Category: felting

Fun-filled Felting Day…

I had my camera ready to take photos throughout the day but I must have been over-excited, having far too much fun & completely forgot... Thankfully, the lovely Bev, had her wits about her & managed to take a few snaps... so, I've put together this little collage of the day.

This particular felting day had been planned last year, but one thing or another kept getting in the way… So, it’s been a long time coming but we finally settled on a date. On Monday morning, 5 enthusiastic ladies turned up at our usual crocheting corner (my back yarn) to find it transformed into a felting playground. The weather was perfect & we were all itching to get started…

The planned program was to be a busy one – make a small jewellery pouch, some flowers, beads & a felted rock – it’s quite an ask when you’ve never felted before but everyone lathered up, sloshed about & massaged their way to successfully produce their felted treasures. Of course, there were also some felting mishaps that needed some creative adjustments (a good sense of humour is always a requirement when undertaking these new adventures & we had that in spades), all in all,  it was a fabulous, fun day where we all learnt a lot… I certainly did…. Thank you, ladies…. It was a wonderful way to start the week…

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2011

My goodness… the Alice Springs Beanie Festival came around quickly this year – with not enough hours in the day & other commitments I selected not to enter this time but once I saw the categories…. celebrating the Elements: Earth, Wind, Fire & Water… I thought, ‘What the heck…’ changed my mind & decided to have a go….

With very little time in hand I set to work – the crowns for both beanies were crocheted, machine felted &  then hand-dyed – next I crocheted the bands to the crowns.

They looked very plain & ordinary at this stage – what to do??

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Flame: off to the kitchen & Nuno felted some freeform patches using bright, fiery wool & silk rovings which I attached to the band & then set to beading the crown. Yes, you guessed it, this took ages but I’m super pleased with how it turned out….

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Landscape Exposed: I made a freeform crochet coronet which was attached to the band & I then needle felted the crown using only silk rovings – still not satisfied… I decided to attach some felted dread lock tassels… yep, that did the trick.

So, there you go… my 2 entries for the 2011 Alice Springs Beanie Festival – Good luck to all the entrants & my sincere thanks to the organisers, for all their hard work putting together this fabulous event – may 2011 be a huge success for all who participate.

Freeform Home Decor…

OK, I know I’ve made cushion covers before so they’re not really something new but I had forgotten just how much I enjoy playing within the limits of the circle/square (no going out of the lines, like when you were a kid & colouring in) – keep in mind the design… colour, texture, form – where to fill in & where to leave spaces. After my usual willy-nilly-freeforming & doing as I please, staying within the lines is actually more challenging than I remember.

Creating your own freeform cushion covers is a lot of fun, not only because you have a ready made template, but you can really let your imagination fly & bring together some of those much loved crafts that you also like to do as a change of pace… the felting, dyeing, beading & sewing… these cushion covers do take a lot of time but, I think you’ll agree, they look fabulous & will certainly brighten the world with colour & textural happiness…

Metamorphosis: Scrumptious Plum tones bring this gorgeous Freeform Crochet Cushion Cover alive …

A lavish array of Vilene, machine & wet felted patches, felt beads, crochet motifs & glass bead embellishments have been sewn directly onto a pre-made cushion cover leaving lots of spaces for the original cover fabric to show through.

Metamorphosis is avalaible for sale in my Etsy Shop

Tropical Seas: Freeform Fabric created in vibrant blues & greens with a scattering of glass beading, sparkles… just like a tropical sea…

Tropical Seas is avalaible for sale in my Etsy Shop

I felted some crochet flowers, now what?

Some months ago I had a big spurt of making crochet flowers, felting & then hand-dying them at my kitchen sink. Heaps of fun & I ending up making quite a few, well.. actually, I made a lot.

But, since then they have been languishing in the cupboard with all the other ‘gonna do something with these one day’ items that we crafters seem to collect over time.

The light bulb moment came some weeks back when I was invited to do a local market/display/demonstration… out came the felted flowers, my collection of beads, needle & tread & I set to work beading these little beauties & turning them into pretty brooches that can be worn any-which-way – I’m rather pleased with the results…

A collection of these Beaded felted brooches are available in My Zibbet Shop

Felted beads play…

I often use felted beads in my freeform work incorporating them into the fabric or attaching them to tassels & what not but always have some left over & so a little stash grew – what to do with them?  A friend suggested necklaces… hmmmm…. not really my thing… but I decided to give it a go anyway…. what fun & I think they look great, if I do say so myself