Trying something different

In the Israel Artists Team we discuss often the importance of good photo's.
The background color is the source of all disagreements. Solid backgrounds are good for the treasuries and front pages but with other backgrounds you can create a feeling.. Solid background could be white or colored but if the background has a color it could only be in treasury where the color matches..

Not an easy one.

I chose white because my bags contains lots of colors and details.
But every now and then I get bored. I like taking photo's and it is fun creating a scene for a bag.

For my last bag, a fabric-knitted bag with organza flower with felted leaves, I decided to go outside and make something different.







I find the change refreshing

Summer coat

Can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow These last 2 weeks were wonderful. With my son at home and out, great weather, traveling, visiting, talking... Fantasy!
But tomorrow I go back to work and he goes back to kinder garden. He actually wanted to go already today (he misses his girlfriend )




When my mother was visiting she looked after Denzel every day in the afternoon and everyday I progressed a bit and after a week and half Denzel had his new Cool Jeans Summer Coat!



Sewing clothes is more complicated than sewing bags but it is also more interesting and I still have lots to learn. I love to learn new things and I like clothes! I will certainly make some new dresses soon.

Inspiration

Two weeks with my mother are almost over... We have taken lots of photo's to remind us later of a time that will never come back. my son is growing at the moment...
It is great, sometimes tiring though because I have to translate dutch to Hebrew and otherwise because both sides are a bit lazy to speak English...
Sometimes I ask Denzel to translate. he can.

I did create something though, I have sewn Denzel a new summer coat but it is surprisingly sunny these days in June that he hasn't got a chance to wear it yet (I have a feeling he will have in a short while...)

Anyway, instead of writing about not much or about boring things like visiting zoo, parks and forests I will just post some colorful photo's, as usual, for inspiration.

Not waiting for mama

Nature

Denzel's new watch

Colors in Amsterdam

Enjoy the weather !

Little girl again

This morning we drove to the airport to pick my mother. She'll staying with us two weeks.
I was very excited the whole week and Denzel too. He hasn't seen grandmother 2 years. In a life of a 3.5. years old boy that is almost a lifetime!!


It was strange though.. seeing my mother after so long. while waiting for her to show up (a whole hour!) I had tears in my throat but when she was finally there I didn't cry. Strange. I feel like a little girl and at the same time such a grown up like I never felt in my life...

My last creation was a needle felting project for myself - No swaps this time!
I needle felted with my machine some organza fabric and wool and silk roving and silk carriers. Then I was busy the whole weekend embroidering and beading..



It turned out to be a mobile hanging from the ceiling in my studio...
I like it. It reminds me the little girl I once looked like (although it is not me in the photo!) and the girly girl I still have inside...

Sewing machine meme

My sewing machine meme for Sew, Mama sew collection of sewing machine meme's


What brand and model do you have?
Huskystar C10 of Husqvarna


How long have you had it?
1.5 years


How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
€ 450 (in holland)

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? Quilts and bags

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
5 hours a week. I wish I had more time but something I sew and embroider by hand and I also use a needle felting machine.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
I love my machine but I don't give machines names
I was very upset and missed her greatly when she was being checked out.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

• free-motion quilting
• needle position adjustment (great for top stitch)
• decorative stitches that I use a lot,
• the ability to set maximum speed
• needle up/down selector ( I didn't know how much I need it until I used for a week another machine which didin't had it!)
  

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
When I sew and sew and sew and when I finish I realize the bottom bobbin was empty..

Do you have a great story to share about your machine?
I haven't found my machine under the Christmas tree because we never have any...
I bought it myself for my self. and yes, I had sewn my finger once.. ooouch that hurts! since then every time I sew my son shout to me "MAMA, LOOK OUT!"
And another time that my machine didn't sew I found out it was full of scrap-bookings felt flowers! My son have pushed a whole package inside! I had to open it and the lamp was still hot... oouch again.



Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?
yes. But it is not only the machine. I recommend the shop where I bought the machine because good service is also important if you want to keep your machine in good shape for a long time.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
First factor is what do you plan to do with it.
Second factor is what do you think you would like to do with it.
I knew I was interested in patchwork and quilting. It was very important to me that I could free motion quilt, use 1/4 inch foot (I looked for machine with needle position adjustment), and because I sew bags I wanted a machine that could handle layers and thick fabrics.
I don't sew clothes or baby clothes so it was not so important to me if I could use twin needle. Decorative stitches are nice and I heard many people say they are useless but I use them all the time in my machine-crazy-quilting.

Do you have a dream machine?
Janome 6600

The power of words

You’re obliged to pretend respect for people and institutions you think absurd. You live attached in a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions you despise, condemn, and know lack all foundation. It is that permanent contradiction between your ideas and desires and all the dead formalities and vain pretenses of your civilization which makes you sad, troubled and unbalanced. In that intolerable conflict you lose all joy of life and all feeling of personality, because at every moment they suppress and restrain and check the free play of your powers. That’s the poisoned and mortal wound of the civilized world.”

The Torture Garden – Octave Mirbeau

No, I am not depressed at all (on the contrary!)
This is part of a very special swap I participated in, invented by Inbaliya for our little warm group of wonderful creative and talented women.
The idea was each participant send a "muse" to another and receive from another a "muse" and let it inspire her to create something and send it back to the muse sender.

So I received the above text... mmmm... I think even after 3 weeks I didn't know really how I feel about it.
There were times in my life I thought exactly that and was naturally depressed by the thought. But love let me the strength not to focus on things that only waste my energy. so I don't. I don't feel obliged to pretend and I don't think people are absurd.

I care

I knew there will be words in my project because that is what I saw at first and second glimpse, there are only words...
I started making a tears pillow but then my machine broke down and I had to send to repair...
I was not so happy with the fact that I had to start over.

But I started over

But when I started over I began the process for real. I read the text over and over again and suddenly I was consumed!
I saw the cosmos and all people look the same. I heard Pink Floyd "another break in the wall" and "if you tolerate this" of the manic street preachers.
And I wanted to say, No, don't live attached in a cowardly fashion to moral and social conventions you despise.

Live

you don't have to lose all joy of life and all feeling of personality!
Just don't

Remeber



Be you

The whole project is made without the sewing machine. I needle felted with the machine the base and the rest stitched by hand: embroidery, beads, faces, gemstones, letter beads and stars.
Only after I filled and closed the cushion I have decided it won't be a tears-cushion. I made it a mobile to hang from the ceiling..

Summer knitting

Knitting is something for the summer! I make the yarn ahead and take it with me when we go for a weekend in the camping. I could then sit outside in the sun. My mother-in-low takes care of the coffee and she talks and talks but I knit a rectangle. no need to count.


Then I come home with the rectangles and during the week in the evenings I sew some lining, strap and closures.

Butterflies and flowers

Unfinished projects take too much space. Every now and then I look in the unfinished-project basket (and what's on the basket...) and decide it is emergency! I must reduce the heap..
I started this charm patchwork a year ago! waiting for quilting and binding with it's 36'' X 36'' it took lots of space for a long time - till last week!!




I am very proud of the binding! I think it is the best so far. practice does make it easier!
I haven't made a hanging sleeve yet and Denzel thought it was a nice new blanket...