Needle Felted Art!

I have been working on my needle felted piece and I think I am done with the piece. I always see things I should have done differently and wish I had the right types of roving, so something to think about when I make a piece that I want roving that works best with wet felting. Some of the roving is thicker and great for molding animals and figures but not great for working into a wet felted piece.

Another thing I tried was a wool felt background. It is white and looks like batting but it is a thicker wool felt. It is great to work with, the felt goes in nicely and it is thick enough to hold the fibers without too much going through to the other side, but not a good choice for wet felting. You want longer, loose fibers so you can place them on your piece, then use the wet felting process to blend them and work the fibers together. I will have to try a small piece with my longer fibers and see how it comes out with wet felting. It is fun to experiment and try new things.

I used what colors I had, so not the best choices but I wanted it to be bright and fun. I used embroidery floss and pearl cottons to embellish, trying different stitches to see how it looked. Now I have to decide what to make with it. The piece is 9" square and I still need to trim it down, but if it is a little wonky I will leave it that way, I like the artsy look of uneven felt. Would love ideas, what would you do with it? I am thinking of a tote or use the piece as the front of a folder style case, for sewing or something that is 9" square.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Bill has to work tomorrow and it is too hot to be outside, so I am going to try to reorganize and catch up in my sewing room. I also need to decided about simplifying my crafting, since I have too many things, that I can't do it all. I am tempted to sell off my rug hooking equipment and supplies. I have an original Townsend lap frame and cutter with two blades, as well as backing and hooks. I loved hooking so I could create my own designs, but now I prefer to do designs in punch needle.

This piece is a beautiful art quilt design by Laurel Burch but mine look like dodo birds, lol. I will do the piece in quilting too.

Wedding Pillow Finished!

I finished the pillow today. I decided it needed a corded edge, so went to the store and bought two types and one was too dark and small and the other was just right.

I used regular stuffing and understaffed it slightly so it wouldn't be fat and puffy.
I machine stitched the pieces together and left an opening, everything else is hand stitched. The design was done with a back stitch and pearl cotton, the lettering with 3 strands of floss. after I stuff it, I sewed the opening up to the middle section and left a small hole to place the cording into. That way I didn't have a bump or a raw edge on the bottom, it leaves a nice trim look.

I tried to get the colors and the look of the piece, but it was pouring out today, so no outdoor shots. The colors are creams, but it appears a bit yellow.

And here is the back again. I took an angle shot with shadows so you could see the lettering better, but it is more muted in color, in person.

Here is the design I used, you are welcome to use it for  your own pillow. The original design came from a french site, Broderied'Antan. They have some wonderful free designs, in all types of styles.

When you use the design, place the middle lines in the center of your piece.