Bird Watching shirt

I started this shirt in September, before school really started! I made the pattern with princess seams and 3/4 length sleeves that roll up. There are so many cute plaid shirts out there that I just had to make one. I finished everything but the buttons a couple months ago. The shirt got lost in the busyness of life until I recently finished it!

Fiber class 2

Week 2,3, and 4 of my textile class were spent weaving. I am making a scarf. There is a special name for my loom but I don't remember it! The teal yarn is a wool-mohair blend and the multi-colored yarn is wool-nylon.

Christmas Surprises

This year for Christmas I made my two brothers and my brother's girlfriend magnetic hot pads. I had not very pleasant experiences when I bought the supplies at Joanns and I left resolved not to shop there again. We'll see how long it lasts...
These are the supplies for nine hot pads:

-Fabric (linen like. I think it is a polyester linen blend.)
-Insul-Bright: needled insulated lining. It is like batting that has a heat resistant metal side to it.
-Wool felt cut from a felted sweater and scarf.
-Super strong .47/.5" diameter magnets from Jerry's. On the packages they say: Extremely Strong Magnets! Not for Children! Do not inhale magnets. As you can see they are very dangerous! :D


The hot pad pattern is 22x20cm with 1cm seam allowance. The pattern for the batting and the wool is 20x18cm. I layered the hot pads for sewing in this order facing up: right side of fabric, one layer insul-bright, one layer wool, wrong side of fabric. I found that it was best to sew the insul-bright and the wool in the seam of the hot pad to help the hot pad to lie flat.

Some of them have pockets and decorative stitching.

These are the bags I decorated to hold the lovely gifts:



So those are my surprises!

Fiber Class: Week 1

This term I am taking a fiber class through Homesource at the Eugene Textile Center (1510 Jacobs Drive). It is a really cool store to go in and look around. They specialize in weaving, dyeing, felting and other textile related crafts.

For my first class I learned to needle felt. It is really easy if you have the right tools! You need a special tool that has several needles coming out of it. You also need a foam mat, a solid piece of felt for your "canvas" and wool for your project.
This is what I made: