a life of felt

Archive for September, 2010

Nearly there

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

It seems like a very long time since I began my project to make felt bunting for my daughter’s birthday. After twenty I realised I was struggling and many of you came to my rescue -thank you so much.

These are my latest contributions from Susan Hibbert. They’re gorgeous with little bits of silk and stitch for added bling. I knew my daughter woule be very taken with the blue one and she is. Susan has also been involved in a very large project at work. The Yorkshire Agricultural Society have commissioned a piece of felt wall art based on a David Hockney image. Take a look at the website to see how it’s progressing.

I decided to go away and add up how many flags I had, expecting the total to be 50. Imagine my delight to discover that I’m actually at 56! Dashing off now to try and finish the last four – I hardly dare believe it.

Tags: bunting, felt, handmade
Posted in Felting | No Comments »

National Wool Week

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

For those who don’t know, there is to be a celebration and marketing drive for commercial sales of wool on 11th-17th October. This summing up from Axminster Carpets says it better than I can so have a look for an explanation.

I initially thought this campaign was part of a push for British wool. It isn’t. It’s a 5 year campaign working mainly with Commonwealth countries but also any others with a large national interest in wool. It’s still very difficult to get any firm details as there is as yet no dedicated website but the Australian organisation behind the Woolmark, Australian Wool Innovations Ltd is an important partner and is organising the launch week event which is to take place in Savile Row, London.

Perhaps we should all try to support National Wool Week by displaying our woollens in public. I plan to hang mine from the tree in the garden. What will you do?

Tags: national wool week
Posted in General | No Comments »

Masses of fun at Masham

Monday, September 27th, 2010

I really enjoyed our trip to the Masham Sheep Fair this weekend. It’s possible the family are getting a little tired of the annual sheep gazing but I just love it. I’ll have to find a friend to accompany me next year I think.

On arrival my first stop was the fleece tent where I bought a fleece from a Whitefaced Woodland sheep. I have felted with this fibre before and it’s quite soft for a hill breed and makes good felt. It also dyes well. Then off we went to have a look round the pens in the market square.

So much lovely fibre, shame it’s still on the sheep. We stopped by the old school house to watch the spinning demonstrations, wandered around the market, bumped into other felters and then ….. went back and bought a second fleece, a Teeswater fleece this time, beautiful lustre and grogeous curls.

Of course, I couldn’t miss the sheep races and just for once, I won! In one race the sheep refused to finish and raced back to the start instead. On the final race I bet on “the black sheep is in white” (meaning white ribbon). It had to be the black sheep for me, couldn’t resist the name and I couldn’t believe my luck when it won.

Even though I listen to it each year I never get bored with the sheep show. It’s educational and very entertaining plus this year they highlighted a campaign to get wool at the olympics (not as an entrant you understand). I’ve signed the petition, I hope you will too. Britain has more sheep breeds than any other country in the world, it’s a heritage we should be proud of and show off whenever we have the chance and help the farmers to get a better deal.

Tags: fleece, get wool to the olympics, masham sheep fair, teeswater, whitefaced woodland, wool
Posted in Felting | 3 Comments »

Felt picture workshops

Friday, September 24th, 2010

I’ve run a couple of picture workshops from my home studio in the last ten days and I have to say that people have produced some beautiful work.

The first piece from Margaret was inspired by Hockney and is clean, colourful and well executed. The second is a leaf and I think Judith was very brave to have a go at giving it a 3D element and also very successful.

The moor landscape by Rose was her first piece of felt, didn’t she do well. The impressionist feel suits felt making very well. This final one has absolutely grogeous colours and Mary worked extremely hard to get the lines and colours right. I think it’s stunning. There were more but as usual I was so busy admiring, discussing and saying goodbye that I forgot to take photos. You know who you are, it would be nice if you could send me a photo of your work as they all deserve to be seen here. It’s been a privilege to work with these two groups and I’m looking forward to the flower workshop today.

Thanks for sending this picture in Anne. This cushion panel was inspired by a picture and the recycled plastic fibres have made great sheep. Another success.

Tags: felt, handmade, picture, wet felted, workshops
Posted in past workshops | 4 Comments »

Finished

Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010

Well it’s sort of finished. The crochet is finished but my daughter couldn’t wait for me to block it so it’s now in use on her bed as you can see.

I’m really pleased with the colours and the overall effect but I know it could be better technically. You learn from every item you make and there are things I’d change next time but for now I’m happy. My daughter reckons it’s really cosy as well

Tags: blanket, crochet, purple
Posted in General | 3 Comments »

Lucky me!

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

I;m so lucky. Today I received two more pieces from my lovely friend Tracy. I’m not sure where Tracy has found the time but I’m so glad she has.

They’re very well made and have lovely beads hanging from the point. I think it’s time I went and got something to start stitching them all together.

Tags: bunting, felt, handmade
Posted in Felting | No Comments »

New Batch

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Life certainly seems to be very busy at the moment but I have managed to make four more flags for the bunting.

Only after I’d made the brown ones did I realise I’d set my sights on not using any neutrals. However, my daughter came home from school and loved them so much that they get to stay. I’ll add some bling tobunting, felt, flags them which’ll be a nice little project for me whilst watching TV. Tracy has promised me two more (thanks Tracy) which means I now only have 12 left to make. Getting closer!

Tags: bunting, felt, flags
Posted in Felting | 4 Comments »

Crikey

Sunday, September 12th, 2010

In just over four weeks I’ll be the mother of a teenager! How did that happen? Time definitely accelerates as you get older, I’m sure summer holidays went on for ever when I was a child but the summer holidays this year flew by. My ‘little girl’ is now 5’4″ (and still growing), has pierced ears and a rather smart bob and looks way older than nearly thirteen.

It won’t be long before she’s taller than me and I’m not at all sure how I feel about that. One of the most noticeable things about her development is the change in how she moves. It’s no longer the movement of a child, unbeknown to her she’s moving differently and even starting to gain a modicum of grace. Now that really is unbelievable for a child that’s always been rather clumsy and accident prone. Apparently some people can even injure themselves in bed – trust me I know.

I’ve also realised I don’t have enough jars for birthday party candles so I’ll be appealing to the neighbours for extra and I still have 18 pieces of bunting to make so I’m off to get some work done and hope to show some more pieces soon.

Tags: birthday, bunting
Posted in General | 2 Comments »

New crochet project

Friday, September 10th, 2010

I haven’t done much crocher for a while, for some reason it seems to be more of an autumn / winter activity for me but now felt the right time to start again. Hawthorntime has inspired me with her heritage blankets. I wanted a project but have no desire to crochet clothing so a large easy project like the heritage balnket seemed a good idea. After picking Hawthorntime’s brains and consulting my daughter (obviously it’s for her) it was decided that it should be in purple, blue and brown.

A favourite colour combination of my daughters. It started off well with a few rows quickly completed but then it came to a halt. I don’t really like straight lines and the older I get the less I like them. I wonder if it’s related to my ability to draw them which seems to have desrted me? Anyway, I wasn’t happy so I unravelled it and started again with circles. The idea is to have one large circle in the centre, sufficiently wide that it will go right across a single bed. The length will be made up with lots more circles of varying sizes which I’ll then crochet onto the main circle.

It’s some distance away from being finished and I am thinking stripes would have been less trouble BUT I do like how it’s going and hope to complete it this year. I just hope she doesn’t change her mind about colours before then.

Tags: circles, crochet
Posted in General | 2 Comments »

How do you do it?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

I like to see felt on the wall but how to get it there can sometimes be problematic. Speaking to a local framers I’ve discovered that mounting with double sided sticky tape doesn’t always cut the mustard as the felt peels away over time and ends up having to be glued in place. Now glue works very well but it makes it difficult to remove the felt from the mount without cutting the felt and destroying the mount. Disappointing if you’ve decided to reframe or use as a hanging instead.

In the past I’ve put a hidden channel in the back of the felt and threaded a rod through it. This is quite effective but after a while the felt moulds to it and the line becomes visible. My favourite method is to sew curtain rings on the back and either hang the felt from those or from a rod threaded through them. Sometimes the points at which you sew the rings on can become visible on the front (esoecially in softer felt) and occasionally the top of the felt begins to curl over.

Stitching the felt to another fabric like calico and stretching the calico over a frame works. In the one above I’ve glued it to the canvas with spray mount and then put in a few decorative stitches which makes sure it’s held securely to the canvas.

So my question is How do you do it? How do you mount your textiles, especially felt, and not have any sign of it on the front.

Tags: felt, hanging, wall art
Posted in Felting | 2 Comments »