Felt

I traded a gray felt piece to another artist in California, so I decided to do another one with the same background thick and thin yarn but a completely different design.

The beads on this one are vintage from a find in an antique store 20 some years ago when the 2 Mothers-in-law visited our kids who lived in Illinois then. The stitching is by hand in Perle Cotton.

Felt

Here's the latest felt piece. It's done on the needle embellisher then embroidered with painted threads, Perle cotton, and embroidery floss. I find it relaxing to do.

Felting

I needle felted the flower to a wool background then hand embroidered it. I use a hand needle first when I want things in a particular place and then finish with the machine. On another piece of green, I felted by machine to create an overall greenish leaf type texture. Then I cut out leaf shapes and buttonholed the edges by hand with Perle cotton. They are attached around the piece by using the perle again and a running stitch. Enough of each leaf is on the background, so the leaf is attached.

Now my problem is: Do I just put on a back and rings to hang it or do I attach it to a bigger background? Comments?

Card

I had felted and stitched this small landscape a while ago but didn't know what to do with it. Now that I'm in card making mode, it fit the opening in the card perfectly.

Felting

Here's another felted card I made and sent off in a decorated envelope. I should have photographed the envelope before addressing it, so that's why parts are covered. I seem to be in a felting mood and bought more roving at the Quilt group sale.

Needlefelting

What to do with your leftover felt pieces. This was a tiny scrap but it fit perfectly into a small card opening. I added some beads to create interest.

Needlecase

When I joined Columbia Stitchery Guild in the 70's, they said I needed to make a needlecase, so I did and am still using it. We didn't know much about archival things then and inserted cardboard to make the cases stiff. That's breaking up and crumbling.

 

Since I enjoy felting and stitching on felt, it seemed like a good project to replace the needlecase. Above is the front.

I lined it with a hand dye-didn't do this piece.

It's hard to see on the off-white pages, but this center one has pockets. The old one doesn't and it's handy to have a place for a needle threader.

Here's the back. I wondered about a closure but decided against it, as the ones I have that tie are a pain to get into. It's 3 1/2 by 5".

Book

This is the 10th felt book. The button is one I saved from a coat I wore years ago. The felting was done with a thick and thin yarn on a felt base.

The 3 signature covers are paste papers. Paste papers are made from paint that has a thickener added so you can draw into it with tools. It's fun to do.

Book

This felted book is done with fabrics with just a little roving. I like the look but roving makes the book feel softer. The button is a metal one. I machine quilted a grid on the surface with metallic thread.

The lining is hand painted cotton. The 3 signature covers are also painted and stamped.

 

I hope everyone had a good year and that the next one is even better. Happy New Year.

Book

I do love needle felting. After trying wet felting, this is so much easier and less messy. My hands aren't really strong enough to do the wet felting right anyway.

This is a smaller book about 4" by 5", so I hope one of my friends wants it.

 

Everyone has a great holiday season no matter what it is you celebrate and mostly be safe.

Book

Can you tell that I like this color combination? The button is from a Carol Little outlet store we used to visit in Southern California. After her line was made, the leftovers came to the store for us to purchase-a fun field trip.

The lining is a painted fabric. There are 3 signatures in each book with the painted cover page in card stock and 3 folded pieces of paper to form 6 pages for journalling.

Book

Here's the 6th felt book. I like using the thick and thin yarn. The cover more or less designs itself. The button is Mother of Pearl that has been dyed. The ribbon is vintage. It's fun to finally use the treasures I've collected and is my goal for the future.

The lining fabric is a batik. The signature covers are more of my painted papers.

Book

Another felted book. The button is one I bought in a close out sale and is glass. Ribbons form the closure.

The lining is painted cotton fabric. The signature cover is painted paper. To get the cool effect, I took two painted papers, put them together while they were wet, then pulled them apart. You get texture you can't get any other way.

Book

This is the third felt book. The button is an antique metal one. The felting has machine quilting over it and is blocked with lots of steam.

The lining is hand painted cotton. The signature cover is layers of paint on card stock.

Thanks to everyone who comments. Right now a big part of my time involves the puppy who is not yet allowed in the office with all it's wires.

Quilt, Felt

I just finished quilting this piece and took it to show at Quilt group. Two members wanted it. It's about 40" square. I need to get rid of more pieces and don't do the business stuff anymore, so maybe but how would I choose?

I always hated the business end of things. I just want to create and have decided that I can do what I want. Now I need to find good homes for the many pieces I have. Family have many pieces and don't seem to use or display them.

I am stitching on the felt landscape but slowly as other things seem to take priority. I love the feel of the wool while I'm stitching.

Mixed Media

This is a sketchbook page I did for a class where we were to do figures. Like I said, I don't really draw, so I used a magazine photo and surrounded it with dried leaves from my yard.   The background is sprayed and then wet to spread the color around.  The leaves are sure fragile and tend to crumble. I think I should have coated them with medium first.

This is the start of a felted landscape using the some of the gift I won last week. The hills are prefelts . The sky is the background felt with some of the gift roving to create clouds. It had the nicest violet through it just like the shadows can be on clouds. The greens are ones I dyed with food coloring. Now the stitch it like crazy.

Felted Book

I do like doing the felting. This is one of the books with a felted cover. I baste it first with the hand needles then secure it with the embellisher. After blocking it with the steam iron, I machine quilt it with metallic thread. This view is the back.

Inside has three signatures each with a painted cover sheet. It's a good way to use up my painted papers, so I can make more.

Here's the front with a ribbon and button closure.

Felted Purse

The flap on this purse is felted and was a more muted color than I'm used to working in, but I decided to decorate it anyway and couched a couple of cords down in the swirled pattern around the Shisha I had put on the piece. Then with Perle Cotton, I used running stitch to echo the couched lines.

While debating how to use the piece, I noticed that there was a piece of orchid Ultrasuede in the closet-have no idea where it came from but it was a perfect match. The cord was made on one of those plastic cord makers and is from yarns in my stash.

I'm glad people liked my rusted fabric and gave suggestions on where to find the soapless scouring pads. I did find some in the auto section but will look in the other places too. Thanks for the input-always love to get it.

Felting

A while back I made this purse from a piece I had felted on the embellisher. It's machine quilted with metallic thread.

The closure before was a pin from my collection. When Sue http://suebleiweiss.com/blog/ sent me buttons she had made in a pottery class this summer, I knew this was a much better closure. Here is a detail.

Felt, Beading

I enjoyed the Bead Journal Project so much that I have kept doing small felted pieces--maybe for a book, although they are all a little different in size.

This one was felted with roving that was blended. Then I did Stem stitch and Chain Stitch by hand using Perle Cottons in several sizes. The center is a button form covered with felt and beaded. It has some Angelina fibers in it.

Thanks for commenting on my Journal pages of the last blog. I'm finding that just doing pages is feeing. However, as you can see, I'm not much of a word person. That will be the challenge.