More felted sheep, meet the artist & WOYWW

Hello folks! Welcome to my weekly blog giving you a snapshot from my workdesk.

So here it is...

Most of what you can see is work in progress. My stockists all need more pictures so I've been furiously felting this week - sheep being the order of the day once again.

I'm also preparing for an exciting new development next week. On Monday I'll be holding a 'meet the maker' session at Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre. The centre, in Craven Arms, currently stocks my work and has many visitors each day. Hopefully being able to see how I create the artwork on display will give added interest to the visitors.

Pop back next week to find out how it went!

Finally, eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a little addition to my workdesk. Last week I had a lovely surprise in the post from Diana Velvet Moth, a fellow artist and WOYWWer who I admire a lot. Diana has a real gift for colour, composition and combining media. I'm really chuffed to have a piece of her work to marvel at!

Well that's all for this week, I've lots of little felted sheep to bring to life while a certain toddler naps!

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW - It's raining felt...hallelujah!

Hello there, dear reader!

Welcome to my regular ramble about the life of a textile artist. Here's a snap of my workdesk to mark 'What's on your Workdesk Wednesday' (WOYWW) a weekly global gathering of fab craftsfolk.

Here's my workdesk today...

I'm mounting and finishing some pieces of embroidery which I initially envisaged as bookmarks but having finished them I've decided they're destined for more than being tucked between the pages of a book.

I've had a busy and productive week of needle felting to replenish my stocks at the three outlets selling my work in Shropshire. I started the week with a load of part-finished work and (thanks to lots of help from mum) finished the week with 35 framed pieces of work.

Yesterday I drove round the county dropping work off so now I'm starting from scratch again!

My little sheepy collages are proving popular so I made sure I made several of those.

I made a few tiny sheep landscapes too, then found some great little frames in Ikea which fit them perfectly.

When I dropped off my work yesterday I was told a touching story which I'd love to share with you.

Two of my needle-felted poppy pictures sold at The Bog Visitors Centre, Stiperstones, last week. The lady who sold them was also there yesterday when I dropped of new stock and she told me this...

A lady and her husband came into the Visitors Centre a few weeks ago and she really loved the needle-felted poppies. This weekend her husband returned to the Visitors Centre. Sadly, the lady had passed away. As she'd loved the picture so much, he bought it to remind him of her love of poppies. Later, her daughter had visited the centre to buy a different needle-felted poppy picture I had there.

It's always great to here that people appreciate my work, but touching stories like this mean the world to me! I really hope those two pictures bring comfort at a time of sadness.

On a cheerful note, it hasn't just been 'all work no play' this week. We've had lovely sunny weather in Shrewsbury so Ben and I got out and about in the local park. Every parent worries about shading their little ones from the sun so it was with great relief I discovered Ben wanted to be a 'cool dude' in both sunglasses and hat!

Here's to many more sunny days!

That's all folks, thanks for stopping by.

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

WOYWW - wet felted backgrounds

Hello lovely reader! It's Wednesday once again, so time to share with you what's on my workdesk today.

Yesterday I was a very busy bee and wet felted several pieces of background felt for my larger 'dumflings' (that's needlefelted pictures for the uninitiated!)

This supply of wet felted backgrounds should be enough for ten pictures, which I'll probably free-machine embroider.

You can also see a peek of my large sheepy picture which I've been working on for several weeks now. Yesterday I free-machined the foreground and lightly felted some pinky purple detail to suggest foxgloves. I'm now at that dangerous stage where I may be tempted to add too much detail so I'm going to leave it for a while.

Here are some of the fabulous pieces of work that the lovely ladies of Teme Valley Embroidery Guild produced on my workshop at the weekend.

The Guild members gave me such a warm welcome and, with all their enthusiasm and skill, made the workshop a joy to run.

I've got a bit of a breather now until my next workshop on 25 June so I'm working on some new pieces. I'm stocking four shops now so I am totally out of stock! On Monday I set up my pitch at the latest outlet - The Bog Visitors Centre by the Stiperstones - a beautiful rugged landscape in south Shropshire.

Well that's all for today, I have a sleeping toddler so must make the most of the time and get cracking with these new background pieces.

Thanks for stopping by,

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW - Felting sheep...again!

Afternoon all! I'm afraid if you're a regular visitor to my page you're in for yet another instalment of needle-felted sheep! New visitors - welcome,  hope you like my felted sheep!

This week I'm mounting some of my small sheepy pics and also working on a much larger picture combining the sheepy landscape with my flowery fields.

It's a work in progress but you get where I'm going with it, right?

It's been a week of sheep for us this week. Monday's weather was fab so the boy and I went on a little walk with our mum and toddler friends. Ben thoroughly enjoyed seeing the sheep and lambs in the field as we followed the path down to a little stream.

As I type, Ben is down for a little nap, but once His Lordship wakes we're off to our nearest National Trust property, Attingham Park, where you can see deer grazing. Maybe next time you drop by I might have been inspired to move on from felty sheep to felty deer pictures!

That's all for me - got a workshop this weekend with TWELVE members of an Embroiderers Guild group (12...gulp!). They sound like a lovely bunch so I'm really looking forward to it but I've got lots to prepare to make sure they have a fab day!

Thanks for stopping by,

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW

Hello all and welcome to my regular 'What's on your Workdesk Wednesday' blog post.

The desk is a little sparse today - I'm having one of those finishing off days where I try to finish some of the work I've been sidelining for other things.

I've got some more little dumflings to mount onto cards and a pansy picture to frame.

At the back of the desk you might be able to see Ben's first attempt with gel crayons. These are a much easier crayon for little fingers to draw with but unfortunately it has the consistency of lipstick so he's only allowed them when he's sat at the desk (I fear for my magnolia walls). I think his first attempt looks a little like a flower, but maybe that's just the artist in me hoping I've passed on some arty genes!

Anyway, last week I promised I'd share with you some photos from Saturday's workshop.

I had a fab time helping eight lovely ladies to create their own pieces of needle-felted and hand-embroidered work. They all said they enjoyed themselves and, even with the same basic materials, all created entirely different pieces of work. 

Then, of course, it was Mothers Day on Sunday. Here's the card I rustled up for mum (Twiglet) from my lovely bag of fabric and lace scraps. The colours coordinate well with the flowers I gave her to say thanks for being such a fab mum.

And I wasn't disappointed this Mothers Day either. I had chocs and bubbly, a lovely walk in the Quarry (Shrewsbury's town park) and a delicious tapas lunch at Casa Naranjo.

I think the waitresses were in shock as Ben worked his way through olives, garlic prawns, meatballs, croquettas, chicken skewers, patatas bravas and pork tenderloin.

There's not much my boy doesn't eat and he always makes me proud in restaurants - though I need to have a word with him about the number of kisses he was blowing at the waitresses!!

That's all for today - rather a long post with all the events of the past week! Thanks for stopping by. If this is your first visit to me, hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground where you'll find loads of other artists and crafters sharing their workdesk activities.

See you again soon!

Happy crafting,
Max x

WOYWW - keeping warm!

Hello all! It's a wild, wet and windy 'What's on your Workdesk Wednesday' today at Tilly Tea Dance Towers so we're keeping cosy in our living room. So today's workdesk photo is actually not the workdesk at all but my footstool!

So on my workdesk today you can see a small herd of 'dumflings', my little needle-felted and embroidered squares. I've had an order for a set of four so I've been busy making a good selection for my customer to choose from.

It's been a hectic week already and it's only Wednesday. I've been putting together the last bits and bobs for my workshop on Saturday where I'll get to share my love of needle felting and embroidery with eight lovely ladies. Will let you know how we all got on next WOYWW.

In between this I've been over to Connections in Pontesbury to set up my new display of my work. Connections has a lovely Local Artists department and I'm chuffed they wanted me to be part of it!

So that's it from me for this week. Thanks for stopping by my workdesk.

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW - Dyeing wool

Hello all, back again I see!

It's Wednesday so that means I'm sharing a shot of my workdesk to mark 'What's on your Workdesk Wednesday'.

This week we've been dyeing some wool in preparation for my forthcoming workshop.

Between us, Twiglet and I have got lots of gorgeous wool but I needed green and what we had was white, cream, beige, baby pink and turquoise. We used a microwave dye and it has produced loads of different shades of green (not quite 'fifty shades of green', but a lot!).

Also on my desk this week are some unfinished sheepy bookmarks I've been working on during the cold dark nights.

Finally I just thought I'd share a little pic of Ben finding an alternative use for nanny's cotton reels!

He's got a lot of concentration and good hand eye coordination so this sort of activity keeps him entertained for a fair while!

Short and sweet today! Thanks for stopping by. Have a good week!

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW - Needle-felted sheep

Hello all! Thanks for dropping in to read about what I've got going on at my workdesk today.

Today my desk is covered in my needle-felting stuff...

Everything's gone a bit sheep-crazy this week. After posting my needle-felted sheep sunset picture on Twitter and Facebook, I've had several orders so I've been busy making these up. Who knew sheep were so popular?!

This week my friend turned thirty so I rustled up a little 30th birthday card...

(forgive me for the attempted 'arty' photo - I'm trying out a new camera but I'm totally hopeless with it! You'd never think I was the daughter of a photographer!!)

Regular readers may know I've had difficulty sourcing suitable frames for my needle-felted pictures, which are slightly 3D and look squashed in an ordinary frame. Hurrah, at last I've found a great supply of shallow box frames that suit my pictures perfectly so I've been busy mounting my work this week.

Finally, I've been preparing for my forthcoming workshop on 5th March in Shrewsbury, an opportunity to needle-felt little garden scenes like mine. I have a couple of places left, so if you fancy joining me, click here.

Well that's all for today as I hear the distant growl of a toddler waking from his afternoon nap! Thanks for visiting. Hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground to meet lots of other crafters like me on What's on your Workdesk Wednesday.

Happy crafting x

WOYWW - Shropshire Hills

Hello and welcome to my weekly blog post, sharing an insight into what I'm currently working on, via 'What's on your workdesk Wednesday '.

This morning my desk is covered in goodies I purchased on a little day out yesterday with Twiglet and Ben.

You can also see a large pile of frames which are to mount all of those dumflings I made a few weeks ago.

I'm excited to say my work is about to go on sale at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, which has a fab exhibition space for local artists. I've been mounting work ready to display and making more sheepy pictures which really represent the Shropshire Hills theme.

I've also been busy this week preparing for my first workshop of 2016. Here's a shameless plug...

Finally I've been busy chasing a toddler round again now that Ben has had his plastercast taken off his leg. Other than a slight limp you'd never know he'd fractured it less than 3 weeks ago!

Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. If you've enjoyed reading about my workdesk, why not check out my gallery, workshops page and shop! And don't forget to hop on over to the Stamping Ground to meet dozens of other crafters busy at their workdesks!

Happy crafting x