TEXTURED TREASURE...

LOOK what my Mum unearthed in a local charity shop today! This amazing collection of threads of every kind of texture, shade and thickness imaginable.

Each colour selection jam-packed into large plastic sweet jars, so old and discoloured that you couldn't make out the contents properly through the smokey plastic, until they were tipped out at home and their true colours revealed...

Embroidery silks, crochet cottons, some famous names and foreign labels, DMC, Appletons fine wools, mohair, chenille, slubby hand-dyed textures, variegated threads old & new…

Apparently they belonged to the grandmother of the lady working in the shop. She obviously led a very creative life and appreciated the value of her threads, saving every scrap left after finishing projects (just like Mum & I)

Coincidently, 10 minutes earlier we had been looking at new threads for sale and in particular skeins of Cotton Perle at £1.30 each! 

EACH jar of threads cost just £2...  And these are the contents of THREE jars...

Green must have been a favourite colour as this was the most tightly packed jar, with such an interesting mass of skeins and tiny twists all neatly tied up.

I just love colour and texture so apart from any practical use they just look amazing!

As someone just starting out on the embroidery road I don't yet have a stash of threads and certainly couldn't afford to buy this range and quantity, so this sets me up very well. Also, acquiring threads in this way just appeals to my frugal nature!

As I've been sorting through them I can't help thinking of their previous owner. What did she make with all these threads? And how she treasured all the left-over scraps thinking that one day they would come in handy! Now they've found their way to me and what I personally don't use in my sewing and felting I will take along for everyone to use in my workshops.

Our local charity shops are absolute treasures troves and it's been my lucky week...

I found this large Melin Tregwynt cushion a couple of days ago, 

I'm not going to say what I paid for it, but needless to say it was another bargain!

FLOWER CUSHION - Alpaca Style...

There was a noticeable chill in the air this morning as the seasons change and we slip into September... But what a wonderful summer we've had, and a busy one too with lots of new workshops for children & adults at West Wight Alpacas.

As well as the usual felt making workshops at the farm I made a variation to my Shibori Felt Cushion design, this time using natural shades of alpaca. This 'Felt Cushion' workshop has proved to be very popular as it suits all abilities - beginners who come along to learn how to felt and experienced feltmakers who want to experiment with the alpaca fibre...

I simplified the original cushion project decorating the centre piece with beads instead of the cluster of 'shibori' felt balls. The rest of the flower design was made as before, using layers of pre-felted petal shapes. The dark brown petals were completely felted into the grey background square and the lighter shaded petals were partially needle felted over them to give the 3-D flower effect. 

Then the beads were stitched onto the grey felt circle. I also hand-stitched through the base of the petals to strengthen the needle-felting, attaching the layers firmly to the felt background as I know the cushion will get plenty of handling! The finished centre piece was placed over the top and stitched to hide the ends of the petals.

I particularly like the way the alpaca fibres give the petals wonderful tufty edges

Finally I made up the cushion by machine sewing the felted flower square to a fabric backing and stuffing a cushion inside...

And you can see it certainly has got Toffee's approval!

There's a new programme of workshops planned for this autumn at West Wight Alpacas. We are including another Felt Cushion workshop, as well as workshops for children during half-term and the Christmas holidays when they can come along and make a special Christmas stocking using alpaca fibre. 

I will be posting up the new dates very soon...