Quick and Easy Note Cards

 I cut up my painted fabric into approximately 4"x6" rectangles and I now have a big stack to use to make note cards. I already had the white note cards and since the fabric is so colorful, it's simple to add a bit of machine stitching  and sew it to the card.

I just looked at the piece to find a place to start. The green paint on the left looked like leaves so I thread sketched those in and sketched in longer leaves on the right. I used stitch and tear to stabilize the fabric. I found it worked best if I fused the stitch and tear and the fabric before stitching. I then fused the stitched fabric to the card before sewing around the edge.

For this card, I used automatic machine stitches to make a pattern. I tried using a glue stick to baste this in place before stitching to the card. It didn't hold very well and shifted a bit with stitching.

I saw a butterfly in this piece of painted fabric. He's a bit wonky but still looks like some sort of flying insect. Each card only takes about 10 minutes or so. I'm going to try and stitch a few every day so I have cards to use when I need them.

Carole's Bag

Look what Carole made from the fabric that we all painted. Isn't it gorgeous?

She said she highlighted the designs in the material, quilted and  then painted over the quilted areas. I haven't done anything with my painted fabric yet but this is really inspiring me.

Another Exciting Announcement!

After six months of hard work, sending off 12 boxes of equipment, samples and felting supplies, there is a cover for my book. The book, published by Creative Publishing int'l, will be available in August of 2012 and it's already listed on Amazon. If you would like an autographed copy, I am making a list so I know approximately how many books I will need to order. There is no obligation to buy, but if you're interested, please e-mail me at info(at)purplepomegranate(dot)com. Include CPG Felting in the subject line of your e-mail.

It is really exciting seeing the book come together. Having never been through the process before, it has been an eye opener. Thanks to everyone who helped out with the book, I really appreciate all your assistance.

Announcements, announcements, announcements...

Three of my online friends and I have started a new website that is all about felting and fiber. Ann, Karen, Zed and I have begun a new venture together. There is lots of information on the site already and we'll be adding loads more. We'd love to have you check it out and let us know what you think. 

I'll still be posting here but we'll be holding fun challenges and giving away free stuff and having fun fiber parties at The Felting and Fiber Studio so don't miss it! Just click on the button above and it will take you right to the new site. Come join in all the fun :)

Felted Bag for New Tablet

 Here's the finished bag that I started with my local fiber art group last Friday. I used Merino and hand dyed silk habotai. I had also put some silk under the flap but pulled it off as I didn't like it. The bag started out white but I had a request to dye it dark green.

 Here's a close up of the silk nuno felted on the front flap. It is more green than this photo shows.

And here's the tablet that's going to be in the bag. We'll just mainly use it for traveling. The others in the group haven't finished their bags yet but I'll show you photos of those next month.

Squirrel Update

I posted earlier about the squirrel attacking my felt bird house. I took the bird house down and finally got around to repairing it. This is what was left of the hanging strap. It was double thickness felt made around a resist and you can see how the squirrel had almost chewed through completely.

I cut off the strap and then sewed a very small loop back to the bird house. Then I hung it back up on a metal hook. It's been up for several days now and it doesn't appear to have been attacked again. Hopefully, it will make it through the winter. I have my doubts that any birds will nest in these but I thought I would give them a try and see what happens. I'll let you know if any birds take up residence.

 We have a forecast for another La Nina winter which means a long, cold, snowy winter is upon us. We have had a few days with a skiff of snow but nothing heavy yet.

It is supposed to snow this weekend with valley accumulations. So we've got the snow shovels ready. I think I need to go visit Karen in Australia :0)

November Felting Party

 We had another felting party today. The photo above is from October's felting party and Paula was making a scarf with pencil roving and winding it around the bubble wrap. She said it took her between 6-8 hours to lay out. She then covered the pencil roving and bubble wrap with plastic and rolled it. Since it was so long, she could only roll one half of it at a time.

 But look at the result! Isn't it gorgeous? I really like the result but I don't think I have the patience to make one. Perhaps a smaller one to add to the front of a bag or notebook cover...

The project we worked on today was an idea I had about making nuno felted flowers. I have made lots of felted flowers before but thought it would be interesting to use the wool to hold numerous layers of silk petals together. I made the bottom left, top center and bottom right ones. Paula made the other two. They are really quite easy to make. We used prefelt cut in small circles layered between the petals of the flowers that include a variety of silks as well as some netting. Now to add a pin back and I'll have several quick and easy nuno felted flower pins.

Dyed Scarf Photos

 I promised better photos of the scarves that I dyed.

 Here they are all after ironing and

 straightening out the tassels. I always find that to be a pain.

But I do like the colors. I think the deepest red one in the second photo is my favorite. What's your favorite? I'm putting these up for sale in my store for $45 each. Send me an e-mail if you would like to purchase one.

Nuno Felting and Dyeing

 I met with my local group on Friday and we started a nuno felted bag. We didn't manage to get them completed as we ran out of time.

 Here's Louise straightening out some fiber. The piece with the scraps of silk in the foreground is my bag. Because I went to the Grizzly football game yesterday, my bag is still in the bathtub waiting to be finished.

 Here's Carole using the sander. She's trying to hide her face with her camera, what a bad girl you are Carole :)

 This is Bunny's bag. she used silk gauze over the surface of the bag. We all used white merino and we're perhaps going to overdye these after they're completed. I will have to show you the completed bags at a later date. Next month, we are going to try encaustic techniques. I'm looking forward to that.

 I also dyed some scarves to sell at the store. This is just a few of them and sorry for the lousy photos. I took these photos this morning and the light wasn't the best. I still haven't ironed these so I'll try and take some better photos after they are ironed.

Here's two that just would not rinse out. Red/magenta dye just kept coming out. So I let them soak overnight and then rinsed them again this morning. They are drying in the bathroom. I used these pre-mixed dyes I bought at Wally world and the process was really simple. I usually use acid dyes for these but since they have so much rayon in them, the colors always turn out pretty pale and anemic. These dyes provided a much richer color. I like them much better.

The publishers have finished taking all the beauty photos for my book. The manuscript is at the editor and I should be getting proofs to look at sometime in December. It's really exciting.

I signed up to take Level II Hand and Machine Stitch with Gail Harker and the first session starts December 7th. I finally got word that the class is a go and I'm really excited about going over to LaConner, WA and seeing Gail's new studio. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a great weekend!