Winter warmers

This week I have managed to find some creative time.  I have taken pics of some of the felting process.  I hope they are clear enough.  The first shows the wool fibres laid on bubble wrap and damped with soapy water.

 The colour here looks pink because I use red net over the fibres when I am damping it down.  I use this particular piece of net from the stash because it is firm and open enough to work with.
Once the piece is damp enough I turn it over and add some more water on the other side.  Then remove the net.  The next part requires a bit of an effort, covering the piece with a sheet of plastic and rub it hard all over and then turning it over and repeating the hard work.  

I folded the bubble wrap in to tidy up the edges a bit and then rolled it up tightly squeezing out excess water.
 Rolling it back and forth a bit to continue the felting.

I then carefully unroll this parcel and roll it longways and twisting as I go as the parcel is very skinny. Again I squeeze out any excess water.
After that I put it into hot water and rinse it and then rinse it again until the water runs clear, then into the clothes dryer to finish it off.

This is the felt so far.  Some of the fibres and yarns I used were not wool and didn't "take" but so far so good.  I will add some embellishment to this with my machine.

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In the meantime I have made a scarf using the embellishing machine today.  This is the first serious effort I have made with the new machine and I did enjoy it.

I used several balls of yarn, feeding them into the machine simultaneously.  The threads meshed  together quite well and when I was happy with the effect I added the piece of pink poly/silk to the back and used the machine to fuse the layers together.  This gave a bit more stability to the whole thing and looks really good.

The weather here is so cold another scarf is welcome.  I will wear it when we go out to visit friends tomorrow.

Yarns

This week I have spent quite a lot of time out and about running errands and going to work: this presented me with a chance to check out some different op shops.  I have managed to collect quite a lot of yarn to make some scarves.

I will do some wet felting first so I have been referring to this gorgeous book Creative Felting by Lizzie Houghton.  It has so many luscious images to inspire.

This book is very informative with clear illustrated instructions and some beautiful examples to encourage experimentation.

I doubt if I will find time in the next day or so but it is something to dream about.  

Once the felting is done I think I shall use my embellishing machine to add some extra interest.  

A LOVELY GIFT & A PROJECT FINISHED

I am having trouble with the picture 
editing tonight and am too tired to try to fix it.
I have finished my crazy patchwork needlebook.  I decided that less was more in this case and so it is a bit light on for embellishment.  It is quite pleasing to look at though. The pics show the front and back.


the more exciting thing though was the gift in the mail from Judy at Judy's fabrications.  The most gorgeous little felt slippers embellished richly will be treasured always.  thanks Judy.


Well I am going to give up on this as my shift key doesn't want to work either.  I think it is probably me.
 

pins & needles

I thought I would share pics of some of my pincushions and needle holders.  Over the years I have made several pincushions and bought some, and of course some have been given to me.

The pincushion in the shape of a shoe was given to me by Nancy McEvoy on her visit to Australia a few years ago.  I treasure it along with the memories of meeting such a lovely person.

TT

The big pincushion with the cotton reals around it is not the most beautiful but is probably the most useful.  It is nice and big and sits on the table with my sewing machines.  I bought it in an op shop.

I have several needle books/holders which I have made and use as the whim takes me.  The white one is probably my favourite.  I made it at a time when I was just taking up needlework and it has many different elements and stitches.

This needlebook is the one I use most.  Another early piece of stitching.  The square pincushion was one I made because I had embroidered the flower on a piece of silk and wanted to make use of it.  The circular piece of embroidery with the lilac border is a needleholder that hangs on the wall.  Silk ribbon flowers and beads make it pretty.
 

More crazy patchwork

I decided to use some of my recently dyed fabric for the lining of this needle book.    Using the sewing machine I attached a layer of batting to the back of the lining: a bit of freestyle quilting.

Then I attached the lining and wadding to the piece of patchwork.  With the right sides together I stitched along three sides and then turned the piece in the right way ( a bit like a pillow case).

This is how it looks on the outside at present.  Still quite a lot of embellishment needed.  Once that is done I will hand stitch the open end and add some felt for the leaves of the book.

I am hoping to finish this tomorrow so I can start on something else.

Crazy Patchwork Update

Life is busy at present but I am managing a little bit of work on my crazy patchwork.  It is progressing well.

A HAPPY OUTCOME

Well here is the result of the dying disaster.  The blue mostly washed right out but I had added a little yellow and that took really well.  The pieces I put in the pot of red dye turned into a nice lilac colour. 

I am quite pleased with the results all in all.  Plenty of scope with these gelati colours.  Very pretty and soft.

I have quite a collection of lace and trims now, which is just as well as I have decided to try out some crazy patchwork.  I have plenty of scraps to use up so lots of scope for new projects.

This is a piece I made a start on last night.  Now the fun starts with embellishing it.  When to stop will be the difficult part.

disastrous dying

Today I thought I would soak some fabric and lace for dying:  I put a basin in the sink with Soda Ash and water and dunked some calico and lengths of lace and went on to mix the dye.

Then disaster struck: I knocked the container of blue dye into the basin of soda ash and fabric.  As I was pressed for time I decided to drain as much of the liquid out as I could and then added a bit more dye and hope for the best.  I put a little bit of red dye in the small pot and put some of the fabric from the blue mix into the red and now I will wait to see what I end up with.

To add to the mess, my gloves leaked and I have very colourful hands.

New Computer

This has been a very good few days for me: my new embellishing machine is a dream come true and now I have been given a brand new lap top computer.  It is much quicker than the previous one, however, I am having problems with uploading pics so I will have to deal with that.

I have been using my new machine to felt some fleece I was given some time ago.  Much quicker than any other method.  I think this machine has so many possibilities: just need to find time to play. 


 If anybody knows of online tutorials for using  this kind of machine I would appreciate a point in the right direction.  

RAINY WEEKEND

This weekend has been cold and rainy most of the time.  Good for being inside and catching up with the housework.  

I haven't had much time to create but have made a start on some wavy weaving as described by Linda on her blog.  Mine has some metallic thread and variegated stitching to add to it.  I will finish it soon......

but I have also been playing with the new toy, the embellisher.  It is a lot of fun but I haven't tried to do anything serious yet.

I have lots of scraps and so I thought I would just try a strip of bits and pieces on a piece of silk.  It is looking ok and so I think I will cover it with tulle and free machine stitch over it.