Needle felted Santa ornament

Doll club today - yipee! And this years Christmas present is a brown bag santa under 6".  I love to needlefelt, largely because it is fast.  I'd read somewhere to use a styrofoam ball as a base and I tried that this time.  I was not pleased with using it for the head as I found it hard to get a really smooth look to the head AND it dulled my felting needle!  Last time I try that one! I'm off now to bake brownies for the meeting.

Its a Secret... but just a peek...

Love knots- felted merino wookl and lace with beaded embellishments

I've been crazy busy, but most of what I've been doing I can't show off just yet!  One of my projects has been to particpate in an ATC swap.

Night Garden 1-  wool and fabric applique on commercial felt background

 I love making these little works of art, in part because it lets me make use of practice and test pieces such as trying out an idea on the embellisher or testing colors for applique.  As the swap pieces are going to be submitted to "Cloth, Paper, Scissors," for publication, they can't be posted.  But here are a couple that won't be submitted, cuz you know I can't keep a secret!

At Last!

At Last!

Since breaking my wrist last January I've been unable to do much of anything artistically. But I've discovered that I can use my embellishing machine with little difficulty.

This bookcover was made for my physical therapist, Rose, who loves the great sunflowers she grows behind her barn.

I used a silk chiffon scarf overdyed in reds and a luscious golden brown silk haboti for the background. I felted them into a piece of Peltex then overstitched with a metalic bronze thread on the "barn" and a taupe silk thread on the "ground". I then couched in some bits of fancy yarns to add definition. The back cover is sunflowers worked in free motion embroidery. The sunflower and leaves on the front cover were done using a soldering iron to cut from synthetic chiffon and embellished with bronze acrylic paint. Beads embellish the spine and the two button closures are "hope" and a flying bluebird, symbols of the gifts Rose has given me these past months.

Felted ATCs

I've been dying to try out my new Pfaff Embellisher. So this weekend I created these little cuties!

The one on the left is felted merino wool. It felts quickly and smoothly. I felted in a bit of crochet lace and I was amazed at how easily it felted into place. A bit of beading with metalic seed beads finishes it off.

The one on the right is similar, but done with three colors of cotswall wool (did I spell that right?) This roving felted super fast, but it is difficult to get the shorter fibers to look smooth. However it is thicker and springier that the merino.

Top pic is a bit of hand dyed silk. I absolutely love the way this felted! Texture like crazy! The "flower" happened when I had a bit of fabric left and no place to felt it to. I twisted it into a circle and just felted a couple of times in the center to hold it down. The brown and gold "pebbles" are a strip of silk ribbon with a bit of metalic thread. This was a bit tougher to "felt" , it didn't want to stay where I placed it but it worked with a bit of patience and practice and a tiny bit of merino fiber on top of it.

It took less than 15 minutes to "felt" these. I think I'm going to love this new machine!!