More small steps....

Lots of catching up with things this weekend. 

Little owls made for tutorials, old projects revisited, new projects started, a dear little deer, new cards and labels ordered and lots more wool to card.

Some more small steps and happy days.

Trying something new. Washing fleeces!

I am trying really hard to take positive but small steps to make my felting journey a wider one. So when my friend told me she had some fleeces I could have, I jumped at the chance, not knowing what one earth to do with them.

Thankgoodness for you tube and wool/felting sites, I read and watched tutorials until they arrived.

Here they are 6 whitefaced woodland and 1black Zwartble. 

All a bit wiffy but I kind of liked it.

First step, skirting, evidently this means getting rid of all the bit you dont want.

 Poo bits, very dirty bits, small bits that the shearer has caused, VM ( vegetable matter) etc.

I probably threw away about two bin bags full and wasnt sure if I had thrown away good bits and kept some rubbish and I found it really hard to get the bits of VM out but its all a learning curve.

I ended up with 4 bin bags full to the top!

I 'borrowed' my husbands building tubs and filled them with really hot water then added washing up liquid before gently adding the fleeces. I tried some in lingerie bags and some 'free' 

After leaving them to soak, I repeated the process again before leaving them to soak in plain water.

 I did this until the water was clear(ish)

I used my washing machine spin cycle using the lingerie bags full of squeezed fleece.

Its been a lovely weekend ( thankgoodness) so my garden became a fleece drying zone.

They are looking better arent they!

I'm busy finding out what the step is now.

Watch this space....

Artisan market. The results!

As posted yesterday, today was spent at my first Artisan market.

I have done a few craft fairs before but this was different. The room was bright and warm and central heated, they had 'runners' to bring you food and drinks and the company from the other traders was wonderful.

Over 200 people visited and I had a good few sales, lots of interest and some good potential business growing opportunities!

One of the things I was selling was my needle felting start kits. I have teddies, bunnies, ladybirds, flowers, owls amd hedgehogs. 

A little boy came to the stall with his mum, a lovely very chatty liitle boy called William. He was only 6 but chatted like a 12 year old. He took a liking to Rodney ( see meet Rodney blog) and begged his mum to buy him. I had to tell him Rodney was my friend and I would be lonely without him. He bought a little teddy instead and then spotted the hedgehog kit. 'Pleeeeeaaase can we make a hedgehog mum' he said. And they bought one.

Later on his evening I got this photo posted on my feltsforever facebook page.

It was William and his new friend hedgehog! 

I was so pleased they had posted it and to recieve such good comments about my kits and how much they enjoyed making him. 

Isn't he such a cutie!  Thank you William! 

Lisa x

Artisan Market

Today was spent preparing for my first Artisan Market.

I am not sure what to expect but if you don't try you don't find out.

I havent many makes to sell but I am going to concentrate on selling the tutorials and starter kits i have recently been making.

I will let you know how i get on.....

Lisa x

Womens Institute bunny

Last year i had the pleasure of being invited to a local Womens Instiute to show tell them all about needle felting and to show them how to make a christmas bauble.

36 lovely ladies came and made me very welcome and we spent two hours felting away creating the their own decorations. 

Later I got some really good feedback from them and recently was asked to go again to show them something a bit more challenging. This session was only meant to last for an hour and a half but they enjoyed it so much it lasted for three hours! And during that time we drink tea, ate cake and felted furiously!  

I got some lovely feedback again and today one of the ladies who didnt have time to stay and finish her bunny off. Send me this lovely photo to show me she had completed it and how happy she was with the demonstration I gave. 

Here is her bunny

And here is the one i made for them to recreate.

I think she did a really good job, dont you. 

I will post some more photos of the other bunnies soon

Lisa x

A Womens Institute Easter.

I have such a busy week ahead, working more hours, dentists and hospital appointments to attend. I thought i had better start to get myself organised for a needle felting class i am doing at a local Womens Institute over the Easter holidays.

I did my first one for them before christmas and they said they loved it so much, they have asked me to come back.  For the one i did at christmas we made a felted christmas bauble, as it's getting closer to Easter and they already have a little experience, they have asked if they could make something Easter related and a bit more difficult.

After giving it much thought and doing a bit of research i made this.

I call it the bunny-egg!

So today has been spent making samples, tutorials and making wool packs up.

Making sure each lady will have the right amount of wool. Carefully weighing how many grammes are needed. Then packing them up.

I now have a box full of twenty packs and a tutorial ready for printing.

I still have more work to do but i feel better knowing i have made a good start.

I will blog the results later.

Lisa xx