Needle felting inspiration from the seaside & WOYWW

Hello folks! Welcome to my regular blog about my textile art, linking up with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, a weekly artists' showcase.

I didn't post last week as we'd just got back from a mini break in Aberystwyth. More about that later.

Here's my work desk this morning...

More needle felted and embroidered sheep brooches on the go this week. They've been popular online and I have been asked you stock a few shops so I'm increasing the size of my flock!

I'm also working on some more background pieces to use in a series of needle felting demonstrations I'll be doing at Acton Scott Working Farm in the next few weeks. You might remember the farm from a BBC series 'Victorian Farm' a few years ago. More about that another week.

So, to our mini break in Aberystwyth. We had a lovely little family break and I managed to find some inspiration while walking along the coastline.

Look at the colours in these pebbles...

Here's are some wild flowers I found...

Here's how I turned my wild flower findings into a needle felted and embroidered brooch...

Finally, here are a few shots of my happy little man on his hols...

That's all for today folks, thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW - Needle felted daisies, sheep and mixed media explorations

Hello there! Welcome to my round up of my fabric art activities. Firstly, can I say Happy 7th What's on your Workdesk Wednesday!! For those who don't knnow, WOYWW is a weekly round up of artist's workdesks and has been running now for seven years!

Here's my workdesk this morning...

You can see a needle felted card I've just finished for a customer who wanted something a bit special for her daughter's wedding anniversary.

Also on the desk is a handful of sheepy sunset needle felted pictures, some sheep poppy fields and some bluebell and daisy pictures all ready to mount.

If you visited me last week you'd have seen I was preparing for a fair. Well it went brilliantly! The event had been organised to raise funds for the Harry Johnson Trust, a local children's cancer charity set up in memory of Harry, who died aged seven in 2014. The event included a Boden party and lots of lovely craft and gift stalls. Hopefully the brilliant turnout meant lots of funds were raised for the charity. Here was my stall...

After a busy week, what better way to relax than by participating in a workshop. On Saturday I spent a brilliant day on a mixed media course run by Tina Gilmore, mixed media artist at her studio in Montgomery. I learnt lots of new techniques and loved pouring over Tina's marvelous stash of vintage and antique papers and ephemera. I decided to make some pieces of artwork for Ben's bedroom. Here are the results...

Here's a snapshot of the process...

Ben certainly appreciated them and took no time at all in deciding where they should be displayed!

That's all this week folks! Thanks for stopping by. Catch up with other WOYWWers at Lunch Lady Jan's blog.

Happy crafting!

Max x

WOYWW - Felting video star

Hello dear reader! Welcome to my weekly blog, a whistle-stop tour of my workdesk and my week's work.

So here's my workdesk this morning...

Ok, so it's actually the sofa today. I've got a stall at a local fair tomorrow so I'm frantically finishing off a few last bits and bobs. The workdesk is covered in boxes and bags to take with me.Today I'll be working on mounting these daisies which incorporate all my favourite processes - wet felting, needle felting, machine embroidery and hand embroidery.

On that note - this week I completed a project I've been planning for a while. I often get asked about the various processes that go into my work so I decided to take a series of photos while I produced a piece. Click here to see how I take a pile of wool, fibres, silk and thread and turn it into this...

When I wasn't preparing for the fair I was card making. A friend of mine is expecting twins so I made a quick little card for her baby shower at the weekend...

Meanwhile, my not-so-little baby has been busy this week too, supervising his Grandad in the building of a garden step.

Right, that's me for this week, thanks for stopping by! You can read about the work of many other artists and craftspeople by visiting WOYWW (What's on your Workdesk Wednesday) this week hosted by the lovely Lunch Lady Jan!

Happy crafting,

Max x

WOYWW - working on new designs

Hello dear reader!

Apologies for my absence last week, I was snowed under. More about that later. You're here to see my workdesk aren't you. Here you go then...

Among all the clobber on the desk you can see my nice pieces of wet felting from a few weeks ago and some linen with little needlefelted landscapes.

I've been slowly working my way through the pieces of wet felting to create new designs. I'm guilty of being a bit hooked on the same designs, so for the last fortnight I've been trying out a few new ideas. Still within my comfort zone of fields, gardens and hedgerows but a bit different. Whadda ya think?

Delphinium

Bluebells and daisies 

This said, I've also had to step up production of my existing sheepy and floral designs by popular demand. My work is now in four shops and galleries and three of these contacted me last week to say my work was going...going...gone and could they have some more?! Chuffed to bits, I started dumfing away and this was how I spent most of last week. Here's the collection I pulled together...

After all the hard work, Ben and I had a well-earned day off to see my friend and her lambs at the farm in mid Wales which was the original inspiration for my sheepy landscapes. We had a fab day!

That's all for this week, thanks for reading. I hope to stop by a few desks later. If you're visiting here for the first time, hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground to meet lots of other lovely artists and crafters!

Happy crafting

Max x