Bag Lady

I was asked by a lovely lady to make a felt bag for her, something I haven't done for a little while. I found a wonderful shade of merino tops to make it in, had a really enjoyable time rub-a-dub-dubbing and came up with something that I was pleased with and the lovely lady said was just what she wanted. Everyone happy.

It reminded me that my first love is really wet-felting, even though it's sometimes frustrating. Can't remember where I read it, but someone wise once said, "there's no such thing as a bad piece of felt". This came in handy yesterday when I was disappointed with another bag I made. I hadn't properly planned the design, just boshed on with it, carried away with the lovely colours, which then got muddied with the background fibres. However, this morning I've had another look at it and now know what to do to put it right. "If it doesn't look finished, then it isn't" - more wise words!

This morning I was up with the lark - I fell asleep reading Liz Clay's Nuno Felt book and woke up with an idea for a bucket-style bag. The plan wasn't to nuno felt it, but I wanted to make a bag in a similar shape to one that's pictured in her book. My bucket bag is more elongated, however. The design on the front is a loosely-interpreted cow parsley seedhead and the handle area has some darker fibres worked in. It's for sale in my Etsy shop and I hope it'll be joined by the one that's currently under re-construction!

p.s. Isn't our newly-painted shed a lovely colour?!