Needle Felted Rose

I found this pattern & its a great one! I made some lovely thick-ish felt (wet felting) & cut out various circles, of which most of them had to be halved...and then they all get needle felted together.

I cut a heart out of regular, store bought felt, and glue gunned & hand stitched it on with a pin.
This particular one was for my Artist's Book Club's Christmas bring & swop 1 gift. My friend Heidi got this as her gift & promptly attached it to her handbag :)

Impaired Concentration

Our trip is around the corner (less than 3 weeks) and my head is FULL of airplanes. I am so distracted thinking about our trip that I could not concentrate any longer & decided to do some felting today. This is partly to keep me occupied & partly in preparation for our Artist's Book Club exhibition which will be held in November.

These are the items I made today:

I just love my little red one I made on my felting course,
so I made a grey, cream & black Felted Bowl

I have been very busy in pottery with the creation of flower design brooches
which are intended to close these 'fitted' scarves.
This one is felted out of Merino fibers with dyed Merino & tapestry wool felted into it.

This one is felted out of Merino fiber with Karakul & silk as well as light grey fiber felted into it. I will still sew into this design to accentuate the grey areas.

This is the original 'fitted' scarf that I created which gave me the idea to do more.
It is felted out of different colour dyed Merino wool fiber.

Felting Course Pics

Jeanne at Blossom posted some pics of our felting course - you can view the post here.
You can see me...hard at work :)

Felting Course - Week 4

I had my last day of my 4 week felting course last week & we had to put together a project - something of our choice which combined the skills learned over the previous 3 weeks. I decided to make a hand bag.

I felted 3 long thin 'cords' which I plaited together for the handle. I graded 3 different felt colours from dark grey to light grey to natural for the main 'body of the bag. I decided to add a flap so that the bag can close nicely. I also felted some lace into the front and the back of the bag (the image doesn't show it very clearly, but it is there!). This project was a great learning curve & I'm pleased with the result.

I will most likely work on it a little more...add some porcelain buttons etc.



We had Nin's Lemon Meringue again. Yum!

Felting Course Week 3

This week at felting we practiced felting through fabric. I first practiced on a square of white cotton muslin (top 2 pics). It is tricky to do the edges! I did one layer of wool in the centre and a double, slightly thicker layer on the edges. The texture on the back is awesome!

My second piece was with a bigger piece of pink muslin with white wool felted into the centre. I used 3 layers this time to get it thicker..and I added some pink polka dots. With this one, I put wool on the back as well as the front of the edges to felt through from both sides. It is not easy to get the edges even! I'm happy with the outcome though.

One of the things I really look forward to when going to felting (besides the actual felting part) is Nin's amazing tea time treats.

• Week 1: We had the most beautiful honey-sago cake which was SO more-ish!
• Week 2: We got thoroughly spoiled with a 'chocolate shot' *(an espresso cup of hot, melted cream + chocolate + ?). She gave us the choice between a slice of milk tart or apple strudel...We were delighted when Jeanne suggested we have a half slice of each & Nin agreed! YUM!
• Week 3: Lemon Meringue.

Who knows what is in store for us in week 4....!

Nin is the little shop semi-adjoined to Blossom. Off Main Road, Kalk Bay, turn up the little road by the Ice Cafe (Colyn Rd) look to the left and you can't miss them!

Needle Felting

I love this little shop called 'Feel Good Stuff'  in Longbeach Mall as it has loads of wool and beads and stuff to make stuff out of (my favorite kind of stuff!!).

The other day when I made a turn through there, I noticed that they had a needle felting starter kit...

...I could not resist, so  I went back for it on Friday last week & finally had a chance to play last night! I wanted to put something boy-ish onto JD's slippers (Grace's got hearts and buttons). Inspired by one of my fellow felting course ladies, Tara, who made a scarf for her son with colourful cars all over it, I decided to needle felt little cars into the knit-felted booties...and it worked beautifully!! :

I have now learned 3 felting methods. So chuffed! :)

Felting Course Week 2

I had a rather delayed start to the morning...flew out of the house and arrived 5 minutes late for felting. It was fine though as I settled into creative relaxation about 2 minutes after sitting down & starting to work on the techniques for this week.

First I felted around a sort of a heart shape which went semi-well...followed by the making of felt balls. This may seem easy, but believe me: its not!

Then I felted around a drinking glass to make a small felt bowl which I am so happy how it turned out :)

Knit Felting Again

Did I write yet that I also have a nephew on the way? My brother Stan & wife Karen will be giving birth to a baby boy (Joshua David) some time in September....and so I have started knitting for him! I have started with some felted slippers (similar to the ones I made for Grace) which I will embroider something onto as soon as they are dry. Perhaps a train...or a doggie or a spider :)

I have no idea about what will fit babies or when these will fit him...I suppose one has to just trust the pattern! I used the Elle Marino Solids this time round. It hasn't felted quite as thickly as the ones I made for Grace (yarn spun by a local spinner) so they are a little bigger than the others...

...perhaps they will still shrink a little more with drying (?)

DIY on Design*Sponge

Again thanks to Thaya (goodness - what an inspiration your blog is!!), I went to have a look at Design*Sponge's blog-style site because of the DIY 'felt bag from scandinavian needlecraft' project... What an awesome idea! ....has my brain ticking on what is going to be possible with my new felting skills! :)

PS: If anybody feels like sending me the Scandanavian Needlecraft book for my birthday (soon), I will be thrilled!

First Day Felting

I was so excited to find out (thanks Thaya!) that Blossom in Kalk Bay does felting courses! I stared this last week Thursday on their 4 week course:

• Week 1 - basic felting technique,go home with a scarf out of one of the techniques you learn.
• Week 2 - Felt balls, beads, round a shape 3 dimensional shape/sculpture.
• Week 3 - Felt through fabric then start combining techniques to decide on a project for the next week.
• Week 4 - work on a project together for the whole morning......

All materials are supplied, tea, coffee and cake...
(Nin's delicious honey cake last week!!)

1. The first thing we did was learn the basic felting technique(s)
2. We played around with making a 'holy' fabric
3. We made a scarf

I have been feeling (overwhelmingly much) that I must make the most of every moment of my life & do as many of the things I want to do that I can. I don't want to get to a point where I wish that I had done more...

Mothers keep telling me that once the kids come, there is time for absolutely nothing that you actually want to do...and today is the only day to start doing these things: and the only time is right now.

In The Artist's Way, she says that some people say Do you know how old I will be when I finish [said dream - say studying something they've always wanted to study]? and the answer to that is - YES: the same age you will be if you do not do it.

I am unbelievably happy with the first results of fulfilling my dream of learning these felting techniques.

Felted Slippers for Grace

I knitted these slippers (for my sister's soon to be born baby girl, Grace) on our trip to George and back & felted them last week...I'm quite chuffed with how they turned out! I've actually added pink felted hearts with green buttons in the centres which I've added to both sides...I'll get a shot of her wearing them one day and post it.

...and with hearts and buttons added:

I'm busy with some blue ones for my brother & his wife's little boy who will be born in September....will post pics when I'm done!