Fab Felt!

First of all, I want to share something I saw while I was on a window shopping after lunch and wine day! I walked by a bridal store and saw this dress:

La Sposa Wedding Dress

La Sposa Wedding Dress

My jaw dropped, it really did! I went inside and after some discussion, (and the mention of havThen ing a blog) finally got the saleswoman to tell me who makes the dress: La Sposa! There are tiny little feathers sewn all over the skirt - it's beautiful! You can see the full La Sposa wedding gown and formal wear catalogue at their website.

I looked at all their gowns on their website, and they are all so pretty! Too bad I'm already married! It's tempting to buy it, to hang it in my studio -  but that's a lot of money to hang a dress!

This past weeked, I started working on an Eden Prairie series of pieces that represent the city I live it, and the nature we're immersed in. First I started with a piece of my hand dyed fabric:

Then I layered on some pieces with fusible on the back:

Then I added the netting layer on top, and also added some scrunched netting to get a water effect:

There is roving felted onto the cattails, as well as bits and pieces felted into the water area. I was doing this with my small hand held felting needle.

Here's a couple images of my local area that is the inspiration:

I can't wait to get the binding on this one!

Then last night, I was given an early birthday present (Thanks Z & S!):

A Janome Felting Machine! So far I have been playing around with things like this:

But, I did get some wool yarn felted onto a scarf I am working on:

I am so excited about the possibilities open to me with this machine! I look forward to sharing project ideas with you, using felting techniques!