split personality

When I'm working om some technique 

(like felting figures at the moment)

ideas will come bubbling up

which lead to

new projects

...

Another thing to try to accomplish

Only a rough start ...

but then :

I knew "exactly" where I was heading

thin layer upon thin layer "it / she" was growing

Ohhhh ... attaching the arms is such a pain ! 

Making hands also

And finally, late at night, there she was :

(photographed the next day)

my little mermaid

the split personality

...... half I'm it and half I'm she .....

Ahhhhhh, it brought back memories

of the lovely Esther Ofarim

singing this song in her mermaid suit on Dutch television in 1964

(o, my ..... thát long ago ?) 

*

And the next one

but not yet finished

*

I almost forgot :

remember my dear friend H ?

(at the moment in South Africa,

 where she, among other things,

is sponsering a village school with lots of LEGO)

She gave me another bag of goodies

lovely lace and the finest embroidered batiste you've ever seen

Thank you !

hot !

HOT

Summer has arrived finally !

And right now it's so hot

you should keep out of the sun

sit quietly indoors and do little or nothing at all.

But

I went to the Stitch'nBitch group in Rotterdam

(by bike and boat, like I always do

knitting on my next pair of socks)

(some early birds)

 A lot of ladies

(there is sometimes óne young man)

went afterwards to the Alpaca farm, near the village where I live, 

where a special "wool" day was held

(so I took the next stop on the boat back)

There we were warmly welcomed by the owners of the farm

and then almost all of us visited the alpacas.

A sweet bunch but very shy

They were recently shaved, with a funny hair-do left.

It was nice to visit the alpacas but in fact a bit too hot

......

And this little visitor was wisely left in the shade

*

Finally,
 I made a little friend for my gray hare / rabbit yesterday

(he might become the "white rabbit" of "Alice")

(that's two, Gabi ... )

a try .... at last

Today, because I was baby-sitting,

I took some wool,

some soap

and a felting needle

with me to daughter's house.

When I was with Gabi in Germany

some weeks ago,

she gave me a bit of her special wool.

She washed it and then it went through the carding machine.

It is brownish gray and a touch of white.

Earlier I carefully studied the tutorial  PDF (with lots of photos) 

I purchased from her some time ago

...

and gave it a try 

(Because I didn't have my camera

there are not many "making-of" pictures,

only the ones I took this evening)

That was already a lot of work done when he came home

pfffffft

A white nose, tummy and tail

Tomorrow a lot of rinsing and making

his face

(I know it's a bit early for Easter,

but I might find him a little basket for his eggs !) 

Gabi was so right :

working with "Bergschafwolle" is great !

little stitches ...

When you don't know exactly

whére to start

then start with little stitches



On the embellisher I started with two half spheres and stitched them together

to a ..... pin cushion  (?)

(it might be a little present for someone dear)

And I love how the colours of the little sphere

is reflected by the colours

of the flowers from the garden !

I don't often pick flowers from the garden,

they better stay outside.

There you can enjoy them much longer,

but sometimes

.....

(I had to cut down the jungle a bit

so : 

rather in a vase then in the bin !)

slow days

Nothing much is happening right now,

no work in progress ...

no new projects started yet ...

Plans ?

Ohhh yes, plenty.

But for the time being

only the garden gets attention.

The plants that clearly finished flowering are cut down,

others, still blooming, might need a bit of support.

I love seeing the change of the seasons

in all the different flowers.

One of my late-summer favourites

is this Altea Cannabina,

over two meters high sometimes and looking like a thin fountain

with no leaves but lots of pink flowers.  (3 cm)

They self seed very easily

but need to be replanted when they're quite small

because they make a long pen root.

Another beauty

Anemone Japonica

(with a visitor)

*

For some funny reason the water next to our garden

is full of duckweed this year

Though ... "duckweed" ... ?
It seems the ducks, swans and grebes don't like it at all !

(It's hard to imagine that behind that weeping willow
is a four-storey apartment building ....)

what a weekend !

Yes

I very much enjoyed this weekend workshop

with Sara Lechner !

It was so góód in many ways.

Hawar is housed in an old school building.

Downstairs there is an exhibition area

and a shop with LOTS of goodies,

while the studio, two old classrooms, is on the first floor.

The lovely couple Meinie and Harm "run the show"

There were 14 of us

(and a lot of "embellishers")

Sara works a lot with this machine,

and you can do amazing things with it, rather easily

(but just be careful not to break any needles)

For me it was the first time,

I don't even have a machine,
others brought their own,

but Hawar had many machines we could use together.

On the first day we tried many different things

just to get the feeling of the technique,

to mix colours,

and to make little pieces into a bigger one

(but thát's really easy : a short overlap ... and punching !)

The Art Route "Open Stal", that's held in Oldeberkoop this month,

gave Sara inspiration for a new piece

It was finished during this class

and later joined the other beautiful art pieces Sara had brought along from home.

At first we worked in colour

and later mostly in white.

Right in the middle we were treated to a delicious Hawar-lunch

outside !

After this first inspiring day I could join a lovely bunch of ladies

(who know each other from another (felting) class)

and we dined on the terrace of a hotel

in the late evening sun.

Later, in my B & B room, I started with a bit of stitching.

On day two I was a really slow starter, I don't know why,

but eventually we worked on some new technique : making bowls

and we did some embroidery ...

while Sara started on her second piece, made of the test pieces in white,

and demonstrated her way of stitching

it was amazing to see it grow !

The last thing we did before saying goodbye

and having a last meal with newly made friends,

was visit Meinie at the shop.

Mmmmmmmmmm

(better than the internet, because you can féél it

and see the colours right !)

These goodies will bring a lot of fun !!!

(o boy, what a present !)

a present

This week I gave myself a present

(but due to all the eventful circumstances of recent months

it was a rather last-minute decision)

O yes,

I get presents from other people :

people next to me, or people from fááááár away.

But this one now, I like very much :

I gave myself a workshop at Hawar

and it will be given by Sara Lechner.

I've known and admired her work for quite some time.

She used to live in Austria

but moved last year to Argentina !

So it is very special she's in Europe and that opportunity,

to finally meet and learn from her in person,

was too good to pass up !

So early tomorrow morning I'm off to Oldeberkoop in Friesland ...

... and I packed a lot of things to take with me 

*

Another present

(for the baby this time)

came as a surprise all the way from Australia !!!

a baby bonnet from Ronnie

(sorry, not a good photo)