fiberrainbow

 The ginkgo tree in our garden
is slowly turning from green to gold.
Since last year I know it is 
a "she-tree"
It took her probably about thirty-five years to mature.
But last year she bore fruit for the very first time !
You can't eat them, some even say they stink when crushed,
but I think it's great
a "MOTHER  TREE"

I just read the most wonderful book by Suzanna Simard
about the wisdom of the forest :
"Finding the Mother Tree"

My  PINK  RIBBON Textile Jewel
for day 25 :

a wet felted leaf brooch, stitched with cotton,
gold thread and rayon and a few seed beads

   

 "AUTUMN  GINKGO" 

 In the weekend I saw that autumn
really got hold of the land :
trees are starting to change colour very fast now
and loosing their leaves too.
In our garden I have a small oak tree in a pot.
It was sown by a jay most likely.
There were acorns too this year !

My PINK  RIBBON Textile Jewel
for day 13 :

a wet felted oak leaf brooch with some scrim in it,
stitched with cotton, silk and several seed beads.
(8 x 5,5cm,  3.15 x 2.2")

In the garden
our lovely tall Ginkgo tree
is still green, but soon it will be golden.
Just the right moment
to take the green feted leaf for stitching.

My PINK  RIBBON Textile Jewel
for day 3 :

a wet felted Ginkgo leaf brooch, stitched with

Hmmm . . . what would be the right colour ?

For us
25 - 7
is a special day :
our first grandchild was born !
And today that moment is 24 years ago, how time flies !

*

Though
Stitch Club had a fun but "dark"workshop these last two weeks
by Ruth Norbury
I kept working on a new bird-piece
(for which I started the background during a zoom session of SC)
The bird I chose this time was the song thrush

Nowadays, finding a good photo of the animal you want to portray
isn't very difficult : so many lovely pictures on the net !

I liked this one especially 
because in our small front garden there is a rowan tree
which is visited by many birds when the berries (right now !) are ripe.
 

It starts with building up the bird with tiny scraps.

Stitching in the garden in summer is such FUN !

Though I don't do that always,
I backed these very small berry-bits with "vliesofix"
to stop fraying.

VERY fiddly leaves to stitch onto the background

When I need some new materials for my creative work
I make a visit to Rotterdam.
That I do by boat,
and to be more specific : me and my bike go by boat.
(that way I can move around more easily
than when I go by bus)

But since a while there is some extra water in the city . . .

right now, a bit quiet, BUT . . .

it can be rough too :
just right for a bit of surfing !!!
New entertainment, in the center of the city !

Yesterday I went to the "Patchwork & Quilt Days"
in Rijswijk near The Hague.
Though I can't say I'm a quilter anymore,
(I quit the Dutch Quilters Guild years ago)
I booked a workshop "gelli plate printing on textile" there !
(and . . . I urged myself nót to buy any more fabric :
my own little "shop" at home is filled to the brim !!!)

I didn't like the very thin layers, I more like stronger colours
but I surely need to do a LOT more playing with this :
I love the possibilities !

It was a good day to show off 
my new earrings
specially made to match the green brooch I showed earlier

It is so much fun to use wire inside the felt to shape it !

This was a few days ago, before some heavy rain washed
most away of the flowers !

The early clematis is hiding part of the fence.

And because there are soooo many solomon's seal
I cut some of for indoors

After all this time felting and stitching
for my Pink Ribbon challenge
I finally have time (and energy) again
to join in with one of the Stitch Club workshops,
this time by Dionne Swift

I've "known" her work
for quite some time and like the way
she uses the sewing machine.
Her way of transforming a landscape
into a line drawing
and later into machine stitch
is far more abstract than mine will ever be,
but I loved the workshop.

The first try

Well . . . colour is more me

This was last Saturday,

Earth day !