you can make do without buying ...

Today I received an email from a friend who just returned from a family visit in Holland. She sent along a photo of the quilt that she and her sister made while there. It was made from scarves that their mother wore and were all sorts of textures and fabrics. What a feat that would be. They solved their immediate problem of fabric stretching by using lightweight fusible interfacing.

 All the scarves were ones that their mother had worn over time. 

This led me to remember how we were teaching the ladies in the quilting group in Panama that you can use other things to quilt with other than store bought cottons. First we started with making aprons from dress shirts and learning how to appliqué´by adorning the aprons. Then I went one step further and made a baby quilt out of chambray shirts.

They loved the quilts but unfortunately it had too much blue for a little girl and way too much pink for a boy. They are very gender oriented there. Still it sure was a warm one, with flannel backing and heavy duty batting. Then I went on to show them how to make quilts from polo knit shirts.

 In this one I purposely made a mistake in the pattern to see if they would see it. Some did immediately and others couldn't find it for nothing.

In Panama we were fotunate, if you can call it that, to have a ngo of sorts that would gather unclaimed/no longer applicable (in the case of logos and such) new clothing from places like Lands End and resell them. We convinced them to donate the XXL and XXXL to the women's group to use for quilting. Otherwise you bought a XXXL chambray shirt for $2 and a polo knit shirt in XXL and XXXL for $3. I will be going there when I go back next January to pick up some cotton shirts to use for donation quilts.

All of this was stimulated by the "new" discussions about the "new" find of very good cotton for quilting - used clothing stores with men's cotton shirts, women's cotton dresses, and so on. "New"? I don't think so and yet it is being written about in various blogs as if it is. Another great source of cotton is my DHs shirts. Every once in awhile one will match exactly with what I am doing and the shirt will "disappear". LOL 

Some members of Stashbusters are on what has been labeled "no buy" status. They shop their stash only unless it is for things like batting and backing. This is a noble venture, but for me impractical as my stash is in storage and I am in the RV a long long ways from it. So if I get the urge, I buy for a project, but don't collect random pieces of cloth. If I have a couple of coordinating fabrics that work well together in the RV I will buy to augment but nothing more. At least I can say that I am rarely tempted to just buy. 

What type of sources do you have that aren't necessarily the quilting shop's fabric?

Back home and trying to find my mojo

Well, isn't life just like that sometimes: As I tried to copy and paste the post into a new post, I completely deleted it. I can't find it anywhere. So I will have to redo completely. (originally from Sept. 2014)

As we settled into our home environment after our travels to Africa   (the story of our African Adventure)and then DisneyWorld with DGS#2, it was a difficult time for my mojo. It appears that it wanted to stay on vacation and I couldn't really initiate anything that I wanted to. Not sure if it was because I have so many looming projects, or just that being back in the home environment and still in the traveling mode, that it is hiding from me. Or yes, maybe it is because as soon as we returned from DisneyWorld, we immediately started planning another travel experience.

You see, after we returned home we bought a new for us home.

 You can see it here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i3xj0r96lc5e20a/AABaP98xP_Mpi9-voZJ_FQcba?dl=0 And so of course we had to plan a new trip to try it out. The Mississippi Blues Trail and the King Biscuit Blues Festival for the month of October.

 The trail travels all the way from Memphis (or even Chicago) to Vicksburg and then on into Biloxi, MS, along the Mississippi. Which is not to say that you are on the river road along the river. 

 This is my t-shirt.

  With all of this traveling I delighted my mojo in that I never hardly had Miss Betsy humming at all.

All in all however, I did manage to accomplish a few things as indicated in my previous update.
~ I finished DGS#1's quilt and presented it as a Christmas gift.
~ My Christmas blocks have been completed and are now back from the finishers. Love them.
~ the front of the double-sided Halloween has been completed.
~ My Canadian Santas are currently with the finisher.
~ I finished my Spanish Travels quilt.
~ My Santa Stamp cross stitch project to the point of needing to put it into some form of finishing.

 So how should I finish it? A pillow, a wall hanger, framed....

As well, I started or worked on:
~ DGS#2's quilt

 an oddly coloured rendition of the color way for his quilt

 The first row was finished before the new year rang in.

~ my Granny Square Coat
~ a halloween/thanksgiving table cloth (quilted for the picnic table)
~ a halloween pumpkin wall hanger (a wannabe Eleanor Burns)

~ an country Santa cross stitch with which to learn how to stuff and finish on my own
~ a blinking lights Christmas Tree wall hanger
~ Danny's Request[ed] quilt which I am going to try my hand at a Jelly Roll Race quilt, modified to my way.

 the backing - try and manipulate 60" wide by 108" of fleece backing and batting in a RV

 the started cutting of the jelly roll strips after sewing all 80 of them together, end to end

~ my first row by row as well as cutting out 3 more

 my chosen fabrics and the resulting row 

 soon to be a table runner.

Not the most impressive of the rows that is for sure.
~ set of 4 microwave bowls
~ a sampler bed quilt, OUR Quilt

 the front page of the pattern

 my fabrics

~ a wall hanger called World Traveler for our friends that we will be visiting this summer
 the starting of the design on my makeshift design wall
~ winter scene with a lady in red cross stitch


No new starts in Needlework but then I have enough UFOs to last a lifetime doubled. Seems like the more I mull over it all, the more I can come up with. Guess I was busier than I thought.

As to the Row by Row Experience for 2014, I found myself organizing a lot of the shared rows after the shop hop ended. This took a lot of time in the evenings when I couldn't really see that well to accomplish other projects. I found a lot that I would like to make and some fabulous eye-candy. A lot of the rows can be easily figured out and made without a pattern which is helpful.

Which brings me up to the Christmas season and a new travel adventure with the grands over New Years.

DisneyWorld 2014

Our next journey takes us on a car trip to DisneyWorld which leaves one a bit of time for needlework while DH drives. So what to take? That was the decision to make as we prepared. I decided on the Witch canvas that I had ordered many months ago that finally came. All the other projects/UFOs are large canvases and I didn't want to deal with them in the passenger seat of the car. I am sure there will be no time once we get to DisneyWorld for sitting quietly and stitching. :)   There is a back and a front and I took only the front - big mistake as I left some of the fibers with the back. Ahhhhh the learning curve never changes. This will be finished as a stand-up witch with a plastic tube down the center where I can put a tree branch and hang ornaments on. At least that is the plan. I know how I want it but will I be able to get it across to the finisher? As I travel it is slowly coming to completion. I will leave the broom until last as I really don't understand how that is supposed to be done. Might have to go in to the LNS and have them show me.

During the time leading up to our trip east, I was able to complete a few things:

~ the Canadian Santas - finished in totality, including the little charm maple leaf. They are now gone to the finishers but won't be finished until Feb 2015 due to the heavy volume of Christmas currently being experienced.

Feb 28, 2015 Addendum:

I have got to phone and find out if these have been finished. I am really excited to see what they look like and how ropy poly they actually became. Not phone but sent an email. 

~  Merry of the Christmas blocks finally was completed.   When I gathered up the blocks I could not find the "T". I know that I did it and that it has to be somewhere. Ended up looking through various venues in the storage unit and yup, there it sat in all it's lonesome glory. Grabbed that sucker right quickly.

Then they too went off to the finisher. "Don't expect them until the new year." I was told.

These wonderful blocks were returned to me in fabulous form. I love them - much more than when I did them. Now to decide what to do with them, keep or gift? 

~  Joined an informal exchange group for the Row by Row Experience.

Wow, imagine the possibilities that an exchange group can give. Of course, it only makes sense that you share in equal parts with each of the members and only the rows that you actually want. I am sure there will be many that I am not particularly interested in. All exchanges will be accomplished after the end of the Shop Hop. Mapped out my plan of attack on the close proximity shops to DisneyWorld - only 4 possible ones, but that is 4 more than I would have had. DH is so supportive of me that he even had me mapping out what it would mean in extra miles to hit a few more. Definitely not worth it as the DGS#2 has to be back for school and it would add a couple of days on to the trip at least. Oh well, maybe they will come in the exchange. One can only hope.

~  As for in the quilting department, I went as far as deciding on which UFO to attack next. I have to have a quarterly finish done by the end of September and the way that I am going now, that might just be a hardship on my part. Life just keeps getting in the way. Am going to work on Spanish Travels next, but first I have to get back from Florida. 

August, 2014 Finished this quilt. I quilted it on my Miss Betsy, Janome 6600 in straight double lines to represent the crisscrossing of our travels in Spain by rail. We went from the dark Atlantic to the blue Mediterranean and points in between.  

 The backing is the blanket that we had bought for the train rides so the size of this quilt was limited by the size of the backing blanket.

~DGS#1's quilt has been gotten to the flimsy stage and it to went of to the long armer's.

This was promised for November as it is a Christmas gift.

What a time I had getting this quilt back before it was too late for Christmas. The quilter came through however, and I picked it up physically rather than mailing it and had it bound and wrapped in time for Christmas.  Thank goodness it was long enough for him, and yes, he does want a pillow case to go with it. He loved it and cuddles into it as soon as he could. Phew! Even though it was somewhat of a hassle, she did a nice job of quilting it

and I will use her again, but only when there is no deadline attached to the return of the quilt.

As I go through my photos for completing these blogs, I will also update the status of all my other projects. In the meantime, happy Sewing, Quilting, and all other forms of activities that gives you immense pleasure.

With much encouragement ...

With much encouragement from friends who are avid readers of my two blogs, I once again, opened up my blog page. OMG, it is almost a year since I published anything but when I investigated further, I found three draft blogs. So my Celebration Month resolution is to finish and publish these three blogs and bring me up to date.

So I start with the blog draft titled DisneyWorld from September ...