Tag Archives: Bag Lady Swaps

Fibres at last!

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Today I tracked down the parcels that Carmen and I have been waiting 2 weeks for, they had got bogged down in Gorey of all places!  Anyway, instead of spending a full day felting I hot footed it to Gorey this morning and was thrilled to discover that all the books, fibre, bits and bobs from Wollknoll and the RUGS had finally made it safely to Ireland.  A big relief. 

I decided when I eventually got home that I really needed to tidy the studio up a bit (more than a bit if truth be told) before I could even get the box into the room.  A couple of hours later I spent a really enjoyable time unpacking and sighing over all the wool and little extras that I had bought on my recent trip to Germany.  Obviously I then needed to actually try out some of the wool, a scarflet, couple of corsages and a piece of flat felt to be made into a bag for ‘Bag Lady Swaps’ later and I am ready to call  it a day. 

This weekend, internet connection permitting, I am going to finish my posts about the rug making workshop with Mehmet Girgic.  Next on the adgenda is to put up a page about the classes I am running for the winter and then I need to put up some items on my Etsy shop, ah well, it is best to be busy!!

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Stiffening felt and exchanging handmade items.

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Many thanks to Nancy in San Francisco who suggested using either dissolvable interfacing or cellulose paste as a stiffener for felt.  It is great to be able to pose a question on this blog and get an answer almost immediately from the other side of the world! 

Speaking of the other side of the world, would anyone be interested in signing up to a craft swap if I organised it, exchanging something simple and hand made possibly with a festive theme?  I thought that we might get a group of us together and make an item or two for a swap buddy (think I am becomming obsessed with swapping) and possibly include a recepie, obviously the idea would be to receive something nice in exchange!  Please reply to this post if you think that it would be a good idea and I will put a challenge together if at least 10 people want to swap.

Continuing the handmade theme, check this out, I have just signed the pledge. I Took The Handmade Pledge! BuyHandmade.org

On the felt side of things I have been doing a few experimental pieces incorporating either cords or tails and will post a couple of images here tomorrow or on Tuesday.  I really need to knuckle down to the felting as Alan and I will be going away for a couple of days soon and I need to complete my work for ‘Breaking Out’.  It is still not sure if my work will be in the exhibition yet and I must say that I am a little worried in case I do not make something that the curator is happy with.  Anyway, I am delighted to have got so far in the process but have to admit that I will be really disappointed if my work is not included. 

Sylvia, my swap buddy from ‘Bag Lady Swaps’ has now received my package and thankfully seems to be happy with the colours and bag, this is despite my dreadful sewing.  Click here to view the images that she has posted to the group forum.

Bag lady swap and podcast news!

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Back from a couple of days R & R in Austria I have just finished lining the bag that I have been working on for my first swap as part of an online Flickr group ‘Bag Lady Swaps’.   The challenge was to create a bag using any technique that you had not previously used or something that you felt uncomfortable doing or lacked confidence in trying.  As I have mentioned before sewing is just not me but I hope my partner will be happy that I took on the challenge!  Firstly I created a nice piece of felt with her favourite colour blue as the background.  I tried to make the blue look watery and the surface design of white and pale pink waterlillies was added using some hand made lustrous silk and merino wool pre-felts, the lining is a striking rich blue silk.  I really enjoyed creating the felt for this bag and intend making a larger wallhanging in the same theme, as soon as the package is posted and I know that Sylvia (she lives in Denmark) has recieved it I will post some images here on the blog.

Tomorrow morning I will be recording an interview about my experiences with blogging, this will be published later this month in an on-line Podcast.  To be honest I really need to update my knowledge about all things relating to social networking and am really excited to have booked in to Podcamp, an ‘unconference’ taking place in Kilkenny on 27th September.  Why not check it out and see if you would like to join us!