Fluffmonsters

Before I broke my arm I was working on a mixed media scrap fabric and hand stitch landscape and wanted to add some Dorset buttons, so made some in the same restricted colour pallette in natural linen fabrics. Not dure they work on the background as expected so maybe these daffodil design thread buttons ? Or maybe nothing ?

To mark the safe landing of Artemis II this morning, hi from the Clanger and the Soup Dragon, needle felted a few years ago.

These are felted eggs I made a few years ago, and they have come out for a seasonal display again. Hubby wood turned the little bases for me.

This weekend I have made Tulips in cotton fabric in a variety f colours, they can be arranged in a vase or pot (I have used oasis to hold them in the pot.) They are available (without pot or vase) £5 for a bunch of 6.

Today is St David's Day, so I here are my daffodils, fabric so no need to water them 🙂

A drizzly morning so I went to see a fabulous textile exhibition 'unthreading the carnival' by Deborah Birch at the New Forest Heritage Centre Lyndhurst. They are amazing close up, so full of colour and using a variety of re cycled threads. Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition.
Also at the centre is a New Forest Heritage museum, so we also visited this as it houses a wonderful tapestry New Forest Embroidery, as well as other interesting exhibits.
Not a bad way to spend a damp day !
'New Forest Embroidery, a unique piece of embroidered historical art that spans 7.5 metres in length.
Commissioned in 1979 by the New Forest Association, the work depicts 900 years of history since the founding of the Forest by William I, across 4 seasonal panels. It was designed by Lady Belinda Montagu and embroidered by her and 60 other local people.'
(ref : https://www.newforestheritage.org.uk/museum )

This weekends project has been to finish sewing some aprons for The Touring Potter, (Christchurch) where we had some pottery lessons with Maisie. One thing we learned was how easy it is to get covered in clay from the wheel.

I watched the great pottery throw down with interest trying to work out how the aprons are made, as well as marvelling how easy they made making pottery look.
I made several pottery aprons with different features so they can try them out. Lets see what features make them easiest for Maisie to use.
The lower apron has so allow for sitting astride a potters wheel, so I made some with an overlap, so the two sections cover the legs , but allow for sitting when sat at the wheel, and also made one with a deep inverted godet style pleat. They are all quite long for good coverage.
They have different style pockets, large patch pockets, side pockets, and top pocket.
Also there are 3 different styles of fastening. Simple tie straps, quick release clips and adjusters on straps, and cross back with a slider clip.
The fabric is terracotta canvas, left over from making sofa cushion covers years ago, now out of my stash, and put to use. The clips are from my bag making bits and bobs, as well as the straps. The only new purchase was the sliders for the cross back style.

This is my valentines flowers from hubby. He made them from old copper plumbing pipes, cut opened and flattened then each petal cut out and shaped, and probably lots of other techniques I never saw as he disappeared to his workshop. He has also wood turned a vase for them, which has been piled so is currently drying in his workshop. He is currently cooking my dinner, but as he does all the cooking that's normal. I do the washing up.

Stitch don't ditch !
A small pile of large shopper totes made this week for various charities made from curtain remnants, even using up some of the smaller pieces from my stash. Made using one of my trusty vintage singer sewing machines. This one is a 201K, happy to sew through several layers of thick fabric.

So many Dorset buttons I made some of the larger ones into shawl pins. The teal one is hand dyed yarn, and curtain rings using Dorset button techniques. The pin is a hat pin made many years ago when I had a jewellery making phase. The other buttons I used various odds and ends of yarn, crochet cotton or embroidery threads.
The shawl is a simply knitted rectangle using some soft lovely yarn found in my stash.

2025 ends with making some hand crafted brooches, using thick felt flowers, and made simple Dorset buttons for the centres, then a brooch back sewn on. I wish I could remember where (and when) I got these felt flowers, they are really thick felt, about 5mm. Perfect for brooches.