Pendleton Scraps: A Glorious Pillow Emerges

Remember when I went to the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store in Portland, Oregon? Well I couldn't wait to start sewing with the strips and scrap pieces that I bought. This pillow above isn't finished into a pillow yet, I've got to do a bit of sewing, but I wanted you to see what I came up with from this! The woolen mill store sells the strips, edges and wool worms that are the natural cast offs in blanket production. The strips are sold by the pound and its up to you to pull the colors you're interested in or take a gamble and just grab an armful to experiment with. I had fun selecting the colorful strips that spoke to me. I spent about $3.50 on the strips i used to make this pillow and I have a lot left over for future projects. What a deal.

I am so very pleased. A bit like painting with wool, you have to look at the patterns and imagine them working together. I love that it still has a Native American feel. The pillow is pieced together from 6 or 7 different patterns.

What do you think? Isn't it great on this chair in our apartment?

Portland: Pendleton Woolen Mill Store is Exciting for Makers

We had the 4th of July weekend stretching out before us and our families were thousands of miles away. On Saturday morning, Dan asked if I'd like to take the 3.5 hour drive to Portland, Oregon for an overnight trip.

"Can we find the Pendleton Mill Store and get wool scraps?" When he answered yes, I started packing. I used the patriotic approach and packed pants, t-shirts and sweaters all in red, white and blue, figuring that I would match somehow. We were on the road by 10 am, looking for fun. 

A Facebook post stating "An impromptu trip to Portland! First stop, Pendleton Woolen Mill" ened up planning the rest of our trip. One friend Shannon in Seattle invited us to stop and see her at her parents' house to tour their large garden in bloom. My friend Souri in Michigan encouraged us to eat at her family's Thai restaurant in Portland and finally my friend, Marilyn in Tennessee insisted we set aside time to visit the Rose Test Garden that Portland is famous for. Our trip
was planned!

This was what inspired me to get in the car. Wool scraps! My mom said, 'Really?" when I showed her this photo, but I think I can do great things with what I found here. Pendleton makes beautiful wool blankets, clothing and accessories. 

You might remember when I told you about the Native American-inspired Print towels by Pendleton that my mom was collecting. They have stores across the country, but it is the Woolen Mill Store (8550 SE McLoughlin Blvd.) that sells Pendleton fabric by the yard, remnants and wool ends.

The store is huge and offers endless inspiration for artists and makers, as well as Pendleton enthusiasts in general. I spent ages choosing the strips of wool that I wanted to experiment with and I can't wait to get started. I promise to show you what I create.

Pendleton: Gorgeous Prints Inspired by Native American Designs

Pendleton Woolen Mills - an American brand that excels in high quality wool blankets and throws "inspired by Native American designs and legends."

I have known Pendleton mostly from their iconic "Glacier National Park" blanket. Creamy white with a single yellow, red, black and green stripe on each end of the blanket. Click the link and read the story about the markings and how they reflected the value of the blanket back in the frontier trading post days - fascinating.

It was my mom that fell head over heels for the Pendleton beach towel collection printed in Native American patterns, similar to the ones shown above. Over the past year or so, we have scoured stores looking for patterns that she didn't have. It was the thrill of the hunt and it was really fun.

Imagine our surprise when she mentioned to someone that she collected Pendleton towels and they pointed her to the Pendleton Outlet, just 10 minutes from my apartment in Washington! We drove over the first chance we had and she was so very happy to be able to be able to see the entire collection on display. I was too busy holding up towels for her to appreciate from a distance (can you see me holding my arms up over my head to keep them off the floor?) to remember to take a photo of the towel display, but you can get a sense from my wool blanket image above. Each and every one is an art piece, that's for sure.