squirrel momma

Hair. And the Animals that Grow It.

This weekend was the West Michigan Fiber Festival. I went to stock up on wool roving (didn't find any felt), but my favorite part ended up being the critters.

There were really big bunnies.

 

Llamas with attitude.

 

Goats who needed a trim.

 

And goats who were just plain adorable.

 

Although I didn't leave with a baby goat (really, really had to talk myself out of that one), I did score some fabulously weird wool.

I think the stuff on the top is from those curly sheep I can't remember the name of, and the stuff at the bottom is wool "pebbles". What's it for? Who knows! What will Squirrel Momma use it for? Hmmm. Fish scales? Frog warts? Monster fur? Don't know yet, but I can practically guarantee it will be strange, and most probably have fangs.

Score!

The Plush Team Shop on Etsy is currently running a series of Tiny Tuesdays, during which members put up plush priced between $5 and $10.  As you can imagine, at prices like that things fly out the door, and quite often I'm not quick enough to snag something before it's gone.  But this time I got lucky!

 

A vampire pencil? How perfect is that for a girl who likes fangs! He's from the talented Casie of Boom Plush--check out her shop here for more fun stuff.

And for those of you wondering if I would ever actually finish a needle felted piece--with actual limbs, not just a decapitated head--the answer is yes! I did! 

 

 

Meet Dwight, who stands 4 inches tall including his antennae. You can probably guess by the excited expression on his face that he is one of the contenders to be a piece I send to Plush You Seattle. (Don't tell him--I don't want success to go to his head--but he's practically a shoe-in, being the only finished fellow so far.)

Poking Along

Right now I've got six--yup, six--different insect-alien thingies in various stages of completion. Such as another head that is sadly without a body.

 

For this guy I tried mixing a darker pink and white, with semi-okay results.  I can hardly wait to go to the West Micigan Fiber Festival this weekend and restock on felting supplies, as my compulsive need for every possible color of wool felt has now bled over into wool roving, too.

Until then I can play with the new tool I picked up at Field's Fabrics yesterday.

 

I had been felting with just the needle held in my bare hand, which is uncomfortable, to say the least.  Also, it lends itself to frequent finger stabbing. And much use of colorful vocabulary by my children's mother. So hopefully this baby will not only improve the quality of my alien insects, but cut down on the amount of blue smoke drifting out of my studio. Definitely a multi-tasker.
 
  

 

 

Curiouser and Curiouser

I seem to finally be getting the hang of needle felting (kind of), and during a marathon road trip to Washington, DC managed to get these little squidlings finished up...

 

I was feeling pretty cocky after those, what with finally being able to achieve some level of detail without stabbing myself too many times, so I thought I would attempt something a little more complex.

 

Hmmm. I was trying for an alien/insect sort of thing, but when polled 100% of voters in my household responded with the word "Grinch". And I'm still not quite sure what I'm going to do with an alien/grinch head. But c'mon folks, look at that detail!