WOYWW - "There's needle felting Jim, but not as we know it"

Hello there folks, welcome to my weekly blog about all things textile art - part of What's on your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW). The keen eyed regulars will have noted my absence last week - the inmates of Tilly Tea Dance Towers all came down with a bug.

I'm back on form now though so here's my workdesk for you this morning...

I'm trialling some new ideas again and this time I've moved away from my usual garden / hedgerow scenes to try something a little different.

It's needle felting, but not as I know it (ok, the Star Trek script robbing ends there!)

These have been assembled using cream and grey pre-felt, vintage lace, lilac wool roving and pale pink chiffon. These have been layered and felted down then hand embroidery, beads and buttons have been added on top.

Not sure what they'll be - either tiny pictures or brooches.

I guess I'm channeling inspiration from my newly redecorated sitting room, which is grey and lilac (and totally lovely - big thanks to Twiglet for shortening curtains and making blinds!). You can get an idea of the new decor in this photo of Benjamin's workdesk, a new addition to the sitting room. Perhaps he'll be joining in WOYWW one day soon!

Also on my workdesk are three fabulous ATCs I have received from the WOYWW anniversary swap. Thank you very much Kyla, Sandra Dee and Sylvia - your work is beautiful and each so different.

Kyla also sent me some lovely crafty goodies which I will endeavour to use to create something pretty to share with you at a later date.

I've really enjoyed the ATC swap this year and I'm determined to make a few more to swap next year (that's 358 days I've got to get my act together!)

Right that's all for today folks! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've enjoyed reading.

Happy crafting

Max x

WOYWW

No time for crafting this week and a broken laptop - how to spoil a girl's WOYWW fun hey!
No doubt the rest of the WOYWW bunch will make up for my feeble effort so I shall try and find time to sneak over to The Stamping Ground and find out what's going on out there.

Just a quick picture post then...

This is my freebie Tilly Tea Dance banner from Vistaprint. I thought it would look good on our craft fair stall in the Autumn. My cousin has a fantastic banner printing business - so if I want anything else, I know where to go, but Mum got this for free, so I am not complaining! It looks pretty good - can you tell I love buttons and lace!!

Bunting seems very popular at the moment  - this is part of a length I made for my craft stall in pink and grey cotton fabric. I have a spare length with about 10 flags on which I might pop in my Tilly Tea Dance Etsy shop.

And lastly my latest little button cushion - gorgeous red velour with a heart made from vintage buttons. Curious George thinks its fab cos it matches his hat! He has been all over the world with me, when I was little, and even has his own passport. I think his chair is ripe for renovation - maybe a bit of chalk paint?
Have a great Wednesday all - see you on your workdesks - I just hope I get my laptop back in time.
x Max

WOYWW

I've cleared the kitchen table to make room for a dumfing session. I've had several ideas on the go so I've dedicated the day just to dumfing bits and bobs that can be free-machine embroidered or hand-stitched at a later date.

My first dumfing task is to work on a piece of countryside-ish felt.

Eventually this piece will be cut up to make one large picture and three or four smaller dumflings. They will be free-machine embroidered and beaded by hand to create the poppies and foliage.

Next I've produced a piece of cream/ivory dumfing. This is wedding season so I'm producing enough bits to make cards for all my friends and family who are getting married in the next few months. Any surplus will get made into wedding congratulations/thank you/invitation cards to go into my etsy shop or saved for christmas when I'll pimp them up with twinkly bits, star sequins etc for the festive season.

I use snippets of silk, chiffon and vintage lace

 Each snippet is needle-felted to a piece of felt.

I try to create an all-over textured surface with a few more detailed areas using the lace. These can be further embellished with free-machine embroidery at a later stage.

Finally I've made a start on a new batch of pink dumfling babies. I was really cheered on by everyone who liked these miniature whisps of felt, chiffon and silk so I thought I'd get a few more pieces ready to hand-stitch on an evening when the TV is not so good.

Hope you've enjoyed visiting my work desk today. Looks like it's mealtime so best pack away the work desk for now! I really need to get a permanent crafting space sorted don't I?!