We had a good turnout on Saturday – six people in all – and everyone worked on different things. 

Sue’s pair of wonderfully woolly slippers –a work in progress for a while
now - received the ‘shaping’ treatment.  With a lot of hard work (made
from a local English fleece, they don’t felt as easily as Merino) Sue
managed to pull, rub and throw them into a very satisfactory – almost
shoe-shaped – slipper.

Gay experimented further with the Shibori technique: pre-felting a flat
piece in many colours with a pink dyed silk cap finish and then tying small
areas up into ‘knobbles’ which, this time, she stuffed from the back
with dry tops in various colours.  She felted the item further
and put it through the spinner on her washing machine when she returned
home.  Then came the happy moment: cutting through the bobbles to see
what lies inside. This piece may need more work; it seems hard to
decide how far to go with the cutting and how much to leave.

Annette made herself a cover for her iPhone.  She used some of the wool tops that Cathy kindly gave the group – this is ‘cobweb felt’ weight and seems tougher and more fluffy or ‘whiskery’ to work with than standard merino.  Gay tried it and made a very robust piece of felt with a really miniscule amount of fleece – it felts rather like mohair yarn.  In the end, Annette’s cover dried with a smoother finish than expected.

Lin’s work was a panel background for a piece of 3D felt among  other
things and Melanie worked away at her competition entry cushion.

Lunch was wonderful as always; three courses with soup, salads, cheeses
plus two cakes and sweetmeats; everything was perfectly delicious so many thanks to everyone.

A good turn out with 10 felters: Sue H, Melanie, Lin, Lisa who brought along Lynn from London, Hazel a complete newcomer to the group, Jacqui, Gay, Wendy and me, Alison, NP for the day.

Everybody bought contributions for the display of work - even our visitor and newcomer. There was so much to look at, so many questions to ask and suggestions to make, that we made quite a late start at actually doing some work.

Once we got going, most people seemed to be trying out new things or different slants on techniques used before so quite an experimental day. I don’t know what the general consensus would be but I found it all a great learning experience and absolutely loved seeing and talking about the things on display.

We didn’t manage to label each exhibitor’s work, although Gay had thoughtfully brought some with her, but we assembled table after table full of finished articles and sample pieces making a sea of colourful felting including other crafted items like ceramics, stained glass, knitting etc and even some handmade soap! It was all most exciting.

More work made by Never Ever Felt Better members

As usual we surpassed ourselves with the quality and quantity of our food which took us right through to tea-time and the arrival of the invited guests.  Altogether it was a most successful and enjoyable day and something to develop in the future maybe mounting a more organized exhibition and perhaps even attaching some price tags with the labels?

Rachel sent in the following write up on the Gathering and lots of photos - I have managed to load quite a few - see below:

'We had a lovely day. As people arrived the hall came alive with the gentle buzz of people greeting and meeting one another. We were delighted to welcome Lin and Sue, two new members of our group. Naturally, at the beginning of each meeting we show our latest projects, the excitement this brings is contagious. Lin was wearing a warm jacket that she had felted and it was so useful to exchange experiences and develop ideas. We all admired her felted flowers and her bag with fluted design and pockets on the reverse

With everyone enthused, we focused on our various projects. Lisa soon had a dye-bath gently simmering and settled to painting a fantastic birthday card for her husband. Wendy and Denise began their felted pots by inflating a balloon, which just leant itself to a photo shoot! Jacqui  joined us  later and made a beautiful pot. I have to admire each one of these organic vessels, for the process is not as easy as it first appears.
 
It was good to have Lin, whose  advice and information was invaluable to us all at times throughout the day. Sue is relatively new to the craft but was soon making a bag, a flower and a gorgeous piece of cloth with Lin’s guidance.

Lunch turned out to be delicious, despite it being ‘pot luck’, with everyone bringing something. Thank you everyone.

What did I do? Oh, just  spent all day in a huge happy haze playing with colour. Thank you everyone for the joy these occasions bring.  Rachel 

Saturday 22nd September

@ Creeting St Mary Village Hall

Open from 9 am – 6 pm

NP: Rachel

Attendees: Denise, Lisa, Rachel, Wendy, Lin Morphy, Sue Morgan,

Poss. Jacqui ?

Thursday 4th October

@ Creeting St Mary Village Hall

Evening gathering 4.30 pm – 9pm ’ish

NP: Wendy

Attendees: Denise, Gay, Jacqui, Lin, Rachel, Wendy

Thursday 25th October

@ CSM Village Hall

(Changed to an Evening Gathering) 4.30 to 9 pm 'ish

NP: Jacqui

Attendees:  Alison, Gay, Jacqui, Lin, Melanie, Sue Hagley

Saturday 17th November

@ CSM Village Hall

Open from 9am – 6pm

NP: Alison

Attendees: Alison, Denise, Gay, Jacqui, Lin, Lisa, Rachel, Sue Morgan, Wendy  Poss. Sue Hagley?

Thursday 6th December

@ CSM Village Hall

Evening Gathering 4.30pm – 9pm ‘ish (to include festive nibbles and celebrations)

NP: Denise

Attendees: Gay, Denise, Jacqui, Lin, Lisa, Melanie, Rachel, Sue Hagley

Poss. Alison?