Saying Goodbye

After 13 days of constant interaction, it was time to say goodbye to those who had become like family to us. The wonderful ladies from Budapest said their fair wells to Ireland today with hugs and tears.
















Last evening was spent with a fantastic evening at Gabi's and the traditional Irish BBQ, in the rain. Songs and gifts were exchanged with invites to return to Budapest any time. There is a plan in the works for another adventure next summer. Should be amazing!
















These are the girls. Marta, Ester, Betty & Sophie, Silvia, Gabi, Bea, Elizabeth, Kata and Boro. All happy with their gifts of Irish native wool. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it.
















Unknown to us, while we were planning gifts for them, they we're doing the same. Wine, honey, marmalade, marzipan, cookies, paprika, of course, lovely traditional cookies that are beautifully iced and a photo album with pictures of us on our wonderful holiday taken by Ester. They are so thoughtful and generous as well as wonderful crafts people. A sisterhood was formed.
Szerelem az Ön számára

Budapest

I just took a trip to Budapest for a week with Feltmakers Ireland. There we 6 of us that were able to take the trip. We did an exchange with a lovely group of Hungarian felt makers as well. We were invited to come and participate in the National Festival of Traditional Craft held at the Castle.
Their group (12) are currently visiting Ireland and exploring our short, but thriving felting techniques and communities. Saturday, they will take part in Ireland's National Heritage week, by doing demos of traditional Hungarian felt making. It should be fantastic.

They are a great, fun loving group that adapt well to our cooler climate. After leaving weather in the 40's C, they arrived to the mid teens. Burrr!!!

Here is a brief overview of the week.
















Arrival was late Tuesday night, finally falling into bed around midnight. The next day was beautiful and warm. Off to the St. Gellart Thermal Spa and Swimming Pool. Yes, It was Great. Basecoat of the tan begins now.

Next we did a sight seeing tour lead by Judit. A lovely woman who has immense knowledge of Buda and Pest. Great with English as she is an English teacher.
















This is the Buda castle that overlooks the Danube River. There were hundreds of traditional craft vendors that all over the grounds. The link is for the festival from last year. Have a look at the video portion. It's really good.
















Wednesday evening we went to the castle ground to help erect the 3 yurts and 2 tents that were in the area that the demonstrations were to be held. Dinner was afterwords around the yurts. Starts around 9:30. Roll into bed around midnight. I was sensing a pattern here.




















As felt makers, we decided to do a group project together. While we were not together until last week, we decided to to Celtic and Hungarian knots. Each square was to be a certain size with ropes, so that it could be tied together when we came together. These are mostly the Irish knots with more being added later in the week. I'll take a photo on the completed piece tomorrow.

















Thursday morning was the first day of the festival and we got to work right away cutting prefelt (half felted wool) for the prayer rug. The rug was being done in one of the main squares as a demo for people to participate in if they wanted to.

















Rolled up and ready to begin felting. Heavy, wet and full of unprocessed wool. (Poop) We made felt along with a translator up at the yurts for the rest of the day. Had a lovely dinner after the festival and got to bed around the same time.
















Friday was spent at the castle and in the evening was a fashion show of traditional costumes, reworks on traditional and felt pieces. Absolutely beautiful and what a setting.

























Saturday was the big 25th anniversary party. Millions of people flocked to the castle and river to watch the spectacular fireworks show. The bands at the castle before and after were amazing. Meat by the cartloads and beer a plenty! What a party was had by all.

Sunday was the final day and take down. We had an amazing breakfast at the yurts of shared traditional foods. Salmon, cheeses, fatback, breads, jams, paprika spreads and whiskey of course. Not sure which side that was, but there it was.




















Sunday morning was museum time. The Museum of Applied Arts and the Museum of Ethnography were beautiful. Breathtaking architecture in each one. No minimalism here.
















Traditional eggs. Can't wait to have my lessons from Gabi in the spring.




















Bit of scenery along the river. This church is at the north end of the castle. Amazing tile roofs.
















Sunday evening we went to visit Bea. She's a dentist by occupation and "just plays" with felt. Talk about feeling inadequate! Her stuff is fab. Piles and piles of every different type. Wow.

Monday, we were treated to a trip to lake Balaton. It's huge and picturesque. The six were accompanied by several of the ladies and their families. It was really a great day to talk and get to know them better.
Tuesday, we went to Boro and Oto's for breakie and off to the market for paprika and the last souvenirs. What a finish and what a trip. Thanks to everyone for all the hospitality and great planning.

Commission

Sometimes I find commission pieces hard to do. This is one that was requested in a lovely lilac colour. I don't have anything against lilac, in fact I quite like it. But the question is always, where to start and what to put into it. It's endless. So after months of putting it off... Here it is.

I really love the silk twine that I picked up 2 years ago from a dye company called Oliver Twist. They are a very sculptural element to a soft hat. White twigs are what they remind me of. The silk dyed well and incorporated more than one colour to the surface of the hat as well at the bow and band. I'm very happy with the results and so was Dee.

Man vs. Beast

Ok, after you say "Ahhh, isn't she cute!!" Yes, she is and we love her, but...

She's a weed whacker that has good taste. Our lovely little bunny has a fancy hutch, with a fancier run, built for her by Bob the Builder aka Roy. It's spectacular. Plenty of space, grass, ramp for the in and out activities. Guilt overruns us as we see her staring into the windows as we stare back out at her. She must want to run, we say. Let's let her out.

She loves to run. So much, that she's excivated at track of sorts behind every bush and plant in the garden/yard. We love watching her take off at super rabbit speed and race around in circles until she's so tired, she drops to the ground in exhaustion.

Part of the track making involves chewing down and through anything that might touch her during her sprints. Anything. As much as I try to plant towards the grass, she seems to enlarge her running lane.




















Our lovely leeks that were just planted.
We had 3 casualties today.
















Our lovely peas that are bearing fruit or is it veg, have lost loved ones.




















Not visible at the first glance, but look beyond and you will discover...



















So, gardening with a free range rabbit has it's issues, but we just plant extra. Life with "The Rabbit" is fun and keeps us on the run as well. We love our little beast!

I'm Expecting!!

It's a girl!! Really a woman. She'll be coming my way soon. I can't wait to use a custom size form to get my shape, instead of the usual patterns that need to be refitted around a real body!

Now I just have to clean the nursery/work space before she gets here. Hummm..... Duckies or fluffy sheep??? You guess!

Inspired

It's not hard to believe that blogs have a cycle of life. Busy sometimes, slow at others. Mine has been slow for the past 6 months depite the rush of activities each day. Blogging for me, started as several friends began theirs. I was the last of 5 to come on board. Over the years, friends have moved, married, had a child or two, so life is also occupied for them. I've let mine laps, what can I say.
But recently, I've been inspired to do something with all the pictures I still continue to take. Cheryl, of A Simple Yarn, has begun writing again and so, I was inspired to take it up as well. She has a lovely and direct way with words that are always enjoyable and thought provoking. A work smith I am not so, I will not attempt that. But hopefully I will be more regular at documenting where I've been and what I'm making. We'll see.
Thank you A Simple Yarn for being inspiring in so many ways!! Not a eulogy by the way!

Let It Snow

Well, we're on our second major snow storm in December! It doesn't really snow much in Ireland, but when it does... At least this year. Last year was close, but not the accumulation. We've had 4-5 inches last night, several more this morning and it is still snowing. The amount doesn't sound extreme to those who are well seasoned, but without plows, salt, tires and cars equipped for such weather, it's a mess. No snow shovels either. We've resorted to dishwasher salt on the walkway to melt the ice. Works great!!















Roy and I walked the kids to school this morning. Found 10 euro on the ground and went for a coffee on the snowy way home! It's beautiful. Light, fluffy, not overly cold and perfect for this time of year.
We stopped off at our local organic butcher and picked up 3 kinds of boar sausage, and a large ham for Christmas dinner. We're expecting family from Indiana and Spain. I'm really hoping they open the airport back up by then.















Our little feeder for the starving birds. They're not use to fending for themselves.

Craft Market

Here are a few of the scarves I did for a Craft Show this past weekend. Suzanne, one of the wonders from Feltmakers Ireland was taking a stand and wanted to know if anyone had anything. I sold 2 hats and I'm not sure what else yet. Haven't been through the box since.
I'd seen some similar scarves and wanted to try them out in the washing machine. Worked pretty well. I used 3 different types of wool to see which I liked better. All the surfaces are covered in silk throwsters waste and then dyed.



















This one is made from a mixed wool batt form Germany. A bit hairy, but I really like the colours.
The silk really picks up the dye and makes it shine.



















This one is from Cormo wool that I picked up in the US 5 years ago. I really packs down well. Still fuzzy, but good. I like the aqua, gray, pink/purple highlights of it.



















Merino/silk blend. Soft, felted down really well. A bit harder that the others, but softer. This one was 3 different colours before it arrived here.



















The wool batt from Germany again. Different colour combo. They look cool on with a big shawl pin. They wrap around the neck 2-3 times.

More Hats

The Frog or Lizard as my children call it. Made from Icelandic wool bats and silk hankies. Love this one the most, I think.















Simple shape of cream merino and black and gray silk hankies.














The Pom was inspired by friend Sheila's lovely flowers. It's a long wide strip. Folded in half and clipped. Role and stitch. Very effective embellishment for a simple understated shape.

Nordic Blue

Thought I'd try a different shaped hat pattern for a change. Daughter, loves the hats with the braids, so we did something a little different. I used an Icelandic fleece for the first layer. Short soft fibre. 2nd layer is turquoise silk pongee fabric which I dyed at the Feltmakers Ireland dyeing day a couple weeks ago. Next was the fairly monochromatic layering of colours - grading plain turquoise, turquoise/silk blend, rust, lavender and then repeat until you run out of room. Last, cover the entire hat with a pale aqua silk fibre to cut down the colour contrast.























Curly Q top and sides took the longest to dry, but are really cute. Last, stitch on the butterfly antenna's as equally as possible. The next one will be orange for the little lady of the house.

Makin' Bacon

Well, this has nothing to do with pork or meat products. In making hats for the workshop last weekend, I needed something for a band. Using the colours of the hat, it occurred to me, that it looked remarkably like bacon. All be it, very lean bacon. No fatty additives.















Here it is cut and filled with a salmon (to strong) and apricot (to weak) to produce a combo that Goldilocks would be proud of. Very close to the silk velvet ribbon that's felted into the main body. It's just right.















Looking forward to wearing it when I get or make a coat or wrap to compliment it.

Before and After

Here is an amazing pack of stuff I got from Her Majesty Margo, plus some brown wool and silk roving that I dyed at one of the Dyeing Day's at the studio. Oh, what will it be???


























Ta Da!!!! The amazing ruffled hat and flower combo. Trying to make use of the last bits of the garden before it's all brown. Not the grass! But the plants.

Blue Face Leicester makes hairy felt. SO, if you want really smooth felt, don't use is. It takes more muscle as well, but is really beautiful in it's natural colours and over dyes gorgeous.

I bought a polystyrene hat block from a company in Germany. It was several inches bigger than my head. Makes for droopy hats. I borrowed this beautiful on from the lovely Sheila. Now I have to get one. It's amazing and adjustable. Made by one of the members husbands, in Feltmakers. Gorgeous and functional.

Happy, Happy, Happy. Now I just need to find the coats in the attic!!

Rainbows

On Wednesday this week we had these. After a beautiful summer, this was the first real, day after day rain we'd had. Autumn officially begins in September, but August can feel like it's begun. Having said that... Avery, had found a Noro hat I made 2 years ago. She loves the hat. It's a bit saggy and falls to one side. I'm thinking Rhasta is in her future. She thinks dreads are amazing and now that she knows someone who has them and is her race and hair type, there's no stopping her. I have to reassure her that until she finishes High School, they're not allowed.

















So being inspired by rainbows and all things bright, she selected the Noro Taiyo yarn. Cotton, silk, wool and nylon. Should wash well too.
















Mine is on the left. A bit more subdued and hers is the other.






















This is the way is perches on her head. Night and day. She does take it off for classes, but then it goes back on right away.

Seeing Red

Having not done much felt making while I was gone, this is the first piece I'm made since the return. Red hat, blue hat.... Dr. Seuss? Maybe? Anyway, a lovely woman came to the Studio on Sunday for the Heritage Yurt day and fell in love with Sheila's red hat. Please, please, please??? No, I really love my hat... Please, please, please??? Holly? Would you like to make a hat for this nice lady? Sure I will, so here it is. Ruffles, although not to ruffly. Silk handkerchiefs, not the nose blowing kind, but the super thin, lovely type that makes any piece of felt extra special. Dyed a small bundle with 3 red colours. Couldn't decide, but really like the multi colour effect. Might make a green one for myself.















I find reds and oranges difficult to photograph. After changing rooms 3 times and trying ever setting I could, the bottom one is closest in colour. 3 colours of wool plus the borders and the silk. It's very pretty and very close to Sheila's original creation.

Hiatis Over - Part 2

2010 started off fast. Lots of sledding with enough snow to keep us happy.

















Birthday party for the 12 year old. Bowling with 10 boys is loud!!


















6th Grade Graduation. We're very proud. Roy was already back in Ireland finding us a new house to move into. Time was tight between School release, our flight back and getting into a house over a Bank Holiday weekend.


















Evidence of the new house and the old tenants. Stuff, not bodies. Years of over growth, dirty carpets and unsalvageable furniture. Skip number 2 is coming on Friday. For the remaining overgrowth from the garden.

















Our new family member Suki. Dwarf, lop eared bunny. He couldn't be cuter, as long as he doesn't eat my plants.
















Extension on the hutch will fit her just right and the rabbit.

















Avery went to Art camp this summer and then taught ALL of us to make beaded bugs. Note the concentration!



































Dyeing Day with the Feltmakers at the Studio in Phoenix Park.

















Assembling the Mongolian Yurt this past weekend at the Studio. It was part of Irish Heritage Week. We did demos, story telling and put up the Yurt and Squirt (mini yurt). It was a beautiful day after the morning rain ended. It was very well attended and hopefully educational.















Liz Brown, one of our members lives in Scotland. She and her partner, built the frame and invited all the Feltmaking Guilds and groups across the British Isles to do a panel for the Yurt. It was then combined and has been at over 300 events to promote craft and the Mongolian artistry of Feltmaking. It is incredible beautiful, inside and out.
Ok. We're caught up for now and I'll try to keep a better reign on time. Ha!