Penguin teacosies

I had a request for a penguin themed teacosy, from someone who liked my owls.. but wanted a penguin cosy.  I wracked my brains over this for a week or 2.  I think the main feature with my owls is the bright un-owlish colours and use of patterned fabrics.. but I couldn't see this working for a PENGUIN!  

I got to work on it this week.. coming up with a couple of designs to try; first of all I made a baby penguin:

I like him.. but I REALLY liked the idea of the other design I came up with, so next day I made this one:

2 penguins on each side.. and each penguin is a little different from the others :)

The white in between the penguins has white silk caps stretched over.. the sheen represents sun on ice and snow.  The yellow/orange of the throats is tussah silk.

3 layers of white English wool inside, followed by 3 layers of merino then the design...
 this is lovely and thick, it should keep a teapot very cosy

As I usually do with pictures I started the final layer by laying down silk chiffon, then worked the design on top of the chiffon.  The chiffon seems to reduce the amount of blurring caused by fibres from the back migrating through, and allows me to really work the felt without losing all the detail.

I 'drew' the design on with thin strips of black merino dipped in soapy water

Then filled in the colours

I must admit it took a long time to lay out!  Longer than I expected considering how few colours are there.. but I had to be very careful to keep the black and white areas as clean edged as possible.  

Blanket stitching round the bottom with back embroidery silk finished it off a treat :)

Next time:  A pictorial teacosy inspired by new felting book.. and mini review of said book :)