Ugly Duckling turns into a Swan...

I bought a Janome Xpression felting machine in 2005 and have never really used it.  Well,  I took it out of the box once when I first bought it.  I didn't really make anything, but managed to break one of the five needles!  I decided it was time to get this baby out of the closet and play.

I took a piece of white felt about 5" x 5" square.  I've got tons a silk scraps.  I thought I'd start felting a base using some of these.  Not liking it.

 

After adding a couple different shades of gold silk, I still wasn't particularly happy with it.  Looked through my stash of wool roving and pulled out some red, white and blue.  Starting to think maybe this was a mistake!

Felted in some black perl cotton floss - too thin to work well.  Tried to hide it with some white roving.

Thicker black knitting yarn worked better - It's starting to look like a keeper.

Rough cut ultra suede heart; stitched down with zig zag stitch.  Trimmed the piece down to 3" x 3" square - ahh, that's better.

Painted top and sides of canvas 3" x 3" frame with black gesso

Stapled rattail to back of frame

Addition of seed beads; final trim and adhered to frame using soft gel matte medium.  Now I'm happy and relieved since this is a gift for a dear friend's birthday and I wanted to make something special for her.

Go to Pink Saturday for more inspiration!