My Zoo

So this is my zoo so far... but bad/good news: the Alligator sold to someone who was dying to have it!!  (It was my mom.  How could I say NO?!)  So... this means I will HAVE to do ANOTHER alligator warp!  Oh darn!  I also have twill armadillo fabric leftover, at least enough to make 4 more armadillos.  So I might have to do some catch-up work before I can move onto another animal!  But what's next?  I'm not sure... it's so hard to decide.

And now we are eight!

Meet my 3 newest friends Jules, Molly, and Milton!

And now we are a complete set of armadillos!

All eight new friends are just in time for my goal of Feb 10!

So far, 6 have sold, and there's one left for me...

and 1 leftover... 

I'm sure it will find a home soon enough!

Here are the dimensions:
Total length: 12.5 inches (Head to tail: 8"; Tail: 4.5")
Height: 5 inches

Fuzz Factory

 It's quite the fuzz factory over here...

Lots of cutting, lots of sewing, lots of fibers = lots of dust!

 The last 5 armadillos have been done factory style... until the very end anyway.  The very end is still done individually.

 Look at all that fuzz!!  I took everything apart on my sewing machine and cleaned it out really good.  I found gator fuzz, too!  The fuzz was so packed together it was like felt.

 Too much fuzz for me!

 5 armadillos down!  3 more to go!!!

Meet the new friends: Tony and Albert!

Ginger, Clover, and Gus

Lots of little hands to sew on!  I like cutting everything out and getting it ready to sew all at once.

 

 Amy has a really neat set-up here with the armadillo!  I like this pattern.  It's like a little puzzle.  One change I made was the fabric that I cut the gusset from.  Instead of using twill, I used the armor piece because you have to go back and sew a circle on the head anyway... so this kind of saves a step!

 This little ear has been sewn on just to hold it down easier.

I made one more armadillo and to work out the kinks and then started a small assembly line. 
Here's a deflated one ready to stuff!

One of the few changes I made was where I turned and stuffed the armadillo.  Instead of on the belly, I am using the back because it gets covered with the armor piece.

That huge box of stuffing I got at Hobby Lobby is the most awesome stuff I've ever used!!!  It's kind of a sticky feel, almost like 100% cotton but it's still polyester.  It really packs down hard and stays put.  The other stuff I've been using feels "soapy" and just kind of slides all over the place.  This stuff is great!  And there's SO much of it!

I was having a lot of trouble making the gathers for the armor piece.  I really needed something more concrete rather than "gather hither and thither" and just sew it down.... that just wasn't working for me so I sewed some sections together to make it curve a little bit.  This fits perfect!  My secret combination is this: Starting with the first 2 rows of pyramids, sew 2 rows of pyramid sections together and then skip a row in between.  You can get 3 sections for the pyramids.  Then, sew 9 dots together, then ease the machine off at an angle.  Then sew 7 dots, on each end of the pyramids.  This fits perfect!!!

Peek-a-boo!!!

Meet the my newest armadillo friends: Ginger, Clover, and Gus.

parts and pieces

The body fabric is all woven and washed up!

 The left side is the front of the cloth and the right side is the back of the cloth.

 It has such a great texture!!  I wish I could let you feel it.

The texture is very coarse and hardy.

 

 It took awhile to get all these parts and pieces ready!

Here's the pieces of interfacing all ironed onto the cloth.  

Now I have to cut them out and I can start sewing!  I can't wait!

 

 I have noticed a small logic error I've made, but I don't think it will be a big deal.

For some reason, this is how I visualized all the pieces laid out on the cloth.

But after running some errands and coming back, I realized this is how it should look:

Why?  The little check should be up and down.  I don't think it's a big deal, especially if I keep it the same with each one.  It will just give it character, right?!  And that great handmade look!  Also, there was a threading error that wasn't very apparent from the backside of the fabric but it's more apparent on the front side.  There's not much I can do about it now.  The first way I ironed on all the pieces hid it real well, but this second way does not.  Oh well... it's all handmade and has to be expected!  And such a huge learning experience!

Oh, and PS.  I still have 1/3 of my body cloth leftover!!!  YIKES!!!  I already have 8 armadillos and only enough shell fabric for 8!!  Now I can have more if I weave more shell fabric!  Maybe I should make some armadillo babies....

 So if you want a b-day recap from yesterday: It was a great day!  I ate ice cream 3 different times: with lunch, with dinner, and with dessert.  PLUS, I made out with some great loot!

A sachiko table runner from mom:

combined loot: tea, train pattern, some books to read!

 Super beautiful and extra soft yarn... 

and YES!!  I can't wait to think of something for this!  The gears are already chugging!

And an MP3 player all for myself for MY music!

8 whole gigs of it... which is well over 1200 songs... rather than 30 like the old one!!!
WITH a screen to see what I'm doing!
AND you can get a small card that is 32 gigs for really cheap... that's a LOT of music!

Awesome day and awesome year ahead!!!

The Armadillo Twill

The armadillo twill took awhile to set-up on the loom because it's 720 threads across, which is about 24" weaving width.  But this should save some time in the end because I only have to weave through 5 yards. 

This is the twill I am getting from my loom with the current set-up:

This picture shows it a lot more clearly than in real-life.  As it is on the loom right now, you can make out Amy's armadillo twill design if you stare at it really closely, which looks like this:

However, on the backside this is what's showing up:

Which to me looks a lot more like her pattern in the book!  The part that confuses me is none of her other patterns wove upside down so far.  This is what I see, which is the reverse of the book:

So instead of reversing my pedals, I am going to just complete the cloth as is and use the back side as the front side because I like it better!

And isn't this a funny way to sit and look out the window??

Did you know?

• There are 20 different species of armadillos.
• The armadillos closest living relative are the sloths and the anteaters.
• The 3-banded armadillo is the only species that can roll itself into a ball.

Armadillo in Amarillo

I have never actually seen an armadillo in person, I was not even lucky enough to see a dead one on the side of the road when my dad and I drove to Texas in 2010.







In fact, my first encounter with the word "armadillo" was watching the movie Steel Magnolias.  Remember the funny groom's cake that the aunt makes?  It's an armadillo shaped red velvet cake:

Man, that is one ugly cake!  Anyway, I'm hoping that my little woven armadillos will look enough like the real thing or at least be cute enough to hold their own ground.  Or else I will have to stick to things I know better, like rattlesnakes, coyotes, and saguaro cactus!  Speaking of which, my mind is really abuzz with ideas to go beyond Amy's book... but my goal is to first get through her stuff!

Here are some threading pictures:

 

 

We're finally ready to weave!!!

And this is what the kitties were doing while I was threading:

Scout was sitting really funny, almost like a human!

And Zip insisted on pulling down a quilt from the back of the chair and sitting in it!  He seriously gave me this "What do you want now?" look!

P.S. I'm all ready with the stuffing... I went to Hobby Lobby last weekend with a 40% off coupon and found this ENORMOUS box of poly-fill stuffing!  It's 5 lbs!  When I did the gators, each took at least 6 oz, or half a bag of stuffing.  So this box should last for at least 10 critters!