Easter Craft Event Update…

April 13, 2014 / Karen Lane / Leave a comment

A collection of polystyrene eggs decorated with needle felting.

Mini decorated eggs

The weather wasn’t particularly kind to us at yesterdays Joseph Banks Easter Craft Fair….the chilly wind being the major problem! However we did get a fair amount of customers through the shop door and the majority were keen to get out into the garden to see the wonderful handcrafted goods on sale and chat to the people who had made them. As well as my felted items we had water-colour paintings by local artist Peter Skipworth. Peter has written and beautifully illustrated a book on local walks titled ‘Step into the Lincolnshire Wolds’ which is on sale at the shop….those lucky enough to purchase yesterday benefited from a personal signing by the artist himself!

Peter Skipworth's beautifully illustrated book 'Step into the Lincolnshire Wolds'.

Peter Skipworths illustrated book ‘Step into the Lincolnshire Wolds’

Other items on sale included unique cards, jewellery and more from Handmade by Esme and colourful handmade necklaces and bracelets from Debbie of DD Jewellery and Vicki and Judith from Snowdrop Gifts For the home and garden there were wonderful handmade gifts created from recycled wood by Palletology including the fabulous ‘Insect Hotels’ while Stephanie from Stuff with Style displayed funky wooden gifts in the form of bunting, bird houses and much more.

Handmade by Esme - one of the local crafters featured at the Joseph Banks Easter Craft Fair.

Handmade by Esme at the Joseph Banks Easter Craft Fair.

Colourful necklaces and bracelets on sale at Joseph Banks in Horncastle.

Handmade necklaces and bracelets from DD Jewellery

Recycled pallet wood made into Insect Hotels for the garden.

Insect Hotels by Palletology made from recycled pallet wood.

Stuff with Style make funky gifts such as this wooden bird house.

Funky wooden bird house from ‘Stuff with Style’.

I was fortunate to find a space indoors (only marginally warmer!!) where I sat and demonstrated needle felting to the ladies (and the occasional gent) who were curious to see how it was done. Thanks again to all of you who stopped by and I hope to see some of you at future workshops. Also keeping warm was Debs from Debs Makes, busy upstairs having fun with her Saturday afternoon sewing group.

One of Debs cute little brooches made on the embellisher.

Last, but not least, many thanks to Helena from Spare Time by Helena who kept all the crafters supplied with tea and coffee all day and Kate and Richard who manned the shop!

The next Craft Event at Joseph Banks is planned for May 31st.

One of the many fabulous cushions created by Spare Time by Helena.

Easter bunnies needle felted using Merino wool onto a polystyrene ball.

I couldn’t resist making a few needle felted Easter bunnies!

Flower Meadow…

January 25, 2014January 27, 2014 / Karen Lane / Leave a comment

Back in November I mentioned the needle felting workshop I held at the Joseph Banks Centre where we looked at the basics of creating a needle felted picture. Since then Sheila has gone on to finish her ‘Autumn Leaf’ picture and this week I received a photo from another of the ladies showing her finished ‘Flower Meadow’. Eileen chose to mount her work to make a greetings card and the finished effect is beautiful. Watch out for Eileen’s next picture as she rises to the challenge and try’s her hand at wet felting – the background is done and looking fab so can’t wait to see it finished!

Work in progress….time is running out so this will be continued at home.

The finished picture looks great mounted as a greetings card.

Breaking news….

December 6, 2013March 3, 2015 / Karen Lane / 1 Comment

More exciting news on the felting front….my brooches and key rings are going on sale at the Sir Joseph Banks Centre in Horncastle from tomorrow. There will be a mixture of large wet felted brooches and smaller dry felted gifts to choose from. The Sir Joseph Banks Centre is the home of the Sir Joseph Banks Society where visitors will find information on the life and the amazing work of one of our most famous and respected explorers. The Society is very proud to have Sir David Attenborough as its president and the building it occupies houses a growing reference library and is working towards establishing a research centre.

The building also boasts a thriving gift shop, run by volunteers, and crammed with all sorts of beautiful gifts. There are a mixture of “bought in” and hand crafted items, with a lot of the stock being created on the doorstep by talented, local artists/crafters. From pictures, jewelry, ornaments, clothing, accessories, etc., you name it and they probably have it! So if you are in the Horncastle area and looking for unique gift ideas be sure to give this shop visit!

A selection of my handmade wet and dry felted brooches and keyrings.

Beautiful gifts for the home on sale at the Joseph Banks shop.

The shop is crammed with great gift ideas for Christmas!

November Needle Felting Workshops

November 6, 2013November 19, 2013 / Karen Lane / Leave a comment

My love of needle felting is fast growing into an obsession! So much so that I decided I had to share my interest with others and found myself, last Saturday, launching the first of the November Needle Felting Workshops which are being held in The Joseph Banks Centre on Bridge Street in Horncastle. We had a packed house with a lovely bunch of ladies, some had tried needle felting in the past while others were completely new to it. Various techniques were shown and discussed and everyone was given the option of selecting their preferred method of working. All equipment and materials were supplied, including fabulous Merino wool and by the end of the two hours everyone agreed they had had a good time and each of them had produced a beautiful, unique felted brooch to take home. One of the ladies contacted me the day after to say she had been wearing her brooch while out shopping and had received lots of admiring comments – not bad for a first attempt!

I will be holding the next session on Saturday 9th November from 10am – 12noon. All ages/abilities welcome but please note that numbers are limited so please refer to the poster for contact details as booking is essential.