poppies and buttercups

I am surrounded with flowers at this time of year and the latest blooms in my garden are poppies. Some stray buttercups popped up uninvited alongside them but the colours look so good together I've left them. Here is a mini felt inspired by my garden. Poppies and buttercups with their faces all turned towards the sun.

wild flower felt finished!

Last time I posted photos of some wild flowers I had seen. I also posted a picture of the very beginnings of a felt I was making inspired by those flowers. As promised here is the finished piece.

It has loads of texture as I included yarn and lots of other fibres in the wet felting process. I have also added both hand and free machine stitching. I think I will be stitching French knots in my sleep tonight! To see more photos of it head along to my etsy shop.

Flowery inspirations

I've just returned from a holiday in Devon and Cornwall and inspiration came from a most unexpected source. Roadside banks! They were smothered in wild flowers. Each one like a stitch. Insignificant on its own but put together they form a rich tapestry of colour. I'm going to give it a go. Here are some of the banks of flowers.

Don't you think they are beautiful? Well I've made a start and will come back with the finished piece. Only just started!

Thread storage solution!

I just had to share this with you. I'm sure that plenty of people out there have the same problem as I did.

Anyone who uses Pinterest probably knows about storing embroidery thread on clothes pegs which is a great idea and works. However when you have as many threads as I do where do you put all of those pegs when they are prettily wound with thread? I scoured the Internet and found plenty of ideas but none suitable for me. I have a lot of thread but wanted my storage to be portable as I often stitch in the evening whilst watching TV. I also wanted to be able to see at a glance what I have.

My husband has been quite helpful and keen to help me resolve this matter. Perhaps because he knows he will end up having to make something for me if I can't find anything. It was him that came up with this idea.

We were in one of those shops that sells everything when he saw some toast racks. I couldn't understand why he was so interested in them until he pointed out that they would be perfect for pinning the pegs on , cheap and portable. We bought a couple and came home. Guesß what? It worked!

I still have a 'few' more to do but I have another toast rack and more pegs and I know how to use them.

On the rack above I have six rows of eleven pegs but could easily fit at least one more row in so quite a few are stored in a small space.

Now for the others.......

Pyrography Plaque from Texas

I just wanted to share this with you. I have a friend in Texas who is another etsy shop owner. We've never met but talk online and skype occasionally. Recently she has taken up pyrography (wood burning) and seems to have a natural talent for it. The postman just bought this for me.

The detail is amazing look at the zentangle inspired designs within the lettering.

In her shop she also has jewellery which she has burned designs in to and some really lovely nursery wall plaques. I think she would only be too happy to personalise anything and the nursery wall plaques would be a great gift. Go and take a look for yourself.

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/byRickMarsh?ref=ss_profile

By the way it's not even my birthday!

Hand Spun art yarn

 Last week when browsing Pinterest I found myself lusting after some art yarn to include in my felts. It had merino, silk, Wensleydale locks and all manner of good things in it ( a bit like chocolate cake really).  I was trying to persuade myself that this very expensive yarn would be worth the money when I realised that I already had all of the raw ingredients. I also have a spinning wheel and know how to use it!

I dug my spinning wheel out of the barn where it has been for about six years and found my Wensleydale locks.

The spinning wheel was a bit grumpy and needed a little TLC before it would work and the locks were very dirty. I coaxed the wheel in to life and washed, degreased and dyed the locks.

I  then rooted around my studio and found silks, soy bean fibres and some other goodies which I had already dyed. When I put them all together and spun them with some dyed merino this is what I ended up with 

Since then I have also dyed and spun some green yarn and here is my first felt containing it. I used the green yarn to represent the grasses and it felted in beautifully. No stitching was needed.

Spring has sprung!

In my part of the world ( Wales UK) spring has finally sprung so I made a felt to celebrate. I know I shouldn't blow my own trumpet but I was rather pleased with the way it turned out. I added lots of hand embroidery to the foreground to make the grasses and flowers pop.