Heart Felt

Toadstools & Mushrooms

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn in the park

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full term

 

and now we are just waiting....

Little garden toadstool and a blue balloon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dyeing woolens

This week I've taken a few steps back to why I started Heart Felt.  

Sadie was a late winter baby and even though I was over the moon to have a little girl the thought of dressing her in baby pink wasn't quite my thing.   I started picking up beautiful hand knits from the thrift stores in fabulous condition and tried to think what I could do with them to make them more my style ~ earthy, homely and natural.  

That's when I started exploring dyeing and enhancing each piece with hand sewn felt motifs.  

This is Sadie wearing the very first piece I upcycled in 2007.

 

What I love about it the unpredictable out come.   Putting that first wool item into the dye and seeing it soak up the colour like a sponge and then adding another piece in to get a slightly different tone and then pushing the dyes limit by adding one more item to it and getting a totally different outcome.  I find that exciting.  The piece you were sure was wool turns out to be an acrylic mix and it doesn't work, it's all part of it.  It does take a little bit of time so over the years I have being doing less of it, but this week I've rediscovered my love for it.

Thank-you to my friends who have passed on their wonderful knits to the next baby.....I hope you don't mind that I've hand dyed them.

 

I've got a deep stainless steel sink in my kitchen ~ but a stainless steel bucket or large stock pot are great too.   Stainless steel jug and large metal mixing spoon is good too.  I don't bother using gloves because I love having dyed stained hands for a couple of days.

 

I think the final outcomes are pretty great and I can't wait to dress the little man up in them.

 

Simple hand sewn felt motifs make each piece unique.

 

The beautiful wee hat on the right was white with blue stripes, I love how the blue wool has turned purple in the red dye.

 

This one I left just plain but changed the buttons to turquoise glass buttons.

 

Sometimes it's just nice to appreciate the knitting skills and time that have gone into some to these.

 

Just in case.....I've made one for you.  

Available in my Felt shop.

 

Nearly full term....

and enjoying the little moments.....

Facebook Sale

Sadie and I have gone through her wardrobe and pulled out some clothing  she's grown out of.  

It's hard to part with some things, but we can't keep everything.

We are having a Facebook Sale, so pop over and take a look.

 

At least we have lots of photographs to keep as memories as she grows.

Any questions regarding the sale ~ just ask.

Jx

39 weeks

39 weeks and I'm feeling great.  I think the little one is feeling quite comfortable where he is right now, still with room to wiggle about.  I have a feeling he's in no hurry to meet us quite yet and I'm just kicking back enjoying all the free time I have.  

I have started my 14 weeks maternity leave and under no illusion how precious this time is.  The house is in the process of having a top to toe clean, but it's more of a 'now or never' feeling rather than nesting. It's good to get jobs done that I just don't seem to find the time to do normally.

On the top of my list was to get his things ready, his hammock up and dresser packed with winter woollies for when he arrives.   Oscar is enjoying this process too, I've been showing him photographs of him when he was a baby sleeping in the same hammock with 'Buddy Polly'.  At the moment he's enjoying tucking up soft toys into it and turning off the light, shutting the door and telling every one to 'shhhhhh ~ the baby is asleep'.

I've  been over whelmed with the amazing generosity of family, friends and blog friends who have given us their 'hand-me-downs' and beautiful handmade gifts.  Basically I haven't had to buy anything new which is very much appreciated.

Arcani Winner....

Thank-you for all your entries ~ Arcani has been blown away by your support,

but the winner of the giveaway is....

Congratulations Donna. 

Jx

Stitch cards

 

A fun craft inspired from here ~ 

I

 

The children each drew a picture onto a piece of cardboard.  

Make sure they fill the entire space up with their picture and with not too much detail.

 

Then get them to punture a hole along the lines of the picture

(not too close together, about 1 cm apart)  

We used a nail, but also found a darning needle good too.

 

Then with a needle stitch along the punctured holes with different colored yarn.

 

Supervision is needed as they are using nails and needles.  

 I also found I spent most of my time re-threading the needles, but the finished products were fabulous.  They finished off their stitch cards by colouring in the blanks with coloured pens.