Refured "woolie" #2 .
I tried a different technique for this one and saved about an hour,(only 5 hours), and several less finger pokes . After "skinning" the furbie, I covered the base in alpaca sweater material that I had previously wet felted and sewed it in place . I used some alpaca build up for the wings, tail and ears . The rest was the same...place the wool where I wanted the particular color and poke, poke, poke . Good fun had by all . I'm still debating adding feet .

I think I'm going to give the alpaca fiber from Northstar Alpaca for the new project . It's all natural colors and I'm hoping for a more teddy bear/cuddly effect with some of the curly locks for accents . I'm a little nervous about using this because it is so soft and I don't want to lose the softness by over felting but I want it to be secure enough to handle with out losing any fiber . Wish me luck .

Woolies...the refured "furbies"

Keep in mind...this was my first attempt. I didn't want to waste my best fiber, in case it didn't work out so it has a Romney base and I used some of the fiber that I really didn't know what to do with "color wise" .

The whole thing to about 6 hours of nonstop needle poking and most of that was just laying down an under base to felt onto. Would probably be much faster if I actually just sewed on an under suit of wet needle felted fibers and then felted onto this but I went 100% fiber...that's a lot of poking, lol. I needed a thick solid base to lay the fiber onto or I'm going to end up breaking needle on the plastic base . More experimenting ahead, I couple more of these and I will feel safer about using the alpaca and Marino which will be a joy to work with .

More tonight . Upside...although I poked myself about 20X, I am no longer drawing blood(much)...think my finger tips are getting tougher .

North Star Alpaca and Copperpot

There should have be a warning before just throwing these pictures on-line...fiber porn alert or something . The first to pictures are alpaca(cutest animals ever and some of the softest fiber I have ever touched . This stuff is just amazing and this Etsy seller through in two free ounces because she thought I needed to balance it out with a lighter color...she was right . She also included a lovely bag of lavender to keep out the moths, very nice surprise opening the sweat smelling box.

The second picture is also from North Star Alpaca...some lovely locks . They did have a tiny bit of VM but easy to fix that and they will look so cute on the furbies...ooops. Gave the surprise away.

The third picture is of a skinned furbie . I went through a "phase" of collecting these a few years ago and never liked the fake fur on them so....I figured out how to skin them and now I just need to figure out how to give them a nicer skin . I'm going to directions for these. One is cute and cuddly with a Romney wool felted tightly for a base and then gently felting the layers of alpaca with a final few locks randomly placed for a bit more textural interest . The second kind, I am going to go a bit wilder with the sculpting and color . I'm thinking dragons, aliens...things with long tails, horns, wings....I want these to have brighter colors and will probably use the fiber from Copperpot .

The last picture is some amazing blends from Copperpot on Etsy . I love the way she blends this Merino, it's a pleasure to the eye and the hand . Honestly, my camera doesn't do it justice .

Just to mention, I do want to feature some other fiber artists in the future . I was so busy needle felting the past few weeks that I forgot to give credit to some of the women who I have been buying fiber from and they really deserve it . I will go back through my stock and get some pictures and names of some of them in the near future .

In the mean time. It is back to work for me tomorrow and more felting while the women I care for are sleeping . Not a bad job and they haven't complained about the needle felting noise, so that's a blessing .

This is an example of one of the bottle holders, (in the above two, it's holding the bottle .) It looks a bit distorted in the last picture because I couldn't get it to stand up straight without a bottle . The ones I am going to be sewing will mostly be for smaller 20oz bottles and would also work for soda cans...I think the wool is good for keeping the beverage cold and absorbing that annoying "sweat" that happens when cold bottles meet summer air .

These are just "blanks" that I will be sewing into neck purses and water-bottle holders . I will probably do some beading on them after they are sewn and add a leather or fiber necklace to the bags and a clip for the water bottle bags so they can be clipped to purse or belt loop .

These were originally going to be sewn onto some barrettes but imagine this...I made them 1/4" to small . See,, if this was book binding, I would have to throw them away because 1/4" is a huge error but these can just be turned into pins . The top ones will be beaded and the last 4 just show what happens when you try and fit a big picture in a 2" space...it's hard ! Uhm, the last one is a puppy that started out as a bear . yeah, it's only my second month needle felting folks .

Axman shopping spree for needle felters

A new Axman opened a few blocks from me...yes, I am a very lucky girl. For anyone reading this that has never had the pleasure of Axman, it is a surplus store that sells very odd over stock from medical, scientific, electronics and military but they also carry a few craft items. You never know what you will find when you venture in but there is always a few good deals to be had and it keeps some cool things out of land fills .

The first picture shows some of the small felting pads(some have a black velvet that could also be used for jewelry display) and these little plastic brush? "things" that will be a good support when doing small needle felting balls . They are travel size . The picture also includes two of the needle felting needles I use that I wrapped in leather so they are more comfortable to hold . I'm still going to end up with carpal tunnel before my obsession is over but we all must sacrifice for our obsessions..yes?

I only bought one of the second item. It is a water proof container that I want to make a nice felted cover for...I will replace the cheap little strap with some nice fiber or leather and they will fit most cell phones, ipods and anything you don't ant to get banged up in your purse . They were only 95cents, so I may go get a few more if this one works out .

Third purchase was something that you can use to card fiber (if you can't afford the $75 paddles and I can't) . They were only a dollar, so worth the the cost but to small to do much with . They should work for the dog hair from Andra that I need to card after washing . Hoping to finish that needle felting some time this year .

Last item is several pounds of leather "waste", strips that will be perfect for hanging felted pendants on and am also going to felt up some cat toys that will be attached to the leather for "cat fishing"...my cats love that game and they have been having a blast with their new felted balls...I think they like the smell of the sheep ?

Just had to share my new stim toys...two very large and heavy metal balls . A decadant $6.00 from Axman shopping spree . Love 'em !
Great for meditating .

Top and bottom are a panel piece for a purse with an alien theme..not sure what I will do for the other side yet but given my plethora of fall colored fiber, I think it will probably revolve around Mars.

The second and third pieces were originally going to be a cuffs, but I think given that winter is almost over(eternal optimist that I am)...I may use it for a water bottle cover . I love the ones that you can hang from a cord, so need to work on some kind of straps for them . They should work well for keeping water bottle cool .

Last and least...(or at least my poorest photos and non needle felted for the most part .

The first is a quilted bag I made as a laptop bag, I repurposed an old quilt for this because I thought the fabric was so...shiny and a shame to waste . it's lined with some really soft grey fleece, so has nice protection for a computer .

This is two hard to show without someone to model it(and I am to shy)...but it actually looks really cool as a neck wrap . A repurposed fake fur coat and lined it with a deep plum fleece . Still need to add the wooden button . It has two pockets in it for phone and Ipod, so practical as well as funky and warm .

This third item is going to a friend who I thought would be bed ridden after getting out of the hospital but I think is already up and doing calisthenics. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled at her recovery but had hoped she would get some use out of this "lap robe" with pockets for her book, glasses, chocolate and other necessitates when stuck in bed all day . Perhaps she can tuck the top edge between her two mattresses and use the pockets for extra storage ?

The last is the purse I made with the flap that has pockets on it...this is what it looks like when you tuck the flap in and button the felt button.

Anothertwo purses made of wet felted(fulled?) sweaters that are then needle felted . My sewing is almost embarrassingly poor, very sturdy and mostly hand sewn but my stitching is not very even . The flap on the first one is actually not meant to be centered(honest) because I sewed in a cell phone pocket that I wanted some one to be able to get to easily, without opening the purse . Does look a bit "funky" but seemed like a good idea at the time .

The second bag is made so the flap itself has two pockets that can be either in or out of the bag depending on taste and desire for convenient access vs security . There are also two pockets sewn onto the handle for smaller items,like lip gloss, change, sunglasses. I didn't take pictures of the insides yet but the first one is a "fake?" suede with several large pockets and two smaller pouches that you can access without opening the bag...the second bag has no internal pockets(unless you put the flap inside) but has a beautiful Batik' quilting inside and a hand sewn suede bottom added .

One of these days I will learn to use a purse pattern instead of "inventing it" as I go along .

Day the earth stood still scarf....really hard to get a good picture of a 3 foot scarf ! The last item is one of the felted pendants I worked on last week...trying to leave a bit more texture to the felting then the purses . It's about 2" and light weight, a bit weird but I think it's kind of cute and a good way to use up some of my beading supplies, (since I done really like making jewelry but love buying pretty rocks . )