Inside and outside my house

Inside the sewing is going on; it has been quite a long time since I have made

clothes, so I started with this little baby kimono. It turned out very cute and the baby's mother was

happy to receive it. The fabric is a replica of famous Dutch traditional costume fabric

You can find the pattern here:
http://habitual.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/habitual_simplekimonov2.pdf

Then, also on the internet, I found  this tutorial and I simply had to make me one.

It does not take much time, requires not too much sewing skills and makes a nice little gift. Use them for all the small stuff in your bag, or make-up, or for money, you name it!

My next one will be in a bigger size...

and finally I want to show this gorgeous July tree (click for a better view).

This one is at the entrance of our neighborhood,

but similar trees are in bloom all over the island at the moment.

Question: does anybody know how to remove the white border around my pictures? I chose the newer, upgraded version  for writing posts, but my old 'trick' for removing the borders does not work anymore.

Anyhow: have a creative start of September!

Lotus pods...

combined with silk

Remnants of a journey (1)...

(click image to enlarge)

Digital collage

More subtle colours

(click picture for details)

Some posts ago I wrote about my attempt to work in more subtle, less

abundant colours.

At present I'm merely sewing practical stuff, but in shooting pictures

I managed to maintain this goal,

helped by the sea and our island.

Do you notice the pattern of an Agave leaf underneath the leaf that is above?

Surprise no. 1!

while walking on the beach I found these little treasures.

Sometimes there are a lot of them, sometimes nothing.

They are treasures to me, because they have holes and are ready to be sewn...

and finally this: very mundane, these spatters of paint on

the same plant, but still I like the composition.

Sometimes it is good to be without all kind of cultural stimulus,

you really 'get an eye' for beauty in the ordinary

Colours of the ocean

my daily walk was at Guana Bay today. It is situated at the east side of Sint Maarten

the high swells caused by hurricane Bill last week brought this huge fishing net ashore, this is just a detail.
It must have been a huge swell too to throw it on the beach

when I headed to my car, this giant agave plant caught my eye.
It had some beautiful surprises, which I may show in future posts...

and waiting in a traffic jam on my way home,

(yes, we do have them even on our island!), I looked to the right and

was happy to spot this! The house itself is ugly, and its surrounding even more, but this detail wanted to be noticed among all the ugliness. Seeing beauty in everyday things, it still works!

Colourful

this detail of a journal page I made last year

this flower in our garden, it is blooming year round and is called
Pride of Barbados (or tuturutu in Papiamento)

and these fabric baby balls I just finished!

Playing, anyone?

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday

Regina

Paint, paper, picture and some sewing...

I just placed a paper collage on a painted canvas board and shot a picture. Put a smaller photograph over it and played around in Photoshop CS and voila!

Merci Camille

Discovered the simple pleasure of sewing again, this has always been good therapy for me. A few friends are pregnant and I made some nice goodies today for presents. When I'm finished there will be pictures, of course!