This week's inspiration image was a shot of bare tree tops, with a back drop of plain grey sky. I wet felted around a resist to creat a circular bowl with the tree tops on the inside, an echo of the circular nature of the tree tops as taken from the ground looking up. I wanted a variety of textures in the piece, but limited myself to the stark black and pale grey of the original photo. That's a difficult thing for me to do. One of the main features of my work is colour, and s

This weeks photo was a log pile with a backdrop of fir trees and blue sky. I knew I wanted to use Dorset buttons to make the log pile, and needle felted the backdrop seemed like the best plan. However, once I'd stared putting things together, I realised that I didn't like what I was making. There wasn't enough interest in the work. I needed to add some texture. I added washers, buttons and stitching to the log pile and this seemed to work better. The contrast of surfaces, and

This week's inspiration photo was a signpost on the Ridgeway, above the White Horse at Uffington. I wanted to create something simple and fast, partly to meet the week's deadline, and partly because I have the attention span of a fruitfly at the moment. Long term projects are not at all my thing. This project is mainly stitch with a little applique. Just three stitches in fact. Back stich for the lettering on the sign, split stitch for the ivy vine, and straight stitch for th

This is the first post in a weekly series, linked with the @jenbesttextileart social media challenge #jensinspirationyear Every week I'm posting an image on my Facebook and Instagram to inspire you to create. You can use any form of textiles you like. Share your creations on instagram, tag me, and use the #jensinspirationyear or email your creations to jen.best@hotmail.co.uk (include the hashtag in the email) At the end of the month I'll hold a giveaway for those who share th