Saturday, March 16, 2019

Kufu and the revamping project.What does spring do to you? Spring=creation time. Enticing Mood Picture!

Kufu and Revamping.


Last week I showed you a picture of my to be revamped blouse. I spent about 1 hour searching the lace fabric I had in mind but found only a small part. While contemplating the piece of lace in my hands, I remembered I used a big part of the fabric for a cushion for my grand daughter. The 50 cm² I had in mind has become a small scrap, significantly smaller then I remembered; I have only 2 whole "flowers" and 3/4 of a flower left.


scrap of lace
The scrap of lace that is left


See for yourself, the fabric is super cute! I made a T-shirt out of it when lace was in a couple years ago. Here you see the flower in detail.


Detail of scrap of lace
Detail of scrap of lace

Kufu

And here is where kufu comes into sight: kufu is a Japanese conception, you could even say "a way of life". It is the art/ability of getting along and doing with what you have; you use your imagination and your creativity to solve a problem without buying or acquiring new stuff, you fall back on what you have.

In my vision the back of my blouse was scattered with about 5 or 6 flowers randomly sewed unto my blouse. I have a whole closet full of fabrics, remnants, remainders of wool and cotton (with them I could crochet small doily-like patches), it would be a shame to go out and buy another piece of lace or fabric. This is THE moment to apply kufu. What I thought would be an easy project will take me a whole lot more of time.


Spring 


2 weeks ago, nature teased us with 4 days of super nice weather: 15 à 17° in February! We payed dearly for this extravagance with a week of forceful and frightening blows of wind a bit everywhere on the Northern side of the globe. Luckily we don't have any damage but my sons' roof has missing tiles and it is raining on top of all this.

Spring is coming alright, I do feel it in my body: a big urge to create! I started a couple projects all at once  and I have to tell myself: hey first finish the projects you started up. Could also be the influence of the new moon on the 6th of March. I started a handbag that I can't finish now because I don't have the right tools; I discovered those giant flowers or bouquets functioning as wall paper on Pinterest and want to put my hand on a scaled down project. Those wall papers are copies of the very dark still lifes of the Dutch Golden Age. I love this baroque style. (And I listen almost exclusively to baroque music.)


Jan Davidsz de Heem Stilleven vaas met bloemen - Schilderij op canvas 70 x 118 cm
Jan Davidsz de Heem Stilleven vaas met bloemen 


I already sketched some flowers on paper. My first attempt won't turn out this grand; I refuse to be intimidated by focusing on the result, it is the doing that counts and doesn't practice make perfect?

All this beside, I have to channel all this forces in me, they should not overwhelm me; a good plan and a firm follow up might do the job.


Mood picture of my latest creations for men.


Another side effect of spring is the urge to clean and declutter and I mean a deep cleaning, the ideal way of inventoring what you have. I took pictures of my latest creations and made this mood board!


LoveLea's mood picture of men bracelets
LoveLea's mood picture of men bracelets.

And here is the version my hubby made:


LoveLea's mood picture of men bracelets by S ozonder
Moodboard made by my hubby.

He picked out a very nice green as background.

I am proud and happy with this mood pictures. Next week I 'm planning on showing my leather jewelry to shops in my home town and the mood picture is the way to create the right setting. I'll keep you updated. See you next week.

Friday, March 8, 2019

Revamping a new and cherished garment!

It sounds silly to revamp a new and cherished garment. Why would I want to revamp a new garment?  My favorite cream colored linen blouse, its back in polyester with a big pleat to give the blouse ampleness and freedom of motion needed refreshing.

Linen takes some skill and diligence to iron and wrinkled polyester too so I decided to iron the blouse while still wet. I plugged in my iron, put it on the lowest grade and started ironing; all well and then the iron didn't slide smooth any more and the next second: I had a whole the size of an egg.


Lovelea's blouse with hole
See the hole? I am not overstating, sadly.


O.M.G., (big panic!)I have a hole in my favorite blouse! My eyes didn't want to believe what they saw: a hole. I DON'T WANT TO THROW AWAY A NEW and FAVORITE BLOUSE. What can I do? Immediately my brain went to a lace fabric I bought years ago, about the same color of my blouse. It has roses or flowers made of layers of organza-like fabric, the motifs rather big. I could use this fabric to cover up the hole and sprinkle some more flowers on its back so it isn't obvious that I am covering up  a hole.


Lovelea's blouse with hole, detail
Detail of the hole.


Plan de campagne

Knowing your problems is a first step when starting your project and at the same time it gives you a reasonable knowledge of the time you need to finish our project. What are possible problems?
 
Problem #1: where is this fabric? did it go through my fingers when I stuffed my fabric stash into my new closet? I can't remember. If I can't find it in my closet, I have to search through several boxes of fabric. But I can ask for help: Etem Dede. He is a real help in time of despair. I told you about him in an earlier post. He is amazing! Just try it out: copy the words on a piece of paper, keep the paper some where at hand and when something gets lost, say the words and start yoyr quest. You'll find your object in no time.

Problem #2: how will I attach the flower to the big hole? Do I need additional supplies?

Problem #3: after covering the real whole, how will I spread the other flowers convincingly.

Now that I know my problems, I can make my "plan de campagne" with easy steps to finish this project well.

I'll keep you updated on this revamping project. See you next week!
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Friday, March 1, 2019

Yes! I manifested, yeah! To blog or not to blog?

I manifested! 

and the truth is: I wasn't even aware of it!

Some time ago I went with my sister to an exposition. We would have lunch together and we found a restaurant that advertised "ray wings" as today's special. I dote on ray wings and it was delicious. Back home I googled ray wings and read that they are in season till the end of March.

We decided to go to the seaside, have ray wings, stay 1 night in a hotel and take some fish home. I found some nice hotels with parking but my husband kept saying: let's wait. When my husband says: let's wait, I know he has feelings that something isn't right so I didn't insist and put all fish and seaside ideas way back in my memory. And what happened: tooth problems! My husband spent about 3 weeks going back and forth to the dentist.

Last Monday, early in the morning my daughter phoned. The weather has been incredibly nice the last days and she had a very strong desire to see the sea, feel the wind, walk barefooted in the sand, let the dog runto his fill. But her husband had a meeting and couldn't go so she asked if we would care to go. We had nothing to do and  she picked us up and we drove the 150 km to the sea. It was low tide and we walked about 500 m to the waterline; the sea was an incredible nice blue!



the sea at Oostende, Belgium
My daughter and me walking to the sealine.
Courtesy of hubby S Ozonder




the sea at Oostende, Belgium
a picture to remember this beautiful day
Courtesy of hubby S Ozonde

 the water was very cold, even the dog jumped back feeling the cold  water. The beach was almost empty, 2 little girls in pink dresses playing in the sand, a dozen people walking their dog and the 4 of us: my daughter with dog, my husband and me. Filou who has macho character traits, was led by the nose by a very fast female greyhound; they ran rounds and rounds of big circles till they were exhausted.


my daughter with dog Filou
My daughter with dog Filou.
Courtesy of hubby S Ozonde


The short walk made us hungry and within 5 minutes we saw a restaurant that permitted dogs and had "ray wings" as today's special. Was I even lucky! The 3 of us had ray wings in butter sauce with capers; Filou is a terrible beggar but the running on the beach had exhausted him and we ate in peace.


Ray wings at La mangerie, Oostende, Belgium
Ray wings at La Mangerie, Oostende, Belgium
Courtesy of hubby S Ozonde


Lunch finished, we went to the beach again, did some walking and returned home. Short but we returned loaded with energy and a head full of nice ideas.

It is only  3 days later that I had my aha-moment: I did manifest! I went to the seaside and had ray wings! Lesson to learn: when you give up on something, when you don't push, your dreams come true.


To blog or not to blog!


as I wrote a couple posts ago, this blog leads to nowhere. I spent a lot of time and effort and I don't get what I want. Comes the question: should I stop or should I continue? I got paper and a pencil and asked myself questions: what happens if I don't blog? what happens if I don't Pinterest? and the answer is: nothing will happen and what's more: I 'll have freed  time up to do other things. Not only will I have more time to BE, but my head will be cleared of all the rumble around it.

Making this decision was scary: a jump in the unknown! Immediately I felt better, relaxed and now that I am writing about this decision, I am asking myself: what was so scary? what was I scared of? the unknown is the answer!

I might continue posting pictures of my products. I have to take pictures anyway so I might as well do something with them.

So my dear reader, thank you for reading my posts, supporting me thereby. If you're interested in pictures of my creations and some anecdotes, keep looking out for my posts.

The event of the year (in my town), Pro's of having a dog, How I excorcise inspiration; My revamped quote!

The event of the year Last Friday it was my daughter's birthday and it was the first day of Suikerrock, a 3 day rock festival in our...

The event of the year (in my town), Pro's of having a dog, How I excorcise inspiration; My revamped