The ebb and flow of hobbies

I am a person who has a lot of hobbies.  Reading, Crafting, Gardening, Jewellery making, Baking...the list goes on.  In 'Crafting', there is a whole load more - Sewing, Lino Printing, Silk painting, Gelli plate printing, Card making, Felt making, Paper crafting, Art Journaling...
As with everything, there is an ebb and flow and I have decided to put some of my hobbies on the back burner for the moment. Felt making is one - for a few reasons:

• Felt making is an autumn/winter occupation for me as it is a very physical activity with all the rolling that is necessary to felt the wool
• I need to devote a whole morning to making a few pieces
• I need to clear the whole of the table to work on
• I made so much for the craft fair a few years ago, I am a bit 'felted out' still and I am just not feeling all that inspired to make felt pieces at the moment

Lino printing and silk painting are other hobbies which I am not doing at the moment either, even though I do enjoy them.  Jewellery making was also something I was doing a lot of (and spending a lot on, of course!), but now it is more if I need something for a birthday or something for me (I do need to make some blue earrings for myself).

My other crafts are easier to set up and tidy away and I can do some of them for just a few minutes should I need to.  Of course, this doesn't mean I won't come back to felting (particularly in the autumn and winter) but that other things have more of an interest to me at present.

 I am loving the gelli plate printing and have been following a tutorial and making 'galaxies' as well as learning more about layers.   

Here are some of my galaxy prints.  I also created some interesting ghost prints on the way to making these.

 I am continuing to work in my art journals - the rainbow textured page above...

...and the printed page below are two of my most recent (the washi tape says 'let's enjoy this day' but doesn't show up well in the photo).  I really enjoy the way I can pick up a page, do a bit and then put it down again as the mood strikes me.  Card making is always useful and I shall continue that too - little projects that have a finished product as well as an enjoyable process.
So, I shall continue with the hobbies that I am interested in and no doubt, there will be more activities which come and go with time.  One great thing about hobbies though, they will wait patiently until you pick them up again.

Finally finished sample felt piece

Back in February 2016 ( was it really that long ago?!), I posted about a new piece of felt I made, based on neolithic cup and ring carvings.  You can read that post here.

I found this photo to use as inspiration. (photo from:

 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk).

This was my sample piece, which worked reasonably well.  I said I just needed to embroider it, to give the circles and spirals some definition and a raised texture.

Well, more than a year later, I have finally finished it.  The stitching does bring out the circles and it has raised them a bit too.  I think the felt needed to be a little thicker so that the raised areas would be more prominent.

Here are a few closeups so that you can see the stitching and the way the areas have raised.

 I do like the effect, although I wonder whether using a different stitch (rather than back stitch) would be more effective.

 I quite like the idea of chain stitch, although perhaps that might be too dominant, or stem stitch, or split stitch. That means I need to make another piece, doesn't it? (although I could have a practise on a scrap piece to see which stitch I like best).   Hmm...seeing as this one took me over a year to get finished (in my defence, I do have lots of other hobbies - gardening, paper craft, jewellery making and reading, which all need my time) perhaps I had better not make any rash promises about when I'll do it!

Happy New Year 2017

(Photos taken of the London fireworks last night/this morning from the TV - I was pleased with how they came out as it almost looks like I was there!)
As has become somewhat traditional for me, today is the day I review my aims for 2016 and decide on aims for 2017.

• Make more felt - I made a grand total of two new pieces, one of which is not finished.  My other craft activities took over, including, of course, paper crafting.  So, not great progress by any means.  However, I have reserved a table at a craft event in November 2017, so that should give me the impetus I need to get making again.
• Read interesting books - Definite success here.  I read 84 books in 2016, many old friends which I enjoyed re-reading.  There were also some new ones including: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey; The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier; several Miss Marple stories by Agatha Christie (and three more waiting on my Kindle); several books containing accounts of children's past lives and the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I shall do my best to keep the eclectic mix going during 2017.
• Be Creative - I can safely say that I have continued my creative journey with kumihimo necklaces, stamping onto polymer clay, paper crafting (and making some Christmas cards).  I am hoping to use some of my Blockwallah stamps in lino printing, but felting has to come high on the list (see the first bullet point).
• Get rid of/donate things I do not want or need - I made a tiny bit of progress with this one, but if I had a report, it would be 'must try harder'.  I have far too much stuff and must really sort myself out.  Another aim for 2017.

No new aims again, as the ones above still stand for 2017, so lots for me to go at there.
Happy New Year to you all and I hope it is a healthy, prosperous and peaceful one.

Felt making again (at last!)

 It has been over a year since I made any felt from scratch (hangs head in shame!).  So, I decided this disgraceful state of affairs had to be sorted.  I needed some stripy felt for a project and I had also been inspired by a programme on Scottish Art which showed neolithic cup and ring carvings, which I thought might translate well into felt.  Circles and spirals seem to have been an inspiration to many people and cultures all through the past, and there is something very satisfying about those particular shapes.  
Armed with my enthusiasm, I got making.  (I was slightly concerned in case I had forgotten how to make felt, but needn't have worried, as it all came back to me!)  I used merino wool as it blends easily and felts quite quickly.

Here is an example of one of the cup and ring carvings. (photo from:

 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/earlypeople/cupringmarks/index.asp)

Here is my interpretation, before felting.  I made this as a practise piece, because I want to add surface texture with embroidery, which I haven't quite managed to do yet. 

I had already used the stripy piece before realising I hadn't taken a photo of it after felting, so this shows half of it.  I like the way the stripes aren't regular, but that is one of the lovely things about felt making - the wool does decide how it wants to be during the process and the maker can only alter it so much.

Here's the circle/spiral piece after felting.  The concentric circles and spirals moved about a bit despite me trying to keep them in one place, but I am pleased with the overall effect.
 Now I need to get embroidering...

Questions and Answers

The lovely Alison at farmhouse traditions recently nominated me for a Liebster award.  It means I need to answer some questions she has set and then nominate other blogs I like and follow, to do the same. While I am very happy to answer the questions, I won't be nominating any other blogs from my long list, but if anyone wants to join in, please do.
Here we go:
What's your favourite craft?
I have two in particular - Jewellery making and felt making.
What's your home area like?

I live towards the eastern side of the UK, in a large rural county. I live in Lincoln itself, which has a Cathedral and Castle. The area I live in is is predominantly terraced housing, dating from Victorian times onwards.
What's your favourite childhood memory?
Holidays spent in Hunstanton, in Norfolk.  Going to the fair and riding on the gallopers, eating cream cakes and making sandcastles on the beach.
What's your day job?
I work as an administrative assistant in a University.
What's your favourite animal and do you have pets?
My favourite animal - I like members of the cat family but I also like the elegant lines of the greyhound.  Yes, we have two cats: Scruffy (in the box) and Ginny (on the chair).

  

How are your happiest days spent?

Visiting gardens with good friends or being creative at home.

What are your dreams for the future?

On a personal and selfish level, I would like to age gracefully without too many aches and pains, continue to be able to enjoy my crafts and upsize, so that I can have a studio/craft room and the craft materials will not intrude into the rest of the house!

What's your favourite quotation?

I have lots, but this one sprang to mind:

"No-one can make you feel inferior without your consent" Eleanor Roosevelt.

Well done for sticking with this post! In case you feel like joining in, here are a couple of questions for you to ponder:
What is your favourite book and why?
What is your favourite food or recipe?
Is there a craft which you would like to try?

My little polymer clay Christmas trees appeared on the TV yesterday - I sent a photo of them in to the Wall of Fame (where you can send in photos of your work, as long as the materials are predominantly bought from Jewellerymaker) on Jewellerymaker and they were featured! (Apologies for the flash off the TV screen).  As you can imagine, there was great excitement for those few seconds!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Back to felting

 It has been absolutely ages since I made any felt.  I was feeling so guilty because jewellery making and creating with polymer clay had totally absorbed any creative time I had. People kept asking whether I had made any felt and every time I answered in the negative, the guilt crept up on me again.  However, when I finally got round to making some felt, last week, I realised how much I had missed it. So, the piece above is in its pre-felted and fluffy glory and is made from wool from my sister's sheep with Lincoln Longwool (the wiggly white wool) on the top as decoration.  It was the first time I had used Lincoln Longwool, and it was lovely! Just in case you wondered what the sheep look like, here's a photo from the Lincoln Longwool website .

How they can actually see where they are going is a bit of a mystery, but they do have lovely fleeces.

So, what does the finished felted piece look like?  Like this...

All the wiggles stayed in the wool, which I was pleased about, because one of the joys of felt making is that the wool does decide how it is going to turn out, despite the maker's best efforts to persuade it otherwise, so you can never be totally sure how it will look once felted. This piece is going to be cut up and made into something for one of the blog swaps I am signed up to, but I will share the finished article with you once the item has arrived with my swap partner.  I am going to start felt making again more regularly - I really enjoy it.

I have signed up to another blog swap too with Blueberry Heart, one that I really enjoy and this will be my third time for this particular swap.  There's still time to join in if you would like to, just click on the link...

Happy New Year - Here's to 2014

photo from http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/01/new-years-eve-celebrations

Happy New Year (a bit belatedly)!  Normally on my first post of a new year, I look back over the things I said I wanted to do last year and review how I got on.  However, I have realised that this is doomed to failure, as I never seem to complete what I intend to.  So, this year, I'm going to keep it simple.  I would like to:

Make more felt

Keep reading interesting books (total last year 62)

Keep being creative 

Get rid of/donate to charity things which I no longer want or need.

Hopefully, these are things I have some chance of achieving!

New Year Thoughts for 2013

Fireworks explode over the London Eye during the New Year celebrations.

 Picture: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Welcome 2013 and a rather belated Happy New Year to you.  As I have done for the last couple of years, I'll review last year's thoughts (not resolutions, because I can't keep them at all).

To try and be a bit tidier - Hmm, yet again, total failure on that one.  I am very organised in some ways and a total disaster in others.  Something for me to continue with this year.
To sort out my website - failure on that one too.  (Oh dear, I'm not doing very well, so far).  Another target for the coming year.
To continue felt making - partial success because I have continued with my felt making, although jewellery making has moved into first place for hobbies at the moment.
To continue reading interesting books - SUCCESS!  I kept a record of the books I read last year and the total was 57.  I didn't include many re-reads on the list, so these were new to me (including Frankenstein, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dracula, the Call the Midwife series, several Anne Tyler novels and several Elizabeth von Arnim novels, so quite an eclectic mix there.) I am quite pleased with the total and am definitely going to continue keeping a record in the coming year.  
To exercise more - failure again, as I really don't enjoy exercising and would much rather read a book, watch a film, do some gardening, make some jewellery or 101 other things rather than do an hour of yoga/pilates/yogalates. Perhaps I should just try to walk more and include exercise more naturally into my week, rather than have designated times.  (Still not sure that will work either.)  I have lost a little weight through altering my diet and having 2 low calorie days per week, so that is encouraging.
To complete at least some of my on-going craft activities - (all crafters know what I mean here) and I have completed some things, such as felt pictures and decorations, jewellery projects and the Christmas Bunting.  I shall definitely keep going with that as well. 
Well, not bad - some successes, some failures, which is to be expected.  Here's to 2013 and I hope it will be happy and successful for us all!
(Photo above from London24)

Reasons to be cheerful

 Yes, it is still raining and most people seem to be thoroughly fed up with it.  However, so that I don't start moaning, I decided to celebrate some good things that are happening or will be happening shortly.  My newest rose 'Ferdinand Pichard' is flowering and has the most lovely stripy petals, a bit like Rosa Mundi, but with a paler background.  It has a delicate scent and the fact that I only planted it a month or so ago and it is now flowering makes me very happy.

The first flower on Clematis 'Piilu' which is a reliable and very floriferous plant.  However, I thought that this last winter had finished it off, but it has proved me wrong and is in danger of escaping over the six foot wall as it loves all the rain and has grown amazingly well. 
Other things to be cheerful about: a banana and apple loaf which is yummy, more gemstones on their way so that I can make some more jewellery, the fact that I have finally started the hand embroidery (lots and lots of french knots) on two felt pieces and (the one I am most excited about) I am going to Tatton Park Flower Show a week on Thursday, which should be fantastic.  I have never been there before, so it will be a new gardening-y experience.  Lots of good things to be cheerful about.

Finished project 'Pincushions' - the pumpkin and the pork pie

 I cut the felt which was featured in my last post out into sections to create the pincushion shape that I had in my mind.  I used a felt ball pattern which I adapted to give a base.  In my head, it all seemed so simple.  Cut out, sew up, add a base of cardboard on the base piece, stuff and sew up.  In reality, it actually did work out like that and was quick to make up.  I was pleased with the end result and the way that I had left the stitches showing as a feature, rather than turning it inside out.  However, it was rather too big and the more I looked at it, the unhappier I became.  So, I knew it would have to be taken apart and made up again, but smaller this time.

 I adapted the pattern again and tried to make the pieces smaller while retaining the shape.  It was fine the second time although it didn't fit together quite as well as the first one had.  I then set about making a simpler one with two circles and a strip round the centre but had a problem remembering how to work out the circumference of a circle (O level Maths didn't turn out to be very helpful as although I vaguely remembered having to use 3.14 and the radius, apart from that, it was no use).  So, in the end, I used two strips of felt and sewed them in place as I went.  It worked out in the end, despite my lack of memory for formulae.

 Here are the finished products - the pumpkin and the pork pie.  I think I like the pork pie one best but I'll let you know which my colleague prefers.

Felt making projects

Here is the start of my latest felt making projects.  The natural coloured felt pieces on the left are going to become a pincushion (or hopefully two pincushions) which a colleague has commissioned me to make.  The pieces on the right are going to be the beginning of a spring range of decorations to go with the hearts and stars that I already make.  It is exciting to be at the start of a project and I'll post pictures of the finished articles when they are ready.

Felt making again - at last!

It has been about six months since I made any felt pieces and last week, I finally managed to pick up my carding combs and make something.  The photo above shows the piece in process and I really liked this combination of blues and turquoises and teals, so had to stop to take a photo.

The piece was based on one I had previously made, taking my inspiration from the sea lavender on the marshes at Saltfleetby, on the Lincolnshire coast.  The original one was fine but I decided to make the colours a little deeper in this version. 

The felted piece, showing how the wool exerts its own influence.  The horizon was a bit more dramatic than I would like, but the colours have worked together well and have given the slightly impressionistic effect I was aiming for.  Now it needs to have the embroidery added, to give more definition to the sea lavender.  That's the next job.

PeaceFelt 2011

Here is the Peace Felt gift I received from Mary in the USA.  She said it was a wet felted background with everything else needle felted.  I think the autumnal colours she has used are lovely.

A close up of the pumpkin patch - textures and perspective.

 More textures and autumnal colours from the trees at the back.

More texture from the woolly sheep.

Peace Felt is a very interesting project to be involved with as you never know what is going to be sent.  It is also good to make contacts in other parts of the world - all with an interest in felting and craft.  I hope my recipient will like her gift of the Saltfleetby picture.



Latest felts - finished!

 As the title of this blog post may suggest, here are the finished pieces with the addition of hand embroidered french knots to give a little more texture.  The photo above shows the first piece I did, which worked well, although I decided the second piece would need to have more depth of colour. When I laid the design out, the sea line (or horizon line, depending how it looks to you) was straight, but as always, the wool decided to exert its influence and gave me a wavy line instead.

The second piece has worked well too, and I feel the added depth of colour is very effective.  This piece is now winging its way to my Peace Felt receiver in Ohio, USA and I really hope she likes it.  The purple colour represents the sea lavender which was all across the marshes, interspersed with grasses.  The shiny areas at the front are made using silk thread and silk fibres.
I now need to create another piece, using the stronger colours, as an example piece so that I can remember how I made it, just in case anyone wants to commission one!

A new felt piece (at long last!)

Having not made a new piece of felt since (gulp) April/May, I finally got on with it!  It is based on a view out to sea at Saltfleetby, on the Lincolnshire coast, looking over the mud which was covered with purple sea lavender.  I added some silk thread at the front to emphasise the clumps of plants.  This photo shows the piece in all its soft fluffiness, before being felted.

After felting, it loses the fluffiness but becomes more defined.  I think it has a bit of an Impressionist feel to it.  The horizon went a bit more wobbly than I would have liked, but that's the joy of felt making - the wool decides what it is going to do, despite the maker's best efforts to coax it into position. I think it needs a bit of embroidery although I haven't decided quite what yet.  I shall make another one and then choose the one to go to America as part of the Peace Felt project. 
Having started making felt again, I need to continue as I have missed it over the last few months.

Tulip colour inspired felt experiment

Here is the result of my colour blending sample based on the colours of the Parrot tulip I featured in a previous blog post. I didn't make it with an end result in mind, it was just a blending experiment to see what colours I could create and how they would work together. I added silk threads onto the top layer and delineated the different blends using black wool. I am really encouraged by the piece and the next stage will be to create an abstract piece, using these shades (assuming I can create them again, of course!)