little ones

Living with water next to the garden is fun !

There is always something to look at

(even only the water ... is sometimes enough)

But this time of the year visitors are passing by regularly

No ..... I don't think these are beatiful ....

these I like better, there are seven little ones

(yes, one is behind mummy's back)

but

sometimes someone else is there

just waiting ...

for a little "snack" to swim by

.....

And when I'm not watching all these creatures

I'm knitting again

inside or outside,

enjoying the warm summer sun

(though the colours already talk of fall)

garden again

Today there wasn't too much sun

so I had to do a long postponed job :

this box-tree was badly in need of a haircut ...

... and so was the other one.

I usually do it a bit earlier in the season when all the surrounding plants

are not yet thát high, but the sunny weather prevented it.

So today was a good day for that haircut !

You see ? Els Scissorhand was here !

( I added another layer as well )

In my (small) garden certain colours are "forbidden" :

bright poppy-red, orange and bright yellow.

I go more for all the blues, purples, dark reds, magenta and pinks,

white and a bit of mild buttery yellow.

like this .... !

So what came over me buying this Cosmos ????

( it didn't have a flower than ! )

very  orange  I would say ....

 but I love it !

hummm ... and I hope to get some seeds for next year.

...I wonder ...

Yesterday there were two lovely sisters

(no not mine)

who wanted to know a bit about patchwork and quilting.

We had a busy day

with a lot of talking, showing, explaining

and ofcourse stitching !!!

a lunch break, and more stitching !

They went home satisfied and I think there will be at least one

who will continue stitching

*

The garden had a much needed shower

so at the moment it is very

green

(.... and other colours ofcourse ...)

*

At last .....

I started some shibori stitching !

While I was going through my stash for the dyeing wokshop

with Pam de Groot in July, I found some lovely thin

white curtains (IKEA ... bought a long time ago)

After washing and ironing I tore them up in not too narrow strips.

Then I looked for Natima's tutorial on the stitching.

(She and Glennis Dolce are back from their trip to Japan !)

what a lot of work !!!

And the next step : the dyeing....

I have some pre-reduced Indigo

(but have never used it before)

... I wonder .....

*

Another try-out : 

after seeing beautiful purple stains on silk

on Jude's blog ánd after studying a bit in India's Eco-dyeing book :

....I wonder ....

what will become of this ?

(time will tell !)

square moon

Here she finally is :

my

Square Moon

on the border is written 

"what if    ...    the moon    ...    was a sqaure ?"

The idea came up during Jude's

Whispering Sun, moon, stars  series

She had asked herself some time before : what-if the sun was a sqaure ?

so I asked myself what if the moon was square ...

(because I had some lovely off-white nine patches with which

I made some "biscornu's")

(the inchies came from the chequer board plan that didn't work out as such, 

the biscornu was one that was blue on both sides)

This is what the nine patch moon looks like now :

the square moon

*

(on to the next wip)



it runs in the family

It's always fun to see

when people have the same enthusiasm for certain things

as you have :

when you see

"that it runs in the family"

Daughter and I are true textile lovers :

we look at fabric and fibers with our hands !

But look at the grandchildren :

after the careful start with knitting,

now there is stitching !

A tiny jacket ... and the very first colourblanket : green like the gras

where he loves to play football (soccer)

She made him / her all by herself !

(with just a little help)

*

These are the last stitches on the Square moon

two corners

... and last but not least :

a little bit of magic thread around the moon. !

.....

(Tomorrow I'll take another photo of the whole piece :

there wasn't enough light anymore to take a good one)

in the sun

Mmmmmm

stitching outside in the sun or in the shade !

The weather is lovely but the plants in my garden
(and everywhere else)

are quite thirsty at the moment.

It's time for a good splash of water from the clouds

(or from the watering can)

Stitching on the hanky border

words finished.

June

Hi there, June

 June ?

where did May go ???

(rushing by in a hurry and a load of work)

Oh  no, when I think carefully : May is when the garden

is exploding into colour

and that I  didn't miss!

And it was Jude's "Whispering Sun, moon, stars" month

which I immensly enjoyed !

I picked up my "square moon" cloth again.

The thrift shop hanky was nice and thin, but I put some

batting and backing to it

and pinned the square moon on top.

All in all it has a nice feel now

and it is stable enough to do some more stitching.

I want to incorporate the dark colours of the square moon

into the light blue of the hanky

so the motives are kind of spilling over into the light blue border.

(I thought of adding a sun ....

but now I think I stick to the moon and lots of stars

... and keep the sun for the next cloth ...)