Stick Tree in wool

Prepping for the Mighty Tieton Craft and Antiques Bazaar December 6 and 7.  I'm taking some felt applique pillows.  This is a new technique using strips of hand dyed wool - great for those little scraps I couldn't quite toss out.  Now they're featured in this cozy pillow.


It starts with a few strips pinned in place, and woven together for form a tree.  Using a variety of threads, each strip is hand appliqued down - over and under the other strips.  Pins keep the strips straight while stitching.

And then a red bird topped it off.

Embellished Felted wool leaves

Inspired by Sue Spargo's book Creative Stitching,  I have yet to tire of stitching embellished leaves.  No two are alike.  Texture.  Color.  Mixing cottons and wool felts.  Some repurposed and some hand dyed.  These keychains go with me to The Mighty Tieton Holiday Crafts and Antiques show December 6 and 7 in Tieton WA. 

Mighty Tieton Holiday Crafts Bazaar 

Our workshop is hopping with fabulous wooly felted balls, glorious garland, tiny acorns, lavender handwarmers and embellished felted wool necessitites.   

Perfect over--the-shoulder wallet

My purse of choice is a small wallet that hangs over my shoulder and holds a bit of cash, a few plastic cards and the essential debit card and driver's license. I have one in rugged outdoor-gear fabric I picked up years ago from REI but it's well worn and my other essential, the smartphone,  just won't fit inside the pocket.

There are many small purse and pouch patterns to consider, but I picked up this Little Wallet pattern by Valerie Wells awhile ago and gave it a run last week.









For my first spin through the pattern, I used cotton and stayed within the lines following the simple instructions closely.  The result was a really cute small wallet with three small stacked rows of inner pockets.

Nothing that would fit an iPhone or over-the-shoulder strap though.  The next adaptation enlarged 125%, with strap, and using felted wool was already under development by the time the first pearl snap was in place.

And here it is…5 inches at the opening and 6 inches at the bottom, swingy across the body shoulder strap, and big enough even for the iPhone 6!  Now this is a 50th birthday gift for a good friend.  But the next one's mine!

 I used an over dyed felted blue wool with a check for the exterior and a repurposed grey wool for the bottom pocket.  I chose a recently purchased cotton print bought on impulse for the lining, and grey cotton solid inner pockets to keep the bulk at the seams manageable, and to ensure I could insert the snap pieces through all the layers.

#5 pearl cotton embroider embellishment was irresistible for the finish.  But I can see future efforts using cutwork and wool appliqué.

     Juicy berry tones of hand dyed felted wool.  

Life is just a bowl of Felted Acorns…..

When you're feeling nutty,

Like your losing your head,

Or just coming apart,

Exploding at the seams,

Or that life's not all its' cracked up to be

Stick a felt ball under your cap

And you'll feel all warm and fuzzy again.

Hearts galore

This time of year, I always think of hearts.  Hearts in felted wool are particularly lovely.  I'm trying some new techniques.  Machine quilting on the felt give is texture and pattern.  My default machine quilting style is small and scrolling.  What could be better for hearts?  I think I"ll continue to work on integrating machine quilting into felted projects.  

I'm still loving the embellment possibilities with #5 pearl cotton.  The Drizzle stich around the red heart above is a work in process.  In this red and turquoise piece I also tried cut away applique.  I stitched the outline of the red heart on the wrong side, then turned it over and cut away the turquoise felt to let the red peep through.  Adding another layer of turquoise felt to the back and machine stitching around it, left the impression of trapunto work.   Not sure how this piece will end up - maybe a pillow top or framed.  

My palette this year is full of clear pure colors - turquoise, red and cream.  

I also tried edging some felt with zipper pieces.  These were repurposed from an old pair of jeans .  (The jeans that were transformed into a gardening apron with pockets strong enough to stand up to prunners and other garden implements.) I like the look the zippers add.  There are some beautiful pieces already sold on Etsy, so for now, this is just for fun....but I did buy more zipper by the yard, so a few more projects are ahead.  I assembled it based on my best guess and whipstitched the zipper to the edges of the felt.  It would be interesting to see if there are other approaches.