fragile heart colourful and quirky wool and felt accessories

handmade felt

Friday 15 March 2013

thistles and other things

Hello again, and apologies for being so quiet again for a while. I did say in my last post that I was hoping to get back to regular blogging after the Christmas rush, well....things haven't gone quite to plan. I was ill with a horrible chest infection over Christmas and since then I have been enjoying tackling some really interesting commissions. The first was from a lady who asked me to make her a felted centre piece for her table, she told me the colours she wanted me to use but other than that left the design up to me. I felt quite daunted at the prospect to start with but once I got going I really enjoyed the challenge.


I laid out the fibres incorporating pieces of silk and cotton fabric and this was the finished piece....



I then had another commission to make 18 thistle brooches for a Burns Summer Ball, lots of looking at images of thistles followed. Eventually I came up with a couple of designs, the first was a 3D design made of a number of elements, the thistle head was made by felting a ball and then stitching yarn onto it...


then I made the spikey leaves from felt....


and a lovely bit of woolliness at the base just finished it off nicely. 


This was the second design, completely different as you can see and involving stitching, beads and buttons...


The first design was chosen and here they all are....


As well as this I have had LOADS of orders for knitted infinity scarves and I'm still knitting them....and it's March !!! .....I'm not complaining though, it's great to be kept busy like this, there is an up side to this freezing weather after all !!!


I hope everyone is managing to keep warm and I hope to be back soon with a post about the new products I have been making for the galleries and gift shops I supply. Bye for now.

8 comments:

Jayne said...

How fantastic to have received so many interesting commissions Gill and lovely to see the process with which you create your pieces. The thistle brooches will be a hit at the Ball i'm sure and something the recipients will treasure. Nice to see you blogging again. Jayne x

Unknown said...

thank you Jayne :-)

Wendy said...

such beautiful pieces, I love that table topper

Unknown said...

thank you Wendy :-)

Pat said...

I admire your industrious, disciplined methods.... not to mention the inspiring and colorful work! Thanks so much for sharing it all.

Unknown said...

thank you Pie Lady Pat, my goodness, I've never been described as industrious and disciplined before....I just think of my work as 'faffing about' haha x

Rustic Vintage Country said...

Nice to see you around! I've always loved your work and am so pleased you are being kept busy with orders, how fantastic for you! x

Bodkin said...

just found you this morning so many good blogs so little time. love your work I will be back. hesta from bodkin