What is Needle Felting?

While I would love to have this post be about my wonderful trip to see my kids and grandkids - it's not!

What kind of grandma goes and visits and can't get any decent pictures!!

My excuse...my camera is on its last legs and I didn't take it with me and my husband's little camera only took pictures that a (grand)mother could love.

So instead this is a post on needle felting because while in Georgia I got to meet the mom of a friend of Hannah's (I know this is going to get confusing. Please hang in here with me:) who wanted to talk about my Etsy experience. I will share more about Cynthia when she opens her Etsy shop. I want to be one of her first sales. Sorry, now I am really off track.  ANYWAY, one of her questions was 

'What is needle felting?'

So here are a few pictures to explain a little about needle felting but this is definitely not a tutorial.

You start with some wonderful loose wool (love the stuff!!!) and a very
sharp barbed needle and a pad to work on. You really can't see the barbs on the
sides of the needle but you can feel them with your fingers.

 You take some of the wool and start stabbing it with the needle.
The barbs will tangle the wool fibers making the wool denser or felted.
The more you stab the denser it will get.  

You add more wool to sculpt a shape. This is where my teaching abilities fail me.
It is still a little bit of a miracle to me to think that I can make something out of wool
that actually resembles a little goose or an elephant.

In my Etsy shop.

My workspace!

Cheesy picture of me needle felting. Even though this is staged
I am normally surrounded by a lot of wool and projects
that I am working on or are inspiration for the next project.

 I buy most of my supplies online. I have noticed that the craft stores are starting to sell 

needles and some wool if you want to give it a try. 

There are many tutorials online and the applications are endless.

 I've found that needle felting is very theraputic although my husband has accused me of using it as way to take out my frustrations. I think he is afraid of the whole voodoo doll thing:)

So... Happy Felting!

Talk again soon,

My Needle Felting Pad

Just thought I would share my solution to the messy needle felting pad dilemma. I have tried several different pads but they all eventually get full of colored fiber that then spreads to my project. Ugh!!
So my little epiphany was to stack my old pads and then cover them with a pillowcase that can be taken off and washed after each project. I also like the added height since I sit on the couch to needle felt.

My first pad is the thick one in the middle. It adds height to my pad.

The white ones on the top and bottom are soy mats which I really like because of their
texture and density.

Cheap pillowcases with a looser thread count work best.
I can flip the pillowcase over several times.

I would love to hear what other needle felters do for their felting pads.

Flea Market Find

My Mom came out from California for a visit and our favorite thing to do together is antiquing so I thought I would share one of my little finds:

 A cast iron sheep to go with my little wooly ones.  I think they approve:)

Online Shopping

Well this is embarrassing! I forgot to mention that I never thought I would ever buy anything online (see my first post). Oh well, I will just have to confess that I now love to shop online because I wanted to share this beautiful box of wool yarn I got in the mail. Yes I ordered it online and it is not at all my first purchase however it is my first yarn purchase. I have always loved to crochet but it has been limited to scarves and afghans.

But when I saw some wonderfully felted wool bowls online-I had to make some too. I love how I can combine my two favorites, crocheting and felting wool into one project.

So I have been on a crochet spree making little bowls. They are so soft and wooly after they are felted.

What's in a name...?

When thinking about a name for my crafting, we came up with an amazingly long list of names mainly having to do with wool, sheep or needlefelting. Some were already taken and some were hilarious such as the one my son came up with--Wool Slayer. He thought it worked since I have to stab the wool so many times.

In the end I used Scarlet Cord because of its meaning to me. I love the incredible story of faith and salvation in the book of Joshua. How the woman Rahab had the faith to help God's people and trust God to save her and her family.  She hung a scarlet cord out her window and when the walls of Jericho fell, her house was still standing. The scarlet cord to me is a reminder of the salvation that I have received through the blood that Jesus chose to shed on the cross for me.  It helps me keep all things in perspective.

Needlefelting-Who Knew?

 Almost two years ago I was visiting my daughter Liz and her hubby Steve in N. Carolina. One of my favorite things to do when we are together is to go to the book store, sip carmel machiattos and read magazines. That's when I found an article about putting a wool design onto a wool scarf with a special type of needle and I was totally mystified. So of course I went online and found a whole new world. A special thanks to so many people who share their knowledge and time so generously. I have done a lot of crafting over the years but this one (and crocheting) is totally ADDICTIVE! I thought I'd share a then and a now picture.

Fascinated with birds from the beginning!

Getting a little creative.