Weekly update

Well I had a lovely week last week! Even though my 12 year old was off school ill for 2 days, and I was at work for one of the days - I still managed to have a very productive week; I felted 4 scarfes and a cape - and have listed them all apart from one of the scarves (my goodness Im organised this week :o)

This little lovely is my very first entry into an etsyFAST challenge, Septembers theme is SONGS. This one is inspired by `I want you` by Savage Garden (follow the link to see the music video on youtube)

lyrics:
Ooh I want you, I dont know if I need you
But ooh Id die to find out
Anytime I need to see your face
I just close my eyes and I am taken to a place where your crystal mind and Magenta feelings take up shelter in the base of my spine
Sweet like a chic a cherry cola

The song just keeps on going round n round in my head...just as it stops I catch sight of this scarf & off it goes again - good job I love the song :o)

This is my `Days of Embers` scarf. Ive also made an Indigo blue version, and lovely violet/purple which hasnt been listed yet (Im thinking of a name for it...)

I called this cape `Imagine`.

And apart from my productive felting week, work & poorly wee-ladie; we had a wonderful evening on Thursday!

My mum-in-law turned 60 earlier in the year, all the kids put together to buy her a hot air balloon ride as a special birthday pressie. Due to our English weather, unpredictable to say the least, its been cancelled 4 or 5 times... but Thursday she actually went up! It was incredible; we were right next to it with her, watching it being inflated OMG it was HUGE!!! There were 12 or 13 people in the basket so you can imagine it really was a whopper. I wouldnt of believed it could be so exciting just watching... When they released the balloon it went up so quickly & effortlessly - it was wonderfull & very emotional for some reason. They went upto 3,000 feet and were up for 1 1/2 hours.

While they were flying we walked around Worcester cathedral and along the river - it was nice. We didnt see the landing (which by all accounts is a very bumpy & undignified affair :). We all went for a meal afterwards, which rounded the evening off nicely. I think the whole family were on a high for the next couple of days, though we were all pretty shattered too for some reason.

We`re getting her a parachute jump for her 70th :)

There she is waving away :)

No felting today though, my son is home for a teacher training day so I have re-photographed most of the things in my shop and spent hours updating that :( boring...

Hope everybody else had a nice week xx

Finished my Day of Felt jewellery

Felt - intertwined, bound together, forever as one - United

Felt bracelets, bangles & cuffs - some are embroidered, some beaded, some have silk fibres felted in for decoration - every one is individual.

I have invited my family and friends to join in with the Day of Felt on 3rd Oct 09 by wearing a piece of jewellery created by me for this event & gifted to them. I have finally finished all of the jewellery & taken photos - thought Id share them with you :o)

Would any of my readers also like to join in by wearing a piece of my jewellery on 3rd Oct 09? Keiara I know you are joining in sweetie :o) thanks for getting back to me

All that I ask is for you to wear the jewellery on Sat 3rd Oct (& hopefully afterwards too :) to celebrate the first ever International Day of Felt. There is no charge for the jewellery but if you can cover postage costs please. I should mention that the majority of the jewellery will go to friends & family, but there are sure to be a few pieces left.

It is on a first come first served (pot-luck) basis and when its gone its gone, so do speak up if you want to join in. You can either contact me through my website www.FreeSpiritCreations.co.uk or leave a comment here (though you will need to email me privately with your address to post to anyway)

For more information about the Day of Felt: http://www.feltunited.com/ The event is part of the United Nations Year of the Natural Fibre.

my Day of Felt Update

These are the pieces of jewellery that I have finished - Im really pleased with them ... still to come felt bead bracelets!

I shall be giving the jewellery out to family and friends to wear on 3rd October 09 to celebrate the Day of Felt.

Im also planning to extend the invitation to readers of my blog - if you would like to join in please contact me (email me through my website please) do get in touch asap please (if you will be willing to pay the postage please, that will be the only cost).

More details and photos will follow when the beaded bracelets are done.

Day of Felt wrap

Ive managed to take some photos & thought I would share them with you :o) This is my wrap for the Day of Felt - 3rd Oct 09.

Here it is looking much more elegant without me on the photo

Im thrilled to bits with this wrap - its just what I wanted. Its felted from merino fibre in shades of red, orange & gold with golden silk fibre felted in for luck! It was also my first large scale cobweb felt project and I really enjoyed it! So much infact that I have since made another 2 of these lovely wraps... Ive just listed the Woodland Wrap on etsy; gorgeous greens - I love it!

Having a bad hair day!

International Felt Day - 3rd October 2009

Felt - intertwined, bound together, forever as one - United

This is really exciting! The United Nations declared 2009 the `Year of the Natural Fibre`.

A group of felters set up FeltUnited and sent out an open call to all felters to join in on 3rd October 2009 for the first International Day of Felt. There are going to be felt exhibitions and workshops going on all over the world that day! The theme for the day is `a slice of the colour wheel - red to yellow`. The UN have listed the Day of Felt as one of their events.

The last couple of weeks I have been up to my elbows in red, yellow& orange fibre :o) I`m working on jewellery & phone charms to give to family & friends to wear on the big day... I have created a gorgeous wrap for myself - which I love so much that I promptly created 2 more (in different colours) to go in my etsy shop. I havent managed to take many photos yet but will post them asap.

Here is a little taster... these are some of my beads

Left

my 1st ever sushi beads

They look just like sweeties in those bob-bon dishes - mmm yummy

Yeaaah! This morning when the postman came it felt like Christmas! My goodies from the swaps with Keiara arrived!

This is my Spooky Skulls bracelet - isnt it CUTE?! I just love it!!! This isnt for Halloween - Im gonna live in it all year round :o) I thought this bracelet was lovely from the photo - but have to say the photo doesnt do it justice... It is so glittery and the black & white is so sharp & prisitine, swarovski crystals and small silver beads compliment the skull really well, and the sterling silver clasp & findings are perfect with my sensitive skin.

I also have a Desert Tree focal that Keiara has made into a fabulous necklace. Now I did originally post a picture here - BUT, this necklace is for a special birthday pressie and I dont want to risk ruining the suprise if its spotted on my blog! I shall post pictures after it has been given.

Keiaras workmanship is absolutely exquisite! Each bead is absolutely perfect and ooooozes quality; glowing with inner and outer beauty, they have a lovely weight to them and they sparkle oh so prettily. I have now purchased/traded 5 pieces of jewellery byKeiara and they are all SO individual & quirky & stylish - I love em!!! The hard part is giving away pieces brought for presents...

Thank you Keiara ... They will be treasured xxx

Beady Eyes

At the weekend (while catching up with all the holiday washing) I made a few beads :o)

These are for swapsies with the lovely Keiara who wanted some black, orange & green beads for Halloween (the dark green are a merino & silk blend - very lushious).

Im really excited about the swap... I shall post about it and show off my goodies as soon as they arrive :o)

Hope you are all having a good week

D x

allo allo we`re back from our camping holiday (right next to Polzeath beach - awesome!) The weather was rather mixed (well it IS England) but we still had a great time - didnt get quite as much body boarding done as the kids would of liked, but come on its bloomin` cold in a bikini or trunks - the kids could stay in for hours in their wetsuits, but we dont have them :( might need to `splash` out a little next year.

Thought Id share a few holiday pics...

Wave watching on Polzeath Beach

From the seaward mouth of Merlins Cave

I love Tintagel - some of the shops are quirky & nice, but for me, by far the best thing about Tintagel is the coastline/scenery. Theres a lot of very steep walking, but its all worth while - it is one of those places which just soothes the soul! For the first time I managed to clamber all the way through to the other side of Merlins Cave & OH MY it was so worth it! Beautiful, awesome and so peaceful (yes, thats my lovely hubby standing to the side of the picture :)

Overlooking the Severn Sisters rock formation.

Looking rather wind swept - this was the only day my hair wasnt braided; it was like a rats nest come evening it was so tangled!

We went on a cruise aboard the Jubilee Queen around Puffin Island - unfortunately we didnt see Puffins as they leave by July...we`re planning to do it again earlier in the year so that we can see them. We did see grey seals though :) We also visited Trebarwith Strand for the first time and I got the strongest feeling that Ive been there before. I came home & asked my parents whether we went when I was a child - but we didnt. So strange - I KNOW Ive been there before, I can remember walking barefoot across the sea-smoothed rocks at the entrance to the beach - it was so familiar... in a past life maybe?! Strange but true.

I got lots of inspiration for felting projects while I was away. The kids go back to school a week from Monday, so it`ll be back to work for me too `Felt-a-hoy`.

Ive just been reading Keiaras blog and Im devastated!!! Keiara if only I hadnt been on holiday I could of met up with you... Stourbridge is a 10 minute drive from my house!

I luuuurve the Desert Tree necklace that Keiara has made for me! Its SO beautiful (you clever lady)! It is intended as a special birthday present - if I can bear to part with it... thank you sweetpea xxx

Well, thats about all for now, hope you are all well - thank you for following my blog :)

Debbie
xx

Crafty Kids

Well, Im a day late (what a suprise) I did say I would tell you more about what the kids are `upto`...

Well, we have been experimenting with felting some lovely free fleeces, given to us by a very friendly local farmer & his wife... the fleeces came from their free range sheep. I spun some & crocheted the yarn into warm wooly hats for the family as a thank you. Now, I know that the fibre spins very well but I wasnt too sure how well it would felt... there was only one way to find out... We decided to have a go at quite a big piece of felt, so we used an old bamboo blind and `foot felted` it out in the garden - lots of mess & lots of fun! (see pictures posted last week) We`ve done this before when we made rugs for the kids bedrooms; if you`re interested there are photos in my Crafty Kids Gallery .

This fleece didnt felt brilliantly it has to be said, but its very soft and will make a great squishy centre for the rag rug projects the kids are working on. Matthew (my 12 year old) is making a seat cover for his bedroom chair, and Rachael (my 10 year old) is making a comfy floor rug that she can take with her when she visits Matthews room to play on the xbox 360.

These pictures show Matts seat cover, he is about half way through the `podging` stage. We have recycled a pair of curtains in heavy fabric (red) and an old flannalette bedsheet (yellow). Matthew is working his initials MA into the seat back. When he is finished I shall sew a backing fabric on with the felt sandwiched in between and we can fit it to his chair.

The picture above shows the front,

the picture below is the back.

Rachael doesnt want me to post photos of her rug yet. BUT, a couple of days ago she set herself up, out on the deck in the sunshine, with a bowl of warm soapy water and a couple of handfulls of fibre - a little while later, after she had sewn on the ears and tail she had a lovely little mouse! At the moment he is one of the blind mice from the nursery rhyme, but she might add eyes when we find just the right beads for the job :o)












I think he`s adorable!

So, that what the kids have been doing! Of course, I havent managed to get much done myself, but its nice to spend plenty of family time, just chillin`... pottering around etc. We`ve had quite a few bake days and gardening too. Infact I`m going to show you our `bean tree` I`ve never seen runner beans get this big - they HUGE. They are growing up a willow obelisk, as they kept going up & out we had to add extra withies so they had something to hold onto. I recon theyre about 9 feet tall. Some of them, once they had reached the end of the sticks drooped down for a couple of feet - then grew back up themselves!

It looks a bit like a Darlek from Doctor Who in disguise!

On the felting front, I made a new purple triplet set for lovely Keiara (the one I had sent was a smidge tight) which means that Ive got the original triplets :o) and the purple set I had been working on for myself (below) is now free to go on my etsy shop. The embroidery is a little different on the bangle of this set, and the purples are a different shade (every piece has to be different).

The colours have come up a bit weird on the photos - I think its funny light at the moment. Oh well, you get the idea...

I shall be away from the internet for about a week and a half after tomorow, so after this mega waffle blog :o) that`ll be it from me ... for a while.

Take care of yourselves
x

Well, Ive had a mad few days... doing rag-rugging projects with the kids. I`ll post more on Monday about that.

I have managed to finish a nice orange bracelet set. Still have about 5 others bracelets left to embroider though - hopefully tomorow I will manage to finish them :o)

Have a lovely weekend...... Deb x