It's poppy season! WOYWW

Good afternoon folks! Thanks for dropping by to catch up with the activities from my work desk this week.

So here's the desk today...

Regular visitors may recall that I love to felt poppies. So you can imagine my delight when I saw was my first little cluster of poppies this year. OK, so it was just on a roundabout on the ring road but it immediately prompted me to pull out the red fluff and needle felt some poppies.

These are a work in progress. I started with a wet felted background onto which I've felted a variety of green wool and other fibres to create a background. Onto this I've felted red blobs then free machine embroidered over the top to create more texture and detail. To this I'll be adding embroidered daisies and beading all the poppies to give them centres.

Shropshire has some beautiful fields full of poppies so I shall be looking for opportunities to photograph them.

On the subject of photos, here's one I took from my lounge window of the summer solstice sunset last night. Whatever was going on behind those trees must have been pretty spectacular - such gorgeous shades of pink, purple and blue.

Visitors to last week's blog post will know I had a 'meet the maker' event planned at Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre on Monday. The centre sells my pictures and the aim was to give visitors an insight into how my work is created. Here's my 'work desk on tour'...

I had a lovely afternoon. Lots of people stopped to look at what I was doing and I had some great feedback about my work. I even did a demo for a group of 15 primary school children who were visiting the centre. Children ask the most interesting questions, don't you find?

"How to you get red sheep wool... do they dye the sheep?"

"How many times have you stabbed yourself with that needle Miss?"

"Do you like my spiderman wellies?"

All good fun and a few enquiries about WI and craft group talks so it was a worthwhile day.

Anyway, that's all my news. I must dash as we've just bought a bicycle seat for Ben to ride on my hubby's bike and we want to take him for a spin before it rains (again!).

Thanks for stopping by, I always really appreciate your comments.

Happy crafting,

Max x

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 - "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 - 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 - 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 - Woolfest!

Hello all! Welcome to my blog, where I share a sneak peek of my desk to mark 'Whats on your Workdesk Wednesday'.

So here's my workdesk this morning...

It's a busy old desk this week as I'm trying to fulfil a growing order book while also trying to fit in a dabble with the fabulous new fibres I picked up at Woolfest this weekend.

"What's Woolfest?" I hear you say. Well, it's the nickname for Wonderwool Wales, a festival of Welsh wool and fibres held annually in Builth Wells. Mum and I took Ben along on Sunday and a brilliant day was had indeed. Three halls full of wool, silk, felt and fuzz provided a great opportunity to spend my birthday pennies and was a feast for a textile artist's eyes! Benjamin enjoyed his first encounter with rare breed sheep - Black Wensleydale and Blue Leicester I'm reliably informed - and some lovely angora rabbits.

Here are all the goodies I brought back...

I'm very pleased with my haul and am looking forward to being able to find time to try out some new designs to incorporate some of it.

Also this week I squeezed in another photography session, this time to turn some of my latest work into prints. Here are the ones I chose...

Well that's all for today folks, hope you've enjoyed hearing all about my week.

Happy crafting,

Max x