dinsdag 21 juni 2011

summer solstice

The longest day :
summer is here
though you would not have said that the last few days when
torrential rains came down and the sun was nowhere to be seen.
But this afternoon : there he was
and the garden looked happy and green


( It is so funny when you realize that on the opposite side of the globe
it it the shortest day !
I saw that at T's place : cold days and mushrooms
and it's getting dark around four in the afternoon ! )
*
We ate a warm and colourful dinner :
a recipe I learned a long time ago from a friend's brother
who was an air steward and brought it home from Persia.

First a lot of crying cutting unions ...

... in the pan with minced meat (or a vegatarian replacement for that)
a full tea spoon of spicy curry powder and tomato purée and some water
let it stew for ten minutes
then add chunky pieces of apple and five minutes after that
add the sliced banana :
a delicious meal with lots of  sun  in it !


I think I take a little blogbreak
doing some other necessary things for a while ...
see you later



maandag 20 juni 2011

another one

When you start making something,
new ideas keep popping up as you go.
The solution to that :
have another go

four layers : two white, two yellow .... and a swirl


tadaaaaaah !
a bowl


Also better photos (without the bottle !) of yesterday's vase

(not a very watertight one I confess, but you can put a glass one in it)
For this one I used only two layers of white

More experimenting will follow I guess ...

zondag 19 juni 2011

felting

It's so good when you can teach people
a little bit of the things you like doing yourself.
Having been a teacher all my life,
it's kind of a natural thing
that I want to pass on my knowledge
and make others as enthousiastic as I am.

The results of three ladies felting yesterday


and close up :


*

It's obvious after such a lovely day that I want to do something myself,
so today a new try out


...and the result is looking a bit funny because there 
still is a one-litre bottle inside
till it's fully dry

a vase

donderdag 16 juni 2011

knitting

We had a lot of rain today,
so on to the knitting
instead of working in the garden.
The plants though were very happy with a good soak
(they were gladly dripping)

There was a pattern of a shawl
from our favourite yarn shop that I wanted to try
(the Drops yarn was in my stash)

It ís a kind of "Baktus" pattern
(increasing at one side every four rows)
One side is strait and the other side has a lacey bit
of twelve repeating rows.

Pffft ...
it takes a long time to get accustomed to these twelve rows !!!

But for some easy knitting

there is ofcourse my second sock!

woensdag 15 juni 2011

a present

When I got home from some shopping yesterday
my garden friend (one of the "quilt sisters") had dropped of a present
quite a heavy one, to be honest !

Two giant garbage bags, though not filled with trash :
there was some big Polygonatum (Salomon's seal),
Verbena hastata and a giant Thallictrum !!!
(one sister is leaving the country, so her garden is emptied by garden friends)

As I have a small garden (which is already overflowing ...)
I had to make some space for these lovely newcomers !!!

That wasn't easy,
but there are always some plants
that get the benefit of the doubt for some time.
But
when something else comes along ...

So I had to do a lot of thinking today
then a lot of digging,
and filling wateringcans,
and filling holes.
Tiring,
but fun !

And ofcourse there were also some creatures to watch
this tiny toad
(there are bigger ones too)
.....
and in the water  

this Great crested grebe

that had a hard time swallowing his/her big-fish-lunch

*
(Tonight full moon : hope there are no clouds like yesterday)


dinsdag 14 juni 2011

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)

vrijdag 10 juni 2011

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.

donderdag 9 juni 2011

...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 !)

zondag 5 juni 2011

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)


zaterdag 4 juni 2011

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)