Pet sale!

This trio were designed for the sadly now discontinued 'Craftseller', and were featured in April 2015. They were made specifically to a tight design brief, which is why they are a little different to my usual work. Anyway, the time has come to clear out some of my old designs and raise some funds, so I am offering them up for sale. They can be found in my  Etsy shop here, at low prices as I am clearing the decks.

 

 'Toby' is  4 x 4½ inches (9.5 x 8cm). He was my favourite.

'Bunty' was named after my favourite magazine when I was a little girl (which puts me at a certain age). She measures 4 x 3 inches (9.5 x 7.5cm).

And 'Daisy'. Just 'Daisy'. She measures 3½ x 3 inches (9 x 8cmm). I'll be adding more discontinued designs to my sale in the coming weeks.

Baby hare and flying swans

In-between other things, I have been working on new designs for next year's workshops and the first is this baby hare. 

I am also holding my first local workshop, in Shrewsbury, at a fabulous venue, the Victorian home of Sarah, who runs Fern Dell bed and breakfast near Shrewsbury Abbey. We were hooked up by BBC radio Shropshire on the Jim Hawkins show, after he interviewed me one morning and I mentioned that I was looking for a suitable workshop place.  Seconds later, Sarah had contacted me on Twitter and within 24 hours we had things pretty much sorted.

 So baby hare will be tried for the first time next year on March 2nd, a Thursday. It's an all day workshop and Sarah will be providing a home cooked lunch and refreshments, all of which is included in the price. However, it has booked up pretty quickly and there are only three places left.  If you'd like to see more details, you can find them on my workshop page - booking is directly through myself.  And if you'd like to see the beautiful Fern Dell, the website is here and more lovely photos here in Sarah's Instagram feed. 

For this weekend only I am having a mini Black Friday sale on these three large, hanging  winter swans, reduced to £40 each plus postage. Each one took two days to needle felt and hangs on silver wire with suspended glass tear drop beads and a twist of silver gauze ribbon.  They are the top featured items in my Etsy shop, or direct links are underneath each picture.

 WINTER SWAN ONE HERE

WINTER SWAN TWO HERE

WINTER SWAN THREE HERE

Rainy Day Sale

My mum used to tuck things away for 'a rainy day'. This was usually a pile of old comics or a book that she had picked up at a jumble sale, for when I was sick or if it was literally a rainy day. I've been saving my book toys for a rainy day, and that time has come. So everything I have left from my book 'Little Needle-Felt Animals' is up for grabs. I've tried to keep prices as low as possible, and there are small things -

 And larger things - 

I am often asked how I can bear to part with my work, and my usual answer is that I can't pay the bills or mortgage with a needle felt cat. I am pretty torn about selling these little friends, as creating them for my book got me through my darkest hours when I lost Andy. But they've decorated my studio for long enough, so I'm hoping at least some of them will find new homes. They're all available in a special sale section in my Etsy shop here. All come with signed name tags and a little certificate tag.

Needle felt tinies and new workshops

Tiny Polar Bear (sold)

I  recently updated my website and for the first time (ever) catalogued all my designs by year and month. Nine years of almost non-stop needle felting.  It took many days of hunting on various camera cards and through this blog and Flickr, but eventually I got there.

 Tiny Squirrel doll for sale on Etsy

Looking through it was a bit of a wake up call and I was able to look at my work and realise not only that I've done a phenomenal amount of work, but also that I've not really moved on, stylistically. Although, to be fair, the last few years haven't exactly been the time for creative navel gazing.

Tiny Crow girl for sale on Etsy 

I think it has a lot to do with the last few years of creating commercial patterns, which have to be easy to make, and doing so many workshops, ditto. So I've not really stretched myself. 

 

Little King for sale on Etsy

 

I think making myriad cute toys has almost run it's course for me, after all, I've been doing them for nine years. So I've been finishing off several bits and pieces, including this set of tiny animals and bird dolls, which despite being small, take around six hours plus to make

Little Horse Girl for sale on Etsy

As usual, I've bunged them on dear old Etsy. I'll be starting a shiny new website soon, for my new work. 

 Petite Maison for sale on Etsy

I started a new and very 'grown up' line of work this summer, but it is under wraps until I have several pieces. Suffice to say, I am stretching myself at last. 

Olga the Russian dog for sale on Etsy

While I'm cheerfully shoving things for sale under your noses, I may as well add that I've got some fabulous new workshops in the UK, for later in the year. I have two winter workshops in Hampstead, London at the Village Haberdashery - my first time in London! It's going to be the red eye train at crack of dawn for those two.

I am also going to be in Witney, Oxfordshire at the Witney Sewing and Knitting Centre. And in Birmingham, at the lovely shop of Lauren Guthrie, who was a British Sewing Been finalist in 2013, at Guthrie and Ghani. 

All of these courses, with links to the relevant booking pages, can be found on my website, on the Needle felt workshops page.

In other news, I've finally started painting properly again. But I'll spare you that for the time being.