What if I ……?

What if I ……?

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Like a cat (and like most of us here) I have had many previous lives. At one stage I worked in finance, I was never really let loose on customers (possibly a good thing for all our sakes). When not fitting out apartments, I was strictly a numbers gal. This was before computers landed on all our desks. When they did, I found them mouth wateringly fascinating (I guess you are beginning to understand why I was best kept in the back office). The first software I had a chance to get my head around was called Symphony. It was one of the first spreadsheet packages the company bought into. I loved it. It had a great function called “What-If”. It’s still around today although Symphony is long gone.

You might now wonder why I am bringing this up. Well, I was bored recently. So I decided to play and to resurrect my own version of the ‘What-If’ function. In short, I had fun. Honestly I don’t do it enough.

So I just kept asking myself ‘what if’ questions, actioning them and seeing the results. I suppose this is the question we all quietly ask ourselves when we play….

Anyway, back to my playtime. What got me started was the question, what if I just doodle a resist? The only limitations I put on this was that I wanted an opening at the top and the bottom. Here is the result:

The resist I used

 

Next, it was decision time, the background colour…. What if I used black merino for this? Would it swallow up all my decorations? Would the whole experiment be a waste of time? So what if it was! Chickening out was not an option!

The last big question I wanted to ask was what if I laid all of the decorative elements against the resist and then laid my background? That’s not really rocket science, is it to felt blindly. But it does add to the loss of control over the piece but also provides an interesting element of surprise when the piece is turned the right side around after the resist is removed (and there’s no going back).

So here is the result of my what if experiment. I will take you through each element briefly to give you, I hope a clearer picture of the game. Each decorative element began with the question ‘What if’ so I won’t bore you with constantly repeating this. Let’s get started:

I laid a thick mix of linen and viscose on the widest opening of the vessel.

shiny viscose and no sheen linen

The reaction was quite interesting. The sheen of the viscose disappeared to a great extent so I suspect what I am looking at is more likely the linen element which was a dull red to start with. Both have adhered well and have produced a nice wavy pattern as they felted into the shrinking black fibre.

Viscose with linen fibres – viscose sheen is drowned out by the linen

I laid down some art yarn that I had purchased from someone who was reducing their stash.  This was in no way guaranteed to work as I don’t feel that person who sold it to me ever experimented with it. Here is what it looks like on the ball. I have absolutely no idea of its composition but I reckoned it was worth a try.

Art Yarn from a stash someone was selling off

 

So I meandered it around two sides of the vessel. I actually love the result! It was caught by the black merino and is firmly embedded but not swallowed. A total win!

art yarn

Next I laid down a thick layer of viscose in two different colours; first the red and then a beautiful shade of purple.

red and purple viscose (purple too close in colour to back merino – swallowed in felting)

The purple was laid over and alongside the red. Because I was working in reverse, I expected that the red would dominate the line with the purple acting as an edging when the vessel was turned right side out. I was hoping that where the viscose laid on top of each other, they might decide to mix a bit. This result was surprising as the purple viscose was swallowed up by the black merino. The red adhered beautifully and kept its sheen so it looks quite different to the fibre mix used at the opening (mentioned earlier).

red and purple viscose

 

 

Next, I used a piece of lightweight silk chiffon that I dyed some years ago and had been foolishly keeping for a ‘special occasion’. I do have to ask myself why I find it so hard to cut into beautiful fabrics (I have too many of these!).

I dyed this silk some years ago (clamped)

 

 

I expected the black to swallow up the silk completely but this didn’t happen (confession: I did give it a light shave to see what would happen). Very pleased with the result here.

Hand dyed nuno

 

 

On a rummage, I found some prefelt I made ions ago, it was time to throw this into the mix.

Remnants of thick red merino and viscose used in raised lines

I had made this red prefelt using viscose as a decorative element so I roughed up the back, cut it into strips and laid it down on the resist. I was able to play with these lines when I was fulling it and create a 3 dimensional surface on the vessel. It was fun twisting and turning these as I worked them. The black fibre migrated through and they now remind me of coils for some reason.

red viscose and merino prefelts felted in and then pinched to create ridges

Turning over to the other side, I played with the notion of a felted ‘shibori’ element. I found some prefelt and made the 3D elements stuffing the prefelt and tying it off. I then roughed up the back. I laid some black merino on top of the prefelt (avoiding the balls) so that the ‘shibori’ would protrude from the vessel background. These were then laid face down on the resist. I did not have the same control when felting as I could not get my hands near the bases of the ‘shibori’ That said, it produced interesting results.

Prefelt – shibori effect

 

My next experiment was to nuno felt some fabric into the vessel but to leave a hole where there was no merino used.

Silk, lace and pencil roving used in window and nuno (purple silk)

I was inspired by something I learned on a course with Jorie Johnson but I used a different process to Jorie’s here.   I decided to double up on the fabric to make the hole a little more interesting I used a purple silk behind a very delicate lace which came from an old mantilla someone donated many years ago. Before laying down the fabric I outlined the future hole with pencil roving, then popped the fabric on top. The purple silk extended way beyond the featured hole and it felted in wonderfully. I love the overall effect.

Purple Nuno, and window (black lace and purple silk)

 

Then I used some very special locks. The donor was a Leicester Longwool sheep aptly named ‘Bright Eyes’. These were sourced from my buddy Leonor who is the creative genius behind Eleanor Shadow (https://eleanorshadow.com/) Be sure to check out her website and all her beautiful hand dyed products.  Here are some of the locks I used.  The colours are gorgeous!

Eleanor Shadow’s beautiful hand dyed locks

 

I thought I would add a little of Bright Eyes to the mix to see how it would react to being totally felted into the vessel. The fibre kept its lustre and happily felted in without being swallowed. I do have to add that I would prefer to see these beautiful locks move freely as a statement on a piece rather than being ‘imprisoned’ in this way. Just glad I only used a few!

Bright Eyes locks felted in close-up

 

Finally, my last experiment involved taking some of the hand dyed silk I had used earlier, I gathered it by hand stitching, I laid it down on the resist so that the hand stitching was uppermost and then added the black merino background. I had no real control as to how this would felt in so I needed to do a bit of pulling to loosen up the fabric once I turned it as the black fibre had come right through all the layers. All a learning experience. Next time I will work with the stitched fabric on top of the fibre as I will be more in control and have less tugging and pulling (and cussing) at the end.

gathered silk then nuno’d

 

All in all, the play was fun. No methodical approach to sampling here, just good fun. And sure don’t we learn when we are having fun!  Here is the final piece:

 

Next: the update on workshops taken. Just one this time, flowers with Diana Nagorna. I supersized one of two of the flowers (just for fun of course) Here are the results.

 

 

Lastly, registration is open for my online course wet felting a spiral. The course will start on 30th October and run through the month of November.     You will have access to step by step videos, a downloadable PDF and, of course yours truly here in the virtual classroom. Please feel free to click on the following link to find out more https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/hanging-felted-spiral/   It will be the last spiral session for 2026 and as I plan to do a bit of travelling next year I am not sure of my scheduling for 2027.

Happy felting (and playing) all!

Helene x

close up of part of jacket and braid closure
Morning Has Broken

Morning Has Broken

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My sister Jean was a very competent spinner and weaver. She started her spinning journey in Wales, to where she was evacuated in WWII. She was staying with my mother’s family in Ogmore Vale, South Wales and in those days everyone walked everywhere. Every time she came across bits of fleece from the local Welsh Mountain ewes attached to fences and brambles, she collected it and taught herself to spindle spin, using a stick and a potato.

Fast forward to the mid 1960s and she was living in Dorset (UK), a teacher, and in her ”spare” time a spinner, with eyes on getting a weaving loom.  She was an active member of the Dorset Guild of Weavers Spinners & Dyers which met in Dorchester, and also belonged to a local group of spinners meeting regularly in a nearby village.

In due time she acquired several looms, including one large floor loom, which was set up in her workshop.

By this time, Jean had prepared and spun fleece from various breeds of sheep, making scarves and “twit” hats (I think they are called “beanies” these days) from Jacob fleeces. She progressed through various types of tops purchased from Wingham Woolwork on several of their visits to the Guild bringing with them vast amounts of their stock.  These were a wonderland of opportunity to see and purchase all sorts of ready prepared and blends of fibres, not easily seen unless you lived in Yorkshire.  In those days fleece and fibre festivals were only a glint in wholesalers’ eyes!  I do remember that she spun and wove sufficient Welsh Black and silk tops into a length of fabric large enough for me to make her a skirt.

Eventually Jean turned to spinning silk tops with the idea of making sufficient fabric for a jacket.

skeins of spun silk - but not showing actual colour of natural silk
Some of the spun silk – I don’t know what’s happened to the colour – most odd

At about that time the idea of using music as a basis for fabric design was circulating amongst the weaving fraternity.  There were articles in the Journal – the magazine produced by the Association of Guilds of Weavers Spinners and Dyers – and also the American magazine Handwoven.  Jean decided that she would design the fabric for the jacket by making a threading draft and subsequently a draw down based on the hymn “Morning is Broken”.

I daresay that these days there will be umpteen video clips on YouTube with step by step instructions on how to do this.  It is a bit complicated to explain unless you’ve got a couple of hours – especially if you haven’t done much in the way of weaving on a loom with a minimum of 4 shafts.  Basically you assign each letter of the alphabet to each shaft in turn, having numbered the shafts 1-4.  The simplest “code” is AEIMQUY = shaft 1; BFINRVZ = shaft 2; CGKOSW = shaft 3; DFILPTX = shaft 4.

Then you translate your phrase or title into numbers accordingly.  However, just to make life more difficult, you can’t have the letters on the same shaft adjacent to each other (don’t ask) so you need to add a different shaft number between them. This gives the threading sequence on the loom for the warp threads.

To see what your phrase will look like when woven, you can draft it out on a piece of graph paper, making what is called a draw down.  This will have on it not just the threading sequence but also the lifting sequence of the shafts when you are actually weaving the fabric.

I don’t have the draw down which Jean made for her fabric, but I do have some which I made when we were playing around with other ideas and making name drafts.

I suppose it must be possible to look at a woven pattern and work out the words the pattern represents.  Perhaps this is one way that textiles may have been used to pass secret messages, though it’s not likely to be a quick way of getting information back to base!

Anyway, Jean designed her draft and draw down for Morning Has Broken and dressed her large floor loom so that the pattern would appear in bands throughout the fabric she wanted to weave.

Once the fabric had been removed from the loom and any loose ends woven in, Jean passed it to a friend who had offered to make up the jacket.  In the meantime, Jean used some of the left over yarn to make some lengths of kumihimo  braid.  From this braid I made some “Monkey Fist” buttons and braided fastenings sewn onto the jacket fronts.  Unfortunately the jacket, not having been lined, did not really hang properly or keep it’s shape. Jean asked me to take it apart and, using habotai silk as a lining, put it together again, which I did and included some hand made shoulder pads.

 

 

Making a weighted blanket.

Making a weighted blanket.

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Weighted blankets may often be helpful for anxiety, and the pressure of this type of  blanket may help to calm, and reduce stress. They can be, and are, used by both adults and children; they can be described as a comforting hug, and used as an aid to restful sleep.

These blankets have also been used to help calm children with a diagnosis of autism or a hyperactive disorder.

Five years ago my nephew and his wife adopted 3 children – siblings  (the youngest would not be born for another two months. They were unable to conceive, and IVF attempts had failed twice. So, they adopted the two siblings, and agreed to adopt the expected baby at birth. An instant family. The children have their challenges, and I was asked to make two weighted blankets for the two older children about 18 months after their adoption. The blankets are really helpful during stressful periods for the children, and they love them!

The third child now needs his own blanket – the older siblings are fed up sharing! I hope this post gives an idea of how I made the blanket – but you may already know how to make one? I did not make any notes first time round unfortunately, Youtube is, as always, a help.

It is most important that the blanket is not too heavy for the child, or adult. They need to be able to move underneath it, and the blanket must never be placed over the child’s head. It is recommended that the weighted blanket should be no more than 10% of the child’s weight, this includes the blanket weight before the beads are inserted. The beads are very small, and can be made from plastic, or micro glass. The glass variety are more expensive. This photo shows the size of the beads in comparison to a few grains of rice.

I used plastic beads for the blankets. The Youtube tutorials describe various methods of blanket making, but skip over the tricky bit of inserting the beads. I had kept a long cardboard tube on which some fabric was rolled, from some years ago. I was so happy to find the tube again. I had used it with the other blankets too. The use of the cardboard tube was definitely a lightbulb moment the first time i made these.

I had the blanket measurements, and the child’s weight, so I just had to calculate the channels and number of pockets needed, so that there would be an even distribution of the pellets all over the blanket. So, a regular quilt, but with two layers of batting, stitched together on three sides, inside out, and then turned the right side out. A further reinforcing line of stitching one inch from the edge removed the need for any binding. I did not use any special fabric, both top and back were repurposed cotton, and actually match the fabric of the first two.

I measured and stitched six channels down the length of the blanket, and measured again to decide on the size of the pockets.

The weighing scales, and small pots for holding the small portion of beads for each pocket were assembled. Once each group of beads was inserted, I made sure that they were shaken down to the bottom, and two rows of stitching to secure those pockets, and repeated this process to complete the blanket. The top edges were turned in, and stitched to secure. I weighed the blanket and I was happy that it was just over 10% of the body weight. A label with the name on completed the look.

Grand daughter No 2 is requesting similar for Christmas……….

Top view of two feet, one wearing a very oversized knitted slipper.
I tried felting some slippers. It didn’t go well.

I tried felting some slippers. It didn’t go well.

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*So… I scheduled this post to come out yesterday, but made a mistake on the month… Apologies! Here it is today, 12th Oct*

I am usually late to the party when it comes to viral trends; that is, if I ever decide to embrace them at all. A while ago however, there was a knitting pattern called Sailor Slippers that garnered a lot of attention, and I filed it in my brain as Something To, Maybe, Perhaps, Try One Day. I never expected it to come to anything, as my ADHD brain often has its own crafting agenda.

As it happens, my brain actually nudged me 3 weeks ago, and as I was vending at the Scottish Yarn Festival I was tempted by a fellow vendor’s wares and bought the yarn to knit said slippers. I chose two colours, black and purple. Both yarns in Aran weight have little bits of tweed that complemented each other.

I decided to also use some very old stash yarn, two single-ply and very bulky mystery skeins in black and teal for the soles and edge trims.

Now, the keen minds among you may have noticed one tiny, barely remarkable, detail: the yarns I was using weren’t of the same weight or, indeed, the same brand or composition. Yes, they were wool and non-superwash, but that was likely the end of the similarities. Nothing wrong can come of this, right?…

The way this pattern works is, you knit the slippers in a specific size and, once you’re done, you machine wash them and they should shrink and felt. Here they are before felting, fit for a giant. The aran weight yarn was doubled to reach appropriate gauge.

Top view of two feet, one wearing a very oversized knitted slipper.

Top view of my feet with socks, one of the foot is wearing an oversized knitter Sailor Slipper. My cat Marshmallow is next to my feet.

I would have normally worried a little bit at this stage, but having seen other projects out there (there are literally hundred of thousands), I knew the very oversized look was expected. Next step, knit the top trim, then machine wash. Voilá, a pair of Sailor Slippers ready to be worn.

Reader, they didn’t fit me. The bulky, single-ply yarn shrunk decently, but the top one refused to shrink like it was meant to. Into the machine it went again. Then once more.

One Sailor Slipper on my kitchen counter

I apologise for not taking a picture of the slippers on my foot, but by this point I was getting frustrated with the lack of progress and just wanted to see the back of this thing.

However. I am nothing if not stubborn, so I decided to do one more thing before calling it quits: hand felting.

If you know me, you know that wet felting is not my forte. It’s definitely not something I have a lot of experience doing, and I know the fulling process can take hours.

one Sailor Slipper in a tub with hot water and suds. My gloved hand holds it.

I tried, I really did. I alternated very hot and quite cold water; I rubbed it with soap. I told it to cooperate or else. All I got was fuzzier wool and not much, if any, extra shrinkage. In ultimate despair, I popped them in the tumble dryer. Nothing changed!

At this point I was ready to call it quits and forget I ever did this.

I vented my frustration to my other half. He listened and commiserated. That’d be the end of it…

…then I looked at his big feet. “Put them on,” I told him. Can you guess what happened next?

A pair of Sailor Slippers on my husband's feet

They. Fit.

At this point I didn’t know whether to be glad my time hadn’t been wasted, or to go bang my head against a hard surface. You see, my husband isn’t what we’d call Knit Worthy. It’s not that he’s not appreciative of the hard work that goes into a handmade garment, but he either overheats, or complains it’s itchy (gasp, merino wool, itchy?!)

I’ve now told him he has to wear these slippers often to appease the gods of wool, otherwise my next knitting project shall be cursed. I’ll also try not to look at his feet when he’s wearing them as I’d love to forget how much this did not go my way.

Want to share a “failed” project with me in the comments section? I’ll commiserate with you!

 

 

 

September 2026: Photography, shopping, student and teacher

September 2026: Photography, shopping, student and teacher

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The fall has started out with photography, a bit of shopping and the taking and giving of workshops. It has been busy but also fun. Would you like to join me?

We are first off to the town of Almonte. It is about 30 to 40 minutes away depending on traffic, and this year very pretty but hidden by thick fog. The drive displays more trees, a bit of swamp, a small escarpment, and rocks. The Mississippi River runs through the town. The river has cut falls in some of the rocks. When settlers arrived, some built mills (one of the cloth mills was later converted into expensive condos, and the stone building beside the mill, which held the mill office and cloth storage, was turned into a museum). Many of the houses nearby were used by mill workers but have long since lost their fibre workers. There are still lots of people who remember the mill working; my neighbour’s father worked there.

To help support itself, the museum runs Almonte Fiberfest each September on the weekend after the labour day long weekend. The local arena is filled with booths. In the hallway, many of the local guilds and fiber related groups have their displays. This year there was a local food vendor selling empanadas. I have no idea if that is spelt correctly, but the two I tried were delirious.

For a number of years I have taken pictures and sent them off to the museum to both give historical documentation, and future publicity options. I finally have a good working system to sort and organise shots. I have a small book with the booth number written in; I have a pack of Post-it notes with the names of the booths. I spend time Friday afternoon organising the booth page with the name. Then I take a picture of the page with the name, then take shots of the booth. This works until it gets very busy on Saturday morning when I try to get crowd shots. As it gets a bit quieter Saturday afternoon, I go back to booth shots and shopping vignettes. (Vignettes are shots to entice people to come shopping). I took some on Friday night, about 380 shots, so I can pull, crop and colour correct some of the best temptation shots to send to the museum to post on their social media. There were over 470 shots Saturday, and a few, 162, on Sunday while I was demoing needle felting. I still have to finish sorting them. Sorting is extra challenging this year, since I have been working on the old laptop and can’t see the tiny images clearly. (My beloved geriatric desktop computer died and the new tiny tower is not yet working). I mention the number of photos just so you can see the restraint I have shown in not showing you all of them!! OH no! Death by slide show!!!

lower 2 pictures are demoing at the OVWSG table1.1- 1.5)A few shots from Almonte fibrefest, to top up your virtual fibre horde

2.1-2.2)Felting Booths: two suppliers and 2 creators

Taking a workshop:

Before and after Fiberfest, the museum runs workshops. This year one caught my eye and I was excited to try it. How can I describe leatherworking so it sounds like a fibre art? Hmm, not sure I can stretch fibre or leather quite that far. Decades ago I made Viking booties(the leather was lightweight, so I would not say they were boots). Now I was going to try to make a cover for a small notebook or journal. This will involve stamping leather with patterns, dyeing it, then sewing it up.

It was a small class since it was a full day during the week. But we tried our best to be quality students, to make up for the lack of quantity. The teacher was great; she had everything we needed and had the leather pre-cut for us. Starting with a scrap piece, we tried out stamps (she brought a lot of options) on dampened leather. After a very difficult selection, we started on stamping the cover pieces. I chose a flurry of dragonflies across the front and back cover and up the spine. I continued with a few flying around on the inner pieces too.

stamping leather work at workshop3.1 ) Dampening and stamp-ening the unsuspecting leather

Then the box of leather dies came out, and again the choices were fabulous and a bit overwhelming. So I went from light to dark: a light golden brown, a green, then a blue. It was hard to tell when the first selection of die was dry so I could start the next colour. It was fascinating to see the die pool into the indentations of the stamps. At first the dye seemed to be just on the surface, but suddenly it was outlining the dragonflies in a darker line of the green or blue.

adding colour to leather4.1- ) Dyeing the leather

The next step was to stamp holes around the ends of the cover. To keep the leather in place, we needed to add a bit of leather glue, but just around the edge, or the notebook will not fit! We had used an adjustable tool to run around the outside edge of the cover. This was to guide the stamping of stitching holes. It is also used if you were stamping a straight border. Thinking ahead, I kept checking that the holes were clear on the back side, in hopes the stitching would be easier later. The stitching punches came in different sizes (number of points) to make it easier to turn corners. I have one of these at home; I can’t remember what I got it for, but I am pretty sure I did not use it to punch holes.

punching holes in leather5.1) hole punching for stitches

The stitching was assisted by a stand called a pony. It was so helpful to have the piece held, so you could use both hands. The thread was waxed, and the stitching required 2 needles, one on each end of the thread. (3.5 x the length needed to stitch). She showed us a cool trick to split the thread so the needle didn’t fall off the thread.

sewing leather6.1- ) pony stand, stitching and sneaky thread trick

We took quite a while to do the stitching neatly, but it was worth the careful work! I was extremely pleased with the result. There may be more leather working options next Almonte Fiberfest, if you are in the area.

finished leather note book cover7.1-) finished cover

I had a day off to finish putting together the needle-felted landscape kits, then Saturday, I was booked to teach needle felted landscape. I had all the notes (21 pages, plus 2 pages of quick notes), samples of various pictures I have done or am working on, all the supplies the students would need and a carload full of bags of various colours and types of wool for them to work from.

needle felting samples 2 pictures 2 partly 3d moose8.1) the samples of pictures and two of the moose bags

Taking a workshop allows the opportunity to learn something new or a new way of working. For new felters, it can also let them try different options. How will you know what you like to work with if you haven’t tried a few options? When you first start, you may not even know you have options. I brought them a few options to try.

For work surfaces to felt into; I have supplied them with a garden needling pad in a foam like a pool noodle (you have seen me working on one before). It has been seasonally available from the dollar store (Feb-Aug). It is not too expensive compared to the thicker wool mats. If you leave the plastic on, it reduces wool transfer. It has two sides to felt into, so it should last long enough to create a few pictures, which should let students decide if they are enjoying needle felting or not.

I also brought other surfaces for them to try;

  • -100% wool pad 1-1.5” thick (I like this one the best but not everyone does, and it’s quite expensive now.)
  • -Ann’s Woolie buddy, which is similar to the wool pad but has a different end feel: (how the needle feels as it is inserted into the work surface) (I have put it in a zip lock plastic freezer bag and like it much better, Unfortunately i still have to give it back to Ann!)
  • -the craft felt covered foam or sponge (I think I like this one the least, but someone may like it, so it’s good to let the students try it.)
  • -black packing foam, and the black foam sold for needle felting
  • -a burlap bag of rice (I like this one too, but it’s rather heavy to carry around for portable/movable felting).

I forgot the pink foam insulation (this is excellent to teach students not to stab too deeply; it screams at you with each stab). It comes in sizes up to 4’x8’ sheets, which allows for very big landscapes. I could not find my cellulose sponge (never leave a needle in this; it will rust since the sponge absorbs humidity – we are in a high humidity area in the summer).

9.1- 9.5)various surfaces to felt into, students’ pictures in progress, trying some of them

To use as a base or backing to felt their picture on, I had;

  • -a piece of 100% wool felt
  • -a thinner piece of Not-wool craft felt
  • -and a piece of 100% wool Horticultural felt, which we used to make a name tag. They can add more details or images to the name tag after the workshop. Having them felt their name is good eye-hand coordination practice before starting their picture.

I also had small samples of;

  • -100% Merino Pre-felt (because its thin it can stretch or distort as you felt into it) but it is worth trying to see how it works as a ground.
  • -hot-press craft felt (which is usually a mix of recycled fibres and glue); it can be felted on, but I do not like the feel to work with. If you don’t try options, how would you know if you hate it, are willing to work with it, or love it?

I also made sure they had a selection of needles to give them an idea of the options available and how they move more or less fibre depending on gauge and number of barbs. I gave them a reverse needle, which has the barbs positioned in the opposite direction to the other felting needles. The reverse needle is active as you remove the needle. It can loosen overworked areas, pull up under colours if you have a different core or under layer, or they are used to blend colour transitions that are too hard-edged. I also gave them a crown needle, since it has such a shallow working depth. It also is not an everyday needle but it is handy to have when you need it.

I asked them to come a bit early so we could start at 10 am, and they did, and I forgot to take pictures (my hubby forgot too, but he did carry in all the workshop bags and boxes, so he was probably tired! I know I should have been tired; I had a weird nerve irritation late Friday night, so I didn’t get much sleep, but my green caffeinated beverage kept me wide awake.)

The students mostly chose the window (Light-box) tracing option, but one tried Templating to transfer the image. She is an abstract painter and only used the image for suggestions. This time most of the students chose at least one of the two ocean scenes.

The name tags went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy needle felting but were very focused and found it more tiring than most groups. They only took a short lunch so I may have to try to get them to take a bigger lunch brake next time. A few students wanted to keep working on their pictures at home, so didn’t frame them (they did get a wooden frame with glass and a paper mat to put it in later), but half the class decided they had achieved the landscape they wanted. All seemed happy with their pieces.


10.1–10.5) students and finished or pictures in progress.

At the end of the workshop, I went through the fibre bags, sealing up ziplock bags and piling them by the door for Glenn to take to the car. I also packed up all the supplies, including the box of “Safety Fist” finger protectors and the various work surfaces (remember to give the woolbuddy back to Ann). I was wiped, and the nerve was getting irritable, so it was time to pack up and go home.

11.1-11.2) End of the workshop packing up

I will get back to working on the Blue whale. I am still not sure if it’s too long by a bout 2 inches or if it’s fine. But since we have gone through most of September I should give you a break, and we will chat about a new fiber festival just south of Smithfalls Ontario (Canada) and how that whale is coming along. I also did a bit more testing of that wool buddy that still has not returned to Ann, and I have found a modification that makes it much more appealing for me. (I will tell you about that too.)

Have fun and keep felting!

Autumn is always so busy

Autumn is always so busy

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Autumn seems to be crazy this year. I imagine it is crazy every year; I just forget how busy it is and schedule way too much to do. Two weeks ago I did a nunofelt class. So dying silk blank was necessary. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, so our last market for the regular season. It will be busy, as everyone wants goodies for Thanksgiving and to stock up to get them to the Christmas shows in mid-November. I booked a nuno scarf class for later this month, the first full week in November is our guild sale,  and then there is getting ready for the Christmas market sales. I think there is something else too. Oh yes, Microsoft Publisher is going to stop working, so I had to convert all those files to PDFs so I may be able to open them somewhere else.

Oh dear, it sounds like I am complaining, but I am not really. I prefer to be busy rather than not, but it does sneak up on you.

Anyway, what it means is I am mostly doing some finishing work and more soap. Nothing very exciting. Here are some pictures of small spirals I made. They are waiting for the grommet kit so I can add key chain ends to them, and I haven’t decided if I will add a little curly lock to the other end yet. Sorry, these are a bit raw. They were hanging to dry.

 

This is a screenshot of the grommet kit, as I don’t have them yet. It says they will be here tomorrow. I thought I had some, but they were odd little things for paper.

 

I made some more lantern covers. They have to have thier bottom ribbons, and my tag added to them. I would like to make some more, but I may be out of time.

 

And there is soap to make. I haven’t done that, so you can see an old picture.

 

P.S.

I went to my studio Sunday to do some finishing work. And………. ended up making 3 more simple covers. They are still wet, so no pictures yet. The two leaves are to add to the short white cover in the picture above.

 

 

Felted blue background with birch trees in foreground, details added with black wool and needlefelting.
Small Landscapes

Small Landscapes

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I’m working on more pieces to take to the galleries. I sold a few more of the smaller landscapes I had made that fit into 5″ x 7″ frames.

Four 4" x 6" wool landscapes with needle felted and stitched embellishments.

I use whatever bits I have of wool in my stash and I usually hand card the skies to get a mixture that looks natural. I have stitched the details before and I did do this on a couple of the pieces adding grasses and flowers. The other two I decided to add some trees with needle felting. I then stitched the small felt pieces on to a 5″ x 7″ matte board. I forgot to take any photos after framing but I put them in simple black frames.

Four 4" x 6" wool landscapes with needle felted and stitched embellishments.

On this set, I used a light blue-grey matte board and all the details are needle felted.

Two felted blue backgrounds with white trunks of birch trees in foreground.

Here’s what the birch trees looked like after being wet felted. I used cut strips of white prefelt for the trunks.

Then here they are after adding the needle felted details. It’s fun working in this smaller size as the process isn’t too time consuming and it gives a less expensive alternative for customers who can’t afford my bigger pieces.

Strawberry Moon

Strawberry Moon

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I finished the little quilt that I was working on where I made the circle portion while playing with my circle attachment and my sewing machine’s built in stitches. It started off like this:

machine stitched circles on white fabric
The beginning

And by the end of my July 2026 blog post looked like this:

Progress as of the end of July

Here is a link to the July blog post if you are interested in reading about how I got this point…https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2026/07/25/more-circle-play/

It had been hanging on my design wall since I finished that blog post so I thought I had better get it finished. I have a series of Full Moon quilts that I’ve been working on for several years now and I thought this piece could become a good candidate for that series. Since I already started using my “tile” method I decided to continue with that method. By ‘tile method” I mean that I cut out shapes from fabrics that have been fused to Wonder Under, all raw edge, and then iron them to a background once I find the perfect fabrics for my project.

My other Full Moon quilts usually have a solid-colored background that I completely fill with tiles, so this one added a few new challenges for me because of that busy background. And I was still dealing with the “in your face” white portion of the circle.

My first decision was to get rid of the white. I printed out a couple photos and using my colored pencils, I tried yellow, green and red violet over the white.

I liked the yellow the best. I was surprised with that choice, well aware of how bright it would be in that proportion. I then used an Inktense pencil with aloe vera on the fabric piece to set it off (the aloe vera keeps it from running hither and yon).

Circle after adding yellow Inktense pencil

Yep, quite bright. Now I need to figure out how to try to calm it down.

Adding more tiles

The yellow is still quite bright after adding some additional tiles around and inside it, but a full moon can be bright too!

At this point I felt that I had enough tile pieces but I still felt that it needed additional elements that would help move the eye around the piece.

I added some hand painted organza pieces and some of the leftover fabric that I had cut my tiles from.

Adding different elements for movement

 

I kept experimenting with elements and color and finally decided to call it done although I did make a few tweaks to it before I started quilting it.

Additions done!

 

Tiles stitched down so they won’t fall off

At this point I have all the tiles stitched down.  In this photo I have safety pins holding the unquilted layers together. I try to travel between tiles if possible so I don’t have to keep picking up the needle and moving to another area. I had quite a few thread changes for this piece.  Now I need to figure out how to quilt the rest of it. Unfortunately, I had to stop and place an online thread order because even though I have 30+ colors of green in various weights, not one of them satisfies me. Guess that gives me more time to think about what I want to quilt into the remaining spaces. So sorry, but my thread won’t arrive in time for me to finish quilting this before this blog post is due. I’ll try to remember to post a photo on my next blog once I get it completed.

I decided to call this piece Strawberry Moon. It brings back memories of strawberry fields and picking flats of berries during the summer months.

This was a fun and challenging project and I learned a lot while working on it. It made quite the transition from start to finish!

Here are some of my other Full Moon quilts in the series.

Harvest Moon   2017   32 1/4″ W x 39 1/2″ H

Flower Moon   2019    22 1/4″ W x 30 1/2″ H

Blue Moon   2020   22 1/4″ W x 30 1/2″ H

Snow Moon    2022    32 1/2″ W x 37 3/4″ H

Each of these have been juried in to various quilt shows over the years. I hope you enjoyed seeing them.

Happy creating!

Tesi Vaara

Finished pouch with edging
Weaving a small pouch

Weaving a small pouch

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Sometime this spring Suzy Brown in New Zealand posted about these little looms she designed to help you weave a no sew pouch.  Suzy Brown is the creative behind FiberyGoodness.com and Tiny Studio Creative Life magazine. She posts amazing content on Facebook and YouTube.

I was intrigued and decided to order the full Fiberygoodness Pouch Loom Set. I thought the pouches would be a fun portable project. The little looms landed in Canada in early July. I was impressed by how beautiful they were.

Set of little pouch looms
Set of little pouch looms

A little while later I opened the instructions and decided to give the largest little loom a try. I also dug out this fabulous Leclerc tapestry comb that I purchased in a guild destash and it was very handy for packing down the weaving. (A hair pick or small comb would be a more affordable alternative.) The provided instructions were excellent and I soon had the loom warped and was weaving away with some random handspun from my stash.

I changed colours randomly and really enjoyed watching the woven pouch grow before my eyes. As you weave the main portion of the pouch you are working continuous rounds weaving a row on the front of the loom, flipping and then doing a row on the back of the loom, and repeating. After the main body of the pouch is woven, you flip the loom and weave the flap by working back and forth for the remaining length of the warp. It was a bit tricky to pack in the last few rows at the top of the flap.

Once the pouch was woven it was time to try and pry the weaving off the loom.  I remember being a bit stressed about that but I did manage it successfully. The warp threads look a bit messy but overall I was very pleased with my little pouch.

Eventually I picked up the pouch and added a quick crochet border around the top of the pouch and flap. The crochet covers the loose warp threads and neatens up the pouch a tiny bit.

I am now trying to decide on a closure for the pouch. I am considering a magnetic snap that gets sewn down or a button which means I would need a button loop.  Hmm… it is hard to decide.

I was hoping that the pouch would fit my cell phone but it turns out that my phone (Samsung Galaxy A53) is a bit too big.  Drat! So I guess this pouch is going to be an eye glass case, which means I won’t be putting a strap on it.

Flowers in a vase: a wetfelted abstract project

Flowers in a vase: a wetfelted abstract project

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Hello all!

First of all a recap of my recent activities to give you a background to my most recent piece.

I have been very taken with preparing and then attending my local Art Trail in the first 2 weeks of September: if you remember, my last post was about how I prepared a few new felted items for it, because I wanted to bring a mix of new and old things.

One of the Bourough of Ealing Art Trail banners on a railing at a local park.
It’s quite the event in our local community!

Here is what my stand was looking like at the beginning of the first day of the BEAT (Borough of Ealing Art Trail):

Kiki Peruzzi's stand at the Borough of Ealing Art Trail 2026 is a small table covered in a white cloth. Some scarves are hanging from a small rack on the left, and the items on the table are all small and brightly colored, with some small white framed artworks and other small items. There are small windows above the stand and the walls behind the stand are bare bricks and crumbling mortar.
My small corner. I actually did not bring a lot of items, as I could always get more from home if needed and I did not want to get a very crowded look.

 

A closer look to Kiki's stand at BEAT 2026. At the center of the image, there is the table with many different white framed artworks, two felted bowls holding small felted objects, and some coaster sets in plastic wraps. In the background there is a brick wall and in the upper part of the image there is a window letting bright light come through.
A closer look at the table. You may be able to spot some of the items I was working on the last time that I wrote a post.

 

The left hand side of Kiki's stand at BEAT 2026, with a closer glimpse to some colorful felted scarves, and some small artworks in mixed media and felt.
Here is a closer look at the left hand side.

I have to say, this event is the most fun one among the various exhibitions and events that I participate in with my local art group, the Ealing Art Group: we meet tons of people, and our families and friends are encouraged to pass through. We set up demonstrations of our art in the little yards in front of the hall (weather permitting), to pass the time and  to call passers-by inside (some of us tried also to improvise a little dance routine to catch the attention of people going by, but we felt that it was a bit too much in the end..). And we chat a lot among ourselves, as it is the only time in the year when we actually pass hours together in the same room (the other exhibitions are manned or womaned on a rota as a group, whereas each of us has to take care of their own stand in this one).

Kiki Peruzzi smiles while demonstrating wet felting outside of the Art Trail venue for her local art group. There is a white plastic table set in front of a brick wall decorated with colorful bunting. On the table there are some wool bags in white, teal, grey and pink. There are also a green sprinkler and a plastic container with some water, and on the right there is a small log on top of some white netting and bubble wrap. Kiki is holding some wool in her hands. She is wearing a white sleeveless top and dark blue short trousers.
I had an interesting time demonstrating wet felting while battling the wind and chatting to visitors: you can see it in my please-take-that-shoot-quickly-before-it-all-flies-away smile! I like to think that at least I caught many children’s hearts by giving away wisps of pink and green wool all during my demos!

This year we had a brilliant attendance on the first weekend, weirdly not matched by proportionally higher sales, and usual good attendance on the second weekend: we think that it was because other non-related events were going on in the area during the first weekend, so more people were out and about.

While I was in the middle of this, plenty of new ideas for felting and mixed media pieces were coming to my mind of course: I do not know about you, but that is what happens to me whenever I have no time and I can chat with other creative people and see what they make.

One of the ideas that I thought that I could start on without much fuss was a new wet felted piece about flowers. I need to explain that the artist exhibiting her watercolour pieces right in front of me in the room, and a good friend, is very fond of representational abstract artwork of bright flowers, and I was inspired to make a bright and colourful small piece. What I really set up to make in the end, though, was something quite different.

First of all, I considered that I had bought two canvases 65 x 90 cm (25.6 x 35.5 inches) that I had never used yet, so that a bigger artwork was in order. And, most of all, the base prefelt that I prepared for my artwork was in pewter, as I did not have enough wool of a brighter colour and also, to be totally candid, when I actually got to it, I did not feel like a brighter colour for my base.

So, you just have to take my word for it, my initial idea was of a jolly and quick little flowery piece, but good intentions did not last the first five minutes of actually setting up to make something for real, as it so often happens to me.

I put my chosen canvas on the working table to understand the approximate size of my base felt and started to lay the wool out, from the setting up of the edges to the filling of the area inside them with two layers of Merino wool. In hindsight I maybe should have gone for my usual 3 layers for the base, but as I was laying out the wool to cover the whole area I had started panicking that the project was too big for the time that I had, and so I was trying to cut times where I felt that I could. That resulted in a coverage that was not as good as I wanted for it, also because in the following steps I ended up deciding to not cover all the base with other colours so as to provide another layer on top of it, as I often do instead.

That is how I started:

There is an oval table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap. On it there is the outline in pewter wool of a big rectangle
The size for this new piece was almost at the limits of what I can make on my table when it is closed.
On an oval table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap there is a big rectangular shape almost completely covered in a first vertical layer of wool.
I tend to layout my base layers not very carefully, as it is supposed to just be a support base to the actual piece. This was my first layer.

After laying out the base and lightly wetting and soaping it, I started laying out the colours for the background from the darkest greens and greys to the lightest (light lime green, yellow and light greys and white):

On a table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap, there is a work in progress wet felted piece by Kiki Peruzzi. The piece at this stage is a big rectangle in wet pewter wool with a build up of background wisps of wool in dark and lighter green, dark and lighter grey, light yellow and white on it.
I tend to have light coming from the upper right hand in my pieces, it just works this way for me in most cases. It is also true that the table that I work on has light coming from the right naturally anyway, so maybe that is one reason.

I wanted a good contrasting area, so I went for pretty dark hues in my background, but that meant that the whole piece was already fast moving from a jolly uncomplicated colour riot to something more meditative and sober. I also realised that I wanted to not completely cover the pewter, as I was more and more reminded of my recent tondi pieces: it is just not possible to go completely away from your memories, I find.

I laid out my flowers in colours that were very bright and close to each other (two reds, a salmon, an orange and a yellow) and I added touches of darker shades to build their depth a bit, without going for realistic description. I wanted some white flowers to make the composition pop, and I went for some in white Merino wool with a center of natural yellow eri silk fiber, and some in white eri silk fiber with a few touches of bright blue mulberry silk fiber, for the shiny effect of silk that is reminiscent of oil paint shine.

I also realised that I needed some kind of vase or holding shape for my bunch of flowers, but I did not like the idea of a too solid shape when my flowers were just quick brush strokes of colours, so to speak. I went for just the outline of a vase in dark green, that could be variously interpreted and avoids weighting down the composition.

Here is what it looked like before the wetting, it seemed to me well full and with a background on the darker side, because the base in pewter was already wet at this point:

There is a work-in-progress wet felted piece on a table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap. The piece is rectangular and has a background in pewter, different hues of green and grey, with some yellow and white. The top layer has wisps of wool in bright reds, salmon pink, yellow, orange and white in different directions to expressively suggest flowers in a dark green vase. The upper layer of wool is not wet yet.
My composition before the wetting: the wool always looks more when it is still dry.

Then, I wetted and soaped the whole, and rubbed it gently under the netting. A bit of rubbing by sander followed, and I went on to the rolling very quickly. I do not need to roll it very much for my purposes, but I added a bit of additional rubbing against the bubblewrap in this case.

There is a rectangular wet felt piece that is almost all covered in bubble wrap for rubbing with a sander, on a table covered in white towel and bubble wrap.
Ready for a bit of sander rubbing.
A pewter work-in-progress felt piece is rolled into bubble wrap and rests on a table covered in a white towel and bubble wrap, ready for the rolling. On the table in the distance there is a glass half full of a clear yellow drink.
And here we go with the rolling, after some rehydration with an Italian favourite soda drink called Cedrata.

After drying it, that is what it looks like:

A wet felted artwork by Kiki Peruzzi is resting on a white canvas. The piece is rectangular, it has a pewter base layer and green and grey, yellow and white background. This abstract piece represents a vase of bright flowers in reds, salmon pink, yellow, orange and white.
This is before the ironing and to test the size of the finished felt on the canvas: it fits nicely as I wanted (I like my canvas to be seen all around the edges).

Because of the rubbing against the bubblewrap, it ended up with the piece developing a bit of movement around the edges, so that I had to iron it a bit to flatten it again after the drying.

I feel that it looks a lot less full than what I wanted, and I am pretty divided about it: do I work on it more or do I call it done? What I am thinking is that this piece would be closer to my idea if I added stitched fabrics in colours similar to the flowers to full up the areas in and around the flowers. I can not really explain well the idea that I have in mind, but I am thinking floating pieces of fabric here, very lightweight and not realistic. I also am very into textural pieces more than flat pieces, so I miss that textural element in this piece, though I understand that it is not what everybody looks for in an artwork, but I am really drawn to textures and 3D elements.

I have asked opinions about it to some of my artist friends during our breaks from the Art Trail work: mostly, they feel that the piece is fine as is, while some agree that I could work on it a bit more. I feel that they do not see in their mind what I could do with it and the right fabrics, because none of them are as familiar with textiles, but it may be that they genuinely do not feel that it will benefit from additions, with some of them mentioning the need to avoid overcrowding the composition.

So, what are my textile friends thinking about it? I can always try something and then unstitch it if I see that it is not going anywhere, but time is at a premium right now in my life, and I have so many UFOs in my pile already!

Let me know your thoughts on it, please.

In the meantime, I will take a bit of rest and relax:

There is a brown and orange Guinea pig sleeping snuggled in a soft cup in light blue and other bright colors, inside a cage with black grids and wood shavings on the bottom.
Repeat with our sweet Pumpkin: “Good nap, everyone!”

Kiki

http://www.kikistextileart.com

Instagram: kiki.textile.art