Feeling Blue

Feeling Blue is the theme for our swap on Unlimited Textiles this month.
I had in my mind some lovely clouds that I saw earlier this year and was eager to use them as my inspiration for this swap.

How to create the look and "feel" of clouds?
I have a Clover needle felting kit and thought I might be able to get the look I was after using it.

For the quiltie I started by needle felting wool tops and scrim to Lutradur. I had already painted the scrim and Lutradur.

I loved the movement created using this tool. Next I used some blue velvet as the background and machined some lines and added strips of Lutradur to the piece.
I then used my soldering
iron to cut pieces away to show the velvet. I also added some little beads - I think they look like rain drops.

This bookmark was done the same way but I used painted Pelmet Vilene as the base. It has made a lovely sturdy bookmark.

The second bookmark was needle felted to blue felt I also added a piece of painted lace. This is cotton lace and is quite heavy. I couldn't felt it to the background so I covered it with a piece of chiffon and felted round it.

I backed the bookmark with another piece of felt with some Pelmet Vilene sandwiched between them. I stitched thorough all the layers and it turned out with a lovely texture.
I did some running stitches, in the same thread as the tassel, instead of beads. It doesn't show up in the photo very well but does look good on the bookmark.

Oh by the way you can see the clouds here http://alis-clair.blogspot.com/2007/05/gorgeous-sky.html