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Fourth Quarter Challenge

Fourth Quarter Challenge

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Although I don’t normally make a big deal out of Christmas the one thing I’ve always enjoyed, and can’t imagine not doing, is decorating my tree. The bigger the tree the better….in fact if it doesn’t touch the ceiling it isn’t up to the job! At this point I will come clean and admit that, as the trees got bigger and bigger, I made the shift from real trees to an 8 foot artificial one. I can hear the groans from those who wouldn’t dream of buying artificial, that used to be me, but it is what it is!

Most of my tree decorations have been homemade or received as gifts with some of the quirkiest, and most meaningful, coming from my Aunty Das who sadly isn’t with us any more. These lovely wooden decorations were gifted from Das to my partner who’s hobby is flying.

And these are a few I’ve made in the past…..

These rosette paper baubles took hours to make and won’t be repeated! The dark one is 17cm diameter and was made from black and white photos cut from magazines, the other two are 11cm and made from an old book.

With a big tree there’s always room for more baubles and with the fourth quarter challenge being Christmas Decorations it was the perfect excuse to make more. I found some 10cm and 8cm polystyrene balls locally and covered the large ones with four coordinating cream/black fabrics and the small ones with four green/red fabrics.

Some of the balls have been cut into eight segments and others have had extra horizontal cuts to create a patchwork effect.
I’ve found a stash of old baubles in the loft and these are getting a makeover this year, drawing on them with the hot glue gun and then covering them with Matt emulsion.

One of the first wet felting workshops I attended was run by Robyn Smith who taught how to make these gorgeous fairy boots…..I’ve made them as gifts every Christmas since then. With more time on my hands this year, and prompted by the Challenge, I’ve made myself some plus a few extras to sell.

As it’s the season to be jolly, and gnomes have always made me smile, I’ve had a go at making some of those too. The Scandinavian gnome is typically associated with the Winer Solstice and Christmas season so I thought I’d have a go at making my version of a Scandi gnome.

The gnomes came about by accident really. Spurred on by the challenge I’d ordered some 14cm high polystyrene cones online (by this time we were in lockdown) with the intention of making Christmas Tree shaped table decorations. When they arrived every one of the ten cones was damaged.

Rather than send them back, the challenge now was, what could I make with them that didn’t need to be a perfect cone shape? That’s when the gnomes came to mind….the wonky cones would make the perfect base!

Originally I thought about making flat felt for their clothes but then decided to use the same cream/black fabrics I had used for the large baubles, plus a few others. Being in lockdown and wanting to get straight on with them I searched around for something to make the beards out of and found an old cardigan at the back of my wardrobe that had a faux fur collar…..needless to say it doesn’t any more! The first beard I cut didn’t look right. With trial and error I’ve discovered that the way to cut faux fur is by working from the back and only cutting the backing fabric, not the fur itself, using a scalpel blade. That way you get a nice shaggy beard.

The females have Merino wool plaits and both sexes have felted button noses. I’ve machine sewn their outfits but if you were making these with children they could be made just with the glue gun for a quicker finish.

The clothes are simply a triangle for the hat, a semicircle for the jacket and a circle for the dress and/or gents undergarment.

The dress circle is simply hand stitched around the circumference, put on the cone and then pulled tight and the thread knotted. The front of the dress is then pulled up to approx 10cm from the base and hot glued in position.

I decided to use a belt and braces method to attach the nose as I was afraid it might get knocked off (really??) It’s been hand stitched to a strip of white fabric and that in turn is glued onto the cone. Thinking about it now, was this over engineered? Definitely!

The waistcoat was finished with a metal bead and the Merino fibre plaits attached either side of the nose using hot glue. The oversized hat has been glued in several places to create the sloppy look. To finish them off I’ve stood each gnome on a slice of wood.

I’ve had fun making these and I’m keeping a male and female on a shelf in my studio because I can’t look at them without smiling! Besides, a gnome isn’t just for Christmas!

Whatever you get up to over the Christmas period have fun and stay safe!

Felted Christmas Tree Finished

Felted Christmas Tree Finished

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Last time I told you I was making a Christmas tree.  http://wp.me/p1WEqk-2Gc  I did get it decorated before Christmas.

The small one is in Grandmas House

small tree decorated

The large on is in my house. Here it is stretched over its frame. The tomato cage give it an odd shape but I like it. Please excuse the messy desk in the back ground.  I should of rolled the top down but didn’t think of it.

big tree over tomato cage

next I decorated it. it turned out not so bad. I added some of the decorations that I have received in the forum Holiday exchange over the last few years. The candy cane is one.  In the first picture you can see the tree better and in the second one you can see the lights better. You can see my spinning wheel in the back ground too.

big tree decorated big tree decorated 2

The biggest problem with making a tree like this is there is nothing to hang the lights and decorations on. I ended up sewing the lights on, all around the tree, 25 feet of lights. I used the tinsel to hide the wire. Then I hung all the ornaments using the tinsel and wire to hook over. It looked a little bare still so I added. a string of red beads, sewn on again.  All in all I am very pleased with them both. Anyone have a better/different idea of how to add the lights and decorations?

Christmas Balls

Christmas Balls

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This last week I bought some empty Christmas ball to fill for an upcoming sale. I am always looking for something a bit different. They are plastic. They are very clear. I had planed on getting glass but theses where so clear  I though it would eliminate the breakage problem.  I was going to get a different shape as well but for some reason a flat circle cost twice as much.

pink 1

First you pop of the top and then add what every you like.

pink 2

You can add anything that fits through the hole. This is silk throwsters waist fluffed up.

pink 3

When it’s full you pop the top back one and your  done.

pink 4 pink 5

I used Blue Faced Leister Curls, some mohair curls, silk hankies fluffed up and some throwsters waste. in a few I added some sparkly angelina.

balls

 

My Felted Gift.

My Felted Gift.

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Over on the felt and fiber forum we had a holiday exchange. This is the wonderful gift I got From Teri Ann.

xmas exchange

He is expertly needle felted and  the wool in all naturally dyed. the wool was dyed using indigo,cochineal, Barberry twigs  and cleavers roots.  He will have pride of place when the decorations go up.

this is a short post as I haven’t had any time for felting the last little while. I was getting ready for the North Gower Farmers’ Market Christmas Sale December 1. that meant lots of baking. I made steak and Guinness pies, lamb and vegetable pies and tourtieres. My mom made steak and mushroom and steak and kidney pies. we sold 60 large and 35 small pies. I also made scones and dog and cat treats My husband also backed lots of bread, my daughter made muffins. It was a long day but we enjoyed seeing everyone from the summer market and the new faces too.

freezer

This was taken about half way through the day. The bags at the end are sold pies waiting to be picked up after people finish their shopping.

Colourful Sheep

Colourful Sheep

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Just a quit little post to show you the sheep I have been working on for my Christmas sales. They do stand up so you can use them as a decoration but they will all have a pin on one side so you can wear them.

Colourful Sheep

They are made with a combination of wet felting and needle felting. The ears are cut from a wet felted piece of fabric and I wet felt the snakes I cut for the legs.  The body and head are needle felted. The ears, eyes and all the curls are added with needle felting.  I hand dyed the curls. They are Border Leicester or Blue Faced Leicester I can’t remember.

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