Festive Felt

As an undergrad student my emphases fell within the realm of fine arts. I amassed every possible major and minor my scholarship would allow me. Yet in that flurry, I didn't allow myself the opportunity to simply enjoy exploring other creative fields. It wasn't until several years ago that I began to dabble in the world of fiber arts.

This year for Christmas I was thumbing through some history books when I crossed a display of antique felt ornaments. Their great preciousness resided in their hand-crafted look. The stitching reflected the progress of the artist's practice. Not manufactured in a store but, I imagine, felted and embroidered by a fire in someone's home one hundred or even two hundred years ago.

While I'm not up to the task of attempting a sampler anytime soon, I so enjoy the super portable and very gratifying smaller hand-stitch projects. When you're running a home and managing parenthood sometimes the easiest projects are those you can transport from room to room or pick up and put down in a snap.

You could easily felt these medallions from a knit out of fisherman's wool yarn or you can pop into your local craft store as they are offering wider selections of good quality felts more and more these days. In any case, a simple embroidery needle, good floss, and a bit of quilt batting can provide so much inexpensive satisfaction :)

Front: inspired from (pre) colonial pieces

Back: surname monograms