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  !

Summer solstice (and more)

This time I had no time to stitch a special Solstice piece
(or rather : I didn't think about making one,
too many other things going on)
And after a good week
of really wonderful summer weather
we had some heavy thunderstorm days.
(with much damage in other parts of the country !!!)

But what a wonderful New Dawn !!!

*

Stitch Club had me busy with a new workshop
by Gwen Hedley
I really LOVE what she makes !!!
(a new discovery for me !)
Making marks with ink or paint
and cutting that up and stitching together
than stitching to
"blur the boundaries"

The start of a "scroll"

Not finished, but I had another idea
for another colour scheme
and design.

A lot of work cutting out, stitching and backing
all the small circles
but the necklace is almost done now
(no pictures yet  :-)  . . .)

(The next workshop by Haf Weighton started already
but has to wait a bit)

solstice

Today is the  l o n g e s t  day,

at least in the Northern hemisphere,

summer solstice.

(and the longest night Down Under)

I've been felting

trying some new (in fact old) things 

and it worked out just as I intended

(which isn't always the case)

HAPPY  SOLSTICE  !

a few steps to get there ...

I will be doing some more felting

in the next few days

trying things I wanted for some time

(hope they work out just like this one)

summer solstice

Ohhhhh, not much summer right now :

a cold north wind and no sun.

So I made a bit of  "summer" myself !

Little bits and pieces for a new necklace.

Daughter and I also did the last brushstrokes

on the window next to the door at school.

(looks like a bit of summer here ...)

 So, HAPPY  SOLSTICE ! 

*

(Oh yes, totally forgot my special date post on the 18th,

well ... what about it ... not very important,

that's how days rush by sometimes !)

LIGHT on the shortest day !

December, the year,

is rolling slowly to its end.

Things have quieted down

after the rush of felting and preparing

for the (not very successful) market.

All the stand holders managed to get there ...

then the snow really started :

so hardly any visitors !

More than 5 cm snow

and Holland comes to a standstill !

(towards the end of the afternoon

it started raining, so we came home safely !)

It's been a long time since I did some drawing,

so for this Solstice day

I took out my Inktense pencils

and some special pens,

and made a Solstice / Light / Feast drawing

(instead of a stitched piece)

A very

HAPPY

Solstice, Light Feast, Jul, Chanukah, Christmas

to ALL my friends in Blog-land

all over the world :

may you spend many joyful hours together with your loved ones !

And to remember that failed market-Sunday

almost two weeks ago, some pictures ...

...........

October nearly upon me ...

October means two things for me :

1

Blogaversary  : number seven !

(so a  GIVEAWAY  is appropriate)

and  2

Pink Ribbon month is about to start

(though I'm still not quite sure what to make)

For the giveaway I have my little

SUMMER SOLSTICE piece.

15 x 15cm

(5.9 x 5.9")

Leave a comment here if you want to join in the raffle.

I'll announce the winner on October 15 !

*

For the Pink Riibbon challenge

I will make textile jewels again, that's for sure.

But I might use various techniques this time,

not just felting ...

My sewing machine is on the table

and I made various trials these last few days ...

Time will tell, no doubt

:-)

some machine stitched textile beads ...

*

In the garden things are really slowing down now,

but the Verbena bonariensis is still going strong

and so are the asters and the Allium tuberosum

(also known as garlic chives)

And although the tourist season is nearly over

the special horse-and-carriages are passing by in their slow pace.

SEE  YOU  TOMORROW

WHEN  PINK  RIBBON  STARTS  !

summer solstice

We're right here

on a hot first day of summer.

Right time and right temperature

for my little

Solstice piece

Summer Solstice 2017

It has a hot whirling center

in soft rainbow colours.

The cross hairs started as just a thin black line

in checkered fabric that I wove for the center.

Next I extended that line with dark stitch,

Then stitched my "magic thread" 

perpendicular of that first line.

At some places there's tulle on top.

Happy Solstice !

(either summer or winter)

nearly midsummer

Sometimes time rushes by

and I don't really notice

what date it is

(being retired does that to you)

But now I have started a small piece (15cm x 15cm)

for Summer  Solstice.

The weather is very warm right now

so why not take colours that match that !

Of course I started with

"glue-stitching" it all together,

so no nasty pins that catch your thread

when you start stitching !

In my stash was something a St'nB-friend gave me

It's the finest batiste

and believe it or not :

this is definitely hand stitched !!!

It's so hot right now

that the garden isn't the right place to do the stitching.

The sunshade down, the garden door closed,

to keep the heat from getting inside,

hmmmmmm ... that's better !

*

Here's the "Sweet Sunrise" piece of some days ago,

finished but not yet mounted on a canvas.

(I think the crochet is a bit from my Australian friend Jacky)

Love how the thick bundles of stitches work ...

A few weeks ago it was

"fish" time

See for yourself !

But not only for me,

also for Man who started drawing himself !

Around the drawings of his favorite colouring book

(always thought he couldn't ...)

Isn't that FUN !

... here comes the sun ...

The last few days were filled 

with stitching,

stitching,

and more stitching.

Done !

    Summer  Solstice   2016

(I'll have to check tomorrow,

with better (sun) light,

if the colours are okay)

More details of the left and right side.

It was really fun to use lots of different

embroidery threads :

silk, rayon, DMC  and thin crochet yarn.

I the outer circle I used all kinds of blues, purple and even green.

After I did the final bit on the bluish circle

I looked where there needed to be more yellow quilting.

In the end I folded the thin white backing fabric

over to the wrong side and stitched it.

I'll probably mount the quiltlet on a canvas.

*

There were a lot of wet days

this last week.

But sometimes when the sun came out

I could sit in the garden and stitch.

Some noise made me take a better look at the water :

(that runs along our garden)

a "baby" grebe and mama.

Mama had managed to catch a fish.

The little one was squeaking,

but mama held on to her fish

I had even time to fetch my camera,

and still she held on to her prey for minutes.

Bur the little one stayed close and alert

Then she finally handed the fish over 

and he finally could start swallowing the fish

(I did catch that, but the picture is unsharp ...)

Here he just had it inside

ha, you can still see where the fish is ...

Done

Hmmmmmm ...

I think he has a smile on his face !

Ahhhhh, that water is such a BONUS to our garden !

(oh, this is post 600 !)