Therapy on the cards

No. 1
Pleasant turmoil

In a few weeks time this last six months of tearing the house down and building it up again, will seem like a dream. The builders couldn't believe how calm we have been throughout it all.
That's what they think!

No. 2 Emergence.

Emerging from the abyss.

A light at the end of the tunnel.

Happiness reigns.

Peace and quiet-----

Until tomorrow .....when the family arrive with all of their worldly goods
hmmm!

I keep telling Ludo, (the dog) enjoy today and tonight because the chaos starts again tomorrow, just in a different way. Daughter, husband and 17 month old Molly staying for a little while or possibly even longer. Still at least we are off to Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire for a week of fairs next week Escape.... I'm only joking as I'm really looking forward to the next couple of years, we will all just need a little time to adjust I suppose.
All tips gratefully received.

Cards for sale at my Feltissimo shop £5.00 each.

Light relief

All I seem to have been doing for the past two weeks or more is painting, so yesterday I had a day just for me. We had a wedding invitation from our neighbours. Unfortunately we can't go to the wedding. It is next weekend and Steve will be away moving Jay, Ryan, Molly and all their worldly goods from Rugby to our house in Morecambe. I don't actually know them very well as a few weeks after we moved into our house he sold his private ambulance station and bought a dwelling in the States. He kept a flat next door but returns only occasionally. However I thought it was really sweet of them to invite us to the reception so I thought I would make them a piece of felt art to remember their big day.
Yesterday I was trawling google images to hopefully find inspiration when I came across a Russian artist named Maria Skrebtsova. As Steve's family are Russian I delved deeper and found the most amazing paintings which have influenced me in the two piece of felt work you see here.
Above you can see the flat felt I created, I just loved the movement Maria created in her paintings and I tried to copy this movement in the felt.

I have needle felted the two hearts and their initials and then framed it. I removed the glass from the 1940's frame and padded the felt behind making it curve out giving a 3D effect.
Fingers crossed that they will like it.

.
I have also had to make a thank you card for a dear old lady who was so good to me when I lived in Rugby. She was the friend of my mother in law and we discovered that she has liver cancer so they both moved into a nursing home just before my mother in law left Rugby. Out of the blue a few days ago I received a lovely card from her and inside was a really unusual packet of ancient sewing needles. The front is like an old envelope and is addressed to the shop from which it was on sale at least 100 years ago. She knew that not only do I sell haberdashery but that I also collect it myself. What a kind thought.

I couldn't resist making this thank you card for her. It another piece of felt inspired by Maria Skrebtsova. I know that she will treasure it and probably show it to all of her friends in the nursing home.

















Well I'd better get back to the painting, just once around the skirting boards, window and door frame and hooray that's me finished. All ready for the family to move in.

2nd attempt at needle felting

FELTISS PA
Well I finally got Pa completed. To say that I have taught myself this technique, I'm quite pleased with the results. At least I can sit and watch the telly in the evenings and create something at the same time.
One thing I must say is that I don't find it as stress releasing as wet felting, where I can really loose myself and float away sometimes. I do hope in the next few days to create some more wet felting as I really need to de-stressed at the moment. 10 more days until the family arrive. Will I ever get everything done?

1st attempt at needle felting.

FELTISS MO
I've been baby minding for the past couple of days and thought that in those rare spare moments I would try my hand at needle felting. So here is my first attempt.
Welcome to the
Feltiss Family. I'm now working on Feltiss Pa so will show him to you when I get chance. I must admit I'm quite suprised with what I achieved, so will continue snatching the odd moments and who knows what I will be able to do.

Mollys first attempt at wet felting.

My granddaughter Molly is staying with me at the moment and although she is only 16 months old, she made this wonderful piece of wet felting. I gave her the pink pre-felt and she chose the other colours. She giggled all the way through the process thoroughly enjoying the whole experience and infact screamed when we stopped and was taken out of her high chair. My daughter is going to frame it and it will take pride of place in her new bedroom which we have just decorated together.

I hope to be listing a little more frequently now as we have decorated 4 bedrooms and have only one to go. I don't want to see another paint brush for a long time, well not until we start on the lounge.

My new vintage fabric shop and blog.

As I know that many of you who read my blogs and Flickr are ardent crafters, quilters and artisans, I thought you might be interested in my new venture.
See the first album for the start of my listings and there are many many more to come.

http://ragrescue.co.uk

Getting ready for the family invasion.

I find fungi fascinating and I couldn't resist trying to make one in felt. This was a while back and I still haven't done anything with it. Perhaps a picture?

I thought I'd keep with the felting theme as I long to get back to my creative felting but as you will see below, things are rather hectic at the moment. I have just over one week to go before all of the decorating upstairs has to be complete. Just the skirting boards to paint today and then hubby will paint the floors at the weekend. Next week will see the big removal ( and I mean BIG) of all of our stock and office upstairs into the two rooms. This will leave the two rooms downstairs empty for my daughter Jay, hubby Ryan and my beautiful 1 yr old grand-daughter Molly to move into next month. Artist's University courses are so expensive these days so they need to pay off their student loans to get on the housing ladder, hence mum to the rescue.

At the moment I'm trying to juggle the business and decorating and don't have much time for anything else. I've put my name down to exhibit at a new textile and fashion fair in Lincoln University on Saturday 26th May and am so busy sorting two boxes of 1920's costume I bought on Wednesday. There is a superb black and white shawl with a pattern of velvet roses and long tassels. In a way I hope it doesn't sell as I would love to felt the centre which has a few pinprick holes in it. Perhaps this will put the dealers off it ---fingers crossed.

Ashley Hall Vintage Textiles & Fashion Fair

Playing with shadows.

I thought I'd better keep in touch even though I'm really busy getting ready for the International Antique Fairs.
Life is rather hectic at the moment and I
don't have time for felting which is really
sad because I know I should make time for myself. Perhaps tomorrow!


These little balls are my spares, you know the leftovers from ongoing projects. When I have enough I will probably make them into a necklace.


When I was taking the photos today I noticed the wonderful shadows that were being formed, so I played around with them.

I think the shadows look like little hairy monsters.
What do you think?

No excuse

Now I have no excuse to say that I've lost my keys. That's one less thing to worry about. It is amazing how many things have gone missing in our house since the start of the restoration last October. We are in a big mess again as we've been having the kitchen floor tiled. I must say though, the new tiles make a good background for photography.

I've spent the morning felting, it calms me down. I'm making a new bag using the technique of adding antique lace so it's new ground again, a huge learning curve, but that's what I like.


I made the felt rather thicker than I normally do when adding lace so it was much harder to get the fibres to come through. However the texture is reasonable
as it was a pretty lace you can still see most of the pattern. I shall use this for the fold over of the bag so I have now got to work out how to attach it to the main body. Another challenge, I think I'll sleep on it.

My Feltissimo shop

I'm really excited because I've been wanting to open a little shop, specifically for the sale of my felt work. Of course I've had to wait until I had a few things to sell or samples to show, but finally the day has arrived.

THE FELTISSIMO SHOP

is finally open.

Another birthday card.

Another one of my creations. I made it yesterday on my 'me - mothers -day'. It is mostly wet felted but I did a little needle felting to place the various layers together.
I think mum will like this. As these cards are really art cards I will tell mum that I will frame the front for her as a little extra present.

Gardeners' little helper.

The gardening season is upon us once again and I always find that the soil has a tendency to stain your hands, which only a scubbing brush will remove. As I had acquired quite a number of bars of Aloe Vera soap I decided the combination of Aloe Vera and an exfoliating felt scub was just ideal for those gardeners hands this Spring.

Spring shoots 1 Spring shoots 2

Spring shoots 3. Spring shoots 4

Another birthday card.

My daughter, son in law and grandaughter of 14 months have just returned home after spending 5 days with us. It was lovely to see Molly again as I have only seen her a handful of times during her little life. Things are going to change though, because as from the beginning of June they are going to come and live with us for a couple of years so that they can get rid of their Student loans and get on the housing ladder. That's fine by me as it means that I shall now see my one and only grand daughter grow up and be able to help my daughter out as well, as she finds it difficult sometimes with her disability.
It was my daughter Jay's birthday yesterday and here is the card I made for her. I think I will make a few more of these as they were very popular.

Felted Birthday (2)

I had asked Dan what he wanted for his birthday and he said a picture made from felt. At that point I wished I hadn't asked. As you know I'm a novice at felt making and panic struck when he wanted a painting in wool. He had given me some framed photo's of his trip to New Zealand for Xmas so I decided to try and copy one of those.
It took me absolutely ages to complete because I wasn't sure how to create the depth required. I bought myself some felting needles and after wet felting added layers and layers by needle felting. Finally I achieved what I think is a moderate attempt for a beginner. I forgot to take a photo of it framed before I gave it to him at the weekend but I think it looks just as well here without the frame.

Any comments on this or tips for future work in felt would be gratefully received

Watch this space.........more birthday treats coming up and will be shown here after the event so as not to spoil the surprise.

Felted birthday (1)

Well the birthday season is upon me once again so I decided to make a few felted cards. The one you can see here is my first attempt and I must say I was rather pleased with it and so was Dan, my son. I wanted to make him something special in felt because he lives in Guildford and for my birthday sent me a huge box full of fibers from Fibercrafts. Until this arrived I only had merino wool and now I have silk and neaps and lots more to play with. He was so thrilled with the card he is going to frame it after he has taken out the card centre and cord.

I'd be interested to know what you think as this is the first time that I have made 3D felt.

A little treasure.

I found this wonderful book last week. For anyone interested in needlework of the past this book is so interesting. I've scanned a few pages for myself and will be selling it on my website this weekend. I thought I show my blogging friends it first.

What follows is a little poem written in the front of the book.

I've embroidered a frock,
And I've sewn the long seams,
While I stitched up a heartache
And mended my dreams.

I've patched a torn garment,
And darned a big rent
While I've worked in new hopes
And a sweeter content.

Why stitching brings gladness,
Or ease for Life's pain,
And healing from sadness,
I cannot explain.

But for little hopes baffled,
And foolish tears shed,
I have sought and found comfort
With needle and thread.

This little poem made me smile as it was the needle and thread that kept me going this week after my husbands van accident. He is OK but very shaken.

My Past>Present Etsy shop.

Just to let you know that I've been busy listing handmade items in my Etsy shop. There are lots of items for sale so please take a look.

Past > Present shop


Had great news about the house renovation today (I don't think). The United Utilities (electricity) men duly arrived to assess the moving of the meter etc from our chimney breast to the side in the cupboard. As we have now had the chimney put back we might as well have that wood burning stove we've always anchored over. Apparently they are going to have to dig up the garage floor (which was once a room in the house under our bedroom) The problem with this is that the floor in the garage is terrazzo tiled from when it was an ice-cream parlour in the 1930's. Ouch! It's OK they said, we will concrete it over. I'm not sure what hubby will say when he returns from working away this week, especially as he will have to move half a ton of storage from the garage. Still the good news is that we now have 4 of the 5 windows in the house. They are all super, duper wooden sash corded ones and things are being to come together now. It does mean though that everyone can see in now with no curtains up. Its a good I have thought ahead and bought a huge bottle of windolene.

Thought you would like to see the Valentine hearts I have made. They are made from vintage quilt cutters and antique lace and packed solid with English lavender.
I will be placing these in my Etsy shop soon, but if any of my blogger friends would like to either buy or do a swop just email me.
sandie-k[at]tiscali[dot]co[dot]uk

I have individual pictures of these hearts and can send you them on request.

I know that some of my blogger readers in different countries would be interested in buying some of my work. I would just like to mention that I have been shipping worldwide for the past 7 years so it really isn't a problem. Just drop me a line and I'll give you the best shipping rates for your country and you can pay me through paypal.

Soapy hearts and roses

My Valentine soaps that I shaped into hearts. I shall be taking commissions on these so please email me at sandie-k [at] tiscali [dot] co [dot] uk (written in the correct address form).

£6.00 each.

The little pink rose corsage has been made from handmade wet felted cut petals which have then been needle felted together. I always like to use some vintage items in my felting wherever possible and so on this corsage you can see vintage stamens which I've placed there to give another dimension to the design.

£6.00 each

Time for myself.

Working from home has many advantages but if you aren't careful the work can take over everything else and before you know it you are a workaholic. This had happened to me, which is why I decided to take up a new hobby and ensure that I made time for it.
The builders aren't coming every day now, as they are waiting for the windows to arrive so they are just coming to do a bit of tidying up. This has given me time to spend felting.
I made a trip over to Arnside last Thursday to visit a favourite junk shop. It only opens in the afternoon between 2pm and 5 pm, the owner calls it 'gentlemans
hours'. Unfortunately I'd forgotten that after the New Year he either spends the Winter in India or America. The shop wasn't open for business, I suppose his partner was away also. I really must remember to keep checking as he usually brings back lots of goodies from his trips.
Arnside is deep inside Morecambe Bay and at sea level is usually sheltered, but that day the wind was blowing so hard I could hardly stand up and I was afraid that I might twist my ankle. As I'm still recovering from an achilles tendon rupture I thought I had better not walk along the waters edge, so I dived into a little shop that sold everything that a tourist might want. I spent about 15 minutes trying to decide what sort of handmade soaps I would buy for my next felting project. I had read that some people had had difficulty with the edges on rectangular soap and I was really looking for circular pieces. Alas no circular soaps where available so I bought a rose, an advocado and a mixed fruit, as well as a heart shaped buttermilk one for when I had worked out a suitable technique.

I decided to use the technique of just wrapping the wool tops around the advocado soap. A number of people said that this was the easiest method but I think I wrapped too much around at once as it took absolutely ages to felt and I almost gave up. However as you can see it is acceptable but huge so I think I will keep this one for the bathroom.

Not to be disheartened I moved onto the rose soap which smells divine. This time I just added the merino wool tops as I would do if I was felting with a resist. I did it slowly and carefully to ensure that it didn't slide off and when I was satisfied that it was thick enough I placed the pattern on and felted away. I'm really pleased with this method and will use it again when I have time.

My first bag

This didn't start off as a bag but more an experimentation in surface texture. I was so pleased with the effect that the ideas just developed. I'd never used a resist before and because this wasn't planned I just cut a shape out of cardboard. It worked well as you can see. I've added some of my vintage wooden beads for added texture and used a large Victorian press stud to keep it closed.
I also like the fact that it is really two bags in one as either side can be used as the front depending on the occasion

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

High tide at Morecambe Bay, so peaceful and tranquil unlike at home. Due to massive house renovations as part of the sprucing up of Morecambe, our house has been in turmoil since October. Not only have we had a new roof but the whole of the front of the house has been replaced. English Heritage have been very kind to us in funding a large part of the project but every part of the building work even down to paint colours has to be passed by them. We are still awaiting the arrival of the new sash cord windows so Christmas was a quiet affair. Steve managed to brighten the lounge up by placing tinsel on the boarded window openings and we did manage to get the majority of the dust and rubble away in order for mum to sit comfortably. Fortunately we can live and sleep in the back part of the house which isn't being touched. This part is single storey and was originally where the fisherman kept his cart. At the beginning of the 20th century the whole house or rather three houses were turned into an ice-cream parlour with ice cream being made at the back. Now the shop windows have been removed and we are back to the front looking like a house again.

Felting helps me to forget all of the mess around me and I'm able to drift off into a land of dreams. At the moment the felting has had to be put on hold as my work room and stock room for the antiques business we run, needs it's annual sort out. I have managed to place some items on my website for a NEW YEAR SALE and I have loads of things to place on eBay but I am determined to get some more felting done at the weekend.

Experimenting with surface texture.

I just can't resist fabric that has an interesting texture and so I decided to experiment with felt textures. I wanted to get a 3D effect so I used an antique lace piece. As I sell antique lace I have plenty of oddments to use so I wondered what effect felting would give. I used just two layers of Merino wool and placed the lace on top. It took a long time for the fibres to come through the lace and even longer to full. I ended up throwing it in the sink many times to shock the fibres into shrinking and pulling the lace together. I think you will agree that the result is very pleasing. It looks like barnacles on a rock and although the scanner does not show the 3D effect very well it is very bumpy.

The reverse is plain and very thick so has many uses, I've just got to think of one so it will go in my box awaiting an idea. All suggestions gratefully received.