Looks like Fagus Factory

When you look at the weaving of Anni Albers, the groups of stripes are somewhat similar, but on her weaving, there is only one direction, either horizontal or vertical, whereas I let them vary. Also the choice of colors is different from the Bauhaus preferences. I hardly saw pink or mauve there; I don't know if the pigments and dyes just weren't so developed then, or was it going against the grain of the artists? My husband and I saw Kandinsky's home in Dessau, and in two of the bedrooms, the owners had chosen pink, together with other pastels like mint and vanilla. Was the Kandinsky couple being spiteful, eh?

On Sunday, we followed an invitation to Harsefeld, a small place you never ever heard of, I guess. 900 years ago, it was the site of a monastery of some importance.
This cloister did not follow the change to Reformation as all the places in northern Lower Saxony. Instead, they defended their independence until 17th century. During the 30-years-war, it was deserted and fell into pieces, until the foundations were excavated in the eighties of the 20th century. The church was built in the 19th century, and we had brunch in a café in the building you can see behind the ruins in a very romantic cellar which once was part of the cloister with old oak beams carrying the ceiling. The party are sitting in the back of the room. While they were still talking -- most of them were my husband's old schoolmates -- I took a little stroll to take pictures of the amazing rocks which were used for these buildings in medieval times. And to take back some cobblestones for Wanda. The picture shows the kerb/curb of the cloister kitchen.

Starting a new project

From my Estonian folk textile bible I chose a very interesting pattern. There is another wool embroidery which covers the fabric almost entirely. This one is a sleeve decoration. I use the linen towel as a background. Wonder what this will be. Hardly a towel. A cushion cover?
I love this design. It is bold and modern beyond what you expect from traditional costumes. I wonder if I will integrate all of this in my project. My vague idea is to make a bold border on each short side and a center ornament using the design in the 2nd picture.
Would you start a project without knowing what it will be in the end?
I do.
Update
The book: Eesti Rahvaroivaid and more

Preparing for vacation in a few weeks

I won't take a computer with me, and I don't think I will visit an internet café. Just as I did during my vacation in past years, I'll start an embroidery project. Among the things I got from my Mom, I found an old towel, I presume it is linen. I tried a bit to embroider it with wool. Hm. Not as regular as I was hoping, but that's the challenge of the material. I started sketching patterns from my old Estonian folk art book from 1957. My plan is to make a geometrical border and an inner border with flowers. It is a bit of a guessing game how much crewel wool of each color I should take with me. Well, if I can change my own patterns, I can meet the demand in case I run short. But maybe I can buy crewel wool in Turkey more easily and cheaper than in Germany. Women in Turkey are very skilful with crafts like crocheting and embroidery. My sisters in law had a little case with a glass window where they kept their collection of head scarves with crocheted and seed bead embellished edges.

Confessions of an addict

So this is a stash, spread out on a bed. How will I be able to justify this on judgement day? I know what to say: This material is no longer produced in Europe. Crewel embroidery is dead on the continent. I had to salvage what I need.
I bought these boxes at about 0.35 $ per skein online. I bought larger stashes for almost no money, because the embroiderers gave up using it or passed away. I sort them out, collect them in groups of reds, greens, blues. I separate bundles. Just got a parcel with wonderful new and used wool skeins. Danish wool. Love it!
And I tell you: never make bundles by tying them together with rubber strings. Never ever. The leftovers after 10 or 20 years are just icky.

Got the Blues

Yesterday, a small parcel arrived with 10 shades of blue. I just asked for a scale of the more vibrant range of blues, and got exactly what I was dreaming of at a decent price. Below, there are samples of my old stash, and I was lacking the dark blues; there is still enough of the medium shades, but the trouble is: This quality of embroidery wool has completely vanished out of Germany. My way out of this dilemma was to buy old stash and leftovers from e-bay or to use split sock wool which is not available in the desired range of colours. This is the first time I ordered crewel wool, and it feels lovely, I can't wait to try it.
I'll be offline most of the time from the coming weekend on for a fortnight. I'm looking forward to sleep in the morning without a monster like this robbing my slumber, as it has done for a week. They are renovating the tot lot. German workers start at 7; maybe someone complained, now they start at 8 which is bearable. Yet, I'm glad to be in this Danish cottage in the north soon. My friend Martina will be taking care of our place.

Journal
Again, I will use our journal, as we have kept them on our journeys for years. They are diaries, embellished with drawings, small water colour paintings, pasted postcards and tickets.
The red light tower is situated in Esposende on the North Portuguese coast. As my camera escaped from my bag and ended up on the stone pavement with a crooked nose, I was without a camera which was really tantalizing, and this event helped me to understand that I am a junkie and have to see the CA -- Camerolics Anonymous.
To soothe my pain, I made this watercolor painting.
But there is more in these journals.




There are cartoons by my husband J like this one:








And another event which robbed 120 $ from our travelling wallet:




To sum it up: All the things that make you smile when you look back.