Pin cushions galore

My new Time for Me group put needle to felt for the first time on Thursday.  I don't like practicing for the sake of it (unless I take up sky diving of course), so I suggested they start with some simple embroidery worked in a circle and gather it up to make a pin cushion.  I cunningly started with stitching on a button to work around, it started them going round in circles and gave a good feature to top off the cushion.

Family in felt

J.found a Russian doll in this lovely Japanese book I had taken into class (even now I have linked to this book, not sure how useful it is, I bought mine from the USA last year).  J loved it sooo much, she enlarged it a number of times and made a family.  Week one and they looked like this:

One week later - Wow! I think the trouble with making these lovely small things is you get quite addicted. Gotta do another one, gotta do another one..... Until you have finished your project and damn it, you have to do another one! 

Felt fish

These little lovelies started life as a mobile for the downstairs loo.  Looking at one of my obscure 70's crafting books, E started to plan her new fishes.  She took them home to finish cutting the layers and  was suddenly inspired and got completely carried away with the embroidery.They have now been promoted to the lounge!

Small beginings

I was asked to tutor 3 creative sessions for a children's centre in MK.  I put together a small choice of projects which worked on their own and could then be arranged together into a larger piece.  We made our own Withie Wreaths which was a great success, real, proper crafting! Just soaking the reeds in the bath the night before, works a treat, just remember to remove children first! This was one fab result, E also used the rather dubiously named Fantasy Film to create a bit of sparkle.  More of that later....