donderdag 29 februari 2024

leap day giveaway

Not just another extra day
. . . . .
Congratulations to all those people
that have this special day for a birthday,
not growing older as fast as all the others do !

Is that sad or not ?
Well, I think all of them celebrate their day :
either on the 28th of February or the fist of March . . .

Special days appeal to me
so like other times, I thought I should celebrate it
with a GIVEAWAY
(not only for those people that are born on the 29th
but for all of you who likes to visit my blog !!!)



I drew a mandala on 300 grams water colour paper
24 x 18 cm, the mandala itself 12 cm diameter

You can tell here (or oo Insta) that you would like to have it
and in about two weeks time
a raffle will decide who wins it.



zondag 18 februari 2024

spring design

I think the second workshop in early STITCH CLUB days was that by
Merill Comeau
and I did love that one very much !
No wonder I was quite HAPPY to "see" her again
three weeks ago !!!
She introduced a fun way to start a(ny) project
but I was very sure I knew already what my design would be :

SPRING !

In our garden there were lots of aconites
showing their yellow heads
and the snowdrops were not far behind either.


Apart from using the "normal" fabrics, Merill urged us to paint our own
and also use homemade stamps on them.
However, the downside of that is that you have to stitch
through quite hardened fabric.
(and arthritis hands don't like that very much!)


Hmmmm . . . and working on a big scale doesn't help either,
but now I'm very happy with the finished piece !



the start with some stamps



the first lay out


and choosing more colours


Taking TARLATAN as backing  (because my all time favorite
Dutch textile artist Leslie Gabriëlse does that too !)



Slowly going, first with lots and lots of pins !!!


And after many hours of stitching
(and breaks in between !)
I finished it !

(hmmmm . . . the video doesn't want to load)


maandag 29 januari 2024

wire and fabric (and stitch)

"Make a structure out of wire
and cover it with fabric pieces using batik wax"
that was the Stitch Club workshop that just ended,
by Priscilla Edwards 

Any thin wire could be used
but the special paper covered kind came with the mail a bit later.
I chose to make a critter in stead of a teacup
Though because I couldn't find the wax
(that I must have somewhere . . .)
I used some special textile hardener.
But first a flower to try out if this could be done !



Hmmm . . . very sticky fingers
but, it worked in the end !

Then on to the little beast : a ladybug !
Many parts to construct and fiddly to put together
but in the end it could fly !!!








(the wings were made on the machine)


BUT
I totally forgot to show the
Stitch Club embroidery workshop by Cassandra Dias
that came before the one by Priscilla !

Stitching a landscape brought me to the colourful scene
so many tourists that visit The Netherlands in spring yearn for.
Though the downside of these lush coloured fields is :
the pollution with MANY pesticides !

Only 10 x 10 cm
but so densely stitched that it took a long time."

Then came number two : a lone tulip



(there might even be a number three,
but that will take some time again !)

maandag 1 januari 2024

happy New Year ! (1 - 1 - '24)

Yesterday,
just in time, I finished the challenge
for Yara's Bibabo wild marathon

The letter was the "X" for December
a pretty tough one !
The creative challenge is that you make
a real living animal that starts with the chosen letter.
I waited for a long time
also because there was lots that needed doing
but in the end I checked the web page of the game.
there Yara always gives suggestions of the possibilities>
When I saw the "Xantus' Hummingbird" on her list
I knew definitely what to make !
(see the my insta-page for some extra information)
After looking at lots of pictures I made a start
with the slightly altered pattern we normally use for finger puppets.

So meet Xerxes !


Daughter's first bigger tattoo is a hummingbird !

So today I went to wish her a happy New Year at her home
(instead of the other way round : because of her broken ankle !)
and brought her the little birdie 
as a good start !

maandag 25 december 2023

Xmas 2023

I wish all my friends
near and far away
happy holidays
and if at all possible

warmth
joy
peace




and the best wishes and lots of creativity for

2024

(year of the dragon)

donderdag 21 december 2023

winter solstice

November ended and December began,
and on the fourth . . . daughter broke her ankle
. . . . .
she had surgery last Monday.

A small misstep can have
BIG consequenses !


So time is needed for helping out,
but that's no problem
I'm glad we are still able to help.

So now I need more time to finish the dragon
I made in Yara's class
and take pictures
so that will come later.

For now an "old" Winter Solstice picture.



Sleep well everybody that has the longest night now
we're returning to the    LIGHT  !

donderdag 23 november 2023

23 - 11 - '23

Oh my, this month goes fast !
But in Stitch Club there was a fun workshop
by Maggie Scott
that included some wet felting !
Maggie is a great artist with beautiful
and meaningful work,
and she gave us a workshop combining
the African "Kuba" cloth and Katha stitching.

This time I had to felt with rather course wool
and that is something I don't do a lot.
(and let me tell you :
I won't be doing it again soon !)

I had a bag with dark brown wool,
some Norwegian, some very course white wool
and some white wool I used for stuffing the Waldorf dolls I made.


I was lucky that I put some of the white course wool
at the back of the dark brown, because that had VERY short fibers !
Despite that, I ended up with quite some holes, 
so I had a repair job to do with my felting needle !!!



For the shapes on top I used my normal (industrial) needle felt
and I put some sari silk threads on the surface. 
The other "problem" was that it hardly shrunk after felting !!!

Now the next step will be some stitching.