Be Creative

Hello all! 

It's been a busy a summer here in the Marmaladerose household... a very good thing indeed. It means over the cold dark winter, I can dip back in and out of my summer photos and re-live those long warm, flower-scented days...and I do hope you'll pop by now and again to join me.

Firstly though... I'd like to share my excitement with you at being a cover girl! (Well it's the closest I'll ever get, lol!)

There's definitely a woolly feel to the cover of the current issue of Be Creative with Workbox Magazine... 

My felted wool artwork is splashed all over the cover of the current issue!

And...

I have a lovely feature inside! Whoop! Whoop!

And...

My five creative crushes are on page 14.

What a lucky girl I am and very honoured. I never dreamt that my work would feature on the cover.

I believe 'His Lordship', has double page spread.

 And there is a snapshots of this little fella too.

Although he isn't all that little in reality.

So... as Autumn makes it's mark and I prepare for my next event at the end of this month...

I shall leave you with a little sunshine from the Yorkshire Dales.

Till next time

love Fi x 

Spring at Last!

I'm finally coming out of hibernation.

I think Spring is at last here in the North of England.

I know this because I've sat outside in the garden with a cup of tea...twice...YEAY! 

Yes... I did have my furry boots on and a woolly scarf but it wasn't wet and it wasn't windy...RESULT!

Yes... I can still see snow on the hill tops but if I squint it disappears.

I'm soooo ready for some blue skies, sunshine, green shoots and flowers. 

Definitely flowers! 

I'm craving flowers. 

The only flowers I can see are woolly and made by me... but needs must.

Till next time

Fi x

A Mouse for Mum.

At long last I've finally made a felt picture for my Mum. It's not that I haven't wanted to or that she hasn't wanted one but demands elsewhere got in the way last year. So this year I was determined that for her birthday I would make her a felt picture of her own. 

It had to be a little animal as she loves nature especially the wildlife that visits her garden. It's always full of birds and she and my Dad have a couple of squirrels that visit. Last year there was also a cute little field mouse that would visit looking for bird food that had fallen to the floor, so there was no doubt which little animal I should choose. 

This one tested my patience though. It nearly ended up in the bin on a couple of occasions but I don't like to be beaten and once you've invested hours of work in a piece it seems silly to abandon it, much better to persevere and strive to make it right...and I'm so glad I did. It wasn't until the very end, after the felt had dried and I was adding the whiskers that I was happy with it.

Till next time

love Fi x

The Cat and the Comet Ta-Daa!

Ta-daa!

A beautiful summer meadow on a warm heady evening. The stars are twinkling and the grasses are dancing in the breeze but can you spot the cat and the comet?

 My brief was for vibrant flowers, sparkly stars, a comet and a cat partially hidden. 

As you can see the only place I could find that was light enough and large enough to photograph this 6 foot long wall hanging, was outside on the garden gate. 

A close up of the cat, looking up at the comet.

And starting at the left hand side...

 to the middle...

and finishing on the right.

 And now just some gratuitous texture shots!

The whole piece is made from wet felted Merino wool and then embellished with free motion machine embroidery and finished with a little hand embroidery. 

Hopefully next time I might be able to show you it hanging in its new home!

Till then

Love Fi x

Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage.

 Hello my lovelies! Say hello to Mr Hare. 

Now say goodbye, we won't be seeing him again as he has hopped off to a loving new home. 

 He was one of a handful of pieces that came with me to the Festival of Arts and Heritage in Staithes just over a week ago.

 What a fabulous event! For one whole weekend about 80 artists turned kitchens, front rooms, garages and even bedrooms into pop up galleries in the pretty little fishing village of Staithes. There were pop up cafes too along with music, film shows, demonstrations, walks, talks and all manner of entertainment. Here's a very tiny taste as I only had time for a quick speed walk around before it got busy on Saturday morning!

 This was our little gallery for the weekend in a pretty little cottage on the High Street.

 We had lots of lovely visitors, the whole place had a lovely atmosphere.

 One of our visitors owns this charming little place...

 The Tea Shop in Staithes...

They also now own my little felted picture too! Delightful!

I just like to say thank you to every one who visited us over the weekend. Wonderful Man and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting to you all. I'd had such a lovely time and my work received so many compliments that I had a little happy cry on Sunday... I just couldn't help myself. Thank you to everyone who made our weekend so special. 

Oh and the Hare in Poppies... he's hopped off to new home too!

I shall look forward to seeing you all at Yarndale this weekend, if I remember correctly I shall be on stand 26 looking a tad frazzled and a bit frayed around the edges (it's been a very busy year) but very happy to see you all and chatter about all things 'felty'.

Don't forget to bring lots of pocket money ;)

See you at the weekend

love Fi x

Another Furry Felted Friend.

Another furry felted friend.

Sorry for the short blog posts but I'm trying not to get too behind with showing you what I've been working on and I've been working really hard this year! 

This one is another large piece about 33 inches square. He's wet felted with a small amount of free motion machine embroidery just on the leaves in the foreground. He'll be coming with me to Art in the Pen at Skipton Auction Mart this weekend. 

Sorry must dash! There are things waiting to be embroidered!

Till next time

love Fi x

Hare in Daisies

Here he is finished at last. 

This is one of my large felt pieces measuring about 32 inches square. That's quite a lot of felt to stuff under the sewing machine but I just roll it up and hope for the best, lol.

He's made from Merino wool which has been wet felted and then free motion machine embroidered. I'll be taking him to Art in the Pen at Skipton on Sat 16th and Sun 17th August along with a few other felty friends I've been making. 

Maybe I'll see you there, it'll be a great weekend with a hundred and thirty artists transforming animal pens into mini art galleries including painting, ceramics, jewellery, sculpture, wood carving and of course textiles so don't forget your purse

. 

There's plenty of free parking and lots to see. 

Don't forget to come and say hello.

Till next time

love Fi x

Scorchio!

 The morning started with a strange low cloud lingering through the dale. Very odd but beautiful. The promise of another hot and sunny day. 

 So sunny that I had trouble to see my stitches whilst sweating away at my sewing machine in the attic.

It really was too beautiful a day to be up in the hot, hot, hot attic, but needs must. 

The leaves around these daisies needing finishing off ready to be taken to the picture framer. They're part of a much larger piece but I can't show you just yet. Can you see a few twitchy whiskers sneaking into the picture! lol.

Till next time

love Fi x

Art in the Pen

Good morning! Don't look so shocked! 

Yes, this is me blog posting in the morning! Goodness gracious! 

Yes I'm on the ball this morning, well sort of. I've been rather hit and miss with my blog posting this year, but then this year has been quite different from other years. This year has been a bit of a steep learning curve for me. I've never created quite so much art work as I have this year or been so busy - which is all good. I just need to learn how to manage my time more efficiently and get into the flow of making, framing, ordering, supplying, BLOGGING etc.

For instance, take the picture above. The felt picture is a commission for a lovely lady who contacted me waaaay back at the beginning of the year.(The roses are from the garden and smell wonderful!) Now she did say that I had until September to make it but really! I should have had it done way before now. But then...who knows? She may have benefited from the time lapsed, my work may have improved or evolved slightly. Who knows!

This is one of the reasons I've been so busy. Art in the Pen. This year was the first at Carlisle although the event is in its 9th year at Skipton which is August 16th & 17th. This was also my first time but what a lovely experience.

Here I am setting up on the Friday afternoon. Wonderful Man is pretending to be David Bailey. There were over 80 artists all doing their best to transform animal pens at the auction mart into mini art galleries.

Hey Presto! As if by magic! 

I'm just adding the finishing touches in time for Fridays preview evening. Would you like

 a closer look?

 Starting on the left hand side. Lots of felted flower brooches pinned onto my mannequin Ethel Maude. On the table are a couple of small felt pictures and my hand embroidered felted greetings cards.

 Little Robin Red Breast, this one was hand needle felted.

Here he is free from his frame so you can see him properly.

 This one is a big one measuring about a metre square and is called 'Cow Parsley Mouse'. This one is wet felted and then free motion machine and hand embroidered.

 Here he is before framing.

After him is...

'Beagle Pup'. No embroidery on this one just wet felted.

You've already seen the 'Nasturtium Hare' at the top of this post but here he is again, just because he's my favourite piece to date. Again all wet felted with free motion machine and hand embroidery.

 Lets pop over to the right hand side.

Starting on the left we have...  

'Apple Blossom' (wet felted)

'Smile' Wet felted and machine and hand embroidered.

So called because I thought it would be rather nice to get out of bed every morning and see this. Surely it would make you smile? lol.

And lastly another Hare. (wet felted)

Have you had enough? 

Or would you like a little wander around some of the other wonderful pens?

I thought so ;)

I'll keep it brief.

www.bridgetwilkinson.co.uk

Stig Art

www.viviiennecawsonart.co.uk

sorry not sure who this is.

Sue Lancaster

www.amanda-mercer.co.uk

Kate Durdy

David Singleton

www.sketchbuck.com

Julie Gibson

David Brightmore

And lastly the lovely Diana Morrison who also supplies the one of the same galleries as me, Cherrydidi in Keswick. 

There were many more that I didn't manage to photograph including wood carvings, jewellery and ceramics.

 I've had an idea!

 Why don't you come to Art in the Pen at Skipton in August and see for yourself!

I'll see you there ;)

Till next time

love Fi x