365 / 99 - fresh from the felt laboratory

Last night I had the house to myself for the entire evening so I covered the coffee table in supplies, got some dvds out of the cupboard and bought a nice bar of chocolate and spent several hours working on new felt projects. I know that I need to work on batches and building up my stocks and things like that, but the temptation to try new things is just too great to resist and whenever I'm working on something new it doesn't feel like work at all but purely pleasurable "me" time (I rather dislike that expression but it is so very apt).
I worked on cherry blossom pins, made a little lion brooch, started work on a slightly nutty felt beard (the natural complement to my moustaches but I'm not sure how it's going to turn out!), and appliqued some holly (perhaps to be brooches and perhaps ornaments) and a ridiculously intricate but quite pleasing (to me, at least) branch of felt mistletoe that will have a ribbon loop for hanging in doorways etc.

The lion design is adapted from a cushion I made about a decade ago (nice to know my style has evolved so much, haha) for a school project - his nose is not quite right but he's still quite cute:
Oh, and these are the beads I've settled on for the new cherry blossom pins:
You may notice that yesterday was day 99 of my Crafting 365 project, making today day 100. I am so pleased to have reached 100 (with only 3 or 4 missed days inbetween), it feels like such a huge number and the thought that all those days involved some crafty goodness is a very satisfying one. Miles and miles better than the feeling that originally inspired the 365 challenge, when I looked back over my summer and realised how little I'd made and how much time I had spent being busy and stressed and devoting my days to housework or filing or other dull things. Even on the days when I squeeze in a teeny tiny bit of craftiness I feel better for it - actually, those busy days are probably the ones on which I most need to accomplish something simple-but-satisfying, to relax and take time out from everything!

Sewing etc is relaxing, an escape from chores etc, but it's also increasingly becoming "work", too and it has been so exciting turning something I love into a business. My productivity has been HUGE, I've made just so many things this year and my ideas have just been tumbling out. The more I make the more I want to make and that's a lovely feeling. The crafting 365 group and other connections I've made through this daily blogging has proved a huge source of inspiration. It has been wonderful seeing so many people's works progress, their working methods and how they fit their creativity into their everyday lives. It is often a battle, but it's one worth fighting for sure!

Thinking about all this, I was utterly delighted to find a my blog being discussed in just these sorts of terms... lovely to read about someone discovering felt as a grown-up and genuinely creative medium, and I am in love with the little felt garlands that first inspired the re-discovery. A great little tutorial and the finished project is just gorgeous and the garlands fit so well with my current obsession with strings of felt circles. I have been turning over in my mind ways to adapt my abstract mobiles to be garlands for trees, or necklaces or other accessories (schemes you will hopefully see the fruits of in the spring!) and it's causing me to see felty circles wherever I look. Fitting in perfectly with this, my current "I want this so bad but I can't buy it" item is a circley scarf made from wool felt (wool makes me itch like the devil but also I have resolved to buy no more scarves as I have about a million already). Here are two awesome ones on Etsy (the blue one is sold but the seller has more in other colours) from two different seller but both recycled wool sweaters. Awesome huh?
PS my moustache cards showed up in a great selection of moustache-themed items here this week.