A lady at our local food pantry had given me her "girl" fabric, she said she has boys to sew for, and I have girls so she passed on some nice garment fabric for them. She also gave me a HUGE bag, and I do mean HUGE bag of polyester/double-knit squares she had been cutting "for awhile". Well, I had noooo idea what I was going to do with them; then on my way to a dr's apt. I saw a gentleman walking to the Rescue Mission in Peoria. He had fashioned an old wool looking blanket into a coat tied at the waist with a way-to-big for him belt, he had an old tattered wool cap (the kind with the ear flaps and pom-poms on strings at the ends) a gray wiskered face, a walking stick and the biggest smile I've ever seen. He just warmed my heart, probably because he really looked like an old world St. Nick picture. I thought wow, he's on his way to the mission, he's cold and probably hungry but yet he still can have a huge, heart warming smile. So, I talked with the girls and mom, and we decided to use the poly/dbl-knit squares to make some simple turned and tied blankets. We started last Sunday; the girls "designed" 9 patch blocks as I sorted them into stacks by color/design. When they had one ready Grandma would safety pin them together and put them in a sack. We started around 9:30 in the morning and finally stopped around 5pm, at which time we noticed, we didn't even stop long enough to get dressed LOL. We had been having sooo much fun, we spent the whole day in our pj's sorting squares into blocks. I'm sewing them together this week, the girls are deciding which 9 patches will go into the each blanket (they'll be double sided 9 patches), then this coming weekend we'll tie them with yarn.

We're going to donate them to the Peoria Rescue Mission in memory of my dad and Roy Dudley (mimisharon's hubby).

Sorry to go on so long...but I had to share our fun with you.

More pics...

Note* no the pictures on the wall aren't crooked, the photographer is LOL

last ones...

Great idea, Lisa. Isn't it funny how the ideas come along at the right time. I have a ton of double knit fabric that I had been saving for years. Moved here 14 years ago and it is still in boxes in the basement. I was going to make rugs with it, by cutting 2 inch squares--well that takes forever! I decided I would cut it into 6" and 4" squares for charity quilts . and the leftovers into 2" squares for rugs. That stuff seems to multiply.

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What a wonderful and most thoughtful project. And you are teaching the young ones a great 'gift'.

Oh how much fun was that? Love it!

Such a wonderful idea!!! I'm sure your girls will remember this forever, and will remind you about it next year!! Could be a beautiful new tradition for you all!! :)

Such a wonderful project to work on with the girls. This will be something that they'll always remember. Would love to see the finished quilts.

What a nice story and a great idea! Please post it later when you are done.

What a great way to use them up, have some fun and spend time with the girls, I am sure that they will go a long way to keeping someone warmer this winter.