Feltabulous is taking shape!

I have been steadily working on items for the (hopefully) forthcoming craft fairs and Chris has been really supportive in lots of ways, from making a felting platform to his latest - getting a 'Feltabulous' stamp made to enable me to have my own tags and labels. I was really surprised when he gave it to me and delighted when I tried it out! It is very exciting...

Butterflies

Another image taken at Barnsdale Gardens. I was focusing on one butterfly when another just happened to land, very conveniently. I particularly like the areas of light and shade.

Autumn Colours

I took this photo while at Barnsdale Gardens, near Oakham, Rutland (http://www.barnsdalegardens.co.uk/). The weather was gorgeous and the contrast of colour against the brilliant blue sky was fantastic. Barnsdale is one of my favourite places as there is always something to see and it feels familiar as it was Geoff Hamilton's garden and featured on BBC TV's 'Gardeners World' for many years. It has become a real de-stress place for me, as well as providing inspiration for my own garden and the opportunity to buy loads of interesting plants. In fact, it is most unusual for me to come away empty handed!

Thought for the day

As we grow older and realise more clearly the limitations of human happiness, we come to see that the only real and abiding pleasure in life is to give pleasure to other people. P G Wodehouse

Pink sunset (2)

This is a recreation of the sunset I had done as part of 'the big project'. It shows that although I can create a similar image, it will never be 100% the same. I like this about felt though, as it ensures no two pieces are identical and so I can honestly say each piece is a one-off. I made two more pieces of felt yesterday in blends of yellows and oranges so that I can continue heart and star making today and tomorrow and the next day...

Natural Wool Colours

I have been experimenting with wool from my sister's sheep (Black welsh) and interpreting some of my landscape ideas into these neutral shades. The wool felts well although it takes much longer than merino to full. The mottled colours are interesting and I shall continue to use these shades, which also look effective made into hearts and stars. I have been looking at other types of wool to use and I think Shetland is my favourite at the moment, purely on the colours. That could be a future project...

Felt Stars - Plain background

Following a comment that I received about the felt stars photo, where the blue china plate was felt to be too distracting, I said I would post a photo of them on a plain background. Here it is! I have made a few more stars and the plain background certainly concentrates the eye on the stars.

I am enjoying making the stars and hearts - hopefully I shall sell some at the craft fairs and once I have enough, I shall put them on folksy (http://www.folksy.co.uk/) to sell them there too!

Dramatic sunset

I have been continuing to make new pieces as well as the hearts and stars. I made this piece as I was inspired by the amazing colours in a sunset. The blended colours are quite bold but sometimes this can give a really good effect. Adding yellow and white silk fibres to the top layer of merino gave an extra lustre to those areas. I was pleased with the end result, although the felt itself is very thick, even though I used less layers than I do usually. I have come to the conclusion that the layers themselves must have been thicker than usual.

Back ache!

I've been getting back ache whilst making & rolling my felt. My kitchen table is a little too low and it is causing me to bend too far forward... But wait! What is this that I see before me? My lovely husband (No, not him!) has made me a mini padded table to sit on top of the kitchen table, and it is just the right height, so no more bending. Ahhh bliss......

Felt Stars

I've just finished making a few handmade felt stars for sale at a Christmas craft fair and also just realised that I have booked a table at another craft fair the following evening! This means that I will now have to devote more time to building up my stock. These stars have a satin ribbon hanger and are hand embroidered with tiny stars in complementary colours. The handmade felt gives these items an added interest as the different layers of coloured wool can be seen at the edges.

Beautiful Sky

This photo shows a lovely sky I saw while staying at Mum and Dad's. I particularly like the mixture of cloud colours and I am going to turn this into a piece of felt in due course. I also saw a lovely pink sunrise at 6:00 am one morning, but by the time I'd got my camera, it had dulled down and was not so inspiring. I really enjoy translating sky effects into felt because the end result is always interesting, even if it doesn't necessarily look the way I envisaged it originally.

I have just applied for membership of the International Feltmakers Association (www.feltmakers.com) so am looking forward to finding out about other felt makers or workshops in my area as well as textile exhibitions and other information about the wonderful world of felt and felt making!

Studio needed!

I desperately need more space to work in and store my ever expanding stock of resources. I found these pictures taken by my husband of a new room that he has recently built for the art department at the college where he works. Now if I could just get him to build something similar for me........

Saltfleetby

The pictures featured in this post were taken at Saltfleetby on the Lincolnshire coast. This is a huge expanse of sand near to the Donna Nook bombing range. However, to get to the sand, you have to cross a large area of tidal mud flats. This journey caused us much hilarity as we lost our flip flops several times and got ourselves covered in mud! Once we reached the beach it was wonderful, as we were virtually the only people there. I may use elements of these photos to create a piece of felt. I particularly like the purple of the sea lavender.

Inspiration

I always take my camera with me whenever we visit anywhere. I am fascinated by the way that the skies over Lincolnshire are constantly changing and the pictures that I take provide a great inspiration for my felt making. My husband (Chris) and I are both interested in old buildings, especially ruins, and found a perfect example recently at Tupholme Abbey just outside Bardney in Lincolnshire. http://www.lincsheritage.org/ We found this place by accident when we decided to take a different route to Horncastle. It helped that it was a sunny day and apart from a few ramblers we had the place to ourselves. I love taking photos through doorways, windows, gates etc because there is a sense of mystery as to where the path leads or what is beyond the frame. The shuttered window in the picture above is from the derelict Georgian farmhouse attached to the Abbey wall (obviously no planning permission needed then!).

Felt Hearts

Still a lot more to finish, but here are the ones that I have completed so far. The coloured Merino hearts are going to be left plain but I shall make some more with embellishments. Each of the natural coloured hearts is decorated with a vintage button, sourced from family button boxes.

Dyed Merino Wool

My lovely, kind, generous, thoughtful husband (he's dictating this) paid for this Merino wool and a large bag of mixed threads as a gift for me. I can't begin to tell you how much I love him (he told me to say that as well). I have started to make some felt hearts during the last week, in both the coloured wool and some of the natural wool that my sister gave me. I will post a picture of the finished articles so far. I've booked a table at a Christmas fair so I have got to have plenty of things to fill the space.

Website coming soon.

I haven't been able to post anything recently as I have been staying at my parents' house looking after my father. While there, my sister and I worked on a preliminary website which has more information regarding my work. However, it is still a work in progress and won't be available for viewing until Google decides to recognise it, which could be a few weeks yet!

Until then, I will post a few more pictures. This was my interpretation of part of a dry stone wall which we often pass when driving through Ancaster. Each stone shape is outlined with hand embroidery which took an eternity to complete. However, after finishing this piece I received two commissions to recreate it!

30 pieces of felt

This was the final result of much hard work; felting, sewing, machine and hand embroidery and printing. I used silk fibres, various textured yarns and experimented with Nuno Felting. Four of these pieces sold before the exhibition had opened. I was very pleased with the end results and the favourable comments. All very encouraging.