Another Finished Embroidered Felt Bag

The Front

The Back

Opened Up - Showing shaping and vintage kimono silk lining

The front again showing more of the handle

This will be my last post until I get back from my jaunt. I really will miss writing and I will miss my computer a lot! I just don't want to risk any rushed stress with the TSA over my computer. I love it too much to be cavalier with it...and the TSA just has too many rules that could cause delays or problems. I hope you will still want to read what I have to report from Festival iin Houston when I start writing again!!

This is another blue/purple themed bag that I just finished. I got two bags from one large piece of the wool felt fabric that I made. I'll be making some in my favored rusts and yellows soon - though I have started a fuchsia and a "wild" one that I'll finish first I guess. I have so many ideas now - and just not enough time . I have discovered that I really like using the vintage kimono silk for the linings - it makes them even more special texturally.

I hope that you have have a wonderful week filled with blessings and delights. "See" you soon.

Finally Designing An Embroidered Red Felt Bag

I really should be getting packed for Houston. I leave Sunday and will fly out VERY early on Monday morning. I have been having some fun however playing with felt. I know - Same ole' song. I have fabric made in this red colorway & have just been having fun working with it. I'm really looking forward to finding some special embroidery threads in Houston ,although I had wished that somehow Elin Noble would be there with her beautiful hand dyed threads. Oh well ! I know that there will be more than enough to entice me !

Happy Saturday and Sunday everyone !

Weekend Wool Gathering

This weekend I played! I made some fabric for bags & I always have such a good time ! First I needle felt the wool & then I wet felt the fabric. I spend some time looking at the resulting fabric to see how I want to cut it - to make the most of the designs in the felt. These are all set for hand embroidering or free motion quilting - 9 bags will then be ready to sell ... I wonder how long it will take me to finish them?! I have two that are just about done -minutes away from done ! They will be the first bags to go in my Etsy store. I am intimidated at the thought - but I have to try it !

Happy Columbus Day to you all --- though I am still not convinced that it should not be Happy Viking's Day !

New Hand Embroidery Fetish Strikes!

My latest projects have all included hand embroidery - and I have been having a lot of fun with it too! Usually I free motion machine quilt my wool felt bags but I had been wondering how they would look if I just free style embroidered them instead. That has now become a favored technique for making the bags. My goal is to have some stock on hand in order to be able to sell through Etsy. I have also been wondering , however, if , rather than have lots of bags on hand,it would work to sell custom bags instead- post photos of some of my bags and suggest that I can make one especially for the person- colors they prefer etc. ,but maybe that would get too complicated. What do you think?

This little bag is from a new piece of felt I made last weekend. I have been using some of my stash of old kimono pieces (thanks to Ah! Kimono) for the linings. Hand stitching the linings in (as the first photo above shows). The kimono piece in the photo is actually a bit more dark violet (and less dark blue) than the photo shows. The photo below is the whole felt strip laid out. You can double click for a closer look too !

Below is an 8.5"X11" piece that I am working on for a Fast Fabric Friday Challenge (FFFC) project. The theme this year is "working in a series "- and my series theme is circles. This first of the series is meant to be done in a complimentary color scheme. Now if I can only get to the largish amount of embropidery it will take to finish !! What fun though - and I think I will really like it when it is done. I have not worked in a series before and think that this will be awonderful way to get the hang of it and decide if I like doing it. The group is tremendously talented and I am so pleased that they decided to accept some new people!

The next bag to be is here - another new piece of felt. I am actually going to use the reverse side to embroider - I just love it... though the right side is okay too - all turquoise and lime green -- and richer than the photo indicates at that. I just think that the reverse side is a bit more 'mysterious' or somthing. I have enough fabric that I am going to one reverse and one right side - so it will all equal out in the end - and it will be interesting to see how the embroidery works on both! So ther you have it - part of what I will be doing this weekend.

I really qould appreciate any comments you might have about the best way to market the bags on Etsy - if you think taking custom orders would work - rather than having a lot of stock on hand - things like that.

It's a glorious Fall day here - who knows what the weather God's have lanned for the weekedn - I should go watch the news I guess - though some of it during the election years just seems endless. ALmost time for my jaunt to Houston. I am SO ready for a vacation and SO ready to go to Quilt Festival and see friends ! Blessings and wishes for a happy weekend to you all.

Renegade Bag Takes On A Life Of It's Own

This little bag took on a life of it's own - and told me where it wanted to go. My original idea had been a quick, simple utilitarian piece to hold a pen or two, but as I began stitching it just keep calling for more & more embroidery. I went as I "was told to" and ,before long, the piece was no longer just a utilitarian piece but one of my favorite little bags -done completely by hand. The lining is from a piece of beautiful, obviously hand dyed, kimono silk. It had just the right green with circles in pale purple/lavender. I used both regular sashiko thread & standard embroidery thread with a light sprinkle of beads & an edge of deep purple Perendale wool. The only two things I have yet to decide is the closure and the handle: do I want either one of those things at all and, if I do, how can I fashion them to complement the bag as a whole? The handle is easier than the closure. I guess I'll just have to wait for this little renegade bag to "speak up" again!

What Will This Become?

I love making felted fabric - it seems like magic to me. I have been making felted "fabric" starting with a base of 'pre-felted' wool (http://www.peak.org/~spark/fine.html & www. outbackfibers.com) but decided to try something different with this piece using Timtex as a base. It gets softer with age, use and washing yet remains strong and supple. The first picture below shows some of the rovings I am using in this piece & the second photo is the back of the felted Timtex... it has a really nice soft hand even now before washing and felting. I use the Bernina felting attachment on my beloved orange 153 QE. Today I had a heck of a time with broken needles - the first time I have ever broken any at all. I had no more precut needles in size 40 or 38 on hand so I winged it and cut some size 40 hand felting needles with my Dremel to fit in to the attachment -thankfully that worked and I had no further problems. I DID order some more precut felting needles from Denise at www.tryourdesigns.com. Denise is the owner and is a wonderful source of information about felting, felting machines, needles and supplies. Her product quality is wonderful and she ships quickly.

I owe my friend ,Bonnie, a birthday present (from February!) and had originally planned this piece for her - after I made it into a into a cell phone cover...but now I am thinking it should perhaps become a landscape or something. I'll have to see how it feels when it is felted. I use a vintage 1940's glass washboard for felting the fabric. It does a great job ! I'll play some more today and see what I decide. It may just be Bonnie's cell phone cover after all! Below are two of the cell phone covers - for a flip phone .