We just took a trip through west Texas. I loved seeing the cotton fields and thought this could be part of a future quilt. I know nothing about growing or harvesting cotton but I had to take some pictures.

They need to keep growing that cotton so we have lots of good quality cottons to sew with and keep the prices down!

I am a transplanted Yankee living in the Mississippi Delta where cotton is one of the main crops grown. I was living across the road from a cotton field and watching them harvest was just amazing. They compress it into huge bales that could fit into the bed of a semi just about and cart it off to the gin to be processed. Bits of cotton fly all over the roads like snow at harvest time. When I first moved here I thought there must be a lot of drinkers in the area because of all the Gin factories I saw! Cotton Gins! :lol:

Lovely pictures!

I was driving through the country here in Alabama a few weeks ago behind a truck with wisps of cotton flying. I thougth the same thing, A future quilt is in the making.

When I was young in high school we used to get a day or two off during the cotton picking season to go out and pick cotton for the cotton farmers. Little did I think then about that cotton making a quilt! All I knew then was what a back-breaking job picking cotton is and how hot it sometimes was down in Oklahoma!

They should give those plants some Miracle Grow. It is going to take alot of those cotton balls to make enough fabric for a quilt.

my Grannie's family grew cotton. She used to tell stories and her and her brothers picking it and then the boys hauling it off to sell in the wagon.

As you can see from "mary quite contrary's" third picture, there are thorns on the husks and can be very painful and hazardous to your hands. Hope and assume that automated picking is done now. Great pictures!!!!

And to think that someday, some of that cotton my be gracing one of my quilts!!! Terrific photos and gave me some reflection time on the true beginnings of where our fabric starts.

These are such awesome pictures. Thank you! It reminds me of the movie Places in the Heart.

Great shots, and they do remind us where our quilting fabric starts. Good job

Come down to Robstown, Texas and you'll see more cotton growing, especially during the Spring and Summer. Drive down Highway 44 and you'll see pieces of cotton lining the entire highway on both sides of the Highway where the cotton is being transported. Robstown is about 18 miles away from Corpus Christi, Texas.

There are huge cotton fields across from my house... They have just started harvesting. What amazes me is how much cotton is left on the bushes after they take the machines thru to harvest. Seems like such a shame. But I guess it is cost prohibitive to do it any differently.

Also, about 2 weeks ago the crop dusters sprayed defoliant so that when they harvest, all that is left are the branches with the cotton bolls.

Thanks for the info. We kept seeing crop dusters and assumed it had to have something to do with harvesting but we didn't know what.

Isn't it neat to watch them grow and transforms into a fluff? We did peanuts 1st and then the cottons, my grandkids loves to get up close to'em and pull a few for show/tell @ school.
The peanuts were pulled first & then they went over the vines and whipped into bales for feed and all that's left is the field.

Were you in the Lubbock to Seminole area? That field looks like one that wasn't irrigated, but relied on nature to help. The irrigated fields are much hardier, bigger plants and way more cotton bolls.

The cotton from the Lubbock to Seminole area isn't the premium quality needed for top notch fabric, but there are millions of uses for it anyway, like Q-tips & cotton balls. It's a rather short ataple. I agree, we need to keep on producing that cotton so we have plenty of gerige goods to send over to whereever thay send it to print and send back to us!

I could spit everytime I think of everything that is produced in China. Indonesia can keep on producing our batiks, though! :thumbup:

We were in the north west corner of the state. I don't remember exactly where we stopped. It was fun to watch the harvest though.

Isn't it?

I don't understand how the cotton stays put in that large "brick" until the truck comes and what keeps it from falling apart as they load in into the truck.

I Agree With you On That.