Inspired by Charleston

 This felt has appeared before.

 Its mellow palette was inspired by the interior of Charleston Farmhouse Sussex which we visited just before this time last year. 

I had been thinking about what to do with it and recently I got down to it and produced a whole pile of little pieces as is my wont....which I then stitched to a background.

 Near to it was ok, but from a distance....

 too confusing.

So I made a nice neutral piece of felt, got out my un-picker and re-positioned the pieces.

 I am really quite delighted with the outcome.

 Thought I'd share.

 It looks sort of Heraldic

 Well....anyway..there it is.

 This exact time last year we were in Symi...ahh Symi...Blue...hot....delicious..sea swimmy Symi.

However funds this year did not stretch to that bit of heaven so as I felt the need to be on an Island we went last Sunday to Anglesey in order to walk to Llanddwyn Island. Bu all accounts a very special place. However when we arrived after a 2 and a half hour drive we found there was a dog ban between 1st May and 30th September,  so we were confined to this beach..which was very nice but not Llanddwyn. 

(See the kite surfers? It was windy.)

And definitely not Symi.

I liked this though.

Forced

Here's the book I bought in Ireland which I threatened to add two posts ago but forgot.

Its full of lovely close up  photographs. see for yourself.

I've had a go at re creating the atmosphere and colours in felt , but what spoke to me wouldn't say anything to a viewer so its not being shown here.

However I took the colours and tried more.

This is the result. A work in progress. To be embroidered

a bit like this.

But its such a struggle.

What seemed to tumble out of my head once now has to be dug for, deeply,  .....forced..much like rhubarb. 

Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb.

(Spot the hidden message)

.........

Oh and I forgot to say, the silk flower purse tutorials are selling like hot cakes. Thank you for buying.

x

Influences

These felt brooches, as well as just the shapes without backs, have been in great demand.
Worldwide !
I love making them..I think I've told you that before, but its true.
My house is in a dreadful state and I'm building up to a mammoth clean but I keep sloping off into my sewing room to play with felt and velvet.

Duck egg and teal, orange and lime, are among my current favourite colours .

As I'm stitching one I'm thinking ahead to the next, so that some of the variations get skipped in the turmoil that is my mental design process.

'This one in orange, ooh what would it look like in green? with a black edge, skip the green,, just black...no.... orange spikes..dots..no I'll do both..' ,
but if I try to draw first it just doesn't work.

Anyway I was wondering where the shapes come from.

I've got a bit of a cold virus at the moment......really...


..maybe this is it?

Or this?


Autumn is coming along with some nice mellow sunshine, and the front door has at last been united with the rest of the woodwork by colour..a beautiful colour called 'Ball Green'.
The silver birch tree in the garden is turning lime and gold..so ..voila!
(Not silver birch but oak-ish)

Very fiddly to make.


Really much nicer than in the photograph and very much a prototype.

But what on earth influenced me to make this?

Was it my husbands recent project?


I really hadn't connected them until I glanced at his report again, which I helped him with last week.

Piles of inspiration!



If you are in the Uk have you been enjoying the Harris Tweed programmes?
I have a cupboard full of beautiful patterns and designs and I am totally committed to it for little purses bags and brooches ..coming soon!

Does anyone have any thoughts on Folksy?
My shop seems to be dying..hardly any views since a flurry of sales earlier..well.. 7!
I used to enjoy being part of a UK venture but I think I prefer Etsy .
Any thoughts?
By the way my toes in the previous post were in my walking boots and thats where they'll stay for photography purposes anyway.

Reasons

What makes you post?



Is it when you know you have failed miserably at something?

Or when you are inspired by something beautiful.. And its only grass.

Or is it when you want to share something you really love?

This is part of a beautiful embroidery my brother brought all the way from India for me.Or is it when you sit at your sewing machine with all your favourite materials and all your favourite colours and produce something you really like?

I made this cuff from the edge of the last piece of this brick red -coloured silk.

I liked it so much that I just had to squeeze two more tiny purses out of the rest of it.



More cuffs in different silks, and a good feeling of being productive, made me want to post.

What makes you want to post?

Just for those people who asked after my last post..the man with the van came the next day and took my Laptop away in a pink crate, with a lot of other pink crates, and disappeared over the horizon.

I am waiting for news.