A photo posted on the Yahoo Embellisher group reminded me of my little fairy house created for Evy of "A Bit of Stitch" a few years ago - I drew the shape of the bottom portion on to water soluble stabilizer complete with door and windows/shutters and needle felted roving on to silk chiffon (what I had on hand matched the blue of the roving) and then stitched the shutters. The removable top (to allow you to peak in at your fairy to make sure she is behaving herself) is an upside down bowl - needle and then wet felted. Textile medium was used so it would keep it's shape.

I'm so tickled and honored to have my blog nominated by Laurence as "inspirational" -- in turn I have to list 10 and I will in a day or so when I'm able to pare down my list - a very difficult task for me when there are so many talented people. THANK you Laurence, for such an honor and it amazes me that you are halfway across the world.

Remember the silk gauze that I dyed a few weeks ago in a pale French lilac? Well, before doing any big project, I like to do a small sample to learn about the materials so I know what I'm getting myself into before spending days working on an idea only to be disappointed. A sample tells me various things -- how well does the wool felt? At times, the wool transforms once felted and a glorious colorway melds into something less than gorgeous and gets "flat." In that event, I experiment more by adding another color, yarns or stitching to give the piece depth and interest. At times, the fabric doesn't do what I imagined or the color and texture takes on unwelcome properties once needle felted.

This past weekend, I worked on a sample with the French Lilac gauze and added some wool with tiny touches of silky mauve mohair. I fell just fell in love with the results. It's needle felted using my Babylock Embellisher and then wet felted. You just won't believe, how sheer, light and airy this sample is - it is impossible to capture this in a picture - wish I could pass a sample around for you to feel it! Every time I pass it, I want to look and touch. It's like a piece of a delicate fairy garment. This weekend, I plan to use the same technique to make a very long wrap. Keep tuned for more, once I complete it, I'll try my best to capture the essence and post it.

On another note, I'm absolutely thrilled beyond belief to have made it into a rug felting class taught by a famous world class felter. Here is a link to the website of Theresa May Obrien if you'd like to read more and I'll be sure to tell you all about it! www.woodscapeartistry.com