Petunia the Sheep - Needle felted brooches & WOYWW

Good morning dear reader! Thanks for stopping by my work desk to see what I'm up to today.

Here's my work desk this morning...

Tools at the ready for work in progress, lots of finished pieces of work to pack away and a delivery of gorgeous hand-dyed wool felt.

Keen-eyed regulars will notice I've been absent from the regular 'What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday' circuit for the last fortnight. I've no excuse other than being snowed under with making and events. Poor excuse huh?!

Well I'm hoping that my little wooly friends here will secure your forgiveness for my tardy blogging! I've been working on new design ideas and these are some of them...

They're all individually named (well who wouldn't name their sheep brooches?)

Here's Petunia...

Here's Matilda...

The rest of the flock can be seen here.

I've also mounted some abstract flowers in needle felting and hand embroidery which I made several weeks ago. 

I've got my hands on these perfect frames but, alas, the well known Swedish furniture retailer has decided to discontinue these frames in the UK so I'm now on the hunt for an alternative for future creations. 

Finally, we've had lots of fun in the sun here at Tilly Tea Dance towers...

Thats all for this week folks! Thanks for stopping by, pop back again won't you?

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 - 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