Dear friends,

First of all: Thank you so much for your caring 'get well'-wishes and dear greetings in the comments and by mail! I do appreciate it very much indeed and I'm sorry for having neglected my blog and mails for so long now - but I haven't really had a choice.

My 'disc problem' finally turned out to be a bleeding aneurysm in my brain and last week I had a brain surgery in Vienna. Fortunately, everything's fine now - I returned home from hospital this weekend - but I will still have to keep calm for a while in order to recover properly.

This means I'm back reading at least, even if I haven't that much to contribute myself yet ...!

So please be patient just a little bit longer and I'll be joining you again as soon as I can!

Sorry, but I can't be with you for a while. I'm in bed with a disc problem in my neck which causes real bad headache. Take care! I'll be back as soon as I can.

What a joy to recycle this! /Wunderbare Wiederverwertung

Look what I received from Sara today! A whole bunch of sari silk fibers which she had ordered from India! I'm so overwhelmed and so happy! What a joy to recycle this material! (The two small balls at the left are my very first try-outs with the material ...)



And as this seems to be my lucky day, I had one more present - this time from my 13-year old son. Coming home from school, he jumped into the workshop and just made that much-longed-for lazy kate which I've been talking about that I would really need ...

As you can see, it's the luxury version, holding seven (!) bobbins!



(And in German: Diese wunderbaren indischen Seidenfasern aus recycelten Saris hat Sara aus Indien bestellt - und mir einen Batzen davon geschenkt! Ich freu' mich so! - Ganz links oben die allerersten Versuche damit ... Und dann noch dazu ein Geschenk meines 13-jährigen Sohnes: ein heiß ersehnter Spulenhalter - für gleich sieben Spulen - den hat er heute einfach so zusammengezimmert! Wenn das nicht ein Glückstag ist ...)

All shades of grey/Graubunte Fäden

A friend asked me if I wanted some threads, which had been left behind by a lodger who had moved on. "Threads? Yeah, sure," I said.

Well, here they are, and I'm now trying to figure out what to do with them.

Straight threads, entangled threads, wound threads, all different shades of grey. A metaphor for life.



Among the threads there were three rope-like items - neat threads wound around thick strands of other threads - and I started with them, sewing them together like for a bowl, trivet, mat ...



I also tried out the threads on my daughter's flower loom (when googling about flower looms, I learned that this is a revival tool from the '70:s - didn't know that!).

I like the flowers best when they're a bit sloppy and not too neat - and this seems to be the perfect stuff for that look! I could imagine how great a waist-coat or a belt would be with these flowers - maybe with a felted center to it as well ...

What I enjoy about these threads is that there are several matching shades and that there is such a lot of material! This gives me the opportunity to play and experiment with them, considering punching the whole entangled batt with the embellisher as a 'filling embroidery' to the fabric background ...

Thinking of seaweed, drift wood, a harbour fence, a coral reef ...

Sea shore and maritime motifs are definitely connected to my summer feelings. The blue and greyish shades of the threads - in combination with different white fibers - maybe with some natural found objects like sea shells and drift wood - would most certainly make a good arrangement.

I think I would like to work on that.

(German summary: Ich habe einen ganzen Haufen Baumwollfäden in verschiedenen Grautönen bekommen - und überlege, was ich damit machen könnte. Ein paar dicke, umwickelte Stränge waren schon dabei - die hab' ich gleich zusammengenäht. Mit dem "Blumengerät" (Prym) meiner Tochter probierte ich einige 'schlampigen' Blumen aus - da eignen sich die verworrenen Fäden sehr gut - und ich könnte mir diese als ärmellose Weste oder auch als Gürtel gut vorstellen ... Zuletzt noch ein paar Experimente mit dem Embellisher - in maritimer Richtung. Eine Kombination mit weißen Fasern und einigen Naturfundstücken würde sicher ein recht nettes Bild ergeben!)

A felted hair ribbon - and some embroidery books/Gefilztes Haarband und Bücher

This is a felted hair ribbon which I really needed to do, as my old, red one almost was falling apart from everyday's wear.

I used strips of a green, woolen sweater and punched it with some prefelt, yarn, threads and fabric and finally sew on a couple of beads.

These are some embroidery books I bought in Sweden -



with various aspects of embroidery -

the second picture f.e. is out of the book "Tenntrådsbroderier" ('Tin thread embroidery') by Mona Callenberg, which is a North Scandinavian/Sami technique where spun tin thread is plaited and embroidered on reindeer leather, mostly for jewelry, but also on purses, bags and clothing.

What I find to be quite amusing is the third picture, out of "Med egna stygn" by Lena Lundgren, which shows the traditional wool work, here used with illustrations from childrens' books and comics. This is a modern book on embroidery, inspiring the reader to do all sorts of own experiments with thread on unconventional materials.

The first picture, out of "Yllebroderier" by Ingrid Eggimann-Jonsson, is wool work on wool felt, this one showing mainly corner motifs to build up a composition. The book is filled with colourful photos and sketches on floral and folkloristic Swedish wool work, all designed by the author.

And the last picture is out of the book "Sömmar & stygn" by Anita Gunnars, a very clear and fresh stitch collection, here showing an old Swedish stitch from the early 19th century called "Anundsjösöm".



I'm still a bit stuck in everyday matters at the moment and therefore not so productive on textiles right now - have a look at Paula's blog: she describes exactly what I mean - I just wanted to say that I still very much enjoy your hanging around and commenting!

(German summary: Ein mit dem Embellisher gefilztes Haarband - Wolle, Garne, Stoff auf Strickstoff gepuncht - und einige Stickbücher, die ich aus Schweden mitgebracht habe - meist Wollstickerei, aber auch eines über Zinnstickerei, eine alte nordskandinavische/lappländische Technik, wo der gesponnene Zinnfaden kunstvoll geflochten und danach auf Rentierleder aufgenäht/gestickt wird. Das dritte Bild zeigt Kinderbuchillustrationen/Comics in herkömmlicher Wollstickereitechnik, nett, oder? - Und obwohl ich im Moment für textiles Arbeiten nur schwer Zeit und Muße finde, schätze ich meine kleine Leserschaft sehr ...)

Some travelling experiments - Reiseexperimente

It's funny with travelling: some people cannot get enough of it and get so much inspiration out of it - it's a challenge that makes them really feel alive and vibrant.

I'm afraid I'm not that kind of person, really. It's not that I hate it: I can very well adjust to new situations and surroundings and feel comfortable with it - but at the same time, I can't wait to return home and get working on those new ideas and impressions! And the problem is that when I'm finally back home, there's so much piled-up everyday stuff to take care of ...!

I guess I just need quite some time to "get back" mentally, to find concentration.

Anyway, this is not really a 'concentrated piece', but just an experiment on weaving with recycling material, like newspapers and waste plastic. I saw something like that in Stockholm, I thought the recycling paper looked quite stylish with the black cotton warp inbetween. The original paper weave was more professionally done, though, more tense, probably on a 'real' loom.

The little thing above it are some folded paper scraps crocheted together with the same black cotton thread I used for the warp. Well, just an experiment.



Last weekend in Vienna, I saw a crocheted flower necklace which I thought to be a nice idea, but far too expensive - so I made an own version on that, one with a green and one with a red wire. I used a variegated stocking knitting wool to get different colours out of the same material and some beads from my stash (hey, it's nice to find everything you ever need in your own stash!).



And feeling the need just to sit down in the sun and play around - I made these two beaded butterflies to send along with the mail I was preparing for Sara and for Paula ...

(Metal wire and beads from my stash :-))



(German summary: Nur ein paar Gedanken über's Reisen ... Ein Experiment mit Weben von Recyclingmaterialien wie Papier und Plastik, auch zusammengehäkelt, mit schwarzem Baumwollgarn ... Zwei aus Sockenwolle gehäkelte Ketten und dann ein paar Schmetterlinge aus Draht und Perlen, die ich meinen Freundinnen schicken möchte.)

Sonnen-Blume - Sun-Flower

Diese Sonnen-Blume aus meinem Garten ist für Mirjam und Gabriela. Ich denke heute an euch.

This Sun-Flower is to honour Mirjam and her mother Gabriela. Mirjam would have been 2 years today - she died two months ago. Her mother tought me a lot about love and dedication in her blog, and I want to pay my respect to her.