Yes!! I am soo happy my last day before the vacation is here. I just got home, had dinner and thought this would be a perfect moment to update my blog. No I am not forgetting you,  my dear blogreaders... 2 weeks off  from now, Jippy!!

 I am sad to tell due to visa application delay, Vasudevan cannot make it to my place before May7th...  But if he gets his SchengenVisa, we will immediately set up new dates. Now thinking of May 10th  10 mei, Monday eve May 13th, Tuesday eve May 14 th , Wednesday eve May 15th, Friday June 7th , Saturday 8th Sunday 9th plus some dates at the end of June and first week of Summervacation in July

So let me know what date you preferr and what  you would like to learn or do.

The next thing I'll be focussing on is the artfair in Sittard upcoming Tuesday April 30th, On our last Queensday. Got a great idea to make, not sure if I have enoug time to make a lot of them but let me see. 

Enjoy the springtime it is really amazing this year as winter stayed so long!!!

Meanwhile I am also busy with the next exhibition Vasudevan and me will participate: An exhibition with felting workshops ... 

In Kanne, Belgium, from May 9th , May 11th and 12th. Would be nice to meet you there!!

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Special textile event!!

TASARA On Tour in Europe

Eind april  begin mei in de voorjaarsvakantie komt dhr. Vasudevan van het Tasara weaving centre, Calicut, India
in Bunde textiele verfworkshops geven.

26 april:                                                Zeefdrukken op katoen
26 april avond, 27 april hele dag:     Multicolorbatik
28 april:                                               Shibori op zijdestof
29 april:                                               Blokprinting
1 mei:                                                  Tas vilten met tie-dye

Meer info via  tel: 043-3649825 of 06-38312343
mail: viltk@yahoo.com site: www.viltalakim.com

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Today I took the blanket to the lady whom family made all the pieces in Aug 2012 . (read about the layering of the back  here )  As it was a gift I wrapped it up in giftpaper adding my card and a little extra handmade felt. I drove to Maastricht and they asked me to come in for a cup of tea. 

How surprised she was, to see it wrapped up and opening it carefully, that really made me feel good She and her husband really liked the result and is now proudly laying on their couch. I hope they will use it very often. 

Ok enoug written, time for some more pictures. I bet you all are anxious...

this is how it looked when I was rinsing it with water. 

inside on the floor drying in the tiles as we have floorheating 

and this was today  outside again to make a  nice picture

a close up. 

I am very proud of this project and think it really came out very nice. Hope to make many more of such projects. 

familievilten Hide

Some time ago a whole family of 19 people wanted to have a workshop felting at my place. They all came as a birthday party for the mother of the family whom turned 73. Her husband was the oldest 75 and the youngest grandchild was 8 years old.  

They all made a piece of prefelt and after that a mobilephonecase.

The plan was that 2 daughters and the mother would come back to felt all the prefelt pieces into one blanket on a base which was woven by the mother years ago. 

Somehow they couldn't find a proper date so I was asked to finish it by myself. A huge task to do all alone. But once I say "A" I also say  "B". So I started by desciding where to add which prefelt , turned the pieces upside down  and layered the wool. As I didn;t want the blanket become too small I added 2 layers of wool in between all the prefelt pieces, making it bigger and getting the same thickness there as the prefelt. 

All prefelt pieces and the -inbetween- pieces were then covered with 2 layers of merinofleece. The grey and white wool is Gotland wool

As last layer I used a sheet of prefelt which i bought, so I was sure I had no holes in the blanket . 

Then the best part came: wetting and soaping, but oef, that was more work than expected... before all the 10 cm airy wool was wet... I didn't have time anymore, the weekend was over. So after  5 days seeing the blanket laying on the table, half wet, ready to be finished. I must admit my hands itched everytime I saw it.

So today was the day I finally had time to finish it. I asked a friend whom also felts a lot to help me out as rolling this amount of wool all alone isn't funny...  Thanks for your help E! 

After rolling it for some time now kneeding time

Now it was time  to rinse, closests was taking it outside and use the garden hose. Eventhough it was cold outside I think the best option, no messed up bathroom now

The final result I cannot show you yet as I think the first ones to see the blanket is that family...  so I only share the backside, which I think is also very nice  

 I'll show you the front side once the family has got it, ok? 

blanket, deken Hide

Today I felt like sharing how to make a floral cake- like arrangement. My students really enjoyed themselves while making it yesterday, And I was anxcious to make one myself too. 

Here is the material list you need: 

• leaves which can dry in nicely. Like Eucalypthus, Buxus, Gaultheria shallon
• Gypsophila or other small flowers
• a Rose or CHrysanthemum, Germini, Ranunculus
• piece of floral foam in a round shape (you can also cut it out of a block) mine was about 8 cm weide
• piece of plastic
• rubberband
• needles, 
• scissor
• knife
• ribbons
• beads

First you get the floral foam wet, so the flowers will last longer. Then take a piece of plastic and cover the bottom and sides. By using rubberband/ elastic it will stay around the foam. 

Cut off the plastic  which comes above the foam. It is not nice to see that.

Then rip off the leaves form the stem. Eucalylthus can be easily ripped off when you move your hand upwards. when you have leaves with stems then prepare the leaves by cutting off the stems.

Add a leaf heigher as the edge and fasten it with a needle. The next one will be overlapping. Finish the row, make sure you use the same seized leaves and the top is evenly heigh. 

Then  add row 2

row 3,

row 4

row 5 and 6 till you are done....

now time to cover the foam from the top. I used Gypsophilla as it will dry in too. Make sure you use enoug as when flowers dry they will shrink and it is not good when you can see the foam then. I cut them very short  so it hides the foam easily. 

In the middle I added a Rose, you can also use other flowers , it is up to you. 

now the decoration part: I added ribbons and as I was alone and the knot kept slipping I fastened it with a needle too. Added a bead to it and small beads in the Gypsophila and around the bottom row. 

Hope you will enjoy making it yourself ! 

bloemen, cake, flowers, taartje Hide