Christmas Presents

Its really exciting to be able to show you a few of the presents that will be finding their way under some Christmas trees next week....

This chunky cowl has a mobius twist and is hooked in Sherlock stitch..with half trebles...

 ...another half treble Sherlock stitch strip ready for the twist and to be sewn into another chunky cowl.
This is the Artesano Aran yarn highlighted here.

A hanging ornament..based on a Tie Fighter for a Star Wars fan

 was restyled and adapted from a square washcloth pattern

with a dc border and some surface embellishments.

This doughnut began as a pincushion pattern 

to which a needlefelted frosting of chocolatey Teeswater curls was  added

and a filling of toy stuffing with short ends (from my big Christmassy project!) !

All the above were stash busting projects:
2 cowls - 90g
Tie Fighter - 8g
Doughnut a hefty 27g
Total 125g

As even more of a tease...(the 'trifle' of scarlet buttons  had you hooked)...
 I'll leave you with one of the Big Christmas projects all wrapped up!

 

Flame On!

This is the card we gave Mum for her birthday...

It started as the fourth piece of wet felt created for The dying of the Sun...seen here on the right on the line of fire!

There's a bit of everything incorporated into the needlefelting, two types of Teeswater curls and mainly shetland tops with some sari silk...

...and some crochet. 

I suppose the crochet flames could be considered my first free form crochet as I just hooked a few stitches until I got a flame shape.  They then took on a completely different form as they were needlefelted onto the piece..

I'm amazed how much my style has changed from this

to this in just a year. 

I'm always on the look out for frames and this is a great one from B and M bargains last year. The glass has been removed but the mount had padded foam on the back and a polystyrene sheet is included to pack out the box style. I might have to pop in and pick up some more, though I have quite a collection of shapes and sizes as I buy them when I see them. Also I'm never quite sure what size a finished item might be!

Part of mum's present was a crochet Poinsettia brooch from my daffodil pattern,
with a few more petals of different widths, and...you've guessed it...

a needlefelted middle!

Happy Birthday Mum!

The dying of the sun

It's here! The exhibition The Dying of the Sun for the International Day of Felt is open...there have been lots of sneak previews on the website and elsewhere and it looks like it will be a vibrant feast of firey felt! 

As it is a little too far to travel I have been enjoying the photos and hope to see a few more as the exhibition continues.

Three rectangles of Random Wooliness felt have travelled Northwards to be part of a collaborative piece:

Fire: 

Shetland and Merino wetfelted with yarn, silk, sari silk, and crochet. Needlefelted Shetland, silk fibres, Teeswater and Wensleydale curls added.

Previous experience with felt pieces has taught me they can be viewed in more than one way!

Embers:

Wet felted Shetland and sari silk with Wensleydale and uncarded black curls. Teeswater and Wensleydale needlfelted curls.

Smoke:

Wetfelted Shetland with Masham curls, Mohair yarn, angelina fibres, and washed uncarded  Greyfaced Dartmoor

This started with a bright background to which darker tones were added to try and capture the glowing firey light against a dark sky...

 The washed and uncarded Greyfaced Dartmoor is really sticky and made great natural smokey whisps

Line of fire.....

I've been waiting ages to use that pun!!

or
fire and water...

Huge thank you to Tracy and Angela for all their hard work, the inspiration and opportunity to join with fellow felters to celebrate International Day of Felt.

Hope The Dying of the Sun is a great success!

A Rabble....

of Butterflies!

Recently we celebrated  a friends wedding. The colour theme was right up my street  - bright pink and purple....

This butterfly was made with my fave hand-dyed Teeswater yarn ...and has, yes you've guessed it, a needlefelted middle!

I was so honoured to find that the Bride wore her butterfly on her wrist during the ceremony and all the photos!

I love the pattern ..its very rhythmical...

and the circular flower transforms into.....

....a beautiful butterfly

 .. a rainbow one!

By happy co-incidence at the same time as I was playing with my technique...Helen was hooking butterflies too!

As for a rabble of butterflies...I think I prefer their other collective noun...a flight!