PeaceFelt 2010-My Contribution!

This past Tuesday, I mailed my PeaceFelt to Liza in New Zealand.  I will receive mine from British Columbia!  I posted a picture of my piece on their blog and Liza actually saw it - nuts, I wanted it to be a surprise!  However, she loves it - I think she'll like the piece in person - and I know it's going to take a long time for her to get it so just as well she got a peak.

People around the world joined in on this wonderful Project to celebrate Peace Day on September 21st.  Not everyone is a felter - but I think the creation has to be at least 20% felt.  That leaves plenty of leeway for all sorts of art!

My creation is taken from bowls that didn't make it, a brooch not finished, random felteds, yarn, beads and who knows what else.  I wanted to make something colorful, of course and unique.  It had to be 12" x 12".  Turns out I cut one bowl and got two nice pieces.  I had two other previously felted pieces.  BTW, these are all wet felted.  Each piece was/is needlefelted with other colors and shapes.  I played with colors that normally wouldn't go together - I got some amazing results!

It took some time to play with the pieces - trying to figure out what went with what.  I added a flower, an unfinished swirl brooch  (some finished can be found in my Etsy Shop), a needlefelted long bead and a few doodads (a bead and some other little felteds).  I added stitching and a great piece of yarn/thread that was made by women from Nepal.  I used a couching stitch and wound the fiber through the peces.  Now, what to do for a backing because it looked pretty messy.  I took a piece of commercial felt and blanket stitched the top to it.

I wrote Liza a letter telling her about my inspiration and thoughts about the piece.  I also included a picture of myself and my husband.  We were asked to talk a bit about our lives like hobbies and where we live.

I had such a wonderful time putting it all together.  The process was lots of fun!  I like to make things totally out of the norm, also.  There's a real freedom just MAKING something - totally not for sale - but for the sheer pleasure of art and giving.