Needle felted brooches & WOYWW

Hello dear reader, thanks for dropping by to read my regular update on my textile art work. I'm linking up with What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday today - click here to meet more creative folk like me who join in weekly.

So, I've no desk to show you this morning, it's just my lap as I'm stitching 'on the go' today.

These are a collection of brooches based on a special order I made for a customer earlier this month to match her wedding outfit. Here's what they'll look like when they're finished.

So regular readers will note I've been a little tardy with my 'regular' updates. I've been busy with lots of demo days, working with new stockists and galleries, not to mention squeezing in a holiday and my little boy's 2nd birthday festivities!

Here's a bit of a catch up from the last few weeks to bring you up to date with my activities...

I ran four demo days at Acton Scott Working Farm in South Shropshire. I had a fabulous room and met lots of lovely people, including some very creative six year olds keen to try their hand at felting some sheep pictures...

I've been busy developing a range of sheepy pendants to match my brooch and picture collection...

I've had a few commissions to complete. A little picture for a new baby called Alfie and a set of three sheep-inspired pictures...

My little boy and his bestie, Isabelle, turned two this week so I made them both special cards...

Finally, we have just returned from a fabulous holiday in Parga, Greece. Here's a glimpse of the fun we had...

That's all for this week folks, thanks for stopping by!

Happy crafting,

Max x

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 - 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 - 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 - feeling sheepish

Hello all, welcome to my first post of 2016! If this is your first visit to my blog, this is my weekly WOYWW (What's on your workdesk Wednesday) post giving you a snapshot of what I'm working on at the moment.

So here's my workdesk today...

You can see I've started the new year with some dumfing (needle-felting). For New Year's Eve we stayed with friends at a sheep farm in Powys. A walk around the farm on New Year's day inspired me to work on some new 'sheepy' ideas in needle-felting and embroidery.

These are waiting for a bit of hand stitching to give some foreground detail...

Here's a close-up of the finished one...

I guess my toddler, Ben, is hoping I'll needle-felt some cows next as 'mooooo' is his word of the moment (although he also uses this to refer to moon and balloon).

Also on my workdesk is the second of two pairs of fleeces onto which I need to sew the hand embroidered logos I've made for my in laws' gardening business. Here's the first pair I completed earlier this week...

Getting four hand-stitched logos to look as close to identical as possible has been quite a labour of love!

Well that's all for this week. I've got to get cracking this afternoon with my latest customer order, another personalised picture - 'L is for...'  with a hand embroidered lion.

Thank you for visiting my blog :-)

Happy crafting,

Max x

WOYWW - Sunflowers and Christmas Pud

Hello all, welcome to my 'What's on your workdesk Wednesday' post. Bit late in the day as I've had a poorly boy with a chesty cough to entertain until bedtime.

My desk is looking decidedly sunny today in spite of the autumnal weather. I fancied a change from needle-felting poppies and pansies for my big pieces so I've been working on sunflowers this week.

This piece has been needle-felted and free-machine embroidered so it just awaiting a bit of beading and hand embroidery before it is complete.

I can't say the Christmas countdown has commenced yet at Tilly Tea Dance Towers, but I have found time to start this year's christmas card production line. Here are the first two.

Regular visitors may spot the similarity between these little puddings and the 'new home' cards I made a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'll find time to rustle up a few more over the next few weeks, though I have several ambitious sewing/crafting projects in mind for Ben's Christmas presents so I'll have to get myself in gear!

That's all for this week folks, thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting x

WOYWW - Deck the Halls with...Hungry Caterpillars

Welcome to another What's on your Workdesk Wednesday!

With only three days left until Ben's birthday party my desk has been taken over by all things hungry caterpillar!

I've made bunting and pom poms to decorate the party pad (a.k.a Nanny and Grandad's house). I've done triangular bunting, rectangular bunting and chevron shaped bunting. I am now suffering from bunting maker's finger. What is this hideous blight I hear you say???! Well it is when you chop away so furiously with stiff pinking sheers that you wear a layer of skin off the middle finger of your right hand. Mum blames it on me being a left-hander!

Nanny (Twiglet) has made a fab banner which she is no doubt showcasing over on her blog.

Not much dumfing (needle-felting) has happened this week. I've mainly been trying to find mounts and frames for my latest work.

As anticipated, virtually none of my mounts and frames fit the pictures I've dumfed!! The difficulty is that dumfing and free-machine embroidery both tend to make a piece of work shrink, so what you start with is not what you finish up with! I think I need another sortie to Ikea to track down some suitable frames...

Once mounted, all my new pieces will be going into my Etsy shop.

It's a short but sweet post this week, lots more birthday bits and bobs to finish. Thanks for stopping by to read my blog. I'll hopefully swing by some other WOYWWers today too.

Happy crafting x