Here are some more ideas from the Arts Bloggers to “get your creative juices flowing,” as my mother used to say.
Cloudy skies on fabric with Tangled Thread
Follow this step-by-step tutorial to create your own hand-painted fantasy skies on fabric.

Book Arts Resources at Layers Upon Layers
Book arts resources to either get you started or to inspire your further exploration!

Quick Visual Prompt
Visual prompt from the book Art Escapes

Quilters “Going Green” – Has This Changed Your Quilting?
Mary Emma at Quilting and Patchwork shares some tips on recycling and going green in your quilting/fabric art.
Scrap Girls Color Challenge: Red, White and Black
Do you know the derivation of the phrase “Three Dog Night”? Eileen clues us in with a scrapbook layout featuring three of her darling dogs.

ENJOY!

(Amazon image; check here)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Scraps & Prompts & Painted Fabric from the Arts Bloggers

How “green” was your grandmother’s quilting? 

Grandma never thought about “green” quilting when she recycled her fabrics.  She was simply being frugal or thrifty.  Also, fabrics weren’t so readily available for the early quilters.  The local general store may carry some bolts of fabric for making clothing but not very many and then mainly serviceable materials. Also, it was considered extravagant to buy fabric solely for making quilts. 

So what did Grandma do? 

She……

*Cut up worn-out clothing and used the fabric for her quilts.

*Incorporated the leftover fabric from making clothing and household items into quilts.

*Used the decorative feed and flour sacks popular in the 1940s for making quilts, clothing, and household items.

*Traded fabric with her quilting friends.

*Used scraps of fabric for patching…clothing, bedding, tablecloths, quilts.

*Made rag rugs from leftover fabric.

*Took wornout quilts, cut out the remaining good portions and stitched together for another quilt or made smaller items from these.

*Never threw anything away that she could find a place to store.

Quilters have been saving and using scraps of fabrics for years, so this whole “green” idea is nothing new to them.

How about you?  How do you reuse and recycle in your quilting and fabric art?

(Amazon image; click here)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Frugal Tips: How “Green” Was Your Grandmother’s Quilting?

Even though the summer is drawing closer and children are going back to school, the Arts Bloggers still have many interesting ideas for you.  These might be fun to consider if your schedule slows down after the youngsters are in school.  Some of the ideas are “green,” made from recycled materials.
Cool Journal Tool
Try this fun tool to create art for your journal, or just to play

Cotton Monsters! The Work of Jennifer Strunge
See some of Strunge’s amazing and fun soft sculptures made from recycled clothing and linens.

Eco crafts- Credit card bobbins
How to recycle old credit cards into bobbins for embroidery floss, crochet cotton or, threads or yarn.
Homecoming Mum Season Alert
If you live in Texas, Oklahoma and other parts of the South and are in junior high or high school (or know anyone who is , it’s time to get started on your homecoming mums. Go team! 

Layers Upon Layers
June Campbell, one of the most generous mixed media artists I know, has written a profile for Layers Upon Layers. Come meet this extraordinary woman! 

Make your needlework patterns go further
Did you know that lots of cross-stitch and needlepoint patterns are interchangable?

Walking Through the Time Warp of Your Quilting World
Mary Emma, at Quilting and Patchwork, explores the timelessness of quilts and how they bring generations together.

Enjoy!

(Amazon image; click for details)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

End of Summer Projects from the Arts Bloggers (Some of them are “green”!)

In previous posts, I’ve mentioned using old neckties to make quilts, throws, and pillows.  This is a great way to recycle these items.  The resulting projects also may become “memory” pieces.

Cyndi Levin, of Layers Upon Layers mentioned this use of her husband’s ties:

I regularly add my husband’s old ties into my mixed paper and fabric quilts…it’s so much fun to revisit them long after their expiration date!

What an interesting way to use old neckties.  What about including photos and mementos of the person who owned them?  An interesting memory piece.

Do you have any unique uses for old neckties?

Related posts:

Memory Pillows & Throws from Neckties

Memory Quilts with Neckties

(Amazon image)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Frugal or “Green” Quilting Tips – Using Old Neckties

FRUGAL  or  “GREEN” QUILTING TIPS

Since “green,” recycling and frugality are buzz words these days, I’m collecting tips from quilters and fabric artists that reflect these.  I think quilters have always been frugal and used and re-used their supplies. 

However, it’s fun to see how others are using up and re-using.

Jean Murray, quilter and b5 blogger at Small Business Boomers,  gave a tip when she commented on my post, Great Tutorial on Binding a Quilt.  (I give you this link so Jean’s tip is in context!)

This is a great tutorial. It also answers my question about bias vs straight binding, and the method she’s using doesn’t take as much fabric.

I always buy extra fabric, and I never want to use it all – for SOMEDAY I might want to use it again. How about a post on how frugal quilters are – we save scraps!

Yes, I agree.  Quilters save scraps.  And bits and pieces of embellishments.  And bits and pieces of “stuff” that might possibly be used somhow, some way.

For an idea on how to store those scraps and bits and pieces, check out Patti’s suggestions in A Reader Shares Her Sewing/Quilting Room Organization.

Also check out Karen Weideman’s guest post, 10 Ways to Save Money Quilting.

Share your frugal or “green” tips with us.

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Frugal or “Green” Quilting Tips