Wet Felted Lattice Scarf with Long Locks

Yesterday was a fun day of wet felting and dyeing fibers!  I spent the early morning testing out my fall colorways.  I have decided on 4 different colorways that I will use to dye a variety of fibers.  I will be adding them into the shop in about 2 weeks.  This is the first time I have tried using consistent colorways and I am excited about it.  Also, investing in some larger fiber processing equipment was a great idea and will open many new avenues for me.  To think that I will be able to make my own top using fleeces that I have purchased makes me happy!

So anywho...after all of the dyeing, I was able to layout a scarf that I have been wanting to try out.  I fell in love with Chad Alice Hagen's lattice scarves and have been kicking around some ideas in my head.....I have some embellishment to add, but I am waiting for some of the supplies to come in the mail.  I used some of my stash of long locks for the ends of the scarf.  I had been trying to decide if I would spin them or felt them.  I am glad that I decided to felt them, and now have many more ideas for these long locks!  I have decided I really like the openness of this scarf and feel it is much more practical for Florida weather in the winter where we are pretty mild, although this will be worn when I head to Asheville this Fall!

As soon as I finished this one, I sketched out a large wrap using the same technique.  I have finished pulling the fibers (shades of blues) and will work on it today.  Stay tuned!

Felt Ornaments

I made a felt panel with some very soft colored gray wool this morning.  I wanted to get an idea of how much it would shrink so that I could use the wool to make some slippers.  After it dried, I decided to use the test panel to make some heart ornaments for the tree.  I like how simple they turned out...the next batch I will fill with the leftover lanvender that I ordered this past summer.

Buttons from Germany...

My best friend went to a fabulous craft fair where she lives in Germany and sent me these buttons!  I love them and cannot wait to figure out what I can make to use them on! 

I am spending the day making wet felted panels to be sewn into pouches.....back to the rolling for me!

My Peace Felt projects

I was assigned a Peace Felt partner and have been busy deciding what to share with her.  Last week I felted a light blue bag.  I ended up using that as well as two other pieces I made.  I hope she likes what I have made. Since she is a needle felter, I included a small bag of the wool, silk, and angelina fibers I used to make her gifts.  Hopefully she will like that also.

Felt sampler pillow

I'm still taking the Organic Embroidery class.  This week we are to use a microscopic picture for inspiration.  I was excited because we were to use applique for this project.  I wet felted two pieces of multicolored felt that I knew I wanted to use for the applique portion.  The design is not what I would typically create on my own, so it has been fun to think outside of my own box for these embroidery lessons.  :)  Have a great weekend!

Flowers

Today I made my first set of wet felted flowers.  I had fun playing....

Shibori felting..

I have been wanting to try various wet felting techniques.  After some reading, I tried my hand at what I have read is called shibori felting.  I had a stash of wool that I was not too crazy about, so I figured if I messed it up, I would not be too heart broken ( strange I know to be heart broken about wool, but I seem to fall in deep like with some of my purchases..lol)  So here is my attempt. Interesting result....a mutated butterfly maybe. I have some new ideas floating around in my head now that I see how easy it was to manipulate the wool.  Off to play some more....

Another bag

I worked on this bag last weekend.  Finally it is dry and I am happy with the size and shape.  It is 12 in. x 12 in. at its widest points.  I made it with a super soft merino wool.

My First Handbag

I used a plastic grocery bag as a resist for this project.  I had left over wool from my scarf project so I made a bag to match.  I hand sewed the flower from a scrap piece of felt I made at the same time.  This reminds me of a watercolor everytime I look at it. 

A project I made for my baby who will be 14 soon.  Her favorite colors are blue and green, and I have been wanting to make something bright and fresh to help banish the winter blahs.  Voila! This is for her nightstand and is fairly large.  Large enough to hold CD's, an Ipod and other various electronic devices that are typically strewn from one end of her room to another.  I am going to add some clear, and silver seed beading to small areas to catch and bounce light.  I wet felted this using a resist.

Wet Felted Eyeglass Case

I had fun playing with bits of many colors. This was my first sheet of felt made by wet felting. It is perfect for my glasses and I can always find it in my purse because of the bright colors!

Fair Find and Fun!

So yesterday the family and I headed off to the state fair. While we were walking around Cracker Country ( a outdoor museum of rural Florida) they had many hands on activities that you could take part in. One station had rope making, another had candle making, more showed weaving, and finally I came across a felting station. While this was not a hands on activity for guests I was shown how to make a felt hat. Not the full process mind you, the demonstrator was rolling the felt at the time. It was really fun to watch in person rather than through a You Tube video tutorial. I found an herb area and was able to buy a huge bag of dried lavender. My hubby had a laugh at me over it. He saw me move in for the smell, and then walk a few steps away before I swirled around and asked the gentleman running the booth how much it was. When I questioned my hubby on why he laughed, he said he knew I would not make it past a few steps before I turned around and bought some! I guess after 18 years he does know me well! :) It inspired me to come home and make a felt panel that I could sew into a sachet bag for some of the wonderful smelling lavender.