Ir-resist-able felted black bag.

Hello my lovelies, yes that's what you are, you are all lovely, lovely, lovely. 

I like the word lovely, it even looks pleasing to the eye doesn't it?

 'Lovely' 

It has a kind of symmetry to it made a little bit quirky by the the long tailed y at the end. 

No I've not lost my marbles, I'm just feeling in love with life today. No particular reason although your lovely, kind, cheery comments always help heaps. You never fail to make me smile with your kindness and generosity. Take this lovely comment from Dottieven on my last post.

"I sooooo look forward to your blog and today's was especially welcome. Suddenly all my stresses melt and I look forward to finishing a bag I 've been knitting. Thank you - peace reigns!"

Now Dottieven didn't have to leave a commet, she didn't have to tell me that she looked forward to my posts or that she was feeling stressed or even that she was knitting a bag but she did and I'm mighty pleased that she did. She made me smile and feel like I'd made a little bit of difference to somebody elses day. Isn't that wonderful that a total stranger (obviously a lovely stranger) can have that effect. The power of a few tippety- tapped words eh!

So thank you all, you'll never really know the difference you make with each little tippety-tap.

Well here is the new piece I wanted to share with you my friends. It's in the middle of being felted in this picture, still very wet and you can see I've not cut out the handles yet.

This is a first for me. 

This is a felt bag made from one whole piece of felt with no stitching or seams. It's made using a resist which is the white shape you can see beneath the felt. The felt was made around the resist until the felt starts to shrink and then you have to slice it open and remove the resist. As you can see the felt shrinks quite a bit.

Here's a closer look, still damp and waiting for me to perform the scary bit... cutting out the handle shape.

Flip it over, this is the back. We've already discussed on my last post how I can't leave the back blank, lol.

 Ta-daa! 

All finished. 

What I neglected to photograph though is the inside of the bag which is bright pink!

And as for the handles... they didn't turn out too bad for a first attempt. 

Anyway it's now residing in the Chapel Gallery so we'll wait and see what the response is. I'm hoping it's good as I've already started on another one!

Till next time

love Fi x

Paisley and Posies.

 As promised on my last post, this is what I made with the dyed felt I'd been experimenting with.

A couple of pretty handbags. 

Both destined for brand new shop in Dorset but more of that soon.

I had a little play with a different colour-way for me and at first I thought I'd made a terrible mistake but now I've completely fallen in love with it, lol.

All three bags have the floral artwork on both the back and front.

Well you can't skimp on design when you're having sooo much fun can you! I'm obviously not a very good business woman, I know I could have made six bags instead of three if I'd only put the decoration on one side but I just couldn't bring myself to do it! lol. I'll never be rich will I!

This is my current crochet project, I like to have a bit of something on the go on an evening. I've just noticed the similarity in colours in this photo and the one above, I must be having a purple phase. 

As much as I love my felt you can't beat a bit of hooky can you!

Seems I need to promise to show you what I made with these too but that'll have to wait. I have something else I want to share with you first.

Till next time

love Fi x

Experimenting with 3D felting and dying.

As you all know I make quite a bit of felt but I tend to only make flat pieces of felt and then cut them up and stitch them into the shapes I want, in essence you could say I make felted wool fabric. Recently a lovely friend of mine had a go at felting a bowl. She was a little disappointed as the technique she was using wasn't quite giving her the result she craved. After a bit of discussion and sharing of thoughts I decided the best thing to do was have a little experiment myself as I've only tried 3D felting twice before and both times the results were...shall we say...disappointing. So here are the results of my little play time. 

 This was my first attempt, a little pod. I made it around a flat plastic resist and although I found the process rather tedious, the results are actually very good. The pod is quite sturdy and the felt is very firm, in all it holds its shape perfectly. Bish-bosh-done! I'd completed the task, solved the problems, all done as far as I was concerned. I could report back to my friend with my findings and I didn't need to make another bowl again. But then...

 I had an email request from one of my regular customers asking if I made spectacle cases. I replied saying sorry no I didn't, but then the old cogs started to clunk into gear. If I could make a pod why couldn't I make a specs case. Well as you can see above I managed to make a little case with an opening so that the end would flip closed keeping the contents safe inside. Only...

The felt shrunk a little more than I had anticipated! But as you can see it fitted my phone perfectly, lol.

So I altered my template and tried again. The results were much better this time, as you can see

the specs fit inside perfectly and the end of the case will close over them. Yay! 

I must say, 3D felting hasn't grabbed me as yet, I probably will have another go at some time but it's really not doing it for me at the moment.
...

Something else I've been experimenting with is dyeing wool. This also is not really through choice but necessity. 

 So I took the plunge and purchased a small kit containing 6 bottles of dye powder a pair of latex gloves and some instructions. Look out kitchen here I come!

It looks a little complicated here but really it was quite straight forward if a little time consuming. 

Ta-daa!

 I also dyed some wool nepps (bobbles). I had to find a way of putting them outside to dry without them blowing away...so out came the netty bags that you used to get with your laundry tablets years ago! I knew they'd come in handy for something one day, teehee!

 Next I dyed some Mulberry silk, only I managed to burn it a little in a couple of places as the fibres weren't wet enough.

 So as you can see the wool nepps and the dyed wool have turned out okay. It just means my work load has increased a little bit, how can that be? Aren't things supposed to get easier the more experienced you become! 

I'll show you what I made with my felt next time.

till then

love Fi x

To the pub and back!

It's a beautiful day here in in the hills so I wondered if you fancied a walk to the pub for Sunday lunch?

You do?

Fantastic! 

Lets get going

 This is where we will start our walk. Today we're popping over the river to Hardraw for our lunch.

 We're heading down under the old railway bridge.

 We'll be heading right, along the river to the 'troll bridge' (well that's what we call it)

 Past a little bit of sandy beach, not bad considering how far inland we are, lol.

 Look at the little clump of flowers growing in the middle of this tree.

 Hmmm...something big and hairy sleeping in the middle of the path. Maybe that's the troll?

 No it was this little chaps mum.

 The troll bridge, we've not seen goats crossing it but there are often sheep trit-trotting across!

 Everywhere you look here in the hills there are pretty little streams.

 Up the steps everyone. Last one close the gate please.

 We peeped over the stone wall to look through the bluebells.

 A little village in the distance.

 Not far now.

 Hoorah! Our destination the Green Dragon. The Green Dragon boasts having the highest single drop waterfall in England, famous for being the place where Kevin Costner bathed in the film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.  We didn't visit it today but you can see pictures of it here.

 Come on in to the bar, what will you have?

We found ourselves a little table in the the back room...

next to the window.

 Yummmy! 

 After lunch and little drink outside in the sunshine we wandered over the road and sat by the river while Sneaky dog had a paddle.

 Time to head back home.

Had to pop this one in. A line of much loved sheepdogs laid to rest along this dry stone wall.

 It's not as far as it looks really.

 Aaaaw, we've passed lots of little lambs.

but finish with the obligatory village cricket match.

I hope you enjoyed our little bimble to the pub and back.

Till next time

love Fi x