This has to be the ultimate in thread manipulation. This purse started as a piece of felt, two small scraps of velvet, several piles of roving, and miscellaneous fibers.

Needle-felting is so much fun! There is no measuring, no weighing, no timing, no bobbins to wind. Just free movement of the embellisher head with six barbed needles.

I couldn't find anything in cording saturated enough to go with the bright purple and orange, so I bought a skein of sari yarn at Quilt Festival last week and made my own!

This will be in an upcoming issue of Totally Creative, a new online magazine. The technique is also part of my Extreme Needle Felting workshop on http://www.quilterskeeplearning.com

Needle-felted jewelry

This is the first of several photos of needle-felted jewelry. This neck piece is perfect for me right now. With so much stress after my mom's passing, the lightweight necklace doesn't weight my shoulders down and cause muscle spasms—and the colors are yummy!

The base is green felt with a bit of yellow/rust/green hand-dyed silk hankie felted on top. There are a few beads (of course) added by hand and the back is finished with Ultrasuede. The silver part is 16-gauge silver wire that's been flattened on a tiny jewelry anvil with a chasing hammer.

This is a bonus exercise for the Extreme Needle Felting class I teach at Quilters Keep Learning http://www.quilterskeeplearning.com

Another photo tomorrow!

The first Extreme Needle Felting class goes live today. It is packed with information, exercises, tips, and ideas. The first class is so packed, I had to break it into three parts so the pdf could be easily downloaded. LOL!

There is so much potential for abstract fine art, as well as folk art, and more traditional designs. I can’t wait to see what directions class participants take the exercises!

The sample above uses a non-traditional technique that would probably make purists turn pale! It begins with variegated soy-silk roving in shades of yellow to peachy orange and creates a really interesting texture. This uses a synthetic fiber mix-in and will receive final embellishment in Week #4 of the lesson.

Follow this URL, if you'd like to join me: http://www.quilterskeeplearning.com/needlefelting.html