Needle Felted Pumpkin

 I am beginning to see pumpkins at the grocery and am also working on some needle felted pumpkins so I thought I would repost this earlier blog.    Needle felted pumpkins  are easy, fun and make great hostess gifts if you are invited somewhere for Thanksgiving.

 When I am doing a 3 dimensional item, I will use a ‘core’ batting to form the shape of the item and then add the colored roving or batting on the outside.  Core batting can be a cleaned undyed wool or even a polyester batting (just like you would use to stuff a pillow) .  You don’t want to us your colorful batting or roving on the inside of the figure where it can’t be seen. 

Once you have the core batting, start felting it into the shape you want.  If you use a polyester batting you may have to use more than the wool batting and may have to felt longer to get the shape you want.  That’s OK because in most cases the polyester batting is cheaper.

 When you have the size and shape you want for your pumpkin, start felting in the colored batting.  The batting I am using in the picture is called a sculptured batting so it has bumps and nobs of wool that wasn’t combed smooth.  I like the look of it for the pumpkin.  Not all pumpkins are smooth in its shell.  Keep adding the colored roving or batting until your core sculpture is covered.

 

Once you have your shaped covered with the colored batting, pick one side and over felt it.  That means keep needle felting the area until it is flat so you have a base to set it on. You don’t want your pumpkin rolling around.

One the opposite side of that base, needle felt a small indentation.  This will be where your stem will go.

 Now take some green batting; you don’t need much and started felting a stem . I usually try to make it a tiny cigar shape.  Use whatever colored green you would like as your stem.  I like the look of a dark green although an olive green would look just as nice. 

Once you have the size and shape of your stem, needle felt it into the pumpkin.  Place the stem in the indentation and felt through the stem at the base and into the pumpkin.  Make sure you put your needle all the way through to the pumpkin or the stem won’t attach.

 Now most pumpkins have indentations along the outside.  To create those, start needling in a line from the stem to the base and keep needling  that same line until you see the indentation form.  Do the same thing all around the pumpkin. I usually felt so there are eight indentations.     But you do what you would like (including no indentations.)

 Happy Pumpkin Season, everyone.

©2017, 2021  Cheryl Fillion

Beginnings

 I post this blog every September because it was the first blog I wrote and it is a nice reminder that if you want to do something, you need to just start. Happy 5^th Anniversary, Heartfully Cheryl blog.   

 I have come across two philosophers in my life who have the best advice ever for people exploring their creativity.  The first was a German poet and scientist by the name of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe who wrote "Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." (That quote gives me goosebumps.)

 The second philosopher was my nephew, Alex, at the age of five who, when I asked him how we were to make a housecleaning robot he wanted to give his father for Christmas, very blunted told me that "You just do it, Auntie Cheryl." 

 Both wise men had a point.  If there is something you want to do, you will never know whether you can do it until you begin it.  Is there some creative technique you want to try but are afraid to?  Just dive in.

 Now it is okay to start at the shallow end (sorry, it is hot outside and water metaphors seem cooling to me somehow right now.).  Dip your toes in.  Paint a page of just one color. One color can express any emotion. Write one line to start a poem.  One line can say a lot (Alex had a lot to say with his one line and it has stuck with me for 28 years.)  Sing one note.  A continuous note can be very relaxing to the diaphragm.

Just begin it. Don't jump from the high dive. Don't plan a gallery show yet.  Don't figure out your office at the Library of Congress for when you are considered the next Poet Laureate.  And the Grammy nominations are already made for this year.  So relax.  All you are doing is beginning.

 And beginnings are wonderful.  There is mystery in them - you aren't quite sure what will happen next.   And there is an adventure in them - traveling to a new area of your heart.   And the excitement of them - you actually did whatever it is you were wanting to begin.

 You have had beginnings all of your life.  You survived all of those  - school, college, work, marriage, family.  You can survive this one.  But you have to just begin. As Alex said, "You just do it, Auntie Cheryl."  Who can argue with that?

 © 2016, 2021– Cheryl Fillion

It’s School Time

This time of year always excites me because it is the start of the school year. As a kid it was always a little sad because it was the end of summer vacation.  But still there were new clothes, or a new backpack (unless last years was still usable and still a favorite.  As a child it was a new pencil case that always excited me.).  There were always new crayons, notebooks, or pencils.  You did get to see your old school friends you never saw during the summer and were able to make new friends.  There was a new teacher, new classroom, just a lot of new.

 As a professor, I am still excited about the new year.  I get to see my campus friends who I didn’t see over the summer and meet new colleagues.  There is usually a new class room or class rooms; often times there is a new textbook (that is usually not a fun new if it comes right before the semester starts) and also lots of new students.

 I love walking down the store aisles where all the school supplies are.  I have this urge for new pens and pencils, notebooks, even crayons.  I don’t need them for what I teach but it is just fun to have crisp new items.  Usually I just keep walking down the aisle without buying anything. But a few years ago, I changed that.

 There is always someone who needs the supplies but can’t afford them.  A local charity collects school supplies to give to those families in need and this is where my fun comes in.  I find out what type of supplies is needed and I buy some to donate.  I usually set a limit on how much I spend or I could go crazy.  It satisfies my urge to want new school supplies and I usually smile thinking about the kids who will get to use them.  It is a nice way to give back.

 But there are also some school supplies that are great for crafts.  The notebooks are wonderful to write down ideas of projects you might want to do or using them as journals to keep track of your creative process.  The pencils cases or boxes are great to hold a rotary cutter or scissors.  I use one to hold all my punch needle supplies (the needle, extra needle tips and needle threaders).  Crayons, which are probably my favorite school supply, are wonderful for drawing a picture, planning a color scheme for a quilt or piece or embroidery, or just doodling when you are stuck for an idea.

 So, if you are like me and just get sentimental for new school supplies, buy them.  You might not use them or you might find a little kid who would love a box of those 64 crayons. Who knows, that kid might just be you.

©2021 Cheryl Fillion