You don't mind when it's something you enjoy

On Saturday morning I went to a craft fair held at my parents' local garden centre. There were about 40 stalls of local producers ranging from ceramics and jewellery through to a producer of beauty products made from lavender grown in the Mendips, a Somerset cider maker, and even a local vineyard showcasing their first commercial wine (a delicious rosé).

One stall holder made the most intricate beaded jewellery. It wasn't quite to my taste but I could fully appreciate the enormous amount of time that she must spend on her craft, the smallest of which must contain hundreds of beads, and I said as much. The lady did agree but added 'but you don't mind when it's something you enjoy, do you'.

She couldn't be more right in my opinion and I instantly thought of the project that I've been working on for the past six weeks - or is it seven?  Or perhaps it's only four but feels like it has been going on forever (I'm not the most patient of people!) The project is making a set of coasters and placemats for my new dining table. The table was purchased in early October and was finally delivered last week. It will seat 8 cosily so I had begun work on a set of eight placemats and coasters as soon as I had ordered the table, having been thinking about them for some time before.

I had originally thought of making the coasters from denim but my fabric searches had failed to unearth anything that was the right colour or wasn't so rigid that I feared for my sewing machine and the quality of the final product. Alongside my fabric searching I seemed to keep running into conversations or magazine articles or things in shops about needle-felting - a craft that I haven't done for some time. I decided the coincidences of these encounters and the lack of suitable denim was trying to tell me something and so I decided the placemats and coasters should all be needle-felted. The end product would be thick enough to offer great heat resistance and the materials required were either already in the house or easy to find from local craft suppliers

A new kitchen is also being planned - black and white with hints of oak - so I thought I could get rather bold with accessories, including the placemats. I therefore hit on a 'rainbow' theme, making each mat a different colour. I had 5 of the 8 colours already in stock so the financial outlay for the additional colours was minimal (about £3 per colour) plus a 30cm diameter tapestry ring to use as a template for the placemats (also only about £3). What I had forgotten was how long needle-felting takes, particularly large items! What I would save in fabric costs would be made up for in woman-hours. However, as the bead jewellery lady so rightly said yesterday, you don't really mind when it's something you enjoy. I'm also getting to catch up on a lot of radio dramas (bliss!)

So, in amongst the 9-5 job, household chores and errands, even attempting to maintain some sort of social life and not become a wool-stabbing recluse, I have spent the past 6 weeks attempting to turn this...

...to this...

If you are unfamiliar with the process of needle-felting it essentially involves stabbing carded wool with small barbed needle (or four together in a holder as pictured). You need a foam pad to work on that the needle can sink into; and, in the case of the placemats and coasters, some sort of circular template such as a tapestry frame (the placemat) or a cookie cutter (the coaster).  The stages look something like this...

Lay tufts of the carded yarn criss-cross within the template

Stab with your needles

Turn and stab some more

Keep going until the surface is dense and neat

I find that I need to peel the felt off the foam pad and turn it over and needle it from the other side about 4 or 5 times, hence it takes so long to make.

I've only managed to make 6 placemats and 5 coasters so far, but with the added arrival of new dining chairs on Saturday, I couldn't resist testing out the overall look.

Spot the missing coaster!

Now I just have to make the final placemats and coasters. The two missing colours are royal blue and purple.

I'm really pleased with the look so far, the mats giving a real pop of colour to the room. However, I fear they are not very festive so I may need to come up with an alternative for the Christmas table. I'd better get my thinking cap on!