5 days of Fibre and Textile Indulgence.

I have had a crazy busy month. Yes a month!! But I must update about the Felters Convergence. It was fantastic..... so many new ideas , so many new people , so much learning , so much food.... Seriously : I feel like I have had Mother's Day for 5 days!!!

This is a close-up of the banner I donated to raise funds for the start of the next Felter's Convergence in Australia in 2011. I feel the silk on the surface helps to make it look like weather patterns on the earth.
This is the whole banner , I borrowed one of the latest Greenpeace Quotes , and I lined it with a fabric which had green words all over it about recycling and caring for the earth.
These are some of the other felted banners , about a quarter of them. They were all sold for $15, you just had to be in quick to choose the one you liked best. Mine went in the first half an hour , that felt good! I waited till the last day. I figured some wouldn't be liked as much, but I just wanted to donate , and I didn't care which one I ended up with. Well I got the black one with the blue and green butterfly machine embroidered on it. (you can see it in the middle near the top.) It is really pretty and must have taken ages!
A few of us concentrating on the lesson and writing notes , all while wearing our own funky hats. It was hat-day!! We also had a neck and a hip decorating day , not to mention an outrageous attire day. Lots of smiles at breakfast!!!
This was our stall for the bazaar afternoon , I just had my Bushbabies and flower brooches , and sold most of them!! Well that paid for my Masterton opshopping and wool and silk purchases! Members of the public could come to the bazaar and buy from us. In the evening most of us went on to 2 buses to the Wearable Art Awards in Wellington. A 2 hour drive there and back again. The show was magnificent and fantastically imaginative. The Top Twins were comperes , and had the audience in stitches at the same time with some of their comical characters. I managed to get their autographs after the show , which was a big buzz, since I have been a fan for at least 20 years. We didn't get back to Masterton until around midnight , some of us feeling a bit queezy , but excited none the less.
Then there was the fashion show of our own , with more than 60 garments. It was wonderful to see everyone's creations. Many photos were taken of each other , and we all ooh-ed and aah-ed. It was a marvelous way of encouraging and empowering one another.

Here I am in someones fantastically simple , yet flattering coat , reversible and fluid wool and silk. Since I am not shy I wore other peoples' garments and strutted my stuff , several times. This makes you miss out on seeing some of the clothes , but at the same time you get to see things close-up and touch them. Friends have already provided me with a disc of photos of all the garments , so I am happy...!
And yes, I loved this hat. You can wear it with the protrusions backwards too.

A little spider like , just right for Halloween!

Spring pastels and Creation myths.

I found an unfinished tapestry of little spring birds for $2. All the boring bits had already been done. The cottons were still there , except white , but I'll have that somewhere in my yarn stash. I might use it for the front of a sweet handbag , at some later date. Cute and Sugary colours.
I have been doing an evening school course this year , and am on my third course already , in water painting and chalk pastels. These are some of my latest pastel drawings . The theme of this course is Creation myths. The teachers reads us a myth from around the world and then we interpret it on paper , however you like. This is from the Maori legend of how Earthmother and Skyfather were separated by one of their children pushing them away , and letting in a spark of light.
The teacher often brings something to inspire a colour exercise , and this is my interpretation of a camellia flower , which bloom here in the wintertime. I am pleased with how I did all these tiny petals in the middle. I love playing with pastels , you get to use your fingers to rub in the colours and you can go over the top again to saturate or to blend with other colours . It's deliciously mucky !!
Here we were told the Celtic creation myth . The part I liked the best is when the Goddess Brighid spread her silver mantle onto the chaos of destroyed monsters and primeval soup on the earth . It's edges spread with white flames across the surface , which turned into a silver mist healing the earth. And making it fertile land.

I am trying to get better at drawing human shapes , but I seem to be better at flowers. So they are just a general shape. Main thing is I am having fun doing it.
This is the beginning of a banner in felt. In one& 1/2 weeks time I'll be going to the southern hemisphere felters convergence in Masterton. It goes for 5 days and there will be about 170 other felters from mainly New Zealand and Australia , and an invited guest artist from the UK. People will be donating skills and knowledge every day and you can choose (which will be really difficult..!) from about 4 different demos and lectures 4 times a day , plus slide shows , our own fashion show , themed days , a bazaar afternoon. And to top it off , we'll be going to the Wearable Art Show in Wellington.

I will have to take lots of things , like pen and paper , camera , show-and-tell , a banner for selling to raise funds for the next time (see beginnings above ), oh and a pair of binoculars for the show. It will be nice to see old felting friends again , and to meet new ones.

Most years I go to a felter's retreat , to meet with about 45 others from around NZ, and make felt together. It usually goes for 3 days and is great for new ideas and methods and new contacts. A lot of fun is had. I go home refreshed and inspired.

As you can imagine I am getting quite exited!!

Comforting and familiar.

OH look at them...

You wouldn't think that usually there is this constant battle for supremacy going on. Fox the big red will chase fat De-ja-vous , when the black boy gets too uppity. De-ja-vous will take it out on little grey Dana , Fox's sister cat. And Fox will also box her around the ears , although usually he tolerates her. But , when the fire is roaring , and tummies are full , all those rules of war are forgotten , and much snoring is achieved.
A gorgeous sunset above our street , rather spectacular ! Little bonuses like this in your day make me feel very grateful to be alive. We do have an amazing amount of sky above us , and sometimes we look down too much and just don't notice the ordinary.

A few weeks ago at school where I work as a teacher-aide , we were talking about our earth in relation to the sun and how seasons come about. The children were very excited about the fact that we are , right now, traveling at astounding speed through space. Positively zooming!!

Right now....!

I think a lot of people forget , including me , that we are traveling through this vast universe , with countless other stars and planets , and countless other galaxies.

But we look down too much in our own little individual worlds and lives . And forget to see the big picture. Probably because we can't actually see it all the time , and because it does make us, as earth dwellers , feel rather tiny and insignificant....

And that can be a very overwhelming and uncomfortable thought.

I guess I have been very impressed with the latest hubble-telescope pictures in the news the last few days.

Yes , my first link!!! Click on the coloured word and you will go to the hubble news site.

I feel so techno-savvy right now.......

Something comfortable now. It is Spring here. My Father's lovely wife picked some flowers for me from Mum's garden , gorgeously scented freesias. She then gave me this vase from the cupboard to take them home in. This vase has Mum written all over it , for me. She used it a great deal , during my child hood . It's very 70's , and has Gouda printed on the bottom.

I thanked her very much for the vase , because it actually means a lot to me.

Violets and teacups.

Sometimes I find really pretty , but lonely teacups. Their saucers are not with them anymore. I know that I enter really dangerous ground ,when I buy them for 20 cents each ; because my grandmother was overly fond of collecting flowery porcelain cups and saucers , which never matched up. When she died ,the family had to sort through an immense amount of them spread all over her house. I always felt that she should have learned to do mosaics , so she could have made gorgeous things out of them.

So far I only have about 10 , and I've given one away. I grow new African violets from a leaf in my kitchen windowsill nursery. And then plant them in my pretty cups. It always works. I put a few pebbles in the bottom of the cup for drainage , and potting mix. They make pretty gifts.
Here are some leaves growing roots in a bit of water. I confess I sometimes steal a leaf from a plant in a shop....And from other people's violets.
I am still making Bushbabies , although the going is a bit slow at the moment. Just finished 2 fantail birds. This is my pincushion. A very traditional one. And I am not that happy with it. We have a leather couch , so I can't stick needles into the arm of it. And this pincushion keeps rolling away, and I need both hands to put a pin into it. I really need to make another one , bigger , softer , and with a wide , flat bottom. With vintage fabrics ,because I can .

Rags to Treasure Chests.

   I found a little gold suitcase a few years ago. My youngest immediately possessed it for her best treasures. She has now outgrown it and I have reclaimed it.  Some one had already glued some butterfly wings on it , even  exotic luminescent blue wings. I added some more that I found in the autumn. and other bits for an interesting look. I added a  fairy picture  my youngest feels to old for . My Mum gave that to her a long time ago. I'll use it...
   It is not my best artwork but it just looks like an ancient remnant of something opulent dug up.
    And look ; my Bushbabies can sleep in here , and have midnight parties!
     I lined the little suitcase with an old ovencloth from the fifties , all crazy patchworked with scraps on a sturdy backing of brown jute cloth. The edges were bound with a strip of  vintage Sanderson material.  I did it pretty roughly , but it was fun.  With a left over piece I made a little lavender bag so that my suitcase and my Bushbabies will smell fresh. 

  I harvest the lavender from our own garden in the autumn , and mix it with some orris root to fix the scent. 

I think I like the red fabric with the little red seedpods the best.
   There were still some small scraps left over.  I cut them into little circles and made "yoyo's" out of them . I covered a piece of thick felt with some of the 50's scraps and stitched 5 yoyo's onto each. Three small glass buttons each , then a pin on the back. And 3 little encrusted brooches were created , from the scraps of an old ovencloth!   I have worn one to school this week and already had some positive comments .  

   This is pushing thriftiness to the max ; the scraps were already reused as kitchen cloth , and now as jewellery!    Exactly as I like it....

Mystery photos and market planning.

  In the school holidays I went opshopping ( ofcourse) and I also popped into the local antique store . There I found these old photographs , to which I took a liking. Some forgotten people from the past.

The first 3 are of the same mystery woman , but at different life stages. First alone , then married and then her first child , I'd say a boy. She looks like she was born in the 1800's. Very young looking in her wedding photo , and her new husband too.... I think her name was Madge , or maybe Maybel. Or is she an Agatha? 

 How many kids did she get , and did they all survive their first two years! What with scarlet fever , polio and t.b.c. or "consumption" and strange ideas of hygiene .

The 4th woman is from a later date , and I reckon she was more bubbly with a loud laugh, but fiery personality. I don't think you messed with Prue , or is she Anne? Something snappy , I feel.  I hope she married a suitable bloke , who totally got her.  Probably not.......She has this determined look in her face.

The snowflake is made of a delicate porcelain , and  I unravelled the ribbon in all it's shiny baby blue.  Et voila , a little Winter display to look at.
    More silk and merino wool felted flower brooches. They are so soft to the touch. All ready to be sold , yeah!!
     I got sick a week before the holidays  , the symptoms were suspiciously like swine-flu , both my teen girls did too. But for me it resulted in another bout of bronchitis,  to which I am prone. And a chest infection , so inhalers, anti-biotics and many nights of coughing in my husband's easy chair , which can be pushed into a near lying position. He was away for most of the first week for a work conference , so we didn't make him sick.  It lasted a good 10 days. 

   After that I did manage to get in to my studio , and actually finished sewing all those Dutch fabrics into 236 double sided triangles. All red-white-blue with a little orange.  PPfffff....

  And now I have made up 4 sets already , with one on www.trademe.co.nz  to try , and some on my Felt website shop. I 'll try to make up one a week , and sell them at the Rudolph Steiner School Fair before Christmas and the Next Hohepa country Fair next Autumn. Lots of Dutchies and related people visit those events.
   I stencilled the Delft kissing boy and girl on the fabric with acrylic and a fabric medium mix.  The Delft "tile" came from a tablecloth.  The bandanna fabric from original "farmer's hankies". The checks and stripes are cotton woven fabrics.  
   And they all have an orange ribbon or bias binding to hang from." Oranje boven!"; Orange above !    They are ready for all sorts of festivities.

Flowers and a House Book.

A bunch of flower brooches was made a little while ago. I made them from combed merino , dyed in saturated hues of pinks and reds , by a lovely dyeing fibre artist from Woodville ; Tracy White.  People ask me if I dye my own wool. Well , I could , but the results are usually "surprising". That means I have no idea of the results. But there are some amazingly talented people out there , that can get the right colour every time . So I buy my wool from them.   Each to their own talent. 

Part of the flower is a silk tissue fabric felted into the wool , resulting in a lovely wrinkled texture . A vintage glass button from my "sparklies" collection gives the brooch that needed glitz .   Some are not brooches but little hairclips.    

And yes , I actually kept one for myself this time. 
   A while ago I joined a new club , a bookarts club , where people make books of all kinds of shapes and sizes.  I was already altering old books, making them into new stories or themed art pages.   Like I needed another hobby!!  

  Anyhow this is the beginning of a "house" shaped book about home fashion and sewing. This is the back of the accordion type book. It folds out so it can stand up by itself.  It has the names of many fabrics stamped on the back , with pattern paper layered over it.  The hinges are made from strips of vintage barkcloth ; an old curtain with pink blossoms.  I ripped the material and left the stray threads on for added texture.   I don't like everything pristine and neat .  Life isn't like that either. 
  So here I have put the wooden tennis racket clamp to good use. It works really well to straighten the board while the glues and paints are drying.

  Pages 1 and 2 . Not entirely finished  , I still need to  put a title or blurp sentence on the title page.   I have used many layers in the background , paints , words , sewing pattern tissue paper. Then a  remnant of 1950's fabric from my stash , one that would go with the colours of the sewing pattern models. I cut the models from the front of the original packet.   I also used braiding and ric-rac , and I think I will add other notions such as buttons , hooks and eyes etc.

   Pages 3 and 4 . I totally adore that red and pink roses material..!  Unfortunately all I had was only twice the size as this...  A while ago at a local auction they had a apple box full of these kind of fabrics , with large painterly flowers on them. All still crisp and unused , a few metres each. By the time I blurted out"$35!" it was already up to $50 and very rapidly rose to $120. I couldn't afford that , but the woman who got the box lot definitely got a bargain. ....sigh.....  

Acorn necklaces.

We have had a proper rainy weekend. I mean the soil actually got soaked and there was stormy coldness and fire roaring and everything. 

We all spent much time at home ; watching movies and the girls did assignments and cleaned rooms , and Mr. chopped too much wood and got sore. And I made 4 necklaces out of felted merino wool  and acorn caps. They have some small beads added , for the rest I kept it simple (k.i.s.) . And I am very pleased with the results , so I have decided to keep one for myself , and sell the others. 

Although it was a bit of a tense weekend , with our youngest giving us a few more gray hair , it was also a pleasant ending to the week. With much talking thank goodness. 

I don't think anyone would like to repeat their teenage years , it's not easy for some.

 Hopefully with plenty of love/communication our acorns will grow into firm trees.

I'm quite convinced of that.

Birds and Finds galore.

I do love Autumn! We have quite a few trees on our property , and most of them decidious , so lots of colour and change of scenery and light and shadow. And wheelbarrows full of leaves. Some people hate that so much , they'd rather not have trees at all. How sad... Just think of it as free compost! Which is exactly what we do with them; food for the worms, and next season food for us , after we grow some more veges in it. 

We still haven't had much rain. It's been wet but nothing got soaked right into the ground. 

2 Small frosts , my paprika's are still growing , and they've even gotten new flowers!

While the man of the house was busy raking the leaves , the fantail showed up. Hoping for some insects to be disturbed , so he could go and catch them in mid-air. It is actually really hard to get a fantail photo , they are so busy busy, never sit still for more than 5 seconds. Squeeking and peeping to himself the whole time!  Usually he comes everyday , sometimes with a friend. 

 A group of wax-eyes come through our garden daily as well. They are about a third smaller than a sparrow , and they look up and down and under all the twigs and leaves for pesty little insects. They also eat berries. They are good little birds to have visiting your garden , but you won't see them much , unless you have some shelter . Like trees.
I visited an out-of-the-way opshop on the weekend , I don't go there very often . It is an old fashioned messy place full of boxes and baskets, that you have to rummage through.  I got just a brilliant score this day. A retro tablecloth , destined for cutting up. A sweet apron , it's reversible! Aqua-blue gingham with little roses, yummie! Cute white flower buttons and a reproduction Pear's Soap tea towel in linen. An old dressmaking pattern of a girl's frilly frock. And a classic 50's owl tea cosy. I put that aside at first. Then a little boy played with it , thought it was a hat. I then decided I wanted it. But I couldn't find it anymore. When it came time to pay I asked the ladies behind the counter if they had sold it. No they hadn't , so they looked for it with me. It turned up in the box of shorts , ofcourse....

Our oldest daughter , who is starting to gather things together for when she leaves home , immediately requested it!  Totally cool, mum! 
Some very sweet satin like fabric with tiny sprays of flowers. And an offcut of curtain fabric with blue bows and pink flowers. That should be good for a small bag , or romantic coathangers.

 A fifties scarf with red camellias. I have several good ideas for those kind of scarves. Sometimes they come in very sombre colours , so I only buy light colours now.

Some more old patterns , just because I liked the pictures , and 2 button cards.
And a deliciously hand embroidered semco-pattern apron. I'd say from the Fifties. When the maker wore this , did she feel as glamorous as the lady in the evening gown on the front? I couldn't believe it only cost me a dollar! Whomever she was , it wasn't her first embroidery project. Neat and even stitches , the cloth hasn't been pulled while making the satin stitch roses. Oh it's worthy of being in Rosemary McCleods' book "Thrift to Fantasy".
                                                           Gorgeous!!

I think this is an tennis racket straightener , when they were still made of wood. I thought I could use it to clamp art work in it after glueing.

 I drove past a jumble sale on the way home from the opshop. Had to stop ofcourse. Found some jewellery for 50 cents.  It's sterling silver...
In a very disgusting state. Black and dull. One way of cleaning silver minus the chemicals , is to use an old toothbrush and tooth paste. That's multi action on a different level! It's also very safe for cleaning silver that goes in your mouth , like spoons and silver cups.
Here some more jewellery that I have rescued over the years. Pretty and shiny!

Glowworm caves in a box.

I work part-time as a teacher-aide at a local primary school. A day by day , ever changing kind of job , very enjoyable , lots of small rewards. Never dull! The topic in class at the moment is native animals and environment , with glowworms as the main example. So I thought back to the times when I had visited the Waitomo Caves , how fairytale they are. Lots of the children haven't been there yet , so I suddenly got inspiration to get them there . Kind of.

I made an old fashioned Diorama out of a shoebox.  With 2 peepholes. Here it is without the lid on.    
And now with the lid on. The lid has a piece of purple cellophane glued over a "skylight"window. This way it looks dark , like in the caves , but you can still see something. When you cover that up too and your eyes adjust to the darkness , you will see little pinpoints of lights; the glowworms. My eldest daughter has glow-in -the-dark nailpolish.   I couldn't make a picture of that however , sorry.
Here she is demonstrating how you use the diorama .   Everyone loved it and quite a few people remembered making them , when they were a child. I made quite a few , Mum used to help. Often in the Autumn we would collect toadstools and acorns and mosses and we would put those in a seasonal diorama (or kijkdoos=lookingbox) with a few plastic animals. I used to have a little red riding hood and wolf as well .Then I would take it to our neighbours and they would pay 5 cents or a lolly for seeing the show. 
Lots of teachers wanted to have a look. I should have charged them , lol!

And it's so simple. Aluminium foil on the bottom , then purple cellophane for the water. 4 layers of theatrical rock walls from cardboard and paint. Many spots of that nail polish. I added a cut-out picture of a little boat. and sewed on lots of threads onto the stalagtites , then put glue on them and dipped them into tiny glass beads  , which are used for stamping and scrap booking decoration. A bit fiddly , but those threads are supposed to be the sticky silk from the glowworms. In real life they catch insects with them and gobble them up. 

O.k. it's not to scale , but the kids just loved it and had never seen anything like it. I did have to explain that there were no real life glowworms in the box .  Some immediately figured out, that it wouldn't be too hard to make one of their own with other things in it.  Brilliant. I hope they will! 

Brewing new ideas.

I have had a brand new idea , and I am using all the old fabrics I have that are even slightly Dutch looking. So a concoction of red, white and blue , with a touch of orange on top. What else would I do with all those folksy farmers' hankies or bandannas. You will find out later....!

This week The Netherlands has been a little in the news here in NZ with that shocking attack on the Royal Family , killing innocent bystanders. We only got 1 minute of detail , but I found out more through the web. And although I have been here nearly 29 years , I still consider Queen Beatrix to be my queen , not distant (in more ways than 1) Elizabeth. What a horrid act!

And on such a festive occasion too. So sad..
Well , I've even done a little bit of felting lately , with merino and fine silk tissue . And I've made some lovely flower brooches and hairclips. They needed a bit of glitz , so I got out my jar of what I call my "sparklies" buttons. All clear vintage glass buttons , some with small  diamanties embedded into them. Their ages range from the 1920's to fairly recent , and this pile represents about 10 years of hoarding.  Just delicious!!
It just makes me so happy when I find a good button....I don't need a sports car or a luxurious house or expensive fashion. Give me a rainy afternoon with half an hour in a small opshop , rummaging through a box of dusty buttons , with just one lovely shiny button from long ago , and I'll be smiling all day!  And look how many times I've been smiling already.  You haven't even seen all the other coloured buttons I have stored in their jars.....
It is May and still we have not had any frosts. For those of you reading this in Holland , it is like your October here. And this time our summer weather started in September , that's like your March. We have had summer now for 8 months, in this provence that is. Crazy ...We have had about 25mm of rain in April though (whoop-tee-doo... as if that is going to do anything for the farmers around here!),  and had the fire on several times. 

My paprikas or bell peppers just keep on going. But it was time to harvest the last ones ,  because it is getting too cold for them to grow any larger or redder. I left just a few on the plants that looked they were going to change to red . I have cut them all up on the weekend and froze them into portions , so that I can just throw them into a sauce or stirfry in the wintertime.  They had just a few nibbles from snails but that doesn't bother me ; you just cut around it. We don't spray our veges except with a liquid seaweed extract for a nutrient boost ,

it seems to work just fine .