Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours

Enough said.

Fall Color

I've been enjoying some last bits of fall color in the flowerbeds before the weather turns colder ...

Chrysanthemums that I bought last year came back this year!

Little Lantanas that still have some blooms showing up ...

A last canna or two ...

And the occasional flower spike on what's left of the monkey grass ...

Right now, this chrysanthemum is my favorite.

~ * ~

"While the earth remaineth,

seedtime and harvest,

and cold and heat,

and summer and winter,

and day and night

shall not cease."

Genesis 8:22

~ * ~

Fat Quarters Cut from Shirts

Since my favorite fabric designers lately are Tommy Hilfiger, Eddie Bauer, Old Navy, and the like, I've had a lot of fun turning a lot of 100% cotton shirts into usable fabric.

I've been cutting recycled shirts into the pieces for my latest shirt-quilt projects, 

AND

I've also been cutting fat quarters out of the shirts.

I guess I can't strictly say these are fat quarters, since none of these are the result of a criss-cross cut of an entire yard of fabric. But they measure 18" x 22", the exact size of a fat quarter. And they're all 100% cotton, reclaimed textiles, and great for sewing!

And, since I figure that other quilters might be looking for a nice, neat little stack of shirt fabric, many of these will be showing up in my eBay and Etsy listings soon. (They might not necessarily be sold in the exact groupings pictured, since I'm continually adding to my stack of these ...)

So, that's another thing (among many things) that I like to do with thrift-store shirts!

More Dress-shirt Patchwork In Progress

If you saw my most recent post on the same topic ... this is more of the same. 

It's a small quilt top so far ... twenty-something inches by thirty-something ... And I'm brainstorming how to add some really cool borders that add size and interest.

And, since I consider this "test piece" pretty successful, I'm working on a set of several dozen nine-patches (and then several dozen of the modified snowball blocks) for a big quilt top ...

And, since I can't help myself, my mind is already planning at least two more shirt quilt tops after that! 

I'm pretty sure this kind of sewing is good for the creative side of my brain, because I find it very relaxing, as well as satisfying & challenging, to be designing & creating a few sewing projects at any given time.

T-Shirt Yarn

The other day, I had 3 T-shirts. 

Yellow, Rust, and Very-Orange.

100% Cotton.

Then, I cut them up ... each t-shirt into a single strand of inch-wide fabric. (Easier than it sounds, really.)

Then comes the fun of - - - stretching - - - the "yarn" so it curls ...

And, since I don't have any projects going right now that need this much orange or yellow, I'll be listing these on eBay or Etsy soon, in case somebody else does! 

More Dress-Shirt-Patchwork

I've been sewing with shirt fabric again.

Since fabric stores are few and far between here, and there are thrift stores galore, I've been stocking up on some great 100% cottons (from some of my favorite fabric designers!) at ridiculously great prices.

So, I've washed, pressed, and cut a whole bunch of shirts ...

And I've gotten out my graph paper and jotted down ideas ...

And I've had fun getting some progress made on my next couple of shirt quilt tops.

Updates and more pictures soon!

Another Pine Basket

After making the blue pine needle basket, it occurred to me how handy it would be to have a business-card-sized basket.

So, of course, I had to try it. 

Success!

Pink ribbon was what I had handy, but black ribbon would be a little more classy. So I just bought some black ribbon. Stay tuned ...