A Hot Sunday Afternoon !!

Hi Everyone,
Its a gorgeous day today, bit hot outside so i thought i'd stay in and do some felting today.  First after checking out our Studio site i found that Ruth had put up the Felting Around the Web Post. She always seems to find some really great links so i thought before i start felting i'd have a go at making some Skeleton Leaves
http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/

What a joke,  i used mainly gum leaves and few others i found and after simmering away in the solution for nearly 2 hours this is what i ended up with.  No skeletons in there lol   nothing i did would take off the outter green leafy bits and the whole pot just went to absolute mud. Smelt like rotten peas to lol
Anyway i did have some fun watching and seeing what or if anything would happen and took some lovely pics for you to see haha


                    This is after almost 2 hours of simmering away, it was a thick slushy mess

Still leaves,  and not even soft enough to strip away the green outter layer, in fact as they cooled down they became as stiff as a board lol  Dont think i'll be trying that again and now i have to clean that pot  lol  

While waiting for that to do what it was suppose to do i layed out some more fibres to make another sheet of felt.  I used BFL with lots of threads, silks, organza, and rainbow nylon.  Some of the organza didnt really want to felt in but i'll stitch that down when i decide what i'm doing with it
         
                                                                Before Felting

                                                            

After Felting , it has a nice sheen with the nylon  

 

Happy Felting xo

Felting with Nylon

I've been playing with some different fibres to see what i can do,  Were were talking on the forum about shredding sari silk yarn or ribbon so this is what i did.
The base is 2 layers of BFL liecester and then on top i added lots of bits of shredded up sari silk ribbon, then shredded or peeled layers of organza yarn, which ended up a bit like silk waste and then topped it off with some rainbow Triloban Nylon top, that the lovely Zed sent me, Its like Angelina but really lovely and  soft.  Its still wet when i took the pics and it seems to have gone a bit dull but i'm hoping once its dry it will pop again.  I really like the colors all together and i might turn this into another journal cover.

Before Felting

After Felting, but still wet, yes i'm impatient lol

Now that its dry and it does have a gorgeous sheen to it. sorry you cant see in the pic

Week 2 of TAST !

I've just finished my week 2 of TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) this week was the Buttonhole stitch, I'm really loving this and now i have another page for my Stitches Book :)

Our first Giveaway for our new site is almost over with the winner drawn tomorrow night, We have had an impressive number of entries for this and some really lovely comments , Thankyou you all so much.   Its not to late to enter  so follow the link to add your name,

http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2012/01/08/our-first-giveaway/

Happy Days Everyone :)

Our First Giveaway

We've decided to have our first Giveaway in celebration of our new Felting and Fiber Studio

For more information and a chance to win,

 please follow the link and leave a comment over at our site :)

http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/

Take a Stitch Tuesday

or TAST from Sharon B's Pin Tangle site,   which is learning a new stitch every week ,so this is the latest project we'll be working on and hopefully get through every single week of it
I've decided to make mine using a square frame and calico, i'll do random stitches in the square until i'm comfortable with that stitch and then at the end of the 52 weeks i'd like to make my squares into my own book of stitches, not sure how i'll do that yet and there's no hurry as we still have 51 weeks to go.

                                                       This is the first one, a Fly Stitch

You can see where i started, on the left lol  and got a bit more adventurous as i moved across, i had to add some french knots, there's not many stitches that i know but i can make a frenchy lol  I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and it'll be a great reference point to keep going back to.  I'm looking forward to next weeks stitch.  If you click on the pic it will enlarge so you can see the stitches better !!
If you'd like to join in then please just follow the link below to Sharon's site
Happy Stitching xo

http://www.pintangle.com/journal/2012/1/3/take-a-stitch-tuesday-week-1.html

Simply Amazing

Well it finally happened, We became Nana and Pop yesterday afternoon,  WooooHoooooo

Here is Little Charlie weighing in at 6lb 4oz's and the most devine little thing ever , My son Sean is over the moon and just cant believe he's a Dad. Mum Kelly doing very well and cant keep the smile from her face.

How Gorgeous

Daddy's got you Charlie Girl !!! He cant take his eyes off her and its so gorgeous :)

 

And me with my granddaughter !!!!

 

WIP Album Cover

Hello  bloggerets  and now we have  another year over and a new one starting, I hope to be able to create much more felting and fibery fluffiness in 2012. In the last couple of months i have finally discovered that Mixed Media is my thing. Yeahhhh i cant believe that it took me so long to work out lol 

 So now for my latest  project which was going to be a baby album cover but i dont thinks its as suitable as planned so im just continueing with it for a normal album cover and i'll lay out some more suitable fibres for the baby album. This is all i've managed so far, not much i know ( with Christmas and stuff)  and i dont think i could have picked a brighter color bead than orange lol   The next row of beads will probably be green (bright) or maybe purple and i'll add lots more stitches with brighter threads and different beads to go with.  

I also think i picked the wrong color thread for what i've done so far, but its all good practise anyway so i'm not really worried and i'll just keep going and see how it turns out !

I've since unpicked all of this and its now resting quietly in my UFO bin,  i ended up hating it !!!!

So for now Happy Felting Everyone and Happy New Year !!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Wishing all my blogging and fibre friends a Fantastic Christmas and an Inspirational 2012
Thankyou for being part of my life , for sharing, caring and being wonderfully supportive. May your next year be filled with fibrelishes goodies and your creativity flows free :)

                     MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!!

Mixed Media Stuff

I've just finished this small mixed media wall hanging and i'm really liking it. I started out with a flat piece that i cut into different sizes, adding lots of stitching and beads and a hand made fimo button in the centre, i then mounted it onto a book cover that i gesso's, painted and repainted with shiva stixs, I like using them although they do take a while to dry being oil paints in a stick, amazing things

I also once again tried my hand at textile beads , using tyvek, metallic threads and some gorgeous decorative plastic strips zed sent me. A lot of fun but fiddly little buggers lol 

Happy Felting

Dying Fibre

We've been talking alot lately about dying fibre with all sorts of different dyes , so i've added a food color dying tutorial to our site as well. Its easy and fun and you can produce so many different colors with food coloring and a steamer
http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/

Happy Felting xo

Lots Happening

Hi Everyone
Well there's lots happening over at our new site , we've started a new Feature called Market Place Monday, it will be a regular feature on most Mondays . If you are interested in topics about the business of being an artist, make sure to stop by each Monday. We will be discussing issues such as developing a product line, reviews of various venues where handcrafted work can be sold, pricing strategies, retail vs. wholesale, working with galleries, photographing your work, developing your “brand”, writing an artist statement and much more. If there is a specific topic that you would like more information about, please leave a comment and we’ll try to accommodate your requests.  Please check out the whole post by following this link
http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/

Were also really excited to have created an interactive forum for all things wool so if you'd like to become a member ( free) then follow this link to register and join in some wonderful conversations, share knowledge or just chat with likeminded soles. the forum is related to all things wool, felt, yarn, knitting, nuno, needle felting, wet felting   ect so come along and have some fun. We have decided to keep this forum private for the time being so you will have to register to view and interact, it just feels the safer thing to do right now :)

http://feltandfiberstudio.proboards.com/

Cheers Everyone and Happy Felting xo

Challenge at the Studio

Hi Everyone
Over at our new site we will be adding a Studio Challenge every quarter, this is just for fun and the first one is a challenge on creating any Twist's Twirls or Spiral to add texture to Felt
This could be anything including Coiled or Twisted Wool in Felt or a Mixed Media piece
Check out the link and come have some fun  http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/ we'd really love to see you there and see what everyone comes up with :)

We did have a bit of heads up with first one lol but here's a bit of what i've made for this

                                                                         Happy Felting

Something Amazing

Hi Everyone, well i can now let you know what we've really been up to lately.

I'm so excited to announce that myself and 3 of my Felting Friends from different parts of the world have joined forces and created an amazing new site . We went live this morning and although we had some stressful times , its been so much fun working with these 3 great ladies.  So  Ruth ( from the US) , Zed (from the UK) , Ann (from Canada) and me Karen (from Australia)  have created the Felting and Fibre Studio
http://feltingandfiberstudio.com/  
We'll be doing studio challenges, tutorial based challenges and putting up lots of information on different fibre arts  projects, mixed media, nuno, wet felting, needle felting, or learning about different fibres for different projects
We would love you to come along and join in the fun, feel free to leave a comment  or follow along with us
Happy Felting xo

What i've been up to :)

I know im a bad blogger sometimes but i promise i'm not sitting idle !!

 

This is a mixed media small wall hanging using felt ( of course) beads and stitching and then i mounted it onto a background from an old hard back book which i added gesso, paint and used shiva sticks.  I really like the way it turned out and definitely going to do more !

The bottom piece of felt, stitched and embelished

                                                              Flower and background, stitches and beads

                                                 Book board covered with gesso and shiva stixs

Next post will be a huge announcement and i cant wait to tell what i've really been up to, apart from the above .  Sorry to be a tease but thought i'd stir and keep you all guessing lol   Its Big :):)

Hand Made Beads

Hi Everyone
Its been a while since i posted anything and i have been busy but not much to show or tell lately
Till now of course,  i've seen some gorgeous hand made textile beads lately so i thought i'd give it a go and create some of my own. I do have a fair bit of practising to do but there so much fun to make. I've never used a heat gun before either so that was interesting :)
Anyway this is my very first lot of beads using Tyvek, Angelina and Metalic thread, The bead on the top i thought i'd be clever and wrap it with cling wrap, i'm really surprised at how strong and hard they are, Sorry about the pics i just cant get closer with my camera without it all distorting.  Am i on the right track ??

 

This is my second try, the top row is the first one i killed ( ooops i mean made) and the bottom row is my second attempt. I'm so loving this i need to find out what other sort of things can be added in and how do you stop the need for a third hand lol i guess i'm just not used to working with anything so small.

A Hanging in Progress

No not a hanging by the neck lol  althoughhhhhhhhh  !!!

I've made a start on my wall hanging and i still have a long way to go but just showing pics of the work so far with some stitches and beads. I've used back stitch, straight stitch, french knots and thread salad. The thread salad stitch came from a tutorial by Victoria Crowder Payne and i get such a kick out of using it , it still needs more and makes a great grassy area, tree branches or even moss, i love it , I have lots more work to do on in yet but really enjoying seeing it come together

                                                                       Happy Felting xo

Blogger Problems

Hi Everyone
I'm still having so many problems replying to comments left on this blog so i just wanted to say thankyou so much to all you lovely people for the awesome comments xoxo

I can reply to some using your email address but if its not in your profile page then i cant do that either ??
Is anyone else still having problems with replying to comments, When i log in i dont check the keep me signed in box and i'm still having trouble. When i do sign in and go to (view my page)  its still telling me to sign in . Sooooo frustrating , any help would be very much appreciated 

karen xo

More from me again ( all in one day) ha

I did say it was a beautiful day and it really got me in the mood for felting. This is the second one today and i love making these pictures, I do need to order more brightly colored fibre though as my stash is running low.

Before Felting

       After Felting, i had a hard time felting this one as it just didnt want to stay put so i have a bit of adjusting and needling to do.

I'll be adding lots of beads and embroidery and hope to make it pop !!!

Making a Start

Well i did say it was a beautiful morning here and i couldnt wait to make a start, so i'm hopeful that this will turn out how i have it in my mind lol  always a worry haha 
            
                                             All layed out and ready to roll ! Merino, silk, merino /silk blend, angelina and touch of throwsters waste

                                          After 1000 rolls and some bashing around the sink , not sure i should keep going as the top right edge is still a bit thick ?  Its outside drying right now so i'll see what happens. I will cut a piece from this anyway . I like the colors so hopefully it will be ok for boy or girl album !!

Happy Felting xo

Hello Hello !!!!

Well Hello everyone, i know its been a while again but i've been a bit stuck and the idea's were just not flowing, well actually they were but getting started was the problem. Not sure why that happens and its very frustrating to say the least , so here i am again and on this beautiful sunny morning ( and my day off work) i've been totally inspired so i'm about to lay out some fibres and have a play.
My inspiration today come from this lady http://robruhn.blogspot.com/ as i just love her work, love the colors and textures, Thankyou Ro.  What i would like to make is a felt and embellished photo album cover for my Daughter In Laws mum. Were both about to be first time Nana's ( so exciting) in around 11 weeks. Jill ( the other nana) is a gorgeous woman and i do know she likes what i make so i'm sure however it turns out she'll treasure it.  When My son married her Daughter i gave her my favorite piece ( actually she nagged and nagged to buy it) lol  as a token of our joining families, Its sits in pride of place in her home and she loves it . This was the piece i gave her.

Now i really want  to make an album cover dedicated to her (our) first grandchild, with embroidery and beads, color and texture , something simple but elegant and my problem is i dont know if i can do elegant lol  I've been thinking about it for ages and  instead of getting stuck in  i've just procrastinated to no end, i get nervous and that frustrates the heck out of me lol   

So anyway thanks to Ro i'm going to tackle it and i'll let you know how i go

Something else that made me excited this morning was one of my Etsy pieces made a treasury list, I'm not really sure what that is lol  but i liked it anyway so thankyou for that to, its spurring me on

Ok Happy Felting Everyone !!

My Latest Play Time

Some more Fibre Collages,
Zed sent me some more gorgeous material so i had to use it in this first one, the flowers and stems are using that, lots of beads, embroidery, thread salad, french knots, straight stitch and whatever else i could get on lol  The background is a piece of wet felt i made and wrapped in a material border. I actually like it !!!

 This second one was mainly practising my lazy daisy stitch with beads on wet felt and then the bottom right hand corner is Victoria's Paynes cut french knots made to look like grass, Thankyou Victoria i was just proving that i watch lol , I actually ran out of that green thread so its only in the corner . The stems are using twisted embroidery ribbon and  some straight stiches for the leaves. This one is only postcard size but still good practise

Happy Felting and Stitching :)

Fibre Collage

Hi Everyone
I seem to be going off  in another direction now and i'm in my element !! 
I've been doing a Fibre Collage Course with Susan Sorrell and i've had so much fun lately with felt, material, embroidery and beads. Zed (feltbyzed) sent me some gorgeous material that i stitched over and i practised my straight stitch,blanket stitch,back stitch and Victoria Crowder Paynes thread salad. i love it
This is what i've made and my daughter (15) loved it so i added some fishy kiss's ( kisses) just for her. I'll put it on a board background so she can hang it in her room.
The background on this is a felt piece i made for it although the course was using a material sandwich, this is what i wanted to do. Using felt , embroidery and beads is for me so i finally found my thing !!
Cant wait to start another course soon, i havent finished with this yet but just wanted to share anyway

                                                          Happy Felting & Stitching
                     

Chronicle of !!!!!

No not Narnia !!!!!   the chronicles of Sinister Stitch by the lovely Victoria Crowder Payne, depicting 13 poisons from the garden that she is representing in stitch.  I'm totally hooked on this woman's work and  i didnt realise until recently that i love to stitch.  I also love to felt, and i need and want to learn to  incorporate both together.  I was totally surprised and soooo happy when Victoria  put up the second episode called  Effection and Applause and i saw she added my work to her site,  Thankyou so much Victoria,  after the month i've had it was so nice to see and lifted my spirits immensely ,  If anyone would like to view her work and make a pledge to her cause ( i'm very happy i did) then please take a look at this link.

http://freedomofstitch.com/?p=3570

So now on to why i havent been around for quite a few weeks and sorry if this is long winded .
Stress is a bitch !!! Worry does damage !!! and sometimes its all for nothing.
About 4 weeks ago i had to go to the doctors and she found a lump in my breast. So then off to have a mammogram and ultrasound, NOTHING showed up in the mammogram but the ultrasound showed a definite lump. Left breast , 2.00oclock  6cm. !   So then it was off to our breast clinic to see a specialist and have a biopsy, yuk.   The specialist told me ( before the biopsy results came back) that i had Breast Cancer but we'll still wait and see the results of the biopsy. I asked him why he could tell me that now instead of waiting and he said because this is all i do and this is what i know, ok.   I had to tell my family ( my boys and girl ) my husband what he said ( hard work) but that it was also very small and  very early so all should be well.  I went back the other day for the results and it seems now that there is only 10% chance of me having cancer. I can tell you the relief was huge, It's definitely  not a cyst and the Doctors wants it out. (me to)  .  He said taking a biospy on something so small is hit and miss and he still believes that it will be cancer BUT so early and so small thats its easy fixed.  Do i have to tell anyone the HUGE relief i felt coming out of there,  To be told you have Breast Cancer and then told you dont but the Doctor is still not convinced is frustrating to say the least..  I'm waiting to be called up for surgery and then we'll know for sure but as far as i'm concerned, its better out than in. 
So my mind hasnt exactly been on the right path , and  i did let myself go to a  very dark place for a couple of days , not a nice thing, but now no matter what the outcome i'm happy with knowing that ALL WILL BE WELL and i'm not going anywhere lol . Plus i have a new grandchild on the way ( first one) so where bursting with excitement for his /her arrival around the 28th of December.
So thats been my last month or so and now apart from surgery coming up, i'm putting it  behind me and i'm moving on to bigger, better and brighter things.
Happy Felting or Stitching and please do whatever makes you happy.  I definitely will be !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
xoxoxoxo

Another Wet Felted Wall Hanging

Here's another one from me, i'm definitely hooked on this and i found Victoria Payne and her site Freedom of Stitch and wow i'm even more hooked now. http://freedomofstitch.com/?page_id=958. She does some amazing work, anyway this is my new one with one of her stitches, i still have so much to learn i wish i had have learnt to embroider when my Aunty tried to teach me a lifetime ago lol

This is using merino from Stefknits on Etsy, its her cupcake line and i love using this, so easy and awesome colors,, I've also added in some silk and then me practising some stitches !

                                    

                                         Close up of stitches and with Victoria's Salad stitch sprinkled down the bottom,    secured with some black french knots. I might have to add some more of this as i love it

                         I tried to do an embroidered leave on one of the flowers but didnt work out so well,      just more to practise and i'm happy with that :)

                                                                     Happy Felting :))

My Little Flower Garden !

This one is using my own dyed and blended fibre batt, wet felting the background, flowers and leaves and then adding some stitches and beads. I'm so in love with these i think i've finally found my thing lol

I'm getting quite a pile up and now trying to find a way to hang them that i like, what do you think of this, i like the more rustic look but i'm just not sure,  I may even put a couple on Etsy and see how i go. Pricing is another issue though as i usually give everything away lol  I want more wool though to feed this addiction lol

Or this one, i think without all the yarn is better??

                                                                   Happy Felting !!

First Beading Attempt

So this is my first beading attempt over a wet felted background of flowers,  i really love all the embelishing i see and decided to have a go.  I'm just about to start an online course with Susan Sorrell on fibre collage and thats starts on the 5th of July, Of course i couldnt wait and at least had to have a play with some beads. It's only a little piece about 6in wide and i know its a little wonky on one side lol but i love it anyway. I'll keep playing till my course starts cause i'm having heaps of fun

Happy Felting !!

I'm not sick of them yet lol

So more wall hangings from me,  i cant seem to stop at the moment , anyone would think that i have no       work or house-work or family to take care of  lol  
This one is re-worked from the last time with some added leaves and stems that were wet felted, much better
                                       

I really like the colors in this one and now i have to learn how to add embelishments properly with some nice beads and things  The flower and leaves were made seperately and then stitched on.

Hope i'm not boring anyone but i cant see myself stopping anytime soon hehehe  although my daughter says i really need to learn different flowers and not just swirls,  it will happen !!!

Happy Felting xo

Another one, I think i'm hooked

Sorry if these get boring but i think i'm hooked, This one i tried to do something different and i dont think its worked, i might take the white flowers off and do something else but my daughter likes them and told me to leave them on, there just some pre-felt i had that i cut into circles and then added a bullion stitch (or 2) in the middle of each one, i was trying to go for a cluster. ?     i'll think about it for a while first before i get the scissors out lol

And i'm still having trouble answering any comments when i'm at home, so thankyou Gina, yes get that book out hehehe                                                          Happy Felting !!

Another Wet Felted Wall Hanging

I think i've finally found what i really love to do, and all the time to lol   Wet Felted Background with the base being Gotland fibre, then lots of different fibres including, merino, merino silk, silk, silk waste, wool neps, different threads to including gold sparkle, Doesnt really show up in the pic but there is a fair bit of sparkle to this.  I'm still learning different embroidery stitches, i know 3 now   thankyou youtube lol were would we be without it !!!!

                                                                       Happy Felting