Stitchin'

Still feeling like I'm hanging around, marking time waiting for yet another hospital appointment, I have felt oddly dislocated from everyday life. Obviously, some things get done because they have to - bit of shopping, bit of housework, mum's life to organise, but otherwise partly due to not feeling great, and partly because of the weather, I have hunkered down and just gone with the flow. So I've been reading a bit, planning new stitching projects, playing a bit of music - and stitching. Oooh, lots of stitching. But before I got into the stitching I was having another little tidy and decided, with all the new pincushions I seem to have acquired, I should really ditch this old one, which was beginning to shred on the underneath.

I've had this for goodness knows how many years. I always felt awkward to be honest, sticking pins and needles into it, I always avoided the face bit. Yes, I know, I'm daft. Anyway, as I'm about to throw it into the bin I can feel a needle buried deep inside the  mouse. So I think I'd better get it out, don't want the bin-men getting a needle-stick injury, do we? So I cut it open and pulled out the stuffing.

And discovered not one, but THIRTY ONE needles buried inside! Count 'em!

Incredible, isn't it? And some of them have been there a long time - see those really tiny sharps quilting needles? They are the very finest, and I haven't used them for years - I doubt I could see the eye let alone thread it!

Then I sorted all my little sewing baskets out and got rid of a load of rubbish. After which I got out the two felt projects I'm currently working on. Both are commissions, and I'm thoroughly enjoying working on them.

A new bangle, in Someone's favourite colours. Very much smaller than the ones I've already made as she has such tiny wrists. I think I may make a second version in slightly different colour combinations.

The second commission is somewhat larger than the bangle, you saw the beginnings of it in my last post. Here are some snippets to whet your appetite!

Loved stitching the holly and berries.

Now I love the effect of the stippling, especially with the variegated thread. But OH! It does take an age! You really have to be careful that you keep the depth of stippling  even , it is easy to over-work one area .

So there you are. I'm quite excited planning the next angel - I'm refining my ideas all the time I'm stitching, and gathering ideas from many folk - art sources. I'm having another stitch day tomorrow, hoping to have finished the angel by tea-time.

The weather is getting colder, it was 3 degrees this morning when I went into town. Fingers crossed it says reasonably OK on Friday as Yvonne and I are going up to Harrogate for the Knitting and Stitching Show. I'll tell you how it went next time.

Feltastic!

I hope you are going to enjoy a burst of colourful felty fabulousness to brighten up this miserable November morning! I am suddenly consumed by a passion for felt, and have been stitching away for the past few days and no let up in sight! My threads are tangling again ......

.... but as it is Work In Progress I think I'm excused. I'm heavily into a tactile and colour sensory overload and it's brilliant! Of course, I've been working on the pincushions for a while now, so there's nothing new there, and you will remember my Angel and Wingèd Hearts  (need to make some more)

Gloria was begun at a Madeline Millington workshop quite a few years ago, and of course, as it is more or less a Madeline design I cannot sell her, nor copy her for sale. But I have been working on some designs of my own and hope to get round to making them up some time soonish. (Oooh, can you spot something rolled up at the back there? I have rediscovered my rag-rug work!)

The Wingèd Hearts are my own design - well, an adaptation of a very old image really, it's been around a long long time. I know one went to Penny  and Victoria bought one ...I must have sold them all so need to replenish.

But something else has been nagging away at the back of my mind for ages. I've been interested in African wrapped and coiled jewellery for some time - again, texture and colour, very attention grabbing. And lately I've seen a lot of jewellery made from felted wool; I love the effect of felted wool but just don't want to go down the wet-felting route, or even the needle-felting route, come to that. So I had to devise a way of utilising my felt and wool felt to make the coils I wanted. So, remember those felty worms from the last post? This is what they were destined to become!

I have to say I am pretty pleased with them. It took a while to work out how to make the base coil, and the 'faff factor' is quite high. But each one I made I refined the process and think I have just about got the hang of it now.

The embellishment part is the fun bit - but even here there are improvements to make and different effects to discover.

I shall be experimenting with various embroidery, and am debating whether to add beads. I do have the odd bead stashed away, as you might have guessed! The bangles are less chunkier looking when worn than it appears from the photographs, but I might experiment with various size cores.

So there you are, last post's mystery solved! I'm chuffed with them, hope you like them too!