Felting in Arnesby & Yarn Bombing in Cosby

Felting in Arnesby & Yarn Bombing in Cosby

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A few weeks ago I travelled down to Arnesby in Leicestershire to take part in the Feltmakers Region 8 annual Summer School. The name is a bit misleading as this isn’t a “tutored” gathering but more of a two day Play Day doing whatever takes your fancy. It’s just great to have the luxury of two whole days of uninterrupted felting and for me this would be my first felting project since March so I was particularly keen to make the most of it.

I knew I wanted to make something to display at a Coastal themed exhibition I’m taking part in September but hadn’t exactly planned what that was going to look like. So I dug out my tin of shells and chose a spiral one, covered in barnacles, to take with me as inspiration.

My initial thought was to create a vessel with a tiny opening in the base to remove the resist through. After working out the size I wanted my vessel to be I drew and cut out my resist, elongating the bottom section of the shell to give this more emphasis and more height.

By the time I’d finished my first coffee I’d changed my mind about what I was doing and decided the shape I’d drawn would lend itself nicely to being a lidded vessel. Its just as well I hadn’t got any fibre laid down yet!

The main body of the shell got laid out first and put to one side while I made the nuno prefelt to cut the craters from which would represent the barnacles.

I did wonder if that narrow base was going to prove a bad idea and whether I had the weight distribution right but by that point I was too invested so just had carry on and hope I could make it work!

This could have gone so wrong so it was a big relief to see it standing!

The finished vessel stands approx 45cm tall and is 25cm at its widest point.

After our first day of felting the friend I was staying with offered to drive three of us to Cosby, a village close by that stages an enormous themed yarn bomb. This years theme was “Round the World in 80 Displays”. The event happens every two years and the exhibits are in place for three weeks so we were lucky to catch the final evening before the displays were taken down. I can’t begin to describe the scale of this project! I’ve a friend who’s heavily involved so I’ve known of it for several years but it’s the first time I’ve visited and it surpassed all expectations!

The two leading lights behind this mega yarn bomb are Mel Charnock and Natalie Smith. These fun loving creatives have a passion for colour, textiles, jumble sales and people plus experience of TV & film costume styling, community events, visual merchandising, teaching better mental health & crafts for adults, not to mention a brief stint sewing gussets knickers! All of which led them to founding Gather Create Grow CIC, a local not for profit community group focused on connection and bringing people together, reducing isolation and improving wellbeing with creative community projects.

From very young school children to the very senior residents in the village everyone is encouraged to get involved. Each display area had its own information board telling the viewer a little about who had made what. The exhibits are spread far and wide around Cosby but there is a map available if you want to ensure you see the lot! There was lots we didn’t get to see but I hope you can get a feel for the event with these photos…..

The evening was topped off with a cuddle from this very friendly, and thoughtfully placed, Polar Bear before we headed off to the local chippy.

If you are wondering what happens to the exhibits at the end of the show they are taken down, dismantled, washed, repaired and packed away ready to be reborn again in two years time. Some will re-emerge looking much as they did this year, but in a different setting, while others will have a complete makeover and become something new. If you happen to be in the Leicestershire area when the next Yarn Bomb is on I can recommend you make a detour to Cosby and experience this wonderful event close up for yourself, you wont be disappointed!

Clicking ‘Buy’ was so darn easy, now what to do?

Clicking ‘Buy’ was so darn easy, now what to do?

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Years ago, when the kids were small, I became a collector of recipe books. I didn’t particularly want to cook out of any of these, I simply loved reading the books and marvelling at the beauty of the process and the presentation of the meals.

More recently I have found that I have started collecting felting courses. I have been rather busy over the past few years – not sure where the time has gone – but last May, I decided that I had best do a stock take of the courses I have signed up for and not done. I discovered that I have at least 20 in my list. These courses either have indefinite access or I have been able to purchase and download the videos so there has never been an urgency in completing them. That said, I don’t want these to fall into the same category as the cookery books – lovely to look at but I wouldn’t like to do them.

Over the years, I have signed up for different Felting Camps offered by Corinna Nitschmann. Each year around April, Corinna invites a number of felting tutors to join her in her studio. The tutors record their respective workshops and then deliver the workshops on a specified date during the camp. Students can opt to work ‘live’ on the day, working with the pre-recorded videos with the tutor available to answer any questions they might have; they have access to these videos for a number of months, if they prefer to work at their own pace. Alternatively a student can pay a little extra and download the videos so that they are there indefinitely. This is the option I choose but I still enjoy being present during the live sessions as the sessions are always upbeat and great fun. Corinna herself is an amazing tutor and has a great sense of humour. There are lots of other activities taking place (besides the workshops) during the felting camp. Here is the link, if you would like to find out more about these https://cornitfelt.com/. I have 3 years of felting camp courses downloaded, that accounts for 15 courses. Then I purchased some courses that I found attractive from individual tutors and need to take. But for the summer months, I decided to focus on some of the felting camp courses. I thought I might share some of the results with you.

My first venture was called “Wet Felting Jewellery Basics” by Judit Haulik. It was part of the 2025 felting camp. This is a well paced course and the videos are divided nicely into sections so that it is possible to complete a task and walk away from it for a while. Students work with very small pieces of felt and Judit herself acknowledges that it can be a bit fiddly but, to be honest, I found that once I got into the groove, going small was not a challenge. I loved the repetitive nature of the design too and I can see possibilities for upsizing the process which Judit is teaching. My main learning on the course was how to integrate very fine chain into the overall design. I chose a very light chain for this process and I reckon that I will use a more robust one next time. That said I am very pleased that I rose to the challenge of the very fine chain as, after this, I feel the bigger size will be a dawdle. Here is the piece I made. I didn’t investigate further as I wanted to move on to another course. That said, I have ideas on where I can take my learning. I have done some quick sketches before they go out of my mind!

  • Full view of the necklace. Holes felted with sequinned material
  • Top section of the necklace with sequinned fabric in the centre
  • Base of the necklace with sequinned fabric showing in the hole

My next workshop came from the 2026 Felting Camp. It was one of the courses that originally attracted me to this year’s camp. The introduction to “Stool Covers” by Bea Nemeth was very joyous and depicted a variety of different shapes and sizes of stools which could be worked on. Bea also presented different possibilities for fibres which could be used in the design. We worked our design on prefelt and then if we wished we could adorn the stool cover with locks. Bea was fun and a little mischievous and at one stage headed to a dye pot with one of her samples. It was fun to see all this in real time at the session. As for the result ….. beautiful! I didn’t have a stool to work off so I headed out to our local Ikea. I made a variegated colour strong merino prefelt and I used my own geometric pattern for my design. I had some Bergschaf left over from making boots a number of years ago so I used this for the background. The resist was huge and I don’t know if you ever have that moment when you feel that a piece will never shrink down sufficiently (I had that on the stool) but it didn’t disappoint and, finally, with lots of patience, shaping and using tools it fit perfectly. I love the result and it acts as a reminder that patience works wonders when I am trying to fit to size.

  • full view of the stool – blue base is bergschaff
  • pattern on stool made with merino prefelt

Next up, it was a bit of a return to a comfort zone for me, fine art felt. I checked out Jorie Johnson’s ‘Fine Art “Small Works”’ Jorie studied textile design both in the USA,where she is originally from, and in Finland. She moved to Japan in 1987 and has been based there ever since. If you would like to find out more about Jorie you can visit her website at https://joirae.com/biography/. There was something very special about Jorie’s approach to the workshop – it kind of gave me permission to play with my design while being mindful of her teaching. While students had the freedom to use any style resist of their choosing, I decided to use the one Jorie presented, principally because it had some really challenging angles and shapes included. I also favoured roving over prefelt when I was laying out my background. I got a bit carried away with the design (Jorie recommended leaving more space between each element), but this was playtime and experimentation was the key for me here. Here is the result. Again, there was lots of learning on what can work and it is a great reference for future pieces.

  • sculpture with resist to show shrinkage (resist design by tutor)
  • front view of the sculpture
  • Nuno felted ‘window’
  • closeup of raised area and nuno felted pattern
  • closeup of textures and nuno
  • detail of some of the locks and textures
  • closeup of the linen section
  • Second side of the sculpture featuring a variety of textures

That’s all I have for now. I know there are 17 more courses to go, but at least I have made a start. If you like, I can keep you updated on my progress, but the danger is that I am likely to disappear down the odd rabbit hole (I can already see two opening up). Like Alice in Wonderland, there is a possibility that I might meet (or transform into) the Mad Hatter although I wouldn’t mind having some of White Rabbit’s energy (perhaps it would help me get through the classes quicker) because at the moment in this (what appears to be at time of writing) never ending heat wave, my character is more akin to the Dormouse, constantly ready to roll over for another sleep!

Is there anyone out there in the same boat with lots of outstanding courses? Please tell me so that I know I am not alone.

Happy felting!

Hugs

Helene

a green felted/tapestry of the word Exchange
A Few More Oddments

A Few More Oddments

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I’m afraid that the series of heatwaves we’ve been (and still are) experiencing have had much the same effect on me as the Covid Lock Downs. I have pretty much lost my mojo again though not quite in the same way.  Every time the weather cools down a bit I have managed to think about and sometimes even start a project, only for it to be abandoned as soon as the next heatwave starts.  I now cannot see my work table for various piles of project “stuff” in various stages of progress.

Also I haven’t managed to do much about preparing for this post, so I’ve once again picked some topics from my list of things to write about which are in fact mainly “historic”.

Many moons ago back, in the 70s, when macramé was first in vogue and long before I became interested in spinning let alone before I found felting, I was obsessed with string and knots.

Amongst the patterns I came across was one for a lampshade. Do any of you remember the Marshall Cavendish series of monthly craft magazines “Golden Hands” covering several different crafts, which could be collected into 4 (I think – possibly 6) annual volumes?   I loved them and made lots of things from their patterns.

I did think that I found the macramé pattern I had followed for the lampshade in one of the Golden Hands Magazines, but Mr Google has been unable to find it, so it may have been in some other magazine – possibly “Women”, “Women’s Own” or “Women’s Realm” (that was in the days before they started emulating “Hello Magazine” and the like🤢).

As it was so long ago that I made the lampshade I can only show you what it looks like now.  It was made from dishcloth cotton and made directly on a lampshade frame.  I lined the shade with red satin type fabric and gave it to my mother for one of her birthdays.

During my “macramé period” I started to make small free standing sculptures using just clove hitches, rather than mixing knots like flat or square knots.  Then my niece became pregnant with her first child so I thought I’d have a go at making a macramé rattle for the baby.  As it would need to be washable, I chose to use nylon curtain/blind cord and one of the indoor balls (the plastic lightweight sort with lots of holes in) with a couple of brass bells inside for the inner body.  I did not have a pattern to follow (by then I preferred to make my own designs rather than copy someone else’s).

By changing the direction of some of the clove hitches I was able to give the rattle a face.  Here is the only picture I have of the rattle, which my husband took for me before I sent it off to my niece.

 

a black and white image of a baby's white macrame rattle showing the "face" worked into it. There is also a small bunch of daffodils and a cube box of tissues with some pulled out to frame the rattle
Unacknowledged macramé rattle

My niece had another child a few years later, but I’m afraid that, as I have had no confirmation of receipt of the rattle (even now, although I know it was received) let alone any thanks, I stopped sending even cards to her!

Around the same time as I made these pieces, I made a crochet cotton macramé Dorothy bag, using a stuffed oval ball shaped thingy as the base to work on.  I added pearl beads and lined the bag with pink fabric and used it as a sample for a wedding accessory (back in the days when a couple of friends and I were making crocheted wedding “favours” and sold quite a lot of them – that must have been getting on for 50 years ago), but I wasn’t asked to make another one and I didn’t sell the original.  I still have it somewhere.

a white macrame drawstring dorothy bag with pink satin inner bag on a dark red background
Dorothy Bag – big enough for a bride’s handkerchief

Back in 2012 I was doing bits of tapestry weaving and to be honest I was getting bored with it – it was taking too long and I wanted to get on to something more interesting.  I had decided to weave the word “Exchange” but I can’t remember why now.  It may be because I liked the monogram EX that I was using.  The “e” was in black and the “x” was in bright red.  The background was to be a strong green.  The rest of the word was to be in black, but in outline only.  I managed to complete the monogram before I decided to do something different, which was to felt the rest.  I felted green merino fibres over both sides of the cotton warps with the work still on the loom.  This made the “fabric” quite tough so that it kept its shape.  I then needle felted the “change” in lower case.  I did actually exhibit it at The Exchange when we had one of our several exhibitions in their Café/Gallery.  The bear with the felted tapestry in the featured image was made by a friend, who makes bears for adults, and bought for my birthday by my husband.

a green felted/tapestry of the word Exchange
My felted tapestry woven Exchange

I did think that I might get some people commenting on the coincidence with The Exchange’s name but no-one seemed to notice, or couldn’t be bothered!

Back in early 2022  I told you about a couple of door stops which I had made, one of which was named Yoda by my husband.

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2022/04/18/we-need-a-new-door-stop/

During the making of Yoda I made what I now know to have been a construction error.  Because I was concerned that if he had been picked up by his head it might come off, I placed a strong loop made from the hem of a towel behind his head to be used as a handle.  This resulted in him becoming very tatty around the head.  Every time he was picked up by the handle it rubbed the back of his head and his ears and the fibres began to come away.  In addition his head was beginning to get droopy, as you can see from the way he is peering around the bathroom door.

felted doorstop cat peering around a door
Peeping Yoda looking the worse for wear

Thus he needed what my late brother in law used to call a “Warranty Job” (he used to make all sorts of parts for traction and railway engines for others as well as himself and now and then someone would ask him if he could effect some repairs).

As is my wont it was some time before I finally got round to doing Yoda’s warranty job.

I hadn’t been happy with the shape of his head, it was a bit flat at the back.  For this reason as well as his tatty appearance I removed his head as well as the handle.  I moved the handle to the middle of his back so that it would balance him when he was picked up and it didn’t rub against any part of his head or body.

Next I moved on to his head.  I didn’t have any more fibres of the right colour to match his body so had to blend some to match.  Then I started to cut away the rubbed fibres from his head and add more of the new.  I rounded out the back of his head a bit more and thickened up his ears.  I still had some of the correct pinky-grey fibres which I had used for his face so I tidied up his face too.

I decided to add yellow slightly opened eyes just to show that he was really awake.  This is him now.

felted doorstop smiling with slit eyes sitting beside the door
Finished Warranty Job – Yoda back at his post

That’s the lot for this post, hopefully by the time my next one is due I will have got my mojo back again and have something new to show you.  In the mean time here’s a real smiley cat.  I do wonder what’s going through his mind – any ideas?

head and torso of dark grey and white cat with closed eyes and smiley mouth
This is my Boy (originally named Radius by his previous owners). He really is a smiley cat.

A Mini Quilt

A Mini Quilt

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A friend persuaded me to enter a mini quilt into a local quilters group exhibition to be held towards the end August.

The requirement is for a mini quilt, A4 paper (UK) size, portrait or landscape, depicting a house or a home.

Three layers, and any technique, with a hanging sleeve and a label giving make details..

I have made some quilts before, but just for family, utility, or to use up some fabric bits and pieces, so no reason why I should not do a mini quilt, she said! I hasten to add that I have no prior experience of entering a quilt competition.

I decided that ‘the old woman who lived in a shoe’ would be my topic. I found a vector free picture of a house shoe online and used that as inspiration.

Some time ago I had made some patchwork squares with 1.5 inch squares of fabric (yes 1.5 inch squares). I thought that this would be fun, but it very quickly became a chore. I used some lightweight fusible interfacing, and ironed all the little squares on and then stitched the seams using the sewing machine. These little squares of fabric had been in a box for some time, and this was a good way of making a larger piece of fabric. I think they were all little sample packs; some were patterned, and some were solid colours.

I cut the shoe house shape, and the tree shapes from these patchwork squares. The roof and the tree trunks are from other scrap pieces. Then I appliquéd these pieces to the background; I used the sewing machine for this, and a little glue to stabilise the pieces while I stitched them. This is a raw edge appliqué, rather than a turned edge process. I added a few shapes to indicate windows, smoke from the chimney, and a door. Then I added some batting, a backing, minimal echo quilting, and bound it with some spare bias binding.

I was quite happy with the finished piece, and posted it to the contact for the little exhibition.

I have been to Orkney main island with my family for a holiday. We went there in 1994, and ’93, and we stayed on one of the smaller islands at that time. I really looked forward to going back. Mainland Orkney has changed quite a lot since then; there were lots of tourists and many visitors from cruise ships, and all the popular neolithic sites were very busy. But, I enjoyed our visit very much, and we visited many sites off the tourist trail. This copy from a gravestone in St Magnus cathedral reminded me that women are special, there were many more, but I loved this one – short and to the point.

I saw a wonderful tapestry in St Magnus cathedral, that was gifted by Norway to the people of Orkney, and presented by the King of Norway to the late Queen Elizabeth, in 1987, on the 850th anniversary of the foundation of St Magnus’ Cathedral. The tapestry is so beautiful, and my photo does not do it justice. The cathedral is a wonderful building.

Mason bear closeup
A wee escape into the Highlands for some knitting

A wee escape into the Highlands for some knitting

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If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you have at least one crafty friend group; whether yours meets up for felting, crocheting, summoning the Gods of Wool under the full moon (wait, that last one might be just me…) or a bit of everything, it’s good to get together with like-minded people and share an activity in joyful companionship.

This past weekend, I met up with 3 friends for some light travelling and knitting. We rented an AirBnB in the Highlands and departed on Thursday for 3 days of crafting and castle-visiting fun.

Our first stop was Glamis Castle. This is a castle dating back to 1372, with rather lovely gardens. Sadly we’re not allowed to take pictures inside due to it still being the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne’s residence, so I shall only be able to regale you a few whimsical images of the outdoors.

First, witches!

The 3 Macbeth witches, weathered wood sculpture
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble

The back of one of Macbeth's witches wood sculpture

I was mesmerised by these sculptures, the weathering and liveliness of the faces, the texture… Surely this could inspire a felted artwork?

I’m terrible at taking photos of the “big picture” but love details. Here are a couple.

This needs to be a yarn colourway…
Buzz buzz
What a lovely concept.

The following day we went to Crathes Castle, this one in the capable hands of the National Trust for Scotland. Again, marvellous gardens, and this time I was allowed to photograph the inside, but if you know me, you won’t be surprised I forgot to… apart from one little detail that I’ll show below.

Is this a thistle? Regardless, it’s gorgeous!
Well. There’s really no need to comment on this plant, is there?…
Facing the wrong side…
What a marvellous fuzzy plant. It almost seems made up…
I really want to know how a tree is crowned champion. Also, this is the best tree because it’s Portuguese (and guess half my nationality!)

I think my captions really er, capture my thoughts on these images (hover with your mouse to read them!), but I do need to point out my outrage when I saw that the spinning wheel was facing the wrong side. WHY do I see this all the time in exhibits? Yes, I had to tell the people responsible. Yes, if I lived near I’d go back in a few week’s time and check up on the status of this scandalous situation. Yes, I am aware most people wouldn’t care.

Finally, you’ll be delighted to know I do have knitting photos to share!

I went to the Highlands full of hope and with a sense of endless time, and of course was perfectly convinced I’d knit and finish all three of the projects I took with me. The truth is, I hyper fixated on just one and that’s what I have to show you.

Meet Mason Bear.

Half-finished knitted bear

This is an adorable knitted bear pattern that I’ve made a few times already, and until recently never kept one. That’s been corrected, but this guy was meant for a friend who is going through some challenges and I thought could use a pick-me-up.
Although the pattern is meant to be knit flat, a few simple adjustments make it perfect for knitting in the round, and this means you can purl a lot less and stuff him as you go along. Very convenient, if slightly menacing-sounding.

Now renamed Timothy, this bear took a brave bus ride during the busy Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and is now living his best life in a place where he will be loved.

Tell me about your retreats! How many have you taken part in? Are they “official” or are they just with friends?

Purple and Gold Nuno Felted Scarf
New Online Class!

New Online Class!

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Do you want to learn about nuno felting, adding fabric to your wool to create a wonderful piece of textured cloth? My new online class is an affordable and easy way to learn about nuno felting. Registration begins tomorrow (August 10, 2026) and the first session will begin August 21, 2026. Click here to find more information.

Nuno Felted Scarf with Prefelt Leaves

You will learn the basics of nuno felting, creating samples first and then working into scarves and a nuno felted “painting”. The course has four weeks of PDF and video instruction and two weeks of further instructor interaction. You don’t need to be present at any specific time over the six week course.

Manipulated silk roses nuno felted to background

You will also learn other ways to use fabric and paper in your wet felting. There is even a bonus PDF with dyeing information and resources so that you can dye your own fabric to create beautiful nuno felted pieces. Click on the link below to register and read all about the class.

Nuno Felting – Fiber + Fabric

Other online classes available:

3D Multi-Part Resist

Hanging Felted Spiral

The finished pod

Wet Felting a 3D Pod

Wet Felting for Beginners

Small Spiral Attempt 2

Small Spiral Attempt 2

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After the last less than successful attempt at making a small spiral, I thought I would try some prefelt. Here is the link to the last attempt. Small spiral fail

I have 2 kinds of prefelt. One is thin and almost transparent. The other is thick, and you can peel it into two layers if you want to.

I cut 3 circles from both types of prefelt. I also cut holes in the centres and a slit. You can really see the difference in thickness in this picture of the circles stacked together.

The green is very thin, so I just overlapped the ends of each circle and gave it a few jabs with my felting needle to hold it in place

The white is quite thick, so I split the ends, then cut one side off. I then overlapped the ends and needled them a little so they would stay in place.

I wet them and inserted the resists between the layers.

Then I tubbed them both for 5 min on each side.

5 min on each side seemed to be enough. They were stuck together and feeling more solid. They had shrunk a tiny bit.

I gently rolled them in my hands so they would full. I kept checking them. I didn’t want to turn them into felt balls or snakes.

They both had good shrinkage. I was worried about the hole in the centre getting too big, but they stayed about the same ratio to the outside circle.

 

They both turned out quite well.

 

I let them dry flat, and they hang about the same dry as wet. If I weighted them, they would stretch longer, but I like them like this.

My plan had been to add them to a beaded stick keychain like the ones with the sheep.

When I tried to add them to a beeded stick, they wanted to stick in between the beads, making it hard to get a nice spiral. I may try them without the beads, but I am wondering if I got some of just the keychain end part; they might just hang free with maybe a curly lock on the end.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and autumn foliage
Transitions

Transitions

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I had a wonderful sales month at the 4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula and sold four pieces in the space of 30 days! Yay, happy dance and then… I suddenly realized that the gallery only had 2 small pieces left. I needed more work and it’s summertime and I don’t want to miss the tourist season.

Multi colored nuno felt background with tree shapes placed.

I found I had a multicolored piece of nuno felt big enough to split into two pieces. You can see the edge of the second piece on the right. My trees always seem to sell quickly so of course, more trees it is. I found a piece of handdyed fabric that I had used as “matte” fabric and it was perfect for making tree trunks. I worked out a configuration of trunks that I liked.

Multi colored nuno felt background with tree shapes stitched and auditioning different leaf types with cheesecloth.

Then I hand stitched the trunks in place and tried out some cheesecloth as foliage. I had created a piece before with cheesecloth and tried that idea on the left. It looked too Dr. Seuss in these colors. So I chopped up smaller pieces and thought that would work better.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and beginning of placement of leaves and undergrowth.

So I added more, spread the pieces out a bit and added some cheesecloth to the foreground for undergrowth.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and foliage.

Here it is before I stitched it all down. The cheesecloth moves around easily so it changes as I stitch but hopefully, that makes it more organic and less regular.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and autumn foliage

Here is the piece after all the stitching is complete. The funny thing I noticed is that there are several areas that look like shadows in the foreground from the tree trunks. They weren’t planned but I guess I must have noticed them subconsciously, as they seem to work perfectly. I’m calling this one Transitions.

I dyed a piece of muslin in dark burnt orange for the “matte” fabric, laced it to a backing and took it to the framers.

Framed nuno felted landscape with autumn forest

Here’s the piece framed. I have worked on two other pieces and traded around some pieces that I had at a gallery in Kalispell, so I will have 5 pieces to take to Missoula in a week or so.

Cover Page for Nuno Felting Online Class

In other exciting news, I have a new online class that will be starting on August 21st. Click here to learn more about the class.

Putting text into textiles

Putting text into textiles

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In March I attended a workshop, with the above title, given by a visiting tutor Jo Yeates (see – instagram@made52).

01
01a Examples of Jo’s teaching samples

01b

The idea was to hand-stitch a layered fabric collage featuring text which could be stitched, stencilled, stamped, written typed etc. To this we could add stitching, lace, buttons and ephemera to embellish. It could be a favourite word, a person’s name, a special place or a short phrase.

As you will have read many times before, I am incapable of going to a workshop ‘blind’.  So having done my research, I decided that for me, who never uses text in her textile work, the perfect word would be ‘FAMILY’. My reasoning….I’ve always wanted to set up a dedicated wall of significant memorable photos and in the near future I will have that opportunity.

What came out of my thinking was that you have a family tree related to ancestry and heritage – yes, I want to include a couple of historical photos on my wall.  Additionally, to me, family means the grounded roots and the growth of branches finding their own way….or am I being too philosophical here 🤔

 

With this in mind, I finessed my research online to explore the various ways one could write the word, that would spark my imagination – thank you to the originators of the text examples I studied and show below.

02 Text samples

Once we got going at the workshop, I fiddled with how I would undertake my writing.

 

Once we got going at the workshop, I fiddled with how I would undertake my writing.
03 Experimenting with my writing

Decades ago, I embroidered an initial letter on a piece of fabric by couching some piping cord down and then ‘wrapping’ a variety of beads around the cord. It was very effective. Although I recently found it, I forgot to photograph it and it has once again disappeared into the depths….so I will leave it to your imagination.

I thought about this construction for my ‘F’ but decided that it would be too deep especially as a certain Scandinavian store no longer sells the small, shallow (2.5 deep internally) Ribba frames that we have all loved for so long. the deeper ones yes, but not the shallower ones….😭   Instead I need to find a ‘forgiving’ ordinary frame!

Again, for the beading I had found some inspiring work online, sadly the author was not given – thank you to whomever you are.

An aside….Each time I gather research work for any workshop I file it. Over the years I have gained quite a bulging file to which I refer time and again to trigger inspiration. I’m sure I’m not alone.

04 Beading inspiration

Using a piece of our old sofa cover fabric (it keeps coming in useful!) and knowing the size I wanted the finished piece to be (the square of paper) I aligned the fabric pattern to suit my word and started adding the collage pieces before writing.

05 Aligning the pattern to suit collage placement and my word

06 Collage pieces added ready to stitch in place and word written

07 Stitching commenced

Stitching completed and the beading commenced it was all too soon the end of the workshop and time for the show and tell. There were many beautiful items produced (below is just a flavour) and I hope they all find a good home.

08-12 Work produced by some other members of my textile group

I had started the beading at the workshop, and you can see how it will, hopefully, look when matted. But, by the time I got home, I wasn’t totally happy, so I unpicked it and eventually started again with a better mix of beads.

13 At the end of the workshop within a paper mount

14 With the beading changed

I learned that my chosen word is unsurprisingly a popular choice generally (I was the only one in our group) although using it to announce a storyboard of photos seemed unique. There will be fun to come!

The piece is now potentially complete and awaiting stretching (my method using a sewing machine and mountboard), however I am prevaricating for two reasons – 1. I need to locate a suitable 23 x 23cm (9 x 9in) shallow box frame and 2. I think I need to emphasize the ‘amily’ a little more so that it can be seen from a about 1.5m away….

15 Unframed due to indecision

….do let me know your thoughts.

Door stop installed
New door stop

New door stop

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Our cottage now has a robotic vacuum, which means we no longer spend half our visit sucking up dead bugs. Technology wins again. Of course, the little machine has a habit of wedging itself into the most improbable places. The bathroom has been a repeat trouble spot, so we started propping the door shut with a brick whenever we leave. That worked—until the brick and the robot teamed up to scuff the door. My husband’s solution was to wrap the brick in duct tape, giving our makeshift doorstop a slightly more “gentle” finish.

Having finally identified the problem, I decided we needed a doorstop with a bit more padding. So I brought home a fresh brick to turn into our upgraded, cottage‑friendly version. I dug out my punch‑needle supplies and got to work. Step one was making a template: using the brick itself, I traced the top and each of the sides so I’d have the exact dimensions to cover it properly.

Next, I had to settle on a design. I ended up sketching a grid and decided to fill it with random blocks of colour. With that plan in mind, I dug through my yarn stash and pulled out a skein of Lion Brand Respun. Since the yarn shifts colours, I wound it into separate balls, snipping each shade apart as I went. That left me with tidy little piles of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue to work with. I also grabbed a ball of black yarn that was roughly the same thickness to round out the palette.

With my design sorted out, it was time to test my new frame—a rotating model from The Needleworks Shop  that I snagged back in November from a Facebook destash group. Once the Monk’s cloth was mounted, I could finally start punching. Since we’re looking at the back side of the work, the texture isn’t visible yet, but the layout is. I filled in the black squares first, then began adding the colours at random. My goal was simply to spread everything out evenly and avoid having two neighbouring squares in the same shade.

With the punching finished, I took the piece off the frame and flipped it over. The front was a wild tangle of yarn tails—messy enough that it was hard to see the actual design underneath. It was time to start trimming everything down and reveal how the pattern really turned out.

With the punching done, I set the piece aside for the night. I was pretty pleased with myself—drawing the design, winding the yarn, and punching the whole thing in a single evening felt like a solid win. The next day, I pulled out my brick and tested how the cover fit. That first attempt at folding it over the brick was surprisingly encouraging; everything seemed to line up just the way I’d hoped.

Wrapped around the brick to test fit
Wrapped around the brick to test fit

I dug out my sewing supplies and started stitching up the corners. Sewing around a brick turned out to be a bit awkward, but with some patience I managed to get all four corners secured. I used black thread so it would blend in with the punched design and disappear into the background.

With the corners finished, it was time to tackle the bottom. As you can see from the photos, sewing the corners left quite a bit of excess Monk’s cloth to deal with. I experimented with a few different folding options until I found one that looked tidy. Then I trimmed away the extra fabric so I wouldn’t end up with a big lump on the underside of the doorstop. Using white thread, I stitched the flaps down. The sewing isn’t especially neat, but it’s solid and functional—and that’s good enough for me.

A few days later, I brought the finished doorstop up to the cottage and swapped it in for the old duct‑taped brick. Here it is in its new home, doing its job and looking far more cheerful than its predecessor. I’m genuinely pleased with how it turned out, and I’ll probably make another one at some point. Small projects like this are such a fun way to experiment and build confidence in my skills.

Door stop installed
Door stop installed