jewelry roll – Felting and Fiber Studio

Pandagirl’s Year in Review 2015

December 27, 2015 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 26 comments

I really challenged myself the beginning of 2015. I was determined to try free motion embroidery and used Rosiepinks (Lyn’s) instructions for making a round bowl. It turned out nice, but it was a little tense going round and round.

My fan has to be the hardest felt project I’ve done so far. Getting and keeping all those fan blades in place was maddening.

Then I began work on making batts and bootie favors for my daughter in law Mari’s baby shower. 60 of them!

I attempted a felted box.

A clutch/makeup bag for a new Grandma.

I gave my drum carder a workout blending colors and making a color wheel for the 1st Quarter Color Challenge.

Still in baby mode, I felted over a wire baby buggy.

Cathy and I received our first order from WOW, so the sample making began using wools I hadn’t used before.

A wine bottle cozy.

Going back to my roots, I made denim paper, then felted it, and later made a glass case.

Stepping out of my comfort zone, I started using neutral colors and some wildly bold combos.

Some wooly fun with my Grandson Luke.

For a short period, Cathy and had a fish off.

For the 3rd Quarter Challenge I used a color generator, dyed, carded some batts using those colors, then made in Ipad cover.

My sister invited me to her quilt group for a Trunk Show.

To keep my earrings organized while I travel I made a jewelry roll.

I tried getting my work space organized.

Cathy and I attended the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival.

Dyeing for special projects. Some yet to be seen.

A nuno wall hanging for my daughter in law Lia.

A challenge in combining techniques to make an elephant pic for my Sister.

The 4th Quarter Challenge – monochrome panda with dimension.

Odds and ends.

Making ornaments with my Grandsons.

I had a lot of help this year and want to thank Cathy Wycliff for posting about making arm warmers, learning to make batts, her artist residency in Breckenridge CO, dyeing with natural plants, and Bengala dyes; Zara Tuulikki Rooke for showing us her process for making batts from raw fleece, shearing sheep, lambing in Sweden, making a rug from raw fleece and sampling different Swedish wool breeds; Leonor Calaca for giving us a virtual tour of the Knitting and Stitching Show in London; Carol Gascoigne (Craftywoman) for submitting her 3rd Quarter Challenge; Lyn (Rosiepink) for her 3rd Quarter Challenge submission; Mary Stori for her advice on beading; and Jill Chadek for sharing her journey to becoming a felt artist.

Happy New Year! On to new felting journeys for 2016!

Take One, Take Two and Roll

August 29, 2015 Marilyn aka Pandagirl Comments 18 comments

While I was getting organized for our trip to Europe, I realized I could use something to keep my jewelry in other than little plastic bags like I have done previously for travel.

I devised a jewelry roll with netting inside to hang my earrings. But my first attempt didn’t go well. Even though I knew in my mind netting wouldn’t shrink, I proceeded anyway.

I used two layers of purple prefelt with a small pocket at the bottom. I’m not sure what I was thinking then either. On the front side I used a strip of from a silky scarf down the middle then hand dyed cheesecloth on both sides for decoration.

On the inside I put the netting in and two panels of the scarf with a thin layer of plastic wrap so the panels wouldn’t felt to the inside. I thought perhaps I could control the shrinkage so the netting would work, but I also wanted that texture the scarf and cheesecloth would provide. Hah!

I got my texture, but the netting just puffed out. I cut it out, but wasn’t happy with the way I could fix it.

So, on to the second try. Same layout only without the netting and the small pocket at the bottom. I put an extra narrow piece of felt along the edges of the panels to help them felt in straight and give it some extra strength.

After I got the ruching I wanted and the felt was dry, I hand sewed the netting around the edges and a line through the middle to keep it from stretching out. The panels were a little puffy, but their job was to hold in the earrings after being rolled so they wouldn’t fall out the sides.