An exciting discovery...

 

Had to share these with you!  While mooching through the haberdashery section in our local Dunelm Mill I came across these amazing pins... they are strong hold Twist Pins.  On the box it states 'for upholstery & matteresses etc' - as soon as I saw them however SOLES came to mind!

Showing the pin twisting in to the felt

I couldnt tell you the number of times I have stabbed my fingers (or leg!) while stitching on a leather sole held in place with straight pins.  Plus its a fiddle keeping them all in place, they really do try to come out.  How PERFECT to be able to twist these little corkscrew pins in 'till they sit flush and stay put. 

Sitting perfectly flush



Securely pinned and ready to stitch

I tried them out a couple of days ago, and they worked brilliantly!  They sit very snuggly against the leather sole & the point didnt even poke through the other side of the felt on my boots!  They made a tedius task easier and faster!  SO, HURRAH for the twist pin!  Im going to buy more when I next visit the shop, incase I cant find them again in future.

Must add these to my leather soles page!

Gary renewed the insulation in our loft last weekend... which meant moving all of the stuff that is stored up there.  Of course this led to rediscovering forgotten & lost things... including this drawing.  I am NO drawer/painter - at least not these days, wasn't too bad when I was a kid.  But this is special to me, I can so vividly remember drawing it... Rachael was 4 weeks old, it was the wee early hours and everybody else in the house was sound asleep.  My gorgeous baby girl was peacefully feeding... it was one of those rare moments when there are no distractions and everything just seems perfect - even though I was bone weary. I can remember wanting to hold on to the moment forever.. Looking to my right were Matthews sugar paper and a wax crayon, so I drew her.. 

This was this first time I had drawn anything in 9 years, and I havent sat down an deliberately tried to draw anything since (12 years).  I'm actually going to put this in a clip frame and hang it on the wall in my craft room... not as a work of art - which it really isnt, but as a memory (though its not too bad I think, for juggling baby at breast + sugar paper & crayon balanced on a story book :).

I spent a lovely day of visiting yesterday... so no felting.  9am had a cuppa and chat with my mom, then over to spend a lovely few hours with my friend Clare who is expecting her first baby in March.  Guess who felt broody by the time she got home?!  Clare sent me on my way with a big bag stuffed full of fibre and other goodies... she is destashing ready for baby's arrival.

A couple of zips arrived in the post today - yay!  So today I shall be able to finish off the bright hip bag..

xx

Bringing in the New Year

Hi everyone, hope you have all had an enjoyable Christmas & New Years! We have had a lovely quiet family time. The kids went back to school a couple of days ago, Gary is back at work on Monday & I shall be felting from Monday... my fingers are itching to get back to it!!

We did have a white Christmas, although it didnt snow on the day! The snow was deep and crisp and even. The garden is always heaving with bird activity, throughout the snowy weather especially so; the blue jays have been so quick to gobble up the peanuts that even the squirrels didnt get a look in :) The last of the snow (from our humungous snowman) disapeared this morning. Its lovely to see the blackbirds rooting through the leaf piles & the tits & finches on the trees and plants finding bugs, after so long blanketed in snow. Though it was beautiful to look at we did really worry for the birds.

I took this photo of the sun rising on Christmas morning

I havent posted over the holidays as I ended up with eyestrain of all things! I couldnt focus properly and needed to rest my eyes. However, in bits and dabs I have typed up my page on leather soles! Finally finished and posted it yesterday... let me know what you think (you should find the page tabs at the top of the post). I hope I havent rambled too much, I wanted it to be of use especially for someone who hasn't soled slippers yet, or is finding it difficult. I remember how little information I found when I was starting out. If you want to add anything (inc. links to web pages with good advice, if you know of any) please get in touch, we all have different experiences.. I'm just sharing mine so far. I'm planning to update it as I go along with additional tips etc.

My eyestrain also meant that I couldnt read any of my Christmas books, or the Felt Matters magazine I'd been saving. I have flicked through them reading bit and pieces though & they all look excellent! I shall post more about them in due course.

The Color in Spinning by Deb Menz is choc full of information about colour theory & blending colours specifically relating to colour in FIBRE... veeery interesting!

Uniquely Felt by Christine White looks like just about the best all round felting book I've seen yet. It covers SO much, definately the book I would recommend to someone new to felting. Its got good stuff for experienced felters too, there is a very good section about the feltability of different types of wool. One thing I have decided to do after browsing this; felt samples of all the different wools I use (and some I havent so far). Laying each out to the same size and same number of layers, it will be a good visual record of finished texture, density and shrinkage.

Fabulous Felted Scarves by Chad Alice Hagen & Jorie Johnson looks an interesting read. I was amazed when I looked through this to see a scarf I had been visualising and planning to experiment with in Januray - made up and looking fabulous right there in the book! :) How funny is that?! You think you`ve had a good and original idea and its right there as a project in a famous felters book :) Glad I saw it before I made one - I am still going to make it.

I love reading about felt and how other felters work!

Anyway, sunset is streaking the sky with blues & golden orange.. time to go

xx