Not very exciting felt, but a few pre-felts in preparation for my doll making class next weekend with Kay of Felt Alive.

Here’s a closer look. Next time you see these, they will be doll clothing, hopefully.

Speaking of Kay, look who came to visit! And I finally met Kay in person. Her husband got a photo of us together but I didn’t get one. You’ll just have to wait until next week.

This is another piece of fabric that I painted last week. Not sure what I’m going to use it for but I like it.

Kath got her flowers page for April so I can show it to you now. It’s based on beargrass and indian paintbrush wildflowers. Mainly all hand stitching because I couldn’t use the machine much last month. The big flower is made from Lutradur that I painted. A friend, Jan, gave me a big piece so that I could play with it. Thanks, Jan!

The back ground was hand painted. The edging is layers of fabric and thread collage covered with a green sheer, lattice hand stitched and then burnt back with a heat gun.

Here’s  a closer look at the hand stitching. I used machine threads so it would be very delicate. It seemed to take forever. I made a machined cord to go around the edges and frame it all a bit.

Here’s the back. I used a photo of beargrass and printed it directly on the Lutradur. I didn’t treat the Lutradur and if I do this again, I think I need to get some of that print medium to paint on the Lutradur first. But this worked OK.

Here’s my river rock piece on canvas. My hubbie was a bit concerned that it wasn’t centered but I like the asymmetrical look.

And a closeup. I like the painted canvas and how it makes the felt seem more professionally finished. I am going to be mounting more of my flat felt pieces this way.

Hope you all have a good weekend and if you’re a mom, Happy Mother’s Day!

I spent all day painting today. I can’t show you the page that I painted as it is for The Story of the Traveling Pages swap with the theme of leaves. But that is what I spent most of my time doing. You’ll have to wait to see more of that later. I did add a few bits to this journal spread which is an ongoing project.

I also put a coat of textured gesso on this canvas. I am going to paint it and then add my river rock felt piece. So far it is just boring white. But I am working on things, just can’t show anything very exciting right now.

Here’s the daffodils today compared to last week when there was only a couple blooming. That’s Symphony coming down the path showing off her new hair cut that she got yesterday.

Here’s a shot showing most of the ones blooming. There are still a bunch that aren’t blooming yet. It’s a beautiful day here and it feels so spring like. It’s supposed to get colder this weekend though.

This is a felted piece that I have slowly been working on. It is based on the colors of river rocks.

Here’s a close up to show some of the hand stitching. I did sew on the machine today. I decided not to wait any longer due to my back injury.  So I did 4 sessions of sewing today that lasted between 5-10 minutes each. I just was getting so discouraged about not being able to do what I wanted to do so I decided that I would do things in small time increments and then rest in between. That is working well and I’m much happier than just not doing any. It may take a bit longer but I’ll get it done eventually. Now I just have to figure out how to felt without re-injuring my back. The problem is that I don’t have a dedicated felting space. I usually work in the kitchen and I can’t just leave a half finished project lying about. But I’ll figure out something.

The other exciting news: Kay Petal of Felt Alive is coming to Kalispell and teaching a 3 day workshop on needle felting dolls. I signed up for the class with a couple of friends. The class is in the middle of May and hopefully, my sitting tolerance will have increased a bit by then. But I’ve always needle felted at the store standing up so that won’t be a problem if I need to change positions. I’m excited to finally meet Kay. I’ve ‘known’ her online for a long time so it will be fun meeting and taking a class from her. If you’re in the area, there are still openings for the class. It’s being held at Camas Creek Yarn in Kalispell May 14-16.

Not sure how many of you read Seth Godin’s blog as it is more of a business blog. But he wrote an interesting post today called “I Quilt”. Not really about quilting but still thought provoking. Go check it out.
The photo is a composite of work by Francy Kling Blumhagen. We carry her mixed media cards in the store.

For me it isn’t spring until the daffodils bloom. Today is the first day for blooms. They poked their green shoots up on March 6th (which was really early) but haven’t bloomed because it has been cold and snowy off and on since then.

This one is the first to be almost all the way open. But I’ve got many, many more that will be blooming soon. It’s in the 60’s here today but supposed to get cold again next week. Ahh… spring in Montana.

I can’t leave you without a little of what I’m doing in the fiber world. I still have to say that it isn’t much. My back is taking it’s time in the healing process. I did sew on the machine for about 10 minutes today but it still isn’t very comfortable. I am working on my Traveling Page for April – the theme is flowers and the photo above is a peak at what I’ve done so far. It’s all hand stitched as I can do that in little bits at a time.