickly.

Some gnawing animal took a bite ...  and left it hanging there

(probably a rat, the water is near the garden and there was also an emptied duck egg)

So beautiful !

The smaller (sibirica) Irises start to bloom too

(they're a bit more purple in real life)

Mmmmmm ... Alliums !

And last but not least :

Ginkgo in his new green leaves

standing brightly in the late sunshine

Leiden - Textile Festival

Ohhhhh my,

what a wonderful day we had today !

It was the first day (out of four)

of the really big Textile Festival ,

that took place in Leiden this year.

I went there with a Rotterdam and UK friend.

(We wanted to go by public transportation,

so for me that was : bike, boat, bike, train !)

It was a really sunny day 

so we started with a cup of coffee on the terrace.

(we didn't see much sun later)

Our first stop was the Pieterskerk.

There were many installations made by groups of people

in all kinds of techniques

Then there were i.a. the pieces for the competition

"Water - Land"

There were some pretty amazing artworks !

(and there were so many more !!!)

One of the very special things I definately wanted to visit 

on the textile-route through town,

was the kimono exhibition of 

Itchiku Kubota

in the Japan museum SieboldHuis

I had seen his (much bigger) exhibition in Rotterdam in 1989,

it was GREAT to see (some of) them again

It is such a pity, but fully understandable,

that there is so little light in the rooms to see all the beautiful details well !

(ha, I think my camera took a better look than me !!!)

These are truly amazing works of art !!!

(ahhhh that rippled surface ...

and not allowed to touch it)

We visited some more places (nowhere near all of them),

I met some friends of the felting - exchange,

and then headed back to the station

(Ouch ... my feet and knees were killing me by then)

What a beautiful day we had !

:-)