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In Panama we were fotunate, if you can call it that, to have a ngo of sorts that would gather unclaimed/no longer applicable (in the case of logos and such) new clothing from places like Lands End and resell them.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?

Miss Cleo, meet Chrissy Cleo

Miss Cleo is getting a backside to her and her name is Chrissy Cleo. miss Cleo is so excited as she will have a playmate. Little does she know that he will spend her days going in circles, chasing her perceived playmate. :)  But for now she is happy to see the work progressing on Chrissy Cleo.

Once again Chrissy Cleo will need some character so her face will get done fairly quickly. The color ways for her will give her a completely different personality that Mis Cleo's. We shall see how they develop.
She is outlined in a dark Christmas green:

The canvas is called "Eggshell" with gold sparkles in it. The color way is based upon Watercolors "Holiday" 

 

   I decided on red for her face in order to brighten her up and will take out the wine color on her tale and replace it with a red shade. Oh those eyes, they are already boring into me as I stitch. Will have to hurry and finish them.

And on to other things ...

I finished 2 quilting UFO's this week. Oh they didn't take a whole lot of work, just sitting down and doing it. That is the hard thing to do lately. 

Let it Snow ... the fabric is from 2006 so it is about time I finished it up.

Also finished was a pink quilted hobo bag that was started as a demonstration (but ultimately not used) project for Colombia.

That depletes the list of UFOs by 2. Small gain but a gain nonetheless.

On to another UFO and continuing with Miss Cleo and Chrissy Cleo ....

A busy 3 days ...

Since last blogging My husband and I have cycled the Katy Trail in Missouri, all 228miles of it. We had a great time; riding was great, weather was fantastic, photo ops superb, mets lots of neat people, and then raced the foul weather. Weather 1, Shirley & Danny 0  You can read all about it and see the photos at http://travelinduo.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-katy-according-to-danny.html
The colors were changing and by the time we were finished what we saw was

Today I finished up a marathon 3 days of sewing. I finished the 2 quilts for my mother and an UFO that I discovered in the closet above the bed.
Mom had asked me to quilt 2 quilts for her. I was given 2 sets of 12 cross stitched blocks, all different sizes. They are for 2 of her great granddaughters.



I decided to put them into a Friendship pattern because that would allow brightening colors that bring out the block without overwhelming it. Then I wanted them to be completely different. This is what I came up...

 sewing in cramped quarters

The UFO that I discovered in the closet was a Halloween table runner started in Panama. It got packed away unfinished and sat. The end panels needed to be quilted and then the whole thing bound. Here you go ...

Perfect and now ready to once again pack away! This time she goes into the Halloween box, not the UFO box. Love working with those jelly roll and cake cuts.

 When our friend came to visit us in Missouri I was able to persuade her to pick up and bring me my finished Enchanted Sleigh pillow. I was a little apprehensive about the color that I had chosen, but turns out it is a perfect shade for the pillow and the bedroom decor.

 sorry about the lack of lighting

As for Miss Cleo, well she is coming along slowly even though she has been on the back burner now for a time. And ... she will remain there for another month as we head off to Mexico. She is too big to take with us as a bus riding project. I will just have to find something else to do. Learn more SPanish maybe?????

Finally, I have finished my friend's Christmas gift. Now to get it to the finishers as well. They will take it up to the first of Dec to get it done before Christmas but I want to get it in right away for easier mailing.

Wow, I guess I really have done a bit of work here, all in between the bicycle riding, the hiking, the touristing, and the traveling. Somehow I think the next month will not be as productive - riding public transportation in Mexico, touristing areas that we haven't been in before.

Tah dah ...