Autumn days

It's a fabulous Autumn day and I have just enjoyed trimming a long lavender hedge in the garden - the smell was wonderful. All the clippings have gone in the compost so even that is fragrant!

Am a bit depressed though because my sewing machine has gone on strike as far as free machining goes so have just done the smoke on these trees by hand and they turned out quite nice really! It'll make a ditsy cushion.
Yesterday at Westhope I started this felt background for stitching at a later date and I've finished it for now. I NEED my machine to work. How frustrating. Well perhaps it will make me do a bit more gardening!






At Westhope a fellow student has been Kelly who makes fabulous roving and synthetic dreads and sells them online all over the world. Here she is and here's a link to her website http://www.thecutealternative.co.uk/










All of us have had fun felting over the 4 week course and here are some examples of what we have been taught by Stevie Walker the tutor.





The gardens are lovely there too and are a joy at lunchtime.

How I Felt

I felt potty and made my first 3D felt vessel. I am so pleased with it. The unpredictability of felt making is fun but using these autumnul colours in merino fleece created a lovely pomegranite like object - or is it a seed head? Well it doesn't matter but my furry pot is very tactile, smells nicely of Body Shop Olive Oil soap, which the wool was rubbed with, and is awaiting stitching I think...but then again it's nice as it is. Decisions, decisions.

I just find it amazing that seemless pots like this, bags, purses, animals etc can be made entirely by hand-rubbing sheeps fleece. I'm ready for more!

Here are some images at Westhope yesterday. It's an inspirational place for taking the felt-making course with tutor Stevie Walker. There's a fabulous walled kitchen garden hidden away in the grounds which is perfect for a peaceful lunch break and to rest those weary felt-making arms!

On the way home I drove along Wenlock Edge in the golden sunshine of a late Autumn afternoon and then had some butternut squash, onions, garlic, beetroot and tomatoes from the allotment roasted with lamb and rosemary. How much more seasonal can I get! Can you tell it's my favourite time of year?

I Know Nuno Now!

I have done my first felt making day at Westhope College in Shropshire with Stevie Walker as the tutor. It was quite a physical day what with all the rolling of the felt, but very satisfying.

Materials used in this first image were silk chiffon and Merino wool tops with little pieces of green glass that I have collected on the beach in Cornwall over the years. At last I have a use for it! The glass is eroded, ground down and smooth around the edges.

After felting it vigourously and throwing the wet fabric around quite a bit, the chiffon puckers and traps the pebbles in their own little pockets.

I also made a bigger pice of felt which I may use as the basis of a wall hanging ...

and a grid of chiffon and silk

You Know Nuno?

I don't know much about Nuno felt making except what I have looked up but I'm off to Westhope College today for the first of four sessions learning how to make this delicate fabric. Watch out for pics here tonight.