Cleaning,Gleaning and Repurposing into Quilts-Crazy Quilts

OK, now some of you may feel that buying things at the thrift store are not for you and that's OK.

If you are one of the CQA2014 participants, this blog posting is "a must read."

I think that if you want to get really motivated to improve your crazy quilting skills, you may just find awesome buys for a $1 or less for a huge zip lock bag with all sorts of stuff in it. Sewing and quilting stuff, that is!

Lace, laces, buttons, bits and pieces from clothing, zippers are just some of what you already know of, its just really good to have confirmation of fact.

 Really, girl, I've got my hands on my hips and I'm wagging a finger at you!

We all 'must' start re-purposing fabrics from clothing and related items made from fabric more often. I have read 'The World in 2050" by Laurence C. Smith and I can see the changes we all must make and I have begun making my changes!



If  you are interested in making crazy quilts or you are signed up for my Crazy Quilt Along 2014, then collecting little shit is something that I recommend you do. The little shit is the little  stuff that gets on your nerves sometimes when it comes tumbling out of every thrift store I see. The bags of this and that represent at least several visits to garage sales, thrift shops, flea markets, you name it, I have collected stuff.


Very little new fabric in the photo above.


The wool blends in this long suffering primitive rug that I'm hooking. Its wool purchased at thrift shops or freeway shops at some landfill sites.


A few years ago I participated in International Quilter Swaps online, I added the black and brown 'Drunkards Path' blocks on the last border.
It was all re-purposed from clothing.

Heh ladies, it just makes economic sense to reuse and re-purpose, doesn't it?  Think about this, it takes loads of fuel to manufacture common items we use in North America everyday. If those items are then thrown away in a landfill, ALL of the loads of fuel for manufacturing, transporting to your purchase is ALL LOST fuel that we'll never get  back again. That fuel is just gone, forever. Even you already buy the odd thing that has had a previous life in the hands of a stranger, its clean and lovely to re-purpose into one quilt. Its helping in such an insignificant way, that I think most of us just give up and buy new. Its so easy to reuse, re-purpose and recycle along to someone else, I don't see any excuse why our governments don't make it feasible to do MORE reusing. 


Maybe its the distance from plastics and other processing places that makes me re-purpose more so than most quilters I know. Locals might think, "Oh ya, Carli, we know you got it at the local mall" And I say this to you. So what?

I will continue to recycle, reuse and re-purpose fabrics of all kinds into quilts.

Leave me a comment telling me how you reuse or re-purpose and we'll all see how many of us are actually re-purposing fabric?

Carli



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