Adventures in Needle-felting - part two

Well, I thought I'd have another crack at making something using needle-felting. So I thought a bird would be easy to do. No, I don't know why I thought that either. Anyway, here is my progress so far:


OK, it needs a lot of work still. She (Gwen) has no eyes, or legs, and her beak is slightly too big for her head. And one of her wings is slightly chunkier than the other (I'm calling that her 'writing wing'). But she looks bird-like, doesn't she? I mean, if you squint at the picture? :-D

The 50 things Challenge

As seen on the fabulous 'Eat, Drink and be Crafty' blog, I am going to attempt to craft 50 things in 2009. It doesn't sound like that many, if I think back to what I made last year. However, if I have to start my list up front, it might prove trickier. Here goes!

1. Valentine's card for the Hubster
2. Birthday card for Nan
3. Birthday card for Dad
4. Mother's Day card
5. Easter cards (maximum of 4)
6. Birthday card for Mum
7. Birthday card for Sarah
   
8. Birthday card for godson
9. Father's Day card
   
10. Birthday card for Kats
11. Birthday card for sister-in-law 1
    
12. Birthday card for sister-in-law 2
    
13. Mystery felt doll I (it's not a mystery to me, obviously - that would be quite tricky. I'm just keeping the identity under wraps for the general public ;-) )
14. Mystery felt doll II
15. Mystery felt item I
16. Carnelian necklace for me
17. Jade necklace for me
    
18. Seed bead necklace (I have a few lots of different colours which I'd like to use up)
    
19. Compliments/thank you cards for my shop
20. Fragrance felt sachets/pillows (maybe Mother's Day presents)
21. Easter decorations - felted eggs, anyone?
22. Felt Kokeshi doll
23. Felt librarian doll
24. Birthday card for Julie
25. Owl swap item
26. Pink flower drop earrings (for Coriandr shop)
27. Felt Potato
28. Tom Jones felt icon
29. Felt bird in 'seventies' colours
    

Update: OK, I'm adding as I make stuff, so I'm up to 29 already. Woo!

Happy New Year!

Hurrah for 2009! I started the year off as I mean to go on - by stabbing fluffy things with sharp implements. Of course, I'm talking about needle-felting. ;-) It would appear that I have much to learn though - see if you can guess what I made:


Any clues? Well, it was meant to be a heart. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong - I will ask for advice on the Working with Felt group.

In happier felt news, I managed to make the present for a friend which I have been meaning to create for a couple of weeks. I think this one is a little easier to figure out:



She's a fan of the Sheffield Steelers ice hockey team. I had a heck of a job trying to figure out what their strip was, so in the end, I picked their colours and made my own up. And yes, he has a real plastic visor. :-D

And finally, some amazing felt figures made by a very talented person. I was browsing through my groups on Flickr yesterday and I came across Deriana's photos - check out her blog (warning, contains photos of felt bondage items - yes, really), she makes amazing characters from felt. It's hard to choose my favourite, but if I had to, it would probably be the Versailles couple, although I've just noticed a Freddie Mercury that is the best thing EVAH. Srsly.