Thursday 23 February 2017

Workshops!

 Say hi to the new basset puppy that will be decorating my sewing space!  No we didn't get another real puppy (1 is enough - she is at the chewing stage eating shoes, laptop chargers, wires of any kind and poor Wilbur's ears!)

At the weekend, Karen at the Limerick Quilt Centre, had a needle felting workshop and I went along armed with an inspiration picture I found as a free colouring page. download here on ZileArt.com.

Dean the Basset Dog became a puppy and I had a brilliant day filling in the background with soft Merino wool and adding mad colour.  I think he is a very happy puppy and will look brilliant in a box frame on the wall.

We were given a kit, complete with coloured wool, needle and handle, big foam square and a wool background.  It was so lovely to rock up to a sewing workshop having to bring only myself and no machine, mat, cutter, extension lead, iron and board, scissors, thread, fabric and pins. You know how it goes!

Still it has to be done from time to time.  Our branch of the Irish Patchwork Society had Ailbhe O'Callaghan up from the Cork branch to teach us her technique on sewing really skinny lines.  We're talking less than 1/4" for most of them. 



Ailbhe gave us fabric to practice on and it took the whole morning to piece in these 3 lines!  We were all concentrating really hard to get them perfect!  Ailbhe is going to use all our practice pieces for a quilt which I thought was a great idea!


In the afternoon, we had a go at designing our own bigger project using lines of different colours.  I went for a grid as an underlay and they added some triangles on top.


To be honest I spent the rest of the class fiddling as I couldn't make my mind up which way to go. 


A giant A or maybe something that looks like a Star Trek communicator?


I was also distracted  by everyone else's progress and couldn't resist wandering around the room.  I just loved Claire's bright neon look.


Even her scraps were gorgeous!


That's as far as I got, 1 finished and 1 designed, kind of!  I'm happy with that, every little helps, right?

6 comments:

  1. Oh! That's what I said when I saw your Bassett! Love that! Every since I was at a retreat where one girl did a felted wool purse, I have wanted to try this. Regarding the skinny lines designing, maybe you just need your own space and quiet to figure it out and decide. :-)

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  2. That felted dog is adorable. You did a great job with it.

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  3. What a gorgeous addition to your sewing room Ruth and no need to protect your wires and slippers from him either :)

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  4. A friend of mine has been felting recently too , and I feel drawn towards it . Your Bassett puppy is lovely

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  5. What a gorgeous felty rendition of a dog. I have never tried needle felting. It looks like such fun.
    I vote for a Star Trek communicator!

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  6. What a gorgeous puppy and no trouble at all I'll bet!!! Sometimes I forget to walk around the room when I am at workshops - sometimes that's the best bit!!

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