Featured on Etsy Front Page!

My Cherry Blossom needle felted pouch was on Etsy's front page yesterday! Unfortunately I was sleeping while it was there, but a few people were nice enough to let me know they'd seen it. Today I was able to get this screen shot from the Etsy Front Pagers group on Flickr.

A huge thanks to Etsy seller lisahopkins for including me in her gorgeous treasury! Her etched silver jewelry is absolutely stunning. Be sure to check out her shop as well!

Cherry Blossom - Light brown needle felted pouch

I've just added a new needle felted pouch to my Etsy shop! This is the first one I've made in quite a while and I had forgotten how much I love working with this medium!

I'm so happy with the way this one turned out! Cherry Blossoms are the perfect thing to get me thinking Spring. I used silky Kid Mohair locks for the blossoms and dark brown merino wool roving for the branch. I had a bit of difficulty finding a lining fabric that went well with the design, but in the end I used an earthy batik cotton that I think works perfectly!

There will definitely be more needle felting hitting the shop soon! I love the forgiving nature of the craft, the way I can shape and re-shape the roving before committing to the final placement allows for the design to come about in a very fluid and organic way. No wonder I do so many trees and branched - the roving practically begs for it! I've got another few pouches knit up and felted, just waiting for the needle felting. Also, I plan to make some needle felted cuffs in the next couple of weeks!

Wisdom

Here is another new needle-felted pouch, added to my Etsy shop this evening. "Wisdom" features a sweet and stoic barn owl on a cream-colored soy/wool blend.

The pouch is lined with a beautiful, rich blue Japanese floral fabric.

Thanks for looking!

Black Mustard's facelift

I've revamped my Etsy shop with a new banner, avatar and shop policies. Here is the new face of Black Mustard Fiber Arts!

I also listed another new pouch last night and it sold by this morning... so exciting!

It's been a great day for me! Now I'm off to finish a new batch of fabric headbands! I'll have some pretty pictures to share tomorrow.

Black Mustard bags are back!!!

After a short vacation, my needle-felted bags are back in my Etsy shop today! I've brought back a few old favorites, as well as some new ones, like these...

"Green Mandala"

"Last Leaves"I will be listing a few more in the coming days, and I hope to start making a few new ones in between my spinning and sewing!

A couple of works in progress

I was all set to finish up this Brown Lotus needle felted wristlet, when I realized I'm fresh out of dark brown zippers! I'm pretty happy with it though, so I thought I'd put up some pictures of it in progress. Here it is with its liner all sewn up and ready to go. If all goes well it will be in my Etsy shop tomorrow!

I'm also working on a bag which I knitted with one of my first attempts at handspun. This is it, all knit up, about to be felted. I'm a little nervous about how it will felt. Hopefully the colors are still bright and distinct... we shall see.

Is Brighter Better?

Here's the newest addition to my Etsy shop - a bright green clutch/pencil case with needle felted abstract flowers. This design is cool because it lets me experiment with color groupings and it's not too overpowering on the pouch.

This bright green wool is not a colour I would typically choose - it was requested by my brother's girlfriend for a custom order. Good thing, because it's actually reeeeeally nice. It's bright enough to stand out, but still subdued enough to fit into the spectrum of colors I like. Thanks Serena!

Time for a change...

This is my first blog... took me a while to jump on the band wagon, but hey better late than never, right? It's coming at a good time for me anyway. In about 2 weeks I will cut back to part-time at work and focus on getting my guitar studio going again, and on my crafts.

I think this blog will be a great way for me to document the upcoming months, during which I hope to build some momentum for myself, doing the things I love to do, and enjoying life more day to day, not spending the majority of my waking life in an office. More and more lately it has seemed to me that this is not a natural way to live, at least not for me. The voice in my head has been screaming, "Run! Get out!" and I've been increasingly aware of the passing of time... it seems to be going faster and faster everyday. I'm fortunate enough that my employer has agreed to me working part-time so I can take this leap of faith without having quite so far to potentially fall.

For now, I am working towards filling up my Etsy shop with hand-knitted wares. The first items I am listing for sale are these cute needle-felted zipper pouches, like this one:

I have been knitting for just over 2 years, and learned needle felting about a year ago. The real challenge for me with these has been learning to sew in the liner and zippers! I've got some beautiful fabrics to work with, a lot of Japanese prints and batiks from my local quilt shop, and I want to make the most of them. I've really been working on improving my sewing skills, and I think I've gotten pretty good...

Once I get a few more of these pouches (which I've got in various stages of completion) finished and listed, I plan to experiment with other ideas such as needle felted neck warmers or scarflettes, combining kntting with fabric in other ways, and anything else that comes to mind.

Well, I think it's time to go do some crafting. More later...