I take inspiration for my craftwork from the things around me…nature, wildlife and the environment. In particular, I love the elegant shape of wading birds and I make a selection of 3D wet felted soft sculptured birds which reflect the beautiful lines of the wild fowl that visit our local lake, a stone's throw from my door. I also love to incorporate aspects of the changing seasons into my felted hand-embroidered wall hangings, decorative bowls and soft felted jewellery. I often embellish work with dried seasonal flowers, seeds from our hedgerows, and herbs from my garden.

My family and I do our best to work and live alongside nature, again keeping in tune with seasonal variations. We grow all our own organic vegetables and many fruits in the orchard, medicinal and culinary herbs in the herb beds. We raise rare-breed pigs and poultry, which free range the woods. Dairy goats provide us with milk, yoghurt and cheese; bees with honey. We have a willow bio fuel coppice to heat the home, and solar panels for hot water. I also make artisan cold pressed cured soaps from our goats milk, honey and home grown organic herbs.

Rebecca Allen has a degree in environmental science, a Masters in Marine Science and worked as a marine biologist before becoming a stay at home mother and craftsperson. Her academic studies of the environment inspired her to begin artistically exploring natural form. She now works with textiles, mainly making her own felt using a mix of sheep's fleece and angora from her own goats. Life on her smallholding with husband, Dan, (of Hobby Horse Toys), her children, plus pigs, goats, fruit and veg can be followed on her blog. She also does some freelance writing for craft, gardening and travel magazines. Rebecca offers half day felting workshops at her farmhouse on a regular basis. Please contact mailto:danbecky@iolfree.ie for more information.