Another Great Morning with Dorothy!

It was a chilly but pleasant day last day of winter and 25 of us gathered at the village hall in Hillsborough for some felting fun! This month, our own Dorothy Dinsmore was showing us how to make ropes and spikes. The ever inspirational Dorothy brought in many beautiful samples to show us the techniques. But first the Show and Tell.

Many members of the group attended Gail's recent lattice scarf workshop so there were some lovely examples to show everyone.Those who did not attend the workshop were so impressed that there were several requests for Gail to do this workshop again! Other items for the show and tell included Sarah's lovely spun wool from Portland breed that is unsuitable for felting, but spins beautifully.

Barbara's scarf from Gail's workshop!

There was also a silk hanky scarf made by Dympna. Ann McCullough modelled a scarf made by Dorothy. Gail also showed us the pieces that she made at an eco dying workshop in Dublin recently.

                                   Lots of talent on display!

Dorothy gave us a demonstration of how to make cords and spikes and we all set to work using our favourite colours and wools. The end result was a variety of items from long cords that could be used as necklaces to spiky samples. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I am sure they were inspired to add spikes and cords to their future work.

Elaine spoke briefly about the session next month, which will involve a knitted substrate. We are all intrigued to find out more.
Jane Fox.

Thank you Jane for doing the write up on the Felt in I was very sorry to have missed it! 
The application forms are now out for the Liz Clay workshop in July, so if you didn't receive one and would like one email at feltmakersnorth@gmail.

Cute wee local sheep and lambs!

Although this Mum was a bit cross with me and was stamping her foot, I think she was camera shy!

Finally we got a mention on the famous nuno felting website Nuno felted designs by Nancy E Schwab, which was lovely I love her blog too, packed with information and great tips! 

See you all at April felt in and remember this is your last chance to enter our Sheep photographic competition, the finalist photographs will be used on the blog in the coming months. 

Happy Felting!
Fiona Harvey

Lattice Nuno Scarf!

This colourful workshop was taken by our very own Gail Cooke, and here are some of her beautiful samples!

Gail explaining the lattice scarf technique.

Explaining the importance of planning spacing of silk.

Gail explaining how to work out the width of lattice effect.

Laying of wool lattice enclosing silk.

                                 Concentration!!!!

Tina helping Leah with her layout.

Deirdre working on her design.

Helen and Dorothy hard at work.

Will I or won't I??? Decision time for Sharon.

Gail and Bronwen checking layout.

Happy girls- Dympna and Jayne.

Barbara happy with her choice of colours!

Sarah completing her lay.

Gail demonstrating the gentle rubbing needed to start the felting process.

Bronwen working on her scarf.

Sharon smiling as she works!

Working on tassel/fringes.

Example of tassels and use of silk to finish end of scarf.

Incorporation of silk into lattice.

Dympna with lovely scarf.

Dorothy looks pleased with her scarf.

Ann Mc Cullough 

I would like to thank Ann Mc Cullough for her pictures and comments on Gail's workshop, which looks as if it was great fun with fabulous results! I look forward to seeing some of these scarves at the next felt in. Talking of which the next felt in is Saturday 19th March starts with coffee at 10.15, Dorothy will be out tutor and its a surprise Felt in, so just bring your usual felting kit!

Mother's love,

Have a good week end. Fiona Harvey

Inclusions!

It was a wet and chilly February morning but 23 intrepid ladies braved the weather to learn about making inclusions in felt. But first we had our customary show and tell.

Fiona Harvey started us off with her beautiful beads, made under the tutelage of Dorothy Dinsmore at our last felt in! Elaine showed us three lovely nuno felted scarves that she had made.

Ann Fairly showed off her lovely needle felted Hare and a wet felted bag.

Tina made a beautiful needlefelted broach of a fox terrier buy sadly we didn't get a photo of it!

The session was led by the erudite Fiona Harvey, who demonstrated how incorporate inclusions into our felt, She showed us how to lay out our silk add a cut out piece of felt , which were then covered with wool.

Some of Fiona's samples

 Everyone completed a sample and each one was very different. Mary Larkin made a lovely rabbit and Dympna added sailboats on her sample.

 All the samples were colourful, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. It will be interesting to see if this technique appears in any work at our next show and tell.

Some of the samples at the end of the session!

Jane Fox

I would like to thank Jane Fox for writing this piece for the blog and taking the photos!

Just beofe I go I found this picture on facebook to inspire you all! How about this for Inclusions!

The sheep photography competition is still on if any of you would like to send in more photos it would be great, as they will feature in future blog posts!

I jumped out of the car again this week to photograph these fellows, sadly they thought I was going to feed them and came running up to me! So I will have to take them down some carrots?!

Keep felting and we look forward to seeing you at the next Felt in, Dorothy Dinsmore is back and its a surprise Felt in,...... all will be revealed!!

Fiona Harvey

Meditative Beads

Our first felt in for 2016 was very enjoyable. Despite the icy, cold weather, we had a tremendous turn out of enthusiastic feltmakers, ready to learn to learn how to make Meditative beads.
But first we had our show and tell Joanne showed us her adorable needle felted gnomes, each one with its own name, also her little sheep.

Next Donna showed us her lovely triangular bowls.

Liz brought a beautiful scarf she had made using Nancy Ballestros technique using silk hankies.

 

Gail modelled her fabulous hooded vest that she made at the Katia Moyeyeva

workshop.

Deirdre brought along a beautiful mermaid that she had made for a porcelain sculpture.

The felt in was led by our very own Dorothy Dinsmore, who had a birthday during the week so before she could start with the session, she was surprised with a cake and a round of happy Birthday!

Everyone worked away on their nuno felt beads, embellishing as desired, while Dorothy walked round with work from various people to help inspire! She also gave us advice and encouraged us. 

By the end of the session, we all had a few beautiful beads to use for a necklace. The atmosphere was very relaxed and it was fun to see all of the beads in every shape and size.

Joanne modelling some of Dorothy's beads!

After the felt in session, six people stayed on to work on a variety of items, which we will hopefully see at the next show and tell!

Jane Fox.

Thanks to Jane for her account of our January meeting, it was tremendous fun and great to see so many people!

 Our next felt in is 20th February, so check out the diary dates for details! I am looking forward to getting some sheep and lamb photos soon for our competition, remember the closing date is not till the end of April so you have plenty of time still to enter!

I couldn't resist this close up of Shrek, I have shown photos of him before, he was the sheep who avoided being sheared for quite a few years!

Be careful in this frosty weather but keep felting and hopefully see you all soon!

Fiona Harvey.