colour me a rainbow

After the treasure container (of Debbie Lyddon's workshop)

for my little ladybug was finished,

I had another idea :

when you love rainbows why not paint bits of fabric

to make vessels

and make a rainbow of vessels !

Sketching and thinking came first

and then the rainbow on the "washing line"

Making the vessels and making the peepholes

 Hmmm ... stitching can be a dangerous business !

The stack is done except the top edge ...

I didn't have a fixed idea of how to keep the vessels together

but I incorporated a tiny wire loop

while stitching the top edge

and on the bottom (shallow) one I made two loops.

There was this tiny glass bird

that I bought about two years ago from a fellow artist

on an art market

that I thought of as the next "treasure to hide"

But I didn't want to put this bird

in the cage of the top vessel :

no place for a bird !

But ... what is at the end of the rainbow ???

Of course GOLD !

The rainbow of vessels spread out on the floor

(only some sequins and seed beads ...)

A rainbow of vessels

Canadian connection

Sometimes there are small miracles

that appear out of the blue !

You might remember

that I posted about a scarf I was knitting

with an intricate pattern.

(the "petalcowl")

Originally it was knit in the round

(which I managed to do)

but I wanted to do it again, but now flat.

I had this wonderful yarn for a long time in my stash
and started right away,

thinking I would have enough

to finish the scarf.

But oh dear ...

I soon realized 2 balls weren't nearly enough !!!

I found out right away 

that this particular colour was discontinued !

So WHO could help me ?

I tried several people on "RAVELRY"

who said they had this yarn in their stash .....

After a few days, and negative answers .....

there was this sweet lady, all the way in Canada,

who said I could have her yarn !!!

She posted it right away !

Very special was that she remembered her father telling

he loved Holland, which he (as a young soldier)

had helped liberate in WW II

(I made her a sweet return package 

with some postcards and other goodies)

Last Wednesday Janie's package finally arrived YIPPIIIIIEEEE

(she was already worried and had told me

the Canadian post was slow ...)

YES ! two balls wonderful Mini Mochi  !!!

Mmmmmm knitting again !

Lucky me

THANK  YOU  SOOOOO  MUCH  JANIE !

*

For the market I finished the two new

necklaces

"Droplets"

One side of the "drops" is blue,

the other side purple

(I stitched the edge with cotton perlé)

"Rainbow"

*

And ohhhh ....

what this little naked guy is doing in my garden ...

I will explain later

;-)

cowl finished !

I love colours !

That's why this yarn called out to me

(though it's polyester)

On top of that it's shiny

and easy to knit.

 A friend on Ravelry (who I met in a yarn shop !)

made a lovely cowl / shawl of it,

and as soon as I bought my skein, I remembered that.

I asked her how many stitches she had

and started right away

Mitered knitting is easy

because you never have more stitches on your needle

than at the start of every new block.

And NO sewing blocks together :

every new block starts at the side (or two sides)

of an old one !

(if you're interested, you can find the pattern here)

It's amazing : the colours of the second row

just fit so nicely next to each other ...

If I had meant it to be like that up front,

I would probably NOT have succeeded doing so !

The yarn did it all by itself !

Very happy with it !

Because there is a special birthday tomorrow

I made a little card for a friend

Stitching on "lutradur" with a thick thread on the bobbin,

fabric and paper underneath ...

Done 

december already ...

I really don't know where November went ...

and we're already in week two of December !

Time flies !

Last week we celebrated

the Sint Nicolaas feast

with daughter and grandchildren.

It was the first time for the youngest one.

In the morning we went to the school 

where big brother and his class mates 

waited for the arrival of Sint Nicolaas.

Of course the best part was unpacking the presents

later that afternoon !

The last, and biggest present of all :

a huge succes !

*

It was fun to visit my (big) brother again yesterday.

They had sold their house this summer and moved to an appartment.

Then they were away, we were all busy,

but yesterday we went there.

It was fun to see the painting I made for him years ago

still had a lovely place on the wall.

A piece of our garden for a special birthday

(70 x 50 cm)

*

I already told you that I was very unlucky with one of the 

Pink Ribbon postal consignments 

.......

but finally the second envelope with mandala's

(after the first one sadly had gone missing)

arrived safely at my friend Birgit's house.

Today arrived a very special "thank you"

;-)

A lovely rainbow of (natural) hand dyed wool

and a special lovely fragrant piece of soap !

(another blogland-friendship born)

Thanks Birgit !

colourful !!!

What would the world be without 

colour ?

(Oh, but I do love an etching, or a pen drawing ...)

At some point when making art with colour

I realized I always somehow wanted to include 

all the colours of the rainbow.

(so the name of my blog is no coincidence either)

I also love brightly coloured shoes.

So when last week a dear friend visited us

and told me she bought some pink shoes ...

on top of that of our favourite brand ...

I went to town the very next day !

Ha, they still had a pair in my size !!!

(Mmmmm so soft, so they wear like slippers!)

*

When making my little felted pots

you might have noticed that each new pot 

had a different colour

...

After the last yellow/green one, with the "snail" on top, came :

a red one !

... and then ...

a green one, still in the making,

...

But now I have a full rainbow of 

"rainbow pots"

YES !

I love colour !

sun .... ? (14 - 3 - 14)

 

Sun or no sun

what a big difference it makes.

 

The last few days were really spring days :

warm sunshine and and new colours in the garden.

 

bluuuuuues !

 

And fresh greens (daslook)

so fresh and green you could eat them ...

and that I did !

Last year I learnead from Lynne of the Textile Treasury blog (UK)

that she found lots of this plant along the road

(I think she called it bear leek)

which tastes like garlic 

She made pesto with it and put it in a salad

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

Today

the morning started gray and rather cold

 

but what a special sight it was

LOTS of spiders had been very busy !

 

 

There even was a magpie

that didn't flew off the minute I took my camera

like aaaall the others did !!!

 

Ha! no wonder : he didn't see me :

I took the picture from the kitchen window,

he was on the other side of the street !

 

 

But there is always a little Rainbow very near 

 

 

;-)



a rainbow

Rainbows  

make me happy

I love the sun

love the rain 

(a little less, but where would this planet be without it !)

and together they give a rainbow

if you're lucky enough to see it !

I read somewhere :

Work isn't going anywhere when you show the rainbow to a child,

but ..... the rainbow doesn't wait till you're finished !

Today I drove an hour by car

to visit someone I met in Blog-land.

She once said to me she liked my garden ..... ;-)

During this growing season I saved for her : bulbs, seeds,

parts of plants that had grown too big for my garden,

and some days ago I sent her an e-mail to meet up.

So in my car were two crates with all the plants I had 

for the garden of their new home.

I arrived just at coffee time,

she opened the door

and then soon  :

CLICK 

We had coffee ... and talked

we had lunch ... and talked 

her son came home from school

(o my, thát late already ?)

and we talked some more

.....

In the end we just had time to unload the plants from the car

and take a walk in the garden.

Today was a rainbow day : I made a new real-life friend !

Thanks Mirjam

She gave me a present just before I left

a rainbow for me !!!

(click !)

young assistant

Last week daughter had time 

to do some serious felting.

I showed her working on the Ouessant fleece,

but she made some more 

little curly rugs,

using other types of wool.

Indeed, a lot of work !

So who wouldn't be very thankful for a little help ?

Hi Mom 

I'm here to help you 

She also finally managed to make a bag for a friend.

(she had promised that a long time ago

but didn't have the time or energy to do so)

step by step

the beauty takes shape

Today (washed, dried in form and with the strap attached)

YES really a beauty

While daughter was doing the felting 

I finished all the bits and pieces of my Sophie Digard inspired crochet shawl

and look at that  assistant again  :

proudly showing my work !!!

(he is such a good helping hand !)

Making the last choises ..... and done !

Going all around the border 

is the last task before blocking !

Yeaaaaah !