I love hearts swap

 I have recently taken part in the I love hearts swap organised by all4meggymoo and was partnered with the lovely Mirjam over in the Netherlands.  We had to send 5 things all with a heart theme.  My parcel arrived and in it were all these little packages.

When I opened them, here's what I found!  What a lot of gorgeous things.  She had included some flower seeds too which I shall plant in Spring.

There was a little cat folder and some paper heart bunting made by people in Nepal.

Inside the little cat folder were lots of little notebooks and sticky notes.  Mirjam and I both have cats so she knew I would love this!

She had made three felt hearts and two crocheted ones.

This piece of felted fleece she included as a 'bit of fun'.  It is from a fleece she bought last year from a Dutch breed called 'Drents Heideschaap' and the sheep were/are used to maintain the hay fields.

It has really long fibres and is incredibly soft.  She knows I enjoy making felt, so thought I would find this interesting, which I do.  Huge thanks to Mirjam - she has been a delight to be partnered with and has sent me so many wonderful things.  So, what did I send to her, you may be asking?  More in my next post!

Display stands

The photo above shows the display stand I bought from eBay, which I think works well for the little hearts. We did try the big hearts on it too, but they rather dwarfed it, so we decided against adding them. At that point, I was wondering what I could use for them.

I was wandering about in town last week and happened to visit several charity shops ( as I like doing when I have the time). The candle stands caught my eye and I thought they were big enough to display the large hearts. They even echoed the scroll work on the little stand and as they were an absolute bargain (£1.50 for the pair), I snapped them up. I'm really pleased with the result and can use the candle stand part to put a price tag, or some other information. When I was teaching, one of my colleagues used to say that people who worked with children were excellent at finding alternative uses for things - I'm glad to say that I haven't lost that skill!

New Felt Hearts finished

I don't seem to have put any felt items on my blog for ages, so, as I have finally finished making the hearts from the patterned felt I made, here they are. For some reason, it seems to have taken me a long time to get on with it. I am really pleased with the end results, though, and this justifies the time element a bit. I have agreed to have a stall at the craft evening in November - I attended this event last year - and have decided that my display needs a rethink, so have ordered a jewellery display stand to use, which I think will look more professional and display the hearts and stars effectively. I also realised I need to make some more white stars with red embroidery as these sold really well and I haven't made any replacements as yet. So, that's what I need to be doing over the next couple of weeks.

Felt Hearts

The first four new hearts pictured above, using the stripy felt I made last week. The different colours in the stripes do give them another dimension when compared with the flat colour hearts. I still have several other stripy pieces to cut up, and there will also be small hearts to make too. So far, so good.
I'll keep making, and add photos of the new hearts as and when they are finished.

And more felt...

Here are some more of my latest felt squares. The brown one reminds me of an animal print, although I didn't design them with that in mind. They are destined to be made into hearts too, so once they are, I'll post a photo of them.

The white one reminds me a bit of marble with all the veining. I'm not sure whether this one was quite as successful as the brown one, but again, it will be different. It's good fun to experiment!

More new felt

More new pieces of felt with added interest in form of complimentary colours applied to the top surface. It does give the felt an extra dimension.

The blue one is my favourite because, as you know, I do like blue!

I think this purple one worked particularly well with the combination of colours I used. They do remind me of skies though, although that won't be so apparent once they are cut up and sewn into hearts. That's the next job!

Latest felt - zingy colours!

I have made this piece of felt to cut up and make into hearts, to add to my stock. I decided to add different colours to the top surface of the felt, to give more interest. I don't think it would work for the embroidered stars, as there would be too much going on with the added embroidery too. The colours work really well together and the hearts should look very good once made up. I'm going to make a few other pieces in different colours too.

The wool laid out, carded, blended and ready to felt, with the lovely fluffy appearance of the fibres.

Orders finished

I have finished the orders for embroidered hearts and hearts in shade of red and purple which I was given at the Craft fair. I hope that they are what the customers wanted and that they are happy with the finished pieces. I had bought an air soluble pen to assist with the initials but unfortunately, it was like a ball point pen and did not work on the felt at all. In the end, I had to draw the initials on greaseproof paper and sew through the paper, tearing it away carefully once finished. There must be an easier way! Unfortunately, my sewing machine (clever though it is) can't do the complicated embroidery required for initials - I would probably need a top of the range one, costing around £1,000! Perhaps if I ever win the lottery...

I was happy with the finished items and I have completed them well before Christmas.

Gorgeous colours

Here are the felt squares I have made over the last two days, ready to be transformed into three 'trios of felt hearts'. I really enjoyed blending the colours and experimenting. I'll take some more photos when I've finished the pieces.

Commissions

Another view of the Feltabulous stall, showing the decorations on the little Christmas tree. I am working on some commissions at the moment and have been making merino felt squares in different shades of reds and pinks. Today I am going to make squares in blues and greens. I shall then turn them into the little hearts, two sets personalised with initials. I do enjoy working with Merino wool because it felts so quickly and easily. I always blend the colours using my hand carders to give a combination of colours to the pieces.

After completing the commissions, I would like to concentrate on some of my landscape ideas, using the roadside verge photos and sky photos I took recently. It should be fun!

Craft Fair!

Above are photos of the stall I had on Friday at the Craft Fair. It was very successful and people were genuinely interested in my felt work, especially the natural coloured items. The Merino pieces attracted people to the stall and they did like the little hearts in particular. I had lots of really positive feedback so I know I am on the right lines. I was really encouraged!
The Craft Fair on Saturday was also helpful although the weather was not conducive for people coming out. Again, I had loads of really positive comments about my felt and I did manage to sell some pieces.

I enjoyed talking to people about my felt and it was a really successful foray into the world of craft fairs!

Buttons Galore!

We had bought these buttons from eBay to use on my felt hearts and for some projects that Chris has in mind for the future. I love looking through button boxes - it used to be one of my favourite occupations when I was little. Of course, button boxes were familiar then as everyone recycled material, clothes and fastenings from clothes. I hope that button boxes are making a comeback in this age of recession, recycling, reducing and reusing. I like giving things a new lease of life and always wonder about the story of the item. 'Make do and mend' lives on!

More heart trios

I have continued to work on the heart trios, using more vibrant ranges of colours which I hope will appeal to customers. Chris suggested I should perhaps look into creating decorative dolls or some other quirky items but I feel I need to do more research first. I also need to continue working in my design book, which may help to inspire other ideas. A crafter's work is never done...

I haven't quite managed to make felt daily, as I said I would (in fact, I haven't made any more at all this week so far...maybe next week!)

The photo above looks a little blurry but if you click and enlarge it, it is fine.

Trios of hearts

I have started making the half-size hearts to group together in threes and I think they look really sweet. I am grouping them in the natural colours or in complementary merino colours. They are about 5cm in width and just a little more in height - about 5.4cm. Chris has been busy on my behalf again and has ordered some cellophane bags to put them in. It's great to have all this support! I'm going to continue and make more of the trios in pinks, reds, yellows etc. I just hope the craft fairs go ahead after putting all this work in!

Under Glass....

I've just spent an hour at our local picture framers with my eyes glazing over trying to choose frames and mounts suitable for some of my felt creations. They certainly know how to charge for their services. This will however, give me some framed samples to show at an up and coming craft fair. Chris has said that he will try to make me some box frames at work (If he gets the time!) We picked up a few vintage buttons and knick-knacks at a bric-a-brac shop on the way home. I shall use these to embellish my felt hearts.

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!

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.