my little big boy

my little guy was about to get a whole year older (it happens overnight you know) and so i decided he needed to join in on our first proper family birthday tradition - the felted crowns.

so i started with some wool-
(yes it's pink & purple, it was left over from lexi's so-long-ago Tigger Cardi (look how little she is!), and the only feltable stuff left in my stash!)

some food colouring & vinegar,

and some of this stuff-
and.... ta da!


the butterfly theme was because we inherited a couple of monarch caterpillars a month or so ago from our playgroup, and we've had a constant stream of them to look after ever since! Eli absolutely loves them, and has been finding the process fascinating, so i thought it would be a fitting theme for his crown :-)
i think he likes it!

i was incredibly proud of lexi too, who was inspired by my efforts to make eli a present herself as well! she decided to make him a toy horse, which turned into a unicorn, so i cut the basic shape out of felt (i like minimum 70% wool felt), showed her how to do a whip stitch, and off she went! I did the eyes for her, and threaded her needle, but the rest was all her work, even choosing the colours (it's red on one side, purple on the other ;-) ).

(there was a minor controversy on eli's birthday when she decided she actually wanted it to have a short mane, so hid behind the lounge curtains to give it a haircut without asking first, but really since it was her project she had to be forgiven!)

and of course there was birthday cake... not one of my sleeker efforts to be sure *blush*
but it tasted good & the kids loved it, so i'm happy!

my fluffy secret...

ok, so in several previous posts i mentioned a fluffy secret that i was working on.. well this is what it was-a few friends of mine decided it would be fun to have a little spring themed swap - just something little, like that fits in the palm of your hand, and you make one for each person in the group & receive one from everyone too...

and since i had been out planting strawberry plants in the garden, i decided to do a nibble of strawberries for everyone!
some went in woven baskets, others in spring-y bags-
i wet-felted fleece to create the basic shape, then needlefelted them into shape properly & 'garnished' ;-) 15 strawberries in total! now i just need to make some for us too lol..

Project Monday #3

now that i've finished the spring butterfly & matching (sort of) doll dress, it's onto other things!

the red fluff is multiplying & has been seen accompanied by some green fluff-
and i've almost almost almost finished this little something for a friends new baby-
almost.

hopefully tonight.. and then it'll be straight onto a little something different for a friends other baby ;-)

introducing.....

in which i attempt to regularly (ie theoretically on a monday) share what is going on in my Work-In-Progress pile!

a window into the creative process, if you will...

beginning with....

the never-ending tofu-socks of doom!
so close, so very very, yet unmotivatingly, close!!

a test knit spring cardigan for lexi, designed by a very clever friend of mine-
(camera was determined to over-expose that one sorry..)

a pointy secret-

and a fluffy secret-
and that's what i'm working on this week!

lord of the skies..

my step-son's birthday crown!
when he saw lexi's birthday crown, he immediately asked if he would get one for his birthday, and sure enough he will be..

i was trying for a lunar phases sort of idea, but i'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, because i didn't have quite enough space to comfortably fit the gibbous moons (love that word), but it looks slightly empty without them too.. that & the crescents look rather weird in this photo for some reason?!

This crown is created from a piece of wet-felted.. umm.. felt, obviously ;-) (in the two swirly blue colours), which i then needle-felted decorations onto, and added hand-coloured wooden ribbons & silver ribbons for the closure.

The knitted then felted crown definitely makes a sturdier crown shape, but when the time factor is taken into account, plus the versitility of wet-felting with fibre, then i think this is a good option too!

I'm not 100% happy with it, but i'm sure the recipient will be!

dose of reality

there is often talk in the blogging world of how blogs can give a false impression of reality.. particularly with craft blogs it can seem like people are whipping off amazing things every hour of the day...

well i'm not one of them. i've been pretty busy, and yet have a whole lot of *not much* to show for it.

for example-
a jumper for lexi that i'm *not* knitting, cos my needles are too short.

a patch of dirt where there were weeds...

a pair of booties that i gave away this morning *without* taking a photo first..

a restoration project that isn't yet...
"Lot 666; a spinning wheel in pieces.." nope not quite right huh.. ;-)

a ball that i *haven't* needle felted fully yet...

a doll whose hair isn't fixed yet..

a secret project that i *can't* take a photo of yet.. AND, through my amazing photographic prowess, a photo of all the assorted projects that i haven't even started yet!

and so on & so forth.

but i can show you a little bit of our quinoa!
i've only threshed perhaps 1/4 of it so far (threshing in my little world = popping the seed heads into an inside-out pillowcase [no seams to get caught in, cunning huh?] & rubbing the whole lot around in my hands or under foot), but i've got almost a litre of it thus far :-)
yeah, yeah, yeah i know, you aren't supposed to measure dry stuff by the litre, but the blender was the only handy thing around. call it almost 4 cups if you prefer ;-)

lexi's birthday crown

a while ago i received some very cool 'green tea' wool from the fabulous erin in a themed yarn swap, and i thought it was perfect for a sylvan styled felted crown for lexi's birthday!

the pattern was for 10ply so i adapted it to 8ply & after an age it was finally knitted...

i machine felted it, then needle felted a basic vine design onto it-

i started at one end with spring / new buds kinda thing...
then summer / full flower..
then autumn / setting seeds
and finished it off with some wooden buttons & ribbons

lexi seems pretty happy with it!

bits'n'bobs

some little modelling beeswax eggs in a felted nest for our nature basket...

(they were more nicely egg-shaped until they got remodelled!)

and a tiny bluebird too..
(modelling beeswax is great for making super-dooper quick things!! the bird took maybe 4-5min..)

a summer sunshine needle felted ball
(need to work on the design a bit, so my kids get this one!)

some stripey blue pants for eli..
(ok so some of you who commented on my 'smart pants' post mentioned washing.. but how come no-one mentioned that nice-pants-fabric usually needs ironing?! ah well, too bad, they'll just have to be slightly crinkly ;-) )

and i found a little basket & prettied it up with left over pants fabric for lexi's wooden fruit..

i've also been sewing something.. but can't take a pic while the girl child is about!

two tiny girls...

for two little girls...but i wonder if they will need passports?! ;-)

more felt folk..

a little boy & girl..

i might still add a wee *something* to the little girl though...?

mama & baby..

i gave her a wrap dress to match her swaddled baby :-)
i know i'm going to have to keep reattaching her arms, but that's ok!
i'm pretty happy with her :-D

blind leading the blind.. pt2

part two of my needle felting tutorial for beginners! :-)

so you keep on adding more fleece, jabbing & shaping the whole thing all over until you are happy with your basic shape..
now you can add embellishments.. you can start them off as separate entities, creating their basic shape & size...
then before they are totally finished you can join them onto your main piece by poking through your addition into the main shape, and 'stitching' it down around the edges...
and then it just a matter of needling it into it's final shape, and ensuring it is firmly fixed on!

i haven't finished this little mushroom yet, it's already been stolen to play with! but i will no doubt be back sometime soon with final pics ;-)

oh & as a belated disclaimer - i've only been doing this for four days, so don't blame me if you waste wool, break needles, or stab yourself in the leg, hand/eye/child whilst following my instructions, ok? good.