Soms liggen er stapels van. Dingen die bijna af zijn maar nog net niet helemaal. Waar nog een klein dingetje aan moet gebeuren. En die kunnen dan bij mij eindeloos blijven liggen. Bleh. Zo was er mijn jas. Al zeker 3 weken af. Zelfs de knoopsgaten er met de hand al in gefestonneerd! Het enige dat er nog aan moest gebeuren waren de knopen. Karweitje van niks eigenlijk. Vandaag vond ik dat het er maar eens van moest komen. De jas is echt superchic geworden. En dat voor iemand die het liefst in een oude spijkerbroek met dito trui en honde-uitlaat-laarzen rondloopt!vrijdag 12 december 2008
Karweitjes/ little jobs
Soms liggen er stapels van. Dingen die bijna af zijn maar nog net niet helemaal. Waar nog een klein dingetje aan moet gebeuren. En die kunnen dan bij mij eindeloos blijven liggen. Bleh. Zo was er mijn jas. Al zeker 3 weken af. Zelfs de knoopsgaten er met de hand al in gefestonneerd! Het enige dat er nog aan moest gebeuren waren de knopen. Karweitje van niks eigenlijk. Vandaag vond ik dat het er maar eens van moest komen. De jas is echt superchic geworden. En dat voor iemand die het liefst in een oude spijkerbroek met dito trui en honde-uitlaat-laarzen rondloopt!dinsdag 2 december 2008
And now for something completely different …
Last Saturday I followed an silver clay workshop together with five friends. Nice to make something 3D every now and than. Silver clay is silver powder with a binding agent which lets itself handle like clay. During baking the binding agent vaporizes and the silver melts together. All what’s left is your silver jewellery. I made a necklace with earrings (the one bottom left). Despite this is 3D you can see the quilter in me in it. Some free motion quilting done and also de circles I intent to sew everywhere. At the end of the day we agreed that everyone made something that fits their character.
zondag 30 november 2008
Stellar finished
Ik ben niet zo van de kleine quiltjes, dus ik geef het maar toe, klein stukje gesmokkeld met het formaat. De A4 werd 5 centimeter groter. Aangezien ik niet kon verzinnen welk stukje ik eraf zou snijden heb ik het maar zo gelaten.
Today the challenge of Around the World in 20 Quilts came to an end. Finally it’s the 30th of November here as well. It’s an stretchy concept in this group since there are Australian ladies in it as well. ! I made a ‘classic’ stellar. By classic I mean a piece of the universe. It’s made of painted laminating sheet (within the circles), laminated together with angelina and tulle. Than I made a fleece of Golden clear Tar Gel with lots of threads and fibres in it. This I trimmed in comet tails. Sewed a lot of comet tails extensions on and foiled it a bit with gold. It was difficult to make a small piece, so, I’ll admit it honestly, it’s a tiny little bit taller than it should be (5 cm). I couldn’t decide which site to cut off.
donderdag 27 november 2008
Storm
Het idee voor de Storm quilt is er. Buiten de stofjes die de hele groep van mij gekregen heeft (grijze en blauwe tinten) heb ik nog turquoise, zeegroen en twee tinten oranje toegevoegd. De basistekening ziet er ongeveer zo uit. Wat stelt het voor zou je zeggen en hoe rijmt het met die storm. Nou dat zit zo, al zoekend naar de juiste vertaling van een zin waarin ‘Storm in je hoofd’ voorkwam, stuitte ik de volgende zin tegen ‘a storm broke loose in my mind’. Deze zin bleek uitgesproken door Albert Einstein toen hij de relativiteitstheorie bedacht. Ik als beta mens voelde mij meteen aangesproken. Einstein, een flinke storm op zee en een beetje relativiteit hebben tot het volgende ontwerp geleid. Dacht ik klaar te zijn met verven heb ik helemaal niet zo veel goede lichte kleuren. Morgen nog maar even snel bijverven.In eerste instantie wilde ik de ruimte om het hoofd heen opvullen met het klassieke quilt blok Storm at Sea maar ondertussen ben ik erachter dat er meer mensen in de DBL groep ‘iets’ met dat blok aan het doen zijn. Misschien bedenk ik me nog.
The idea for the Storm quilt is thought about. Except for the fabrics I dyed for the group (shades of grey and blue) I added turquoise, aquamarine and two shades of orange.
The basic drawing is like this. What’s that you should say and how does it fit with the theme.
Well, things are like this, searching for the right translation of a sentence about storm in your mind, I stumbled across this one ‘a storm broke loose in my mind’.
This sentence appeared to be said by Albert Einstein when he invented his theory of relativity. I, as a beta person (that’s how we name this in the Netherlands but don’t know whether this is the right expression for people who are more a science than a language/humanities person), felt appealed to that right away. Einstein, storm at sea and a bit of relativity brought me to this. I finally thought to be ready with dyeing but now I found out that I don’t have that much of lighter colors. A bit of dyeing again tomorrow I guess.
At first I wanted to fill the area behind the head with the classic quilt block ‘Storm at sea’, but I found out that more people of the DBL group are using that one. Maybe I’ll reconsider.
dinsdag 25 november 2008
Kleine dingen / small things
I have been busy with small things. I made a book cover with cows for a friend. The cows are printed on evolon and painted after that. The evolon is nice to work with, it goes right through the printer, it’s soft and easy to handle.
Inspired by Maggie Grey’s Textile Translations I experimented with several materials. As base I used a cleaning towel. With gesso I glued scrim and polyester fibre on it. Than painted, worked on with threads and heavily sewed. I didn’t like it at first, a bit messy.
Searching in the fabric stock I found some tulle with a plastic layer. I sewed it on top of it and treated it with the heat gun. My smoke alarm didn’t like that so the result was a lot of noise.
Finally I put some gold paint on.
maandag 24 november 2008
Een keertje overdoen / do it once again
I needed some grey fabric and yarn for my Storm quilt. So a bit of dyeing was necessary. I came to the conclusion that dye powder definitely has got some kind of best-before date or in this case should I say a worst-after-date. The leftover onyx I used to make grey seemed very blue and very persistent. Despite the diluting all my fabric and yarn turned more or less dark blue. I have enough blue embroidery thread for the next years. Fortunately the orange turned out ok.
dinsdag 11 november 2008
Het is weer bijna zo ver / almost time again
There’s a bag ready to take with me. I begun with a small bag but in the meantime a larger one is necessary. Today I finished some things so I can bring them along tomorrow.
There was a piece of hand dyed silk that I turned in to a scarf and I finished the Around the World in 20 Quilts project. Since this should only be ready by the end of the month it has to remain a secret for a while. Only a detail picture.
maandag 10 november 2008
Experiment
Ik heb al helemaal zin om hier met naaimachine en hand borduren mee aan het werk te gaan.
I processed some of my flower photo’s in Paintshop Pro and printed them.
From left to right I printed on: Lutradur, teabag paper, nappy liner, cleaning cloth and some fake-paper towel. No idea which material the last one is made of, but it’s strong en waterproof. The print on Lutradus is much to light, to less contrast in the picture but the others are beautiful. The teabag paper is very vulnerable. It ripped in a second. I definitely want to start sewing and embroidering these.
donderdag 6 november 2008
1, 2, 3, Start
At last I laid out some stuff for the Stellar project of Around the World in 20 Quilts. I made some fleece with leftover threads and fibres and Golden Clear Tar Gel. It worked remarkably well. As base I used a silicon baking sheet, it won’t stick on the sheet. The advantage of the Clear Tar Gel is that (as in the name) it’s clear, flexible and waterproof.
Furthermore I painted a laminating sheet and put some angelina and glitter between. I’m still not in the mood for this one. Both the assignment as the size are not my favourite (Sorry Chloe). But, a challenge is a challenge…
zondag 2 november 2008
Regenachtige dag / Rainy day
Yesterday was a typical autumn day, rain, rain, rain. Whenever I looked through the window, raindrops all the time. A magnificent day to lock yourself up in ones ‘glory hole’. With a full teapot. First a small reorganisation. I always had a lot of trouble getting my paint that I didn't feel at all like it in advance. The paint is now right above my head. I don’t need to stand up at all. Well done. I started painting at once. Of course I didn’t put on something old so now I don’t want to look at my new sweater for a while. I could be that he is not as new as I thought he was.
Worked hard on the collar of my coat. It’s in the phase that I should put it together first and than decide whether something has to be done with it.
I also experimented with the heat tool. I received some vulgar, shiny fabrics (I love them) but they where a bit resistant under the heat tool. Maybe it’s because it seem to be curtain and decorating fabrics who are more fire resistant. Nevertheless it was nice making.
vrijdag 31 oktober 2008
Inspiratie, wat is dat / Inspiration, what’s that
Pff, sometimes it happens, no inspiration at all. That’s now. I want to start a lot of things but really starting, forget it. I fancy my own project for the Dutch Bag Ladies, Storm. I already know what to make, so I don’t know what’s preventing me from starting. Furthermore I have to make a start with the haiku assignment Emmy gave us, I haven’t got the faintest idea what that will become. Also the Stellar project of Around The World in 20 Quilts is shouting at me. But I’m not in the mood for that one yet. It have to be in A4 size and for me that’s such an enormous finicking. My coat is still going strong. The collar is almost finished. It’s becoming as thought of. Thang God for that because I always get sick of it when my hands doesn’t seem to make what my head already thought out. To get myself going I just doodled around on the sewing machine with this result.
maandag 27 oktober 2008
Tassie / Bag
dinsdag 21 oktober 2008
Structuren / structures
In de zomer denk ik altijd, ‘oh bleef het maar altijd zomer’. Maar als het herfst wordt vind ik dat toch weer lekker. Beetje waaien, beetje regen en vooral, lekker veel kleuren buiten. Eigenlijk is de afwisseling gewoon leuk. In de herfst maak ik ook altijd veel foto’s van structuren. Of ze er nou meer zijn of dat ik er meer oog voor heb, ik weet het niet. Afgelopen week was ik in Inzell, in het zuiden van Duitsland. De herfst was daar al een stuk verder dan in Nederland. Prachtige rode en gele bomen en blauwe luchten. Echt genieten.Actually the change of seasons is nice. In autumn I always make a lot of pictures of structures. I don’t know whether there are more structures than of that have more eye for it. Last week I was in Inzell in the south of Germany. Autumn was much further there than it is here in Holland. Beautiful red and yellow trees and bright blue skies. I enjoyed it.
vrijdag 10 oktober 2008
Tassie / Bag
I am busy making a coat of woollen fabric. But actually I am more busy with all matching things. The coat will be made of double sided wool, black with dark brown. I also bought two other colours. Red/orange and light green/dark green. I will make a matching bag of that.
Furthermore I want to make a stole and I want to embellish the collar of the coat. In the mean time the pattern is already cut. I only have to sit behind the sewing machine for an hour or so because the fabric doesn’t have to be seamed. But one way or the other, the work doesn’t run well. I think all the matching things are done soon, than it will turn cold but than my coat isn’t finished yet.
dinsdag 7 oktober 2008
Dutch Bag Ladies
Yesterday we came together with the DBL Group. It was a pleasant and inspiring day. Some of us saw each other for the first time but fortunately everyone spoke the textile language. Funny to see the differences in computing the mandala. Some used just a piece, made a new part or repeated parts. Willy was our host and she spoiled us terribly. It was my honour to invent the new assignment. I choose the theme Storm. I gave everyone a piece of hat fabric, some fibres and 5 pieces of dyed fabric. I am curious to see what one will make of that. I already know what to do myselfzondag 5 oktober 2008
Klaar / finished
Het werd toch nog een last minute klusje. Morgen komen we met de Dutch Bag Ladies bij elkaar en gaan we elkaar de Mandala opdracht laten zien. Vanmiddag was mijn mandala eindelijk klaar. Uiteindelijk duurde het gedoe met het ijzerdraad iets langer dan gedacht. Een aantal keer opnieuw begonnen omdat de manier van buigen me niet aan stond. Wel tevreden met het eindresultaat.Gelukkig was ik wel al klaar met het maken van de nieuwe opdracht, daarover morgen meer.
Fortunately I was already finished with the new assignment. More tomorrow.
zondag 28 september 2008
Ben ik de enige die…? Am I the only one who’s …
So on my shelf there was Extender Base from Trapsuutjies gathering dust (Sorry! Laura). Wrongfully, that’s nice stuff. You can make beautiful effects with it. You paint your fabric with extender base first. Make a thin but covering layer. After that you paint over it. Extend the top layer with stamps. Half an hour of messing around gave this result. The effect I liked the most was colouring the extender base with some metallic paint first. Let it dry for a while before painting.
I usually make my own stamps with acrylic glass a base. The advantage is that you can see what you do. In terms of tidying all things it’s nice as well because the stamps are very flat. With this project it was not easy because the stamps tend to stick on the paint. But, once bought, never used, mobile handle of my ruler instantly got a new function. I like collecting things!
zaterdag 20 september 2008
Ste Marie aux Mines
De volgende dag rondgeslenterd in Ste Marie aux Mines. Dit is een stadje vol vergane glorie. De vroegere mijnen en textielindustrie zijn failliet en daarmee is de ziel uit het stadje.
Helaas niet voldoende tijd om in de omliggende dorpen rond te kijken. In ieder geval voor herhaling vatbaar.
It has been a bit quiet on my weblog. An annoying stiff neck caused that I couldn’t sit behind my computer and sewing machine. So I didn’t have a lot to say. Fortunately it have improved since a few days. The past few days I went to the show in Ste Marie aux Mines. The hotels in the neighbourhood where fully booked so we took one about 25 kilometres away in Kaysersberg.
Next day we went to Ste Marie. This is a town of faded glory. The former mines and textile industry is closed down and took the soul from the town. They still have a lot of churches and big buildings which make the setting for a lot of different quilt and textile related exhibitions.
And of course the commercial area! We gained a lot of new ideas and inspiration so we just had to buy new stuff in advance.
Not enough time to go to the exhibitions is the surrounding villages. I wouldn't mind repeating the experience next year.
vrijdag 5 september 2008
ATT Arnhem
Yesterday I went to the opening of the annual show of the Dutch Quilters guild. Since it was the 25th time the show was organised it was a festive opening, added lustre to by Opera della Casa. I’m not the opera kind of type but this was opera with humour, very nice. The not so nice part was that it lasted longer than expected so I had to leave in a hurry. I didn’t see half of it. Happily Arnhem is nearby, so I will go another time. Two of my quilts are on the show from which I like one. This one.De quilt heet Herinnering aan Holland is geïnspireerd op de omgeving waar ik woon, rivierenland. Er staat een gelijknamig gedicht van Hendrik Marsman op afgedrukt dat ook echt bij mijn woonomgeving hoort.
Herinnering aan Holland
Denkend aan Holland
zie ik brede rivieren
traag door oneindig
laagland gaan,
ijle populieren
als hoge pluimen
aan den einder staan;
en in geweldige
ruimte verzonken
de boerderijen
verspreid door het land,
boomgroepen, dorpen,
geknotte torens,
kerken en olmen
in een groots verband.
De lucht hangt er laag
en de zon wordt er langzaam
in grijze veelkleurige
dampen gesmoord,
en in alle gewesten
wordt de stem van het water
met zijn eeuwige rampen
gevreesd en gehoord.
H. Marsman
The quilt is called Memory of Holland and is inspired by the environment I live in. Low land crossed by broad rivers. On it there’s a poem by Hendrik Marsman which is about these surroundings.
Memory of Holland
Thinking of Holland
I see wide-flowing rivers
slowly traversing
infinite plains,
inconceivably
rarefied poplars
like lofty plumes
on the skyline in lanes;
and submerged in the vastness
of unbounded spaces
the farmhouses
strewn over the land,
tree clumps, villages,
truncated towers,
churches and elm trees -
all wondrously planned.
the sky hangs low
and slowly the sun by
mists of all colours
is stifled and greyed
and in all the regions
the voice of the water
with its endless disasters
is feared and obeyed.
Translation: © Paul Vincent, 2006
woensdag 27 augustus 2008
Mandala
dinsdag 26 augustus 2008
Marmeren / marbling
Yesterday I spent the morning messing around with some dye. Always nice. And yet another pair of trousers with dye spots because I thought an apron wasn’t necessary. I tried marbling for the first time. First at random, without a plan and with the standard colours. I think it’s a bit wild but nice. Later this week I’ll try it again, this time with a plan.
donderdag 21 augustus 2008
Naar WIlly / to Willy
Yesterday again a lovely creative day. Most of the time we are going to Willy’s, she’s living ‘quit central in the country’. For both Emmy and me it’s about a 100 kilometres (That’s almost half of Holland). As ever Willy made a lot of food. The three of us are enjoying these days. As usual a lot of inspiration.
Vandaag allemaal onze Speelgoed opdracht gereed. De bedoeling was dus een quilt te maken naar aanleiding van Dierbaar Speelgoed uit je jeugd. Emmy’s thema was buiten spelen. Als kind wilde ze altijd naar buiten, weer of geen weer. In deze quilt zie je 4 cirkels die voor de vier seizoenen staan. Natuurlijk voorzien van prachtig borduurwerk.Today we showed each other the finished project. The idea was to make a quilt based on a precious toy of our youth. Emmy’s theme was Playing Outside. As a child she used to play outside ever, with good or bad weather. The circles you see on the quilt represent the four seasons. Of course Emmy embroidered it lovely.
De quilt van Willy had als thema draaimolen. Bij Willy voor het huis was vroeger de Koninginnedag kermis, met een prachtige draaimolen. Willy was helemaal gek van de paarden in de draaimolen en wilde er graag op. Helaas is het er nooit van gekomen. Ze heeft zelfs de liedjes die ze als schoolkinderen zongen op Koninginnedag er op gezet.Willy used the theme Merry go Round. In front of Willy’s house there used to be carnival at Quieen’s Birthday (a public holiday in the Netherlands with a lot of fairs and carnivals. Orange is the royal colour). Willy loved the horses on the merry go round and she always wanted to sit on it. Unfortunately she never did. She even put the songs they used to sing as school kids on the quilt.
At the end my ladies. The background was a bit to loud. I treated it with golden painstiks to make de background background again.
’s Middags samen gaan monoprinten. Dat vonden we allemaal geen geweldig succes. De lapjes zien er wel aardig uit. Emmy en ik denken niet dat we het nog ooit gaan doen. Willy gaat nog een poging wagen.
In the afternoon we went monoprinting. We all didn’t like it. The fabric is nice but not nice enough. Emmy and I think we’ll never do it again. Willy will give it another try.
With Willy’s 2CV to the next village to buy some wool, we don’t have something to do yet. It felt like a school trip. A lot of shouting and laughing. It’s a very funny car to drive. Very basic, no dashboard and you can look outside at odd places. But you can drive very hard on speed ramps.
In het hoesje 2 A4’s met Haiku’s. Dat zijn japanse gedichtjes die uit 17 lettergrepen bestaan. De opdracht is om een van deze haiku’s als inspiratie te gebruiken voor een quilt.
Our new assignment came from Emmy. Look how marvellous she made it. In the package 2 A4’s with haiku’s. That are Japanese poems which consists of 17 syllables. The assignment is to use one of the haiku’s as inspiration for a quilt.
dinsdag 19 augustus 2008
Trees finished
Ik heb al mijn gezeefdrukte lapjes in willekeurige stukjes aan elkaar genaaid. Daarna een blad van mijn leiplataan afgehaald. Deze boom staat pal voor mijn voorraam en strooit van die leuke lichtvlekjes door de kamer heen. Dit blad heb ik nagetekend op organza. Toen die er eenmaal op zat viel de kleur helemaal weg dus daar heb ik de paintstiks op losgelaten. Dat werd vervolgens weer te massief dus de heattool maar even gebruikt. Het resultaat staat me niet echt aan. Achteraf had ik het gewoon bij de aan elkaar naaien moeten laten.
I sewed my silk screened fabrics together at random. After that I took a leaf from my trained plane tree. This one is standing right in front of my window and throws around nice light spots around the room. This leaf I’ve drawn on voile. Once on the top the colour of the voile totally disappeared, so I let go the paintstiks on that. After that the result was far to massive so I used the heat tool to make holes. The result was not what I meant to make. I should have stopped after sewing the fabric together.
donderdag 14 augustus 2008
Stapje verder / a step further
Again I made a step forward. The top is ready now. I made smaller ladies in a nice and a bit vulgar fabric. Every Barbie dress needs some sparkle anyhow!
woensdag 13 augustus 2008
In a hurry
Haast, haast, haast, volgende week moet mijn Speelgoed quilt af zijn en er is nog veel te doen. Ik heb de dames eerst eens even lekker aan stukken geknipt. Niet zonder reden hoor. De drie dames stellen de drie barbies voor die mijn zus en ik vroeger hadden. En zoals je waarschijnlijk wel snapt, drie was niet zo’n handig aantal met z’n tweeën. Vandaar de gedeelde barbies. Toen dat eenmaal weer in elkaar zat vond ik de dames toch wel iets te fel van kleur naar mijn zin. Nog maar een beetje knoeien met verf. Voor wat ik verder in gedachten heb is de achtergrond nu wel OK. Kan altijd achteraf nog wel wat verf eroverheen smeren zullen we maar denken.
Hurry, hurry, hurry, next week I have to finish my Toy quilt and there is still a lot to do. I cut them into pieces. Not without a reason. The ladies represent the three barbies my sister and I had in our youth. And as you probably understand, three wasn’t a smart number for two girls. That’s why the ladies are divided. After finishing that part I thought the ladies where a bit to bright coloured. So a bit of paint added. For what I have in mind with the quilt the background is OK now. I can always put some more paint on.
zaterdag 9 augustus 2008
Trots / proud
Vlak voor de vakantie had ik een van mijn quilts aangemeld voor de wedstrijd van de European National Patchwork meeting in Ste. Marie aux Mines. Onder het mom van ‘niet geschoten is altijd mis’ Tot mijn grote verbazing kreeg ik bericht dat ik tot de finalisten behoor. Leuk en eervol. Van de 162 werken zijn er 36 naar de finale. Het leuke is dat deze quilts een jaar door Europa gaan reizen en op verschillende plekken tentoongesteld worden. In september 2009 krijg ik mijn quilt pas weer terug. Het thema van de wedstrijd was veer. Mijn quilt heet Buteo buteo, dat is de latijnse naam voor de inheemse buizerd. Natuurlijk kan ik nu nog geen foto laten zien maar ik licht wel even een tipje van de sluier op.Just before the holidays I signed one of my quilts up for the contest of the European National Patchwork Meeting in Ste. Marie aux Mines. I thought nothing ventured, nothing gained. To my surprise I got the message that I am among the finalists. Nice and an honour. There where 162 quilts sent in and 36 made it to the final. The nice part of it is that the quilts will travel through Europe for a year. They will be exhibited in several places. I will have it back in September 2009. The theme of the contest is Feather. My quilt is called Buteo buteo. That’s the Latin name for the common European buzzard. Of course I may not show the quilt on my weblog but I can raise a corner of the veil.