Poinsettia Christmas Wreath

I wanted to make a large Christmas wreath for our front door. I had a twisted twig circle which I have used as a base in previous years to wire fresh holly to, lacerating my fingers in the process. I gave it a spray of sparkly varnish. 

I found a great and easy tutorial from Ruth at Permutations in Fiber . Using green and red merino, and some wisps of silk, that worked very well. I used metallic red thread on the red petals (bracts?).   I had no yellow beads, so I needle felted a splodge of yellow in the centres, and added silver beads which gives it a zing. 

I glue-gunned them onto the twig base, and then gave the flowers a spray with waterproofing protector, as they will be outside. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

A few more quick cards....

 I used the embellisher machine to make some colourful, rather moody backgrounds, using mainly merino wool, with some silk and a little sparkly fibre.

Using black thread, I machine sketched some seed heads, without trying to be too exact.

I added a few small beads as stars, for just a touch more textural interest.
Then I used the glue gun to stick them on to the cards. 

A fancy bag

I made this bag from some old rather matted merino dyed in shades of pink/lavender/blue. The decoration was bits of an old indian silk scarf, some dyed scrim, and a few curly locks. I laid the decoration on the resist first, and built up the bag inside out, in the manner of the wonderful Heather Woollove. Here is a detail:

 I will definitely use this method again! Partly because you forget about the design once it's hidden, and it is so exciting to rediscover it when you finally cut out the resist. 

Here is the  back, which I possibly prefer - (note to self - less is more!)

Inside the bag I incorporated two pockets using more silk and wool, These were added on the outside as I was making it. 

In some ways this is not really my style - too fussy, but I enjoyed making it and learned something. One for my present drawer! 

Couple of cushions

 My husband wanted a cushion for a new leather and tweed armchair. I didn't want it to be too feminine, so I chose a large plaid design, to echo the plaid tweed  on the back of the chair. I simply but some pale grey and green shading on the surface of the cream wool, and them lay on some strands of mohair wool to create the lines, before wet felting.

I had made a piece if experimental felt, using circular resists with holes in the middle, between the brown layers  of wool and the top pale yellow shade. Snipping around the outer line of the circles created fluted raised flower like shapes, revealing the brown layer underneath. I needle felted some circles of dark reddish wool into the centres to create the look. 

The piece wasn't really big enough for a cushion, so I stitched it onto some dark red faux suede fabric. 

A new toy...

I cannot resist gadgets. I have treated myself to an embellisher machine. (It's the Janome 725.) For those who haven't a clue what this is, it is a machine which looks a bit like a sewing machine, but uses no thread. It punches the fabrics that you put under it with barbed needles, and meshes the fibres together. You can use felt, and lots of other fabrics and threads.
Now I have to learn how to use it!

First I played around needling some coloured wool onto a white prefelt background. Also bits of silk, and organza, and scrim. 

Some interesting effects, but it is hard to control exactly where the fabric you are adding goes, as the machine tends to pull it in tight as you needle it. I need to practice. 

Then I had a go using shapes cut from leftover scraps of felt I had made. 

This was easier, as the felt pieces already have an integrity and can hold their own under the needles. 

It does give a slightly different effect to wet felting, and you can build a design up bit by bit, layer by layer. 

The gadget queen is happy! 

Tea cosies and pods

My daughter asked for a tea cosy for her new kitchen in her new flat. She likes polka dots, and a bit of glitter, She wants it finishing with a felt bobble on the top, which I still have to do. 

And I thought I'd make another one for some friends we visited for the weekend. They thought it looked a bit like planets on the night sky. 

I like to finish them with a cotton lining. Felt has fantastic insulating properties, and keeps a pot of tea piping hot for ages. 

I had some fun making these pods.

What are the for? you may ask. Isn't it obvious? Suspend them from the ceiling, and they make perfect little homes for air plants! 

A few felted cards

I like sending hand made cards to friends when I can. It seems more personal, and is almost like sending a mini present. Here are a few quick ones I made recently. 

I little bit of burlap tucked between the sky and the green foreground adds texture and interest. A wisp or two of silk highlights the sky, and I finished with a few french knots. 

The sky is laid horizontally, and the grasses roughly vertically. Merino and a little silk for accents. 

In each case I laid the wool onto a large Clover needle felting mat, and needle felted sufficiently to hold it together, before gently wet felting. I find if I cover the mat, after shrinkage this makes a reasonable size and proportion for an A6 blank card.