Felt Bag Workshop

Just wanted to share some photos from a felt bag-making session yesterday with Vickie, a local lady who was keen to learn felt-making.  She was a great student and made a fantastic shoulder bag - here are some before and after pics!

'Pine Needles' Nuno Felting

I spent an enjoyable (but hard work!) 2 days last week on a fantastic feltmaking course with Leiko Uchiyama as part of the International Feltmakers Association annual get-together at The Friars, Aylesbury. We used her 'pine needles' technique to make nuno-felted wraps and scarves.  It took about a day and a half to lay out the fleece (or 'pine needles' as Leiko calls it) in an intricate design, then half a day to do the wet-felting.  It was great to learn a new technique - it always amazes me how much variety there is in felting.  Here are a few photos of my work in progress and my finished scarf.

January Jewellery Workshop

Just spent an enjoyable day making felt beads with 3 talented ladies.  We wet-felted beads in a variety of colours and sizes, then threaded them on cord to make necklaces and bracelets.    Here are the attendees modelling their jewellery sets at the end of the day - well done to all!

New Year's Quilting Resolutions!

As we head into 2015, I thought I'd share something I was particularly proud of this year: I finally finished the Kaffe Fassett bed quilt I started in 2011!  I'm embarrassed that it took me that long, though to be fair this was the first traditional quilt I'd ever made, and for some reason I decided that as a novice it was a good idea to make a king size quilt...anyway, I'd pieced all the squares together to make the quilt top by late 2011 (stage 1), but I think it must have languished in a corner for a while.  Then at some point I layered up the quilt with the wadding and backing fabric (which in itself I had to piece together a bit as it was so big) and added strips of the same backing fabric to the edges of the quilt top (stage 2).  Stage 3 was hand-quilting on the diagonal.  With a few days off this Easter I finished off the hand-quilting and bound the edges (stage 4), and it was done!  Here are some shots of the finished quilt on our spare bed.  And what of my 2015 resolutions?  Well about 18 months ago (yes, really) I bought some sea-inspired fabrics on a trip to Florida, intending to make a lap or throw-size quilt.  And with a few days off over Christmas I'm just getting started...

Hever Update

A few felting updates following the Hever Castle show.  I finally got around to finishing the rust-coloured 'bowl on a football' using Norwegian fleece that I started on the final day of the show (and got too distracted chatting to visitors to finish!).  I also made felt handles for the fabulous pink bag made by Teresa on Sunday.  And Mary, one of my Friday crew, finished embellishing the tea cosy she'd made with extra felt flowers, beads and embroidery - lovely.  Here are the results of our efforts!

Hever Castle Feltmaking, 12-14 Sept 2014

Here are some of the results from last weekend's feltmaking demonstrations at Hever Castle.  My creative crew did a great job dealing with this more unusual feltmaking method (using a ball to create a 3D shape like a bag or bowl).  We ended up with some fantastic felted items - tea cosies, bags and bowls, plus a bag and a flower corsage using the more usual flat-felting methods.  There were over 4000 visitors to Hever during the 3 days of the event and there was lots of interest in our feltmaking, so an enjoyable time was had by all.

  

Feltmaking Demonstrations, Hever Castle, 12-14 Sept 2014

I'm back at Hever Castle in Kent this coming weekend, 12-14 September 2014, demonstrating feltmaking at the annual 'Country Life at the Castle' and quilt show event (along with other craft demonstrations and art and craft for sale).  I've been busy using Norwegian fleece and the 'felting on a ball' method to make felt bags and bowls.  The photos give you an idea how it's done but to find out more come along 1030-1700 daily!