Not many words today.. just a picture to share :)    My first wallhanging with a little freemotion embroidery on..  Its a reasonable sized wallhanging 22" x 24"  Inspired by photos taken on many wonderful walks along the North Cornwall coastline between Daymer Bay & Polzeath.

Hung from a nice bit of Dorset driftwood.. collected this piece in Feb 2010, it was just perfect for this hanging.

Just a little stitchery in the sea.. to define the horizon and some swirls in the sea. I needlefelted the sailing boat. Did think of hanging a couple of Cornish seashells from the end of the driftwood.. may still add them.

Freemotion grasses

And a freemotion seagull flying high

 My next wallhanging has a LOT more stitching on it :)

Have a good week folks - hope you are enjoying the summer xx

Lambing season...

is here.  I have no sheep... but this week I have found myself determinedly making myself a flock!  It all started out with this little chappy - whom I fell head over heals in love with while making him :)

My new teacosy
I used merino & Norwegian wool, with lots of locks; BFL, Leicester & black Lincoln

He makes me smile every time I look at him - he needs a name I think :)

He's just GOT to stay at home with me!  So I decided to make him a brother to go in the shop... And then while working on these, with their natural colours & the textures of the locks, my bronze moongazing hare caught my eye. mmmmm  my brain started figuring out just how to recreate it in felt.  The fingers started itching.. and a felted moongazing hare was born that afternoon :) She is mostly white - bathed in moonlight, I`ve felted in BFL locks so the white is textured.. and a couple of black Lincoln locks too. She isnt finished yet.. but will (I think) become a doorstop.  I really like her.. think the hares may multiply too :) as they are supposed too in March!

As you can see, brother sheep still needs his eyes & ears

I have also made 5 Feelin'Sheepish brooches / lapel-pins. 

I used 3.5" hat pins for these.  The little black sheep was made from the black lambs fleece from last Septembers charity event.. I washed half of it this week ready to use, and it is sooooo soft.  The black pin is mine, as I felt quite fondly toward that little lamb - would love to of brought her home with me!

More about what Ive done with some of the others soon

xx

An invitation to all felt & fibre friends

I am putting the wheels in motion to start a tea/coffee morning for any fibre loving folks - spinners/felters/weavers and those who are interested in fibre arts & crafts. 

I dont have a group name or permenant venue as yet.  I propose either every other Friday, or 1 Friday a month to meet up for an hour or 2, the idea is to bring along something to work on while we chat over tea & biscuits.

This will be in Halesowen, West Midlands, UK.  Possibly the first meet up could be as soon as Friday 4th March (am)   If you are interested please leave me a comment, or email me through one of my shops or flickr (links to the right).

Ultimately, if there are enough people interested we could use a room at Haden Hill House.. but as I would need to hire the room we would need at least 7 people for this (with approx £1 sub)

This is a chance to get out and meet people who share a love of fibre, no concentrating on learning a new skill as you do at a workshop - just relax and make friends. 

Dont be shy

x

FeltUnited 2010

Well tomorrow is International Felt Day... "Happy Felt Day folks" :) hope you have something fun & fibrey planned

I finished the sea creature mobile & banner last night (at 11pm!) and installed them at Haden Hill House this morning YAY! So exciting! Its going to be there for about a month. I think its lovely for the children to have their work exhibited in a local museum; the teacher is planning to walk the class down to see it :)

The mobile is made up from all of the childrens sea creatures from last weeks workshop (29 of them), with driftwood, shells and glass beads. Its strung on fishing line from a 4 foot long piece of Dorset driftwood. The mobile has an approx. 7 foot drop - good job Haden is a Victorian house with fabulously high ceilings! The light was dreadful this morning, so Ive had to lighten the pics on picasa - if the colours are showing up badly on anybodies monitor please comment & let me know - Im planning to submit the pics for the FeltUnited exhibition. If they're no good I shall retake them.

We have used merino in blue, green & yellow - I brought a mixed bag from Wingham Wool & they`re brill - loads of shades, perfect for a kids workshop! Some of the children designed their own fantastic sea creatures (including one with 40 eyes!) others created fishes, jellyfish & octopuses - we all had lots of fun! Each child has handwritten their name tab, which is stitched to the back of their creature, further adding to the design.

The banner was made at home, using Icelandic batts for the 1st 2 layers with merino on top. Luckily for me the schools logo is blue & yellow so I was able to felt that into the banner. I also embroidered the FeltUnited motto onto it. Im hoping that the banner can hang in the school hall as a lasting reminder of the schools participation in this international event. At the end of the school year the mobile can be taken apart & the children can take their sea creatures home to keep as a momento.

Time to slow down & have a nice cup of tea before collecting the children from school now... think Im going to watch the rain, its hammering down at the moment and the wind is really strong...

...have a good weekend everyone, whatever you are doing

xxx

This weeks felting fun

Had a pleasant, plodding sort of a week... in between work, gardening & housework (BOOOO) I have felted another hat & a cushion cover - both using my Icelandic batts.

Not sure which way round it should go yet :o)

It started out loosely based on medieval split brimmed hats... but evolved into something more tricorn-ish. However Matthew (my 13 year old) says its definately a Mongolian style hat! To be honest I seem to recal seeing a picture of Genghis Kahn wearing something similar :o) This has layers of one of the silk caps I dyed on the inside & out.

It was amazingly quick & easy to make prefelts for inlays using the batts! Ive noticed that you need to use a lot more soap with Icelandic than Ive used with either merino, gotland or Norwegian wools. Im using a fair old bit of hot water too.

long run... I think its from the 70s and must of cost an arm & a leg when it was new - its got everything imaginable. Its actually quite scarily complicated, I have managed to knit a few practice swatches & with the help of youtube think Im ok with casting on & off now. Tomorow Clare is coming over for a girly day, hopefully with both of us on the case we shall tame the beasty and knit something :o).... Im gonna get a big gooey cake to help calm frayed nerves if it doesnt work out that way.

Felted Slippers

Well I hit the ginger nut biscuits hard & am feeling much better now :o)

I joined the fun with the `join in & Make` on Working with Felt for these slippers, & followed the tutorial on there. Its the first time Ive felted slippers, and really enjoyed making them (hard work though - they took the best part of 7 hours). I decided to use Norwegian wool fibre as Ive heard that it is harder wearing than merino, its certainly coarser. I did my usual thing of jumping straight in, and allowed for the same rate of shrinkage as merino... This did not shrink anywhere near as fast as merino! So I really had to work them to get them to the right size. I thinks thats a good thing though; I really love the texture of the felt & it is very dense and hard - feels perfect for footwear.

I used mostly grey fibre, but for the 7th & final layer I used white for humbug stripes. So now they are dark and light grey stripes.

I have just finished sewing the leather soles on. I can imagine a viking wearing these for some reason. Cant wait for Gary to get home & try them on...

More makes

Just a quicky today... I wanted to show you the felted flowers that I made for our mums for mothers day yesterday. Ive felted flowers in quite a few ways, but I have to say that these were really good fun to make, and probably the quickest! I followed a tutorial on one of my favourite felters blogs; DailyFelt by Ingermaiike, this link will take you to the tutorial. Give them a go they`re great! While you are over there have a mooch around, its a great blog.

I didnt use a sander (never do, I tried it once but didnt like it)... but followed the rest. I wrapped wire around the stems and base of the flowers, finishing `em off with a tendril like spiral each. My mom got the 3 yellow, yellow/white flowers & Garys mum got the pinks & white. The also got pot plants, but they`ve both commented how much they like these ;o)

Also I want to show you this lovely picture of my `baby` modelling the hood that I made on Friday. I know Im biased but doesnt she look sweet?! I felted this on Friday morning, straight away it went into the mordant & dye pots. I planned to sew it to the tunic I am making... Unfortunately when I did sew it on I realised that it was far to heavy (too well felted I think) so Ive taken it back off.

Rachael rather likes this, but the wind kept trying to blow it off... I think I might sew a button either side and make a removable chin strap to keep it on. Or maybe at some point felt a short cape that it can attach to via the buttons? Ideas anyone?

You can see the colours so much better in this outdoor photograph. This is a really good representation of the colour of the whole tunic. Which is sewn together now and has a nice little collar to replace the hood. It needs a little tweeking & then I shall get a photo up.

Today I felted the body of a bag & its strap... its going to be a two-tone Feelin` Sheepish bag - havent done one of those in quite a while. Wednesday Im working (playing Tudor dress-up more like :o) and then on Friday I have a girly fun day planned with my friend Clare. We`re going to a Reenactors market, I cant wait - I KNOW there will be lots of interesting & unusual odds n ends that you just cant find elsewhere. I really need a girly day out...

Anyway, have a good & productive week - Im off for a cuppa tea & to try out some new dyes I just received ;o)

TTFN
xx

My new bag

Ive had a great week experimenting & playing with felt! Yesterday I felted a hip bag for myself, Its got a definate sea theme going on; gorgeous blue shades of merino, with curly locks, silk filament fibre, sari silk ribbon, homespun fancy bobbly yarn that I plied with a metalic thread and a couple of tiny bright green silk chiffon scraps. Im planning to use it a lot through the summer.

Front

Back

Its seamless, well felted & hardened (it neads to be tough). Ive felted a really long cord (probably about 10 foot) with all the yummy extras that are in the body of the bag; sari silk ribbon, yarn, silk fibres. The cord threads through the back of the bag and wraps around my hips. I thought it was going to be too long, but I really like the way it goes one & a half times around, knots then dangles.

Ive sewn the zip in with herringbone stitch, I love the irregular edge of the finished felt.

On Wednesday I nuno felted a floral panel. Its the first time Ive done anything like that... so I was trying out different ideas. Im planning to use it as a banner / flag in the garden, the base is cotton gauze so its pretty floaty - I can just imagine it fluttering in the breeze. Just need to figure out exactly how / where to hang it :o) It`ll probably end up looking like a battle standard hehe

So this weeks been good & productive for me - hope it has for you too

TTFN

x

How it all went...

Well the Christmas Fayre is over & I had my last meeting at work this side of the holidays - I broken up now folks - YAY!

The fayre was lovely; I met some really nice people and when the choirs were caroling it was such a lovely atmosphere. The fayre was in the great hall of Hartlebury Castle, which is still the home of the Bishop of Worcester, it has a great high ceiling& flagstone floor - you can imagine what the accoustics were like, some of the carols gave me tingles! Unfortunately the table was TINY so it was overcrowded, & I didnt like the layout of the stalls - it didnt flow. That said my friend Nicci & me both had more success than at previous fayres. Nicci is a very talended artist - you can just about see a couple of her little paintings on the photo below - we had half the stall each & the tree was in the middle, so it shows a bit of both our work :o)

I hadnt realised how much stuff Id made until I wrote an inventory the night before - I think I had gone a little mad, I had so much stuff. Still it`ll end up on my etsy shop over the next few weeks. I took some photos, but most of them didnt turn out well...

This is my felted Christmas tree - Im really pleased with it. Its seamless, felted over a resist, I scattered twinkling angelina fibre all over it before felting & some cerise sari silk fibre to give a tinsel type effect. I wound the ribbon around it to hang my phone charms from - thought it was a different way of displaying them.

My lovely husband customized a wooden towel rail for me. Its a good job that he had, it enabled me to go UP with my display.

Unfortunately I now have a roaring cold which is slowing me down... and there is so much going on with kids at this time of year! My daughter (who recently turned 11) was performing, as part of her schools choir, at the Young Voices concert at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham last week - its the 2nd year that shes taken part & loved every minute. They had so much practice & so many songs to learn - I would not be able to remember them all, Im amazed that the kids can; the concert lasted about 3 hours so you can just imagine how much they had to learn. Today she is dancing in the schools Cinderella production - she is Cinderella in the opening dance in her raggedy clothes (guess which momas gonna be sitting blubbering) and then shes singing in the choir. My sons school have decided to close early & the weather man is promising heavy sleet & snow for around the time that he shall be coming out.... not quite sure how to be at the play & collecting him yet?! Hopefully hubby will be home in time to help out....

Hope you are all enjoying the run up to Christmas :o) TTFN

Sari Silk

I brought these for the first time this week & I LOVE `em! They are SO gorgeous! Im definately going to be using plenty of these in future :o)

The fibre is the unwoven threads from silk sari fabric. Looks to me like the thrums (waste warp threads) as there is a thin ribbon of sari silk along the tops of most of them. The ribbons are thin strips of sari silk. Ive used a little of the cerise ( Ijust HAD to experiment)... now I cant wait for the rest of my fibre to arrive so I can make some wraps and things with these in - theyre so luscious... I mean just LOOK at those colours - awesome!

I brought these from Forest Fibres and I have to say that like everything else Ive ever brought from them - Im thrilled! Forest Fibres have always had excellent customer service too, Ros is really helpful & knowledgable.

WoooOOOOoooo Shpooky

Our felted jack o`lantern

OK maybe not so spooky - but certainly fun! I felted this funny little chap for the International Felt Day - he came to the felt-in at Brendas` with me...well she did say "bring something whacky" - you dont get much whackier than this lol :o)

He looks pretty good in the dark with his little LED candle light flickering away.

Tomorow we are planning to have a Harry Potter style Halloween Feast, with pumkin pasties & pumkin juice `n all. Tomorow is promising to be lots of family fun, carving lanterns & cooking - cant wait.

The kids & me are all huge HP fans & the feasts in the books & films always look so lovely - poor hubby will just have to go along with it :o) - he really wont mind & Im sure will love the food!

Thanks goodness the days of putting on spooky public performances at work are over - you never really knew what Halloween would bring to our house... The first time I met my newest sister-in-law & her children, they paid us a suprise visit just as I was getting made-up ready to go to work - as a plague victim...niiice. The kids thought it was great, but I think mom wondered what kind of family she was marrying into! Other years Ive been; a vengeful zombie (forgot the make-up & went to the McDonalds drive thru` on the way home...I remembered when all the staff poked their heads through the window to have a look at me! ) a demon & a ghost; it was fun at times - but got to be more of a chore than anything.

Aah well, hope you all have fun this halloween - if you wish to... or a nice peacefull evening if not.

:o)

x

Weekly update

Well I had a lovely week last week! Even though my 12 year old was off school ill for 2 days, and I was at work for one of the days - I still managed to have a very productive week; I felted 4 scarfes and a cape - and have listed them all apart from one of the scarves (my goodness Im organised this week :o)

This little lovely is my very first entry into an etsyFAST challenge, Septembers theme is SONGS. This one is inspired by `I want you` by Savage Garden (follow the link to see the music video on youtube)

lyrics:
Ooh I want you, I dont know if I need you
But ooh Id die to find out
Anytime I need to see your face
I just close my eyes and I am taken to a place where your crystal mind and Magenta feelings take up shelter in the base of my spine
Sweet like a chic a cherry cola

The song just keeps on going round n round in my head...just as it stops I catch sight of this scarf & off it goes again - good job I love the song :o)

This is my `Days of Embers` scarf. Ive also made an Indigo blue version, and lovely violet/purple which hasnt been listed yet (Im thinking of a name for it...)

I called this cape `Imagine`.

And apart from my productive felting week, work & poorly wee-ladie; we had a wonderful evening on Thursday!

My mum-in-law turned 60 earlier in the year, all the kids put together to buy her a hot air balloon ride as a special birthday pressie. Due to our English weather, unpredictable to say the least, its been cancelled 4 or 5 times... but Thursday she actually went up! It was incredible; we were right next to it with her, watching it being inflated OMG it was HUGE!!! There were 12 or 13 people in the basket so you can imagine it really was a whopper. I wouldnt of believed it could be so exciting just watching... When they released the balloon it went up so quickly & effortlessly - it was wonderfull & very emotional for some reason. They went upto 3,000 feet and were up for 1 1/2 hours.

While they were flying we walked around Worcester cathedral and along the river - it was nice. We didnt see the landing (which by all accounts is a very bumpy & undignified affair :). We all went for a meal afterwards, which rounded the evening off nicely. I think the whole family were on a high for the next couple of days, though we were all pretty shattered too for some reason.

We`re getting her a parachute jump for her 70th :)

There she is waving away :)

No felting today though, my son is home for a teacher training day so I have re-photographed most of the things in my shop and spent hours updating that :( boring...

Hope everybody else had a nice week xx

Finished my Day of Felt jewellery

Felt - intertwined, bound together, forever as one - United

Felt bracelets, bangles & cuffs - some are embroidered, some beaded, some have silk fibres felted in for decoration - every one is individual.

I have invited my family and friends to join in with the Day of Felt on 3rd Oct 09 by wearing a piece of jewellery created by me for this event & gifted to them. I have finally finished all of the jewellery & taken photos - thought Id share them with you :o)

Would any of my readers also like to join in by wearing a piece of my jewellery on 3rd Oct 09? Keiara I know you are joining in sweetie :o) thanks for getting back to me

All that I ask is for you to wear the jewellery on Sat 3rd Oct (& hopefully afterwards too :) to celebrate the first ever International Day of Felt. There is no charge for the jewellery but if you can cover postage costs please. I should mention that the majority of the jewellery will go to friends & family, but there are sure to be a few pieces left.

It is on a first come first served (pot-luck) basis and when its gone its gone, so do speak up if you want to join in. You can either contact me through my website www.FreeSpiritCreations.co.uk or leave a comment here (though you will need to email me privately with your address to post to anyway)

For more information about the Day of Felt: http://www.feltunited.com/ The event is part of the United Nations Year of the Natural Fibre.

Beady Eyes

At the weekend (while catching up with all the holiday washing) I made a few beads :o)

These are for swapsies with the lovely Keiara who wanted some black, orange & green beads for Halloween (the dark green are a merino & silk blend - very lushious).

Im really excited about the swap... I shall post about it and show off my goodies as soon as they arrive :o)

Hope you are all having a good week

D x