Felting fun day!

My mom/mother-in-law and sisters/sister-in-laws and I have been trying to get together for a felting fun day, but ALL of our schedules have been so busy this summer that it has been difficult to find a day that works for all of us. So, I called kind of last minute last week and told them that whoever could make it was invited over on Saturday to felt some purses. My soon to be sister-in-law, Patricia, and my sister, Cristen, were the only two that could make it - but we had fun!

Here is Patricia working on hers. They were making fun of me because I would explain how to do something by first saying "ok, you aren't supposed to do this, but this is how I do it". I don't know what I do differently, but unfortunately my techniques were causing Patricia to break needles. She only broke two and that is pretty common for beginners, but I still felt bad.

Here is her finished bag. She wanted a tree or branches with a crow on it and I think she did a great job! She also put a pocket on the inside that I'm sure will come in very handy!

Here is my sister working on her purse. She didn't put a pocket in hers and just zipped right along, so we were making her felt extra long to make sure it would REALLY stay. She put a flap on the outside with a magnetic closure.

She is due in November and I was beginning to wonder if she was really pregnant because she still wasn't showing 2 weeks ago. She has a little bump now :)

The colors she chose compliment each other nicely.

Hopefully everybody else can come over next time.

Custom Bags

I have been working on a few custom bags.

This was a special request from Michelle at Boulderneigh. She raises Shetland sheep and I traded her for some roving from her sheep. The fiber is lovely and I can't wait to spin it.

This bag wasn't a custom one, but it inspired the gal who ordered the next one.

The angoras were a little tricky, especially the red one but the lady was great in regards to giving me feedback and I hope she is really happy with it!

Last but not least is Ziggy with the bag that I made for his buddy Tisha. Isn't he a cutey? He loves to race!

Currently the bags come in the light blue and dark blue, but I am working on dyeing them. I experimented with dyeing the lighter blue and am really excited with the results.

The results confuse me a little :) The original color is on the left and I got the red by dyeing with bright red and the green was achieved by dyeing with a mustard yellow. I thought the dyes would blend with the light blue dye - red/blue make purple and yellow/blue make green. The green was what I expected but not the red. I like the red better than purple so that was a nice surprise!

And look at my Goodwill find...

We have a large outdoor burner, but I needed a big pot to dye in.

The added bonus is that it has a strainer in it! Stay tuned for the results.

I have added a few new totes to my etsy store and would be happy to make a custom tote or purse for you!