felting (2)

The online workshops of the "FILZTREFF" (Felting Camp)
were quite time consuming.
But it was fun working "along" other people
(although they were miles and miles away)
Day three of the first week
was for Bea Németh

This time she had (reluctantly) chosen
for stuffed animals and made
a gorgeous donkey as a possible prototype.
She used quite course wool that I normally don't
but on that I followed instructions.

But as often at moments like this,
I want to follow my own path
and not make exactly what is suggested.
So after I chose a fox and realized I didn't have the right colours for that,
I tried an otter
(haha, in case you don't know what it is)

in progress and finished

That was really fun
So, why not try another one ?

One that truly suits me (and my blog) ?

Though I initially thought
to only make coloured spots on its back
I ended up with the new idea
of coloured spikes !

Why make it easy 
when you can make it difficult
. . . .

And why not make ears AND antennas ?
(hmmm : those who KNOW about felting
know what I mean  ;-)  !)

Now I can introduce you to :

Bow !

Well I can tell you
there WERE moments
that I regretted my boldness haha !

But,

I love him !

mommy ...

After the first one 

there HAD to be another one

This one is quite a bit bigger than my first chameleon

so this must be Mommy !

(she's far cleverer with colours,

so she múst be the older one ...)

Here are "mother and child" together

I forgot to tell last time, 

that the "plan" to make such a beast

came from the wonderful CATS pdf 

that Gabi ("Filzkram") made

(in the end it doesn't really matter what kind of animal you make !)

The making of mommy

Though everything seemed all right in the end,

she really had some trouble standing up.

(I didn't make her legs strong enough ... grrrr ...

yes, lots to learn still,

so I made some wire adjustments

which I normally don't use !)

But ....

I can assure you :

she is a very sweet creature !

not a mouse .....

Here is the solution of the riddle

Ha  ! 

A very colourful beast

I'll show you the steps how it came to this.

After the first "mousy" bit, I attached the tail and a crest,

and the tricky bit : the legs

Because the feet were a bit too big, I just cut some bits off.

(this doesn't matter because I had to add another layer of wool)

Just like a real chameleon

he slowly changed colour !

till he was ready to dry

(Mmmmm ... silly beast, thought Bella)

Daughter continued too with a new project

after we took some new pictures of the (now dry) hat

This will be a jacket

valentine ... and a riddle

Daughter has been here yesterday and today

to do some serious felting.

When you are busy like that

it is always a treat to have dinner together.

After the hat that she wanted to make

was well on its way

we cooked together.

The desert was made of the leftover dough
of the pie

Beet root pie with lots of goat cheese

(and some other vegetables I had in the refrigerator)

The last layer of the hat

Still not completely dry, but ready for the photo

And because felting is such fun

I started something of my own in the kitchen.

Hmmmm 

what would that be 

.......

Any  ideas ?

a bit more challenge

Due to my work for the market

the last three weeks,

Sara's Challenge came a bit to a standstill

So I had to catch up a bit today.

According to Sara's instructions

there was first a bit of knitting 

(or crochet)

and integrate this into the needle felted page.

I didn't make any halfway pictures

so there's only the finished page.

I took some double sockyarn for the crochet.

Different stitches, and some chain loops at the end of the piece.

The needle felt is thin behind the crochet (left)

and thicker on the right side.

This time I just started with the crochet, and no further plan.

What to do next, what "line" could be there ?

The chain loops made a wavy line so then

"gymnastics with a long ribbon" jumped to my mind !

I'm always amazed, how these girls

make their wonderful exercise

with the loooooong swirling ribbon

without tripping over it !

(A tiny sketch on the back of an envelope to know what the girl must look like) 

*

And my "pink ribbon" lottery rabbit went in the mail this afternoon

to a new home in Kamperland.


(oops ..... it's already Saturday ... wrong date ...
off to bed  ;-) !)

40 !

 

These last weeks I've been busy,

but nothing of that ever appeared here

...

because it was a secret !

 

Today daughter celebrates a special bithday :

 

*  40  *

 

Oh my ... 

yes, that means :

 I've grown forty years older as well,

since that sunny Spring day she was born !

No, the time didn't pass in the blink of an eye,

we've had lots of wonderful times together

 

(and some not so wonderful, but that's life)

 

and she "gave us" also three wonderful grandchildren.

 

These wet (!) felted cats were one of her presents today

They are look-alikes of her own two Birma cats

(that stay at our house at the moment)

 

 

 

 

I made them with a PDF tutorial

I bought from my German blogging-friend Gabi

her felted animals are awesome !!!

 

 

But there was another present.

(I did this before, for two friends : and it was always a big succes !)

 

I had a little heart-shaped book

and asked a lot of family and friends to write / draw

something for her in it.

 

The book started its journey

but very soon I realized it wouldn't be finished in time,

if it was really sent to every person on the list.

...

So I started sending out double pages

to people who lived far away,

and asked them to return the finished page to me,

that helped a lot !

Ha, it was so special to recieve an envelope and open it !

 

But you can't imagine how many people thought

they weren't "creative"  enough ...

but let me tell you :

all the pages were special !!!

 

Then ...

the little book started to loose pages like leaves in autumn

GRRRRRRRRRRR

 

I finally solved the problem by buying a good sketch book

from my art supplies shop

and swithched the pages into that ... saved

pffffffffft !

 

 

 

 

 

 

A random selection of the pages

(so don't believe it when people say they're not creative)

 

Instead of drawing  I did some (thin) stitching

(which I had to hide when daughter payed us

an unexpected visit)

 

The fun part (for me) is

that there are bits and pieces of far-away blogging friends in it

(thank you Jude, Eva, Sus and Heike)

 

It was really a special gift !

I want to deeply thank all those people who participated

to make it a succes

 

!