Rope Bowls

 

This is my latest fad - rope bowls made with cotton clothes line or pulley rope, using a zig-zag stitch on the sewing machine. These are satisfying and strangely soothing to make as the coils are added and all you have to concentrate on is keeping the zig-zag stitch on the right line. 

They can be round, oval, shallow or deep. They can have handles, and the rope end can be finished off in a number of ways. 

One way to add colour is to use different coloured thread. 

Another way is to dye the rope. Here I experimented with making a dye with daffodil flowers, and dip-dying the rope. 

They are surprisingly strong and hold their shape well, and they make nice gifts with a few home made biscuits or toiletries. 

Bunnies for babies

I have been making some simple little cuddly bunnies to give as gifts for new babies. One is for my own granddaughter of course! 

The pattern, named Bunny Lovey, is available free at this blog site, provided you just use it for personal use.  You just have to sign up to the mailing list, and then you receive a link to the pattern pdf. 

I bought some soft plush fabric, and used small amounts of brightly coloured cotton from my stash for the ear linings. Only the head and tail are stuffed. 

Some like it hot.....

A tea-loving friend asked me to make her a capacious tea cosy to accommodate a large teapot. 

I used 3 layers of merino wool around a resist and decorated the final layer with green, shading through grey to lavender at the top.  Before felting I added an elongated tuft of roving to the pointed top which I rolled into a rope. The final decoration was a couple of white silk hankies laid on top to give a cloud-like effect, and some shine. 

The whole was well felted and fulled - a tea cosy needs to be hard wearing. Before drying I coiled the rope at the top. 

I decided to hand embroider some simple seedheads on each side. 

I neatened the bottom edge by curling it in and hand stitching. I then added a cotton lining. Choosing a brownish colour was deliberate, as it does not show the tea stains! 

Yet more cards

I wanted to make some more cards, and try out a new method! 

These were made after a trip to the beautiful White Peak area of Derbyshire, and are slightly inspired by the distinctive stone walls there. 

I made the felt, which is very fine and delicate in a new (to me) way, suggested in Sheila Smith's book "Embellish, Stitch, Felt"  I laid out a piece of water soluble fabric, and then built up overlapping but very fine layers of merino wool, bits of organza, dyed scrim, sari silk, coloured silk. I then put another piece of water soluble fabric on top to make a sandwich, and pinned it all together to hold it. I then used the embellisher machine to needle felt it all over. 

I then washed away the fabric, lightly squeezing the felt to wet- felt it just a little. 

After drying, I pinned another layer of w-s fabric on top, on which I drew out the design I wanted to free motion machine stitch - wall shapes, clouds, grasses. After completing that, I disolved the w-s fabric away again, and, once dry,  was left with this:

I then cut sections off, on an irregular manner, and teased out the edges a bit with a needle to soften the cut edge. Then I added a few french knots and stuck them onto blank cards. 

The felt is very fine - transparent in places. Here's a closeup:

Update a week later...

After making two cards with this piece, I decided not to cut off more strips for cards, but to mount the rest onto a small canvas. 

I painted the top and bottom of the canvas with acrylic paint mixed with pva glue, and pushed some muslin into the paint mixture to add some texture. The felt was wrapped round the canvas and glued. 

An Easter Project

This year I lead a small women's Lent study group in our village, and we were asked by our Vicar to create a reflective piece on one of the Stations of the Cross, which would be displayed over the Easter weekend. Other groups in the community also contributed. We were given the subject of Tears, thinking of when Jesus met the weeping women of Jerusalem. 

 

I made some cream merino felt, decorated on both sides with vertical trails of silk, and some bamboo. You can see the picture I used as inspiration, which was from a booklet called "One Friday" illustrated by Jenny Hawke. 

I cut out tear drop shaped from this felt. 

Each member of the group took a tear, and embellished it very simply with something significant to them - maybe just a few running stitches. While doing this they thought about what has brought them to tears. 

This tear has thorns stitched to it. 

And this one has some nails. 

The tears were suspended by fine silver threads from branches of curly hazel, representing a tree. They fell towards a "stream" of blue fabric and organza, with pebbles (some felted) and glass stones. In the stream was a text - see below for explanation. This was made with free motion machine stitching in black and silver thread on blue ribbon. 

I sandwiched the ribbon between water soluble fabric while doing the stitching to hold it firmly. 

I felt it was meaningful to involve each woman in our group by pesonalising  the tears in their own way. 

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.