Sunshine & photos

In total contrast to yesterday, today has been an absolutely gorgeous autumn day! The children spent the morning playing golf, while I sat enjoying the sunshine, birdsong & a good book - a rare treat.

As soon as the sun was up I took photos of my goodies before dashing off out for the day.

This is just a teaser of my lovely gift from Heather... I`ll post again when its hanging on my wall & you can see it in all its glory. I love the colours and the retro design - it reminds me of the `oh so 70s` wallpaper we had when I was a kid :

Now my new batts...

You cant tell from this photo but they are really sparkly, they have firestar in them. They are very appropriately named Bonfire Shimmer.... soon to be a bonfire shimmer shawl.

Ive made a collage of my most recent felted goodies...

There are 3 scarves that I was playin & experimenting with... 1 commision cobweb scarf & bracelet, plus 1 halloween/gothic cuff. The scarf at the top left has pieces of pure silk devore fabric felted in... Im really pleased with how it turned out.

Im desperately trying to sew leather soles onto slippers... but things keep on distracting me! My mission is to get them sewn & listed this week - must be strict with myself.

TTFN
xx

Christmas came early...

My `table runner` from Heather arrived today! It is SOOOooo GORGEOUS! Its going on the wall not the table! I LOVE it.... thank you SO much Heather :) xx

Its such a dull, rainy day today its too dark for taking photos, unfortunately.

I received new batts from CorgiHillFarm this morning too - which are awesome, I cant wait to felt them... that shall have to wait till next week though cos the kids are off school this week ... half term already! The rest of the week is going to be spent with kids golf school, visiting rellies, walks, pumpkin carving & baking... normal autumnal family fun :) Talking about walks, we have made some unusual friends on ours... there are a couple of shire horses & a belted galloway cow & calf who have been in the same fields along the bridal path where we walk for a few months now... I think theyve gotten used to us, they have started coming over to get their heads scratched everytime we walk by - its so cute!

Im hoping for some daylight soon so I can take pics to share with you all...

Have a good week

xx

What a lovely suprise

I had a wonderful suprise when I checked my blog comments... I`ve won a wonderful prize!

Heather at Woollove-Functional Fiber Art is celebrating her blogs 1st B`day (`B` for blog as opposed to birth :) and very kindly held a give away of a fabulous table runner.... and I WON!!! I cant wait to receive it & will post pics when I do... you can see pics of it as it was being made over on Heathers blog - it looks gorgeous! Thank you so much Heather xx

What else have I been upto? Well yesterday I as playing dressups at OakHouse (I work as a `Tudor` servant for a museum) ...so no felting :( BUT I was quite productive on my other days :) I made a bracelet to go with my turquoise necklace...

... and made another set very similar to go on my etsy shop.

Took photos of the first pair of boots with their fastings sewn on...

... Im really pleased with them. Got to do the other pair now & sew leather soles on, then they can be listed! Seriously I need some extra hours per day! lol

Today I have felted 2 scarves...which are drying on my radiator. Tomorow I may do more slippers... or will it be more scarves? Friday I am meeting the primary school children that I did the felting workshop with a few weeks ago. We are going to `visit` their felt at the museum & meet up with a photographer from the local paper :D which is rather exciting for all of us.

More soon xxx

New felted goodies

YAY the weekend... where did the week go though?!

This week I felted a lovely deep red shawl from the CorgiHillFarm batts... This is merino and bluefaced leicester - wonderfully soft! I added some silk fibres and some of my 100% pure silk velvet fabric strips.
Created a hammered copper wire pin to go with this one too :)

I worked on some new jewellery designs... this next one is mine. For years Ive wanted some nice turquoise jewellery (Im a December baby & turquoise is my birthstone) just never found anything I liked enough... Im really really happy with this. Flat felted beads with embroidery, & coiled sterling silver wire in celtic inspired spirals, with turquoise beads, swarovski crystals & sterling silver findings...

I tried out about 3 different methods of closure for the felted boots I made last week (felted another pair too :) pics of these next time...

I emailed my submission for the FeltUnited exhibition (hope I got it right!) any of you planning to do the same DO IT NOW! The deadline is the 17th Oct... TOMOROW.

Ive had a very nice, productive week... despite a couple of very odd `spanners in the works` - like my son losing his retainer down the loo (being sick - KIDS) and having 2 emergency dental appointments squeezed in to sort him out. I have a few exciting new pots on the boil (Im being mysterious & saying no more for now :)

Hope you all have a fanstastic weekend

xx

Twilight shawl

Hiya, just a quicky.. I wanted to show you the shawl I felted this week. I brought some batts from CorgiHillFarm on etsy... They arrived on Thursday this week & OMG they are so gorgeous! Look at all of this loveliness...
Within 20 minutes of them arriving I was felting them :) I really love the shawl that Ive made with the top batts (the reds are for next week).

This morning I made a hammered a copper wire pin to go with it...

Have a great weekend xx

Exciting news

I have some really exciting news to share! Im the new featured artist on Wingham Wool Works website! I am SO excited!

This is the lovely introduction that Tom at Wingham sent to their subscribers - what a compliment :)
...
Featured Artist: Deborah Allen

We are happy to announce Deborah is our new Wingham Featured Artist. Demonstrating the flxibility of felt-work Deborah impressed us by creating fantastic flat pieces, together with 3D sculpture, bags and slippers. Fantastic work all-round!
...

Check it out... Wingham Wool

OK Im off, just had to share...
xxx

Midweek already...

These are a pair of experimental felt boots that I made on Monday.

My polystyrene lasts - which are great for low slippers - are simply not high enough for making boots! And I cant find anytaller ones to buy... only one thing for it, I needed to make my own lasts. In the past Ive used tape, old socks & polyfibre stuffing, but the lasts I wanted are too high for that (I did try - I taped up to the height I needed but I couldnt get it back off, ended up cutting it off & chucking away).

The next idea was my husbands. I used a pair of old wellies, which he cut the heel and thick sole off. I trimmed the height, stuffed and duct taped them up and they worked pretty well.

They`re just drying out now.

Yesterday & today Ive been at work, so no felt :(

TTFN
x

FeltUnited 2010

Well tomorrow is International Felt Day... "Happy Felt Day folks" :) hope you have something fun & fibrey planned

I finished the sea creature mobile & banner last night (at 11pm!) and installed them at Haden Hill House this morning YAY! So exciting! Its going to be there for about a month. I think its lovely for the children to have their work exhibited in a local museum; the teacher is planning to walk the class down to see it :)

The mobile is made up from all of the childrens sea creatures from last weeks workshop (29 of them), with driftwood, shells and glass beads. Its strung on fishing line from a 4 foot long piece of Dorset driftwood. The mobile has an approx. 7 foot drop - good job Haden is a Victorian house with fabulously high ceilings! The light was dreadful this morning, so Ive had to lighten the pics on picasa - if the colours are showing up badly on anybodies monitor please comment & let me know - Im planning to submit the pics for the FeltUnited exhibition. If they're no good I shall retake them.

We have used merino in blue, green & yellow - I brought a mixed bag from Wingham Wool & they`re brill - loads of shades, perfect for a kids workshop! Some of the children designed their own fantastic sea creatures (including one with 40 eyes!) others created fishes, jellyfish & octopuses - we all had lots of fun! Each child has handwritten their name tab, which is stitched to the back of their creature, further adding to the design.

The banner was made at home, using Icelandic batts for the 1st 2 layers with merino on top. Luckily for me the schools logo is blue & yellow so I was able to felt that into the banner. I also embroidered the FeltUnited motto onto it. Im hoping that the banner can hang in the school hall as a lasting reminder of the schools participation in this international event. At the end of the school year the mobile can be taken apart & the children can take their sea creatures home to keep as a momento.

Time to slow down & have a nice cup of tea before collecting the children from school now... think Im going to watch the rain, its hammering down at the moment and the wind is really strong...

...have a good weekend everyone, whatever you are doing

xxx