summer (?) solstice

I really couldn't tell that it was 

the longest day of summer today

(not much of a summer until now !!!)

Gray overcast all day long,

even a steady drizzle to start the day

But, 

a date is a date,

June 21 is June 21

I just tought it would be nice 

to start stitching a little something again.

What better colours are there 

to make a summer solstice piece

than 

yellows

So I began with a bunch of yellow scraps 

and some bigger pieces of yellow fabric

(from my rainbow "stash drawer")

and started stitching them together, by hand, the "Jude-way"

(it's a simple, almost meditative way of piecing

any kind of scraps together, and stitching the seam allowance

to either side down, with the tiniest of stitches,

which gives the piece such a wonderful feeling)

Half of my Solstice Sun is done

The other half will have a bit more colours than just yellow.

It will take some time.

I even don't know if this piece will be incorporated in the big "Diaries cloth"

or that it will stand on it's own ...

We'll see ...

(Ha, probably not finished before Winter Solstice

... then it will be just a "Solstice" piece)

;-)

a lovely weekend and ..... a giveaway !

Last weekend we had our grandchildren staying over

( and the cats )

They love all the extra attention,

and doing things together is great fun.

Man found a "Loupe" puzzle in the attic to start with

and I found an "old" package of small origami papers

and a book to work from.

( After a while I knew them by heart again ... )

On the last, very sunny day, I had some canvases,

brushes and acrylic paint.

( I wasn't in the mood to carry down two easels from the attic

so they worked on two little tables ... )

They were very proud

with the results !

*

It is hard to believe

but true :

one whole year went by since I started this blog

On the first of October 2010

( kind of nervous )

I made the "giant" step  to begin a blog

because otherwise I would terribly miss my new textile friends

from the Patchwork Beasts Class I took with Jude Hill that summer :

I never regretted it !

To celebrate this joyful event I'm stitching ...

on a small

giveaway

To join this giveaway, please leave a comment on this post

( through this weekend )

On monday October 3rd

I will draw the lucky winner

!!!

I know that there are people who read this blog

and never ever leave a comment, because they don't know how ....

I can only say : please try !

If you're not familiar with commenting :

write something,

follow the intructions and pick "anonymous" when asked for a "profile"

and add your name in the text piece

so I will know who you are.

Then I can include you in this fun game !!!

*

I'm back to stitching :

on a piece I started during the

Sun, moon, stars class from Jude in May

Not finished yet, but it's going fine.

I ripped off some bits and added instead a piece of Jude's

megamendung clouds

From the beginning there was a piece with a feather on it ...

After stitching ( and seeing ) só many beautiful feathers

for Jude's Magic Feather Project

there had to appear more on this "Star" piece

( you'll see the rest when finished )

the circle of water

Sometimes it's not easy

to start with what you want to do :

yesterday evening I wanted to go on with "Water"

but our house guests for the weekend

were desperate in need of some T L C !

( that's what they wanted to show me I think ... )

Well, after a while I was able to do some stitching.

Today I put the backing on,

and because the actual quilting was already done,

I did so with the tiniest stitches up front, small ones on the back

and the rest went in between the layers

( like Jude taught us )

And now "The Circle of Water" is finished !

( a bit skew, but I think that's more the photo ... )

Some of the details

You might notice I didn't forget my magic thread around the sun part

and the magnificent "megamendung" cloud I got from Jude.

I like how this un-planned piece evolved

into what it is now.

*

Yesterday I also sent my feathers in the mail to Jude

for her Magic Feather Project.
It's worth while to go over there and find out all about it !!!

( others and daughters feather may follow )

more water

There was time in the sun to stitch a bit more

on "water"

The little pleats are stitched.

They are there because I added Jude's cloud.

So the strip on the left side had to come down a bit : 

I didn't want to loose the nice "lightning" on it.

But then I realized I had stitched the bottom part already, so ...

pleats

I discovered something else.

Normaly I use one or two strands of  DMC embroidery floss,

I especially love the variegated colours.

But you can also find silk thread !

When you cut "doupion silk" the thicker weft threads come loose very easy.

Don't throw them away ! You can very good stitch with them !!!

The lavender thread in the needle is left-over doupion silk !

( easy also in the split- backstitch ! )

*

Something happened in the water next to the garden this afternoon.

A pair of swans with kids were on the little island, resting and grooming.

Then a lone male swam came with much noise of wing flapping.

"Papa" came down from his island while "Mama" and her two youngsters

disappeared through the "back door"

Then there was some real show-off !

they were trying to intimidate each other ....

... broad wings, heads back ... turning and turning around each other ...

It was really quite impressive and spectacular !

( but no harm done ! )

After a good five minutes or so

each one shook his tail, flapped his wings ....

and went his own way

( that would be the way to fight a war ...! )

water .....stitch by stitch

The new piece I started began as a long strip,

a scrap from Connie cut to a quarter circle became the "earth"

for the fern ( that was already on the cloth )

But then I added another strip next to the first one

to make it a square and started basting all of it down.

Some batik fabric with kind of flowers also cut in a quarter circle

and some yellow silk completed the ful circle

I love circles

( It's a bit like Jude's sun / moon, divided into four parts, I realize now )

Then there was the idea of the four elements :

air, earth, water and fire.

In the batik flowers I discovered a stem I could turn into a fish, and another one ...

... and I had a gap to close !

Then all of a sudden the thought "water" came to me !

Water of the sea evaporates by the heat of the sun, forms clouds,

becomes rain and snow and returns to the earth,

where plants get it in order to grow,

and rivers take the water back to the sea again ...

the ful circle

YES

now I had my plan !

And then I also knew for sure : with rain and the sun .....

there had to be a rainbow

( the outline of the "air" quarter is made by thread beads, including the rainbow )

Something else I found

the "megamendung" cloud Jude sent me !!!

( Hmmmm I'm very pleased with it so far )

pots of gold

This day day started gray and clouded.

I had to feed our daughter's cats for a day

so went away in a dress, legging and a jacket.

Then I visited a friend and it was already getting really warm. 

I ate my late lunch in the garden

and had to change my clothes because it was hot in the sun.

At dinner time the sun was still shining brightly

but there was a distant rumbling of thunder

...

and heavy rain came pouring down !

You know they say there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow ?

Well ...

I think we definately were at the end of the rainbow

and in that pot of gold !!!

 

This afternoon I recieved a package with scraps I ordered

from Connie :

a little plastic bag ful of leftovers of her hand dyed fabric.

I layed them all out on the floor after ironing

( to see how big things are I have my own toes on the photo )

and a closer look

Don't you agree : another pot of gold !!!

Thanks Connie !

 *

Me, with my new ultramarine felted "Dragon" waistband

... or ...

should I say "Dragon" collar

?

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)