Felting Inspiration – Wandering Lydia

Tea cup pincushion by Wandering Lydia

Wandering Lydia is a fellow member on the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team. Jody, the artist behind Wandering Lydia, creates amazing wool hats, mushroom gardens, and felt pins.  Each item is handmade from recycled felted sweater wool.  She purchases the sweaters from charitable thrift shops.  In doing this, Jody:

– supports the thrift shops’ work
– keeps the wool in use and out of a landfill.

After she purchases the sweaters, she cleans, felts, and sometimes over-dyes them.  At that point, she can begin creating. 

Jody’s work is unique, creative…and quite inspiring!  Take a look at this beautiful hat:

Felted hat by Wandering Lydia

She says about the hat is a great way to keep: “…warm and cozy in this exotic magenta and black designer wool hat made from upcycled felted sweaters. I was saving the carved vintage button for a really special hat and this is it.”

What caught my eye initially about Wandering Lydia was the tea cup at the top of the page.  Because I do a lot of sewing and embroidery, I enjoy having a variety of pincushions.  I thought the pincushion Jody is offering in her shop would be such a beautiful item to use while doing handiwork. 

She said the “pastel pink mushroom garden is accented with hand crocheted blossoms”  and that usually she doesn’t  “find the matching saucer with these cups so this was a lucky find.”

Set of six red and white mushroom ornaments

To see more of Jody’s work, take a look at her Flickr page. When I went to visit her there, I discovered a series of beautiful felted pins like this snowflake one:

Felted snowflake pin by Wandering Lydia

Want to see more? Go to Wandering Lydia’s blog.  It was there that I read a post about how Jody’s hats were featured in a magazine.

Two of Wandering Lydia’s hats in the

May/June issue of Belle Armoire’s Salon

It was a pleasure looking at Wandering Lydia’s shop on Etsy this morning, and seeing items made by one the many creative people on the Etsy Recyclers Guild Team.

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Day 5 – Working with Wool

Yesterday, I finished all the window stars that I was making for customers and shifted focus this morning to wool.  If you’ve been following along, I’m doing the “Art Every Day Month” challege during November.  The goal is to do something creative each day – whether it be a new, smaller piece or working on a larger piece. 

This morning I spent the time needlefelting six wool felt balls.  Made them in the following colors:  red (2), orange, yellow, blue, and purple.  As the day moved along so quickly, I wanted to make sure I got them in the mail to the customer and forgot to take a picture.  However, here’s one that is representative of the colors I used:

In picking out the colors of wool to use, I ended up organizing the wool bin.  Lots of beautiful, hand-dyed wool to work with…and to think of more things I can make with it.  Already have a few ideas for what to make to put in my shop as well as to keep and decorate the home. 

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Needle-Felting Natural Toys

Felt Balls in Lots of Colors
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

On a recent afternoon, I was organizing my wool.  I had not done much needlefelting recently, so I thought it would be fun to take a little break, pick up the barbed needles, and start creating some natural toys for children.  Ended up making a dozen of the wool felt balls.  It was a very relaxing and enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

These felt balls (to the right) are needle-felted from beautifully soft, 100% wool roving. They are colorful, safe, and fun to play with indoors. They are the perfect size for small hands, and easy to catch and throw.

Felt balls also:
– make great cat toys
– can be easily juggled
– make a light-weight bowling ball
– teach children about the colors of the rainbow
– are natural and safe to play with (no risk of lead!)

Each felt ball is approximately 3 1/2″ (8.5 cm) in diameter; and 10 1/2″ (26.5 cm) in circumference. The core is clean roving that was from one of the sheep I raised at Harvest Moon’s organic farm. The outer layer is wool roving that has been hand-dyed with natural dyes.

Some of the wool balls are a single color…while others use roving that have a lovely blend of shades and specks of vibrant colors.

If you’re interested in purchasing a felt ball (or a whole collection of them), please visit Harvest Moon by Hand.

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Helping Children Learn Math Using Math Gnomes

Math Gnomes
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

This is a set of Waldorf-inspired math gnomes that I made for a customer for my shop, Harvest Moon by Hand.

The gnomes stand between 9-10” inches tall, and each is needlefelted by hand. Sometimes I use 4 barbed needles at a time and at other times only a single barbed needle (for example, when attaching the curly sheep wool to the face and body or creating the math symbols on the bodies).

Each gnome has a different math sign on the body – addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and equals. Individual gnomes and combination of gnomes can be used in combination with natural tactile elements (e.g., pebbles, gems, acorns) to make learning math more tangible.

There are many Waldorf-inspired stories using math gnomes on the internet. You may choose to use one of the stories as they are presented…or create your own stories.

The gnomes are made from sheep wool – the interior core is from cream-colored wool from sheep that I raised at Harvest Moon’s organic farm. The exterior (colored) wool is from a variety of textile artists who hand-dye sheep wool.

For a set of custom-made gnomes or other needlefelted items, please visit my shop, Harvest Moon by Hand.

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Eco-Friendly Gifts

Handmade Bag and Bear
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

This year, I want to make more eco-friendly gifts that use what I have on hand rather than using supplies I need to purchase. Although the financial benefits of doing this are a plus, the more important thing is that by using/re-using items rather than discarding them, I can make a positive difference on the environment. It’s a win-win situation.

The little bear and bag are both made from recycled clothing. The bear is made from a wool sweater that I felted by the washing machine and dryer; and the outer part of the bag is made from a child’s dress. The inner fabric of the bag is from my fabric stash.

I have hand-embroidered wool felt toys and household items in my shop, Harvest Moon by Hand. Please take a look at some of the items that are available there…especially for the upcoming holiday season.

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A New Life for Old Clothes

Wool Felted Bears
Originally uploaded by Pictures by Ann

These bears were made from a wool sweater that I felted in the washing machine and dryer. I hand embroidered the eyes, nose, mouth, and muzzle as well as blanket-stitched around the body.

There is a fabric square on the middle that I blanket-stitched onto the bear; and hand-sewed two buttons on the fabric.

This was inspired by a picture I saw on a Flickr site. Thought it was cute and wanted to make with the felted wool I had.

The bears are small – they fit into the palm of one’s hand.

The blue bear I kept and will give to Olivia on the first day she goes to the homeschool co-op. (Kind of like a teddy bear she can hide in her pocket.) The green bear I sent as part of a “Recycle Your Clothing” swap on Swap-bot.

I also made these felted cat toys this week. These each are stuffed with wool from sheep I use to raise and have a jingle bell inside. Needless to say, the cats enjoy the toy because they can get the bell to make a noise the more they play with it and toss it around.

Another item I made was a coaster for a mug. Saw this idea on the internet, and thought I’d give it a try. Basically, you cut off the hems from jeans you no longer wear. Using a hot glue gun, you glue the hems together to create a very sturdy and dense coaster. I used 7 pairs of jeans (14 hems) to create one coaster. It took a lot more hems than I thought. The next step is to use the fabric from the jeans to create items for the home (a quilt…more placemats…not sure yet).

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