ksusan

I'm in Iron Mountain on the Wisconsin-Michigan border --- about 240 miles from the Sault. I lived at Kincheloe for a few months in 1979 when it was an abandoned Air Force Base --- that about 23 miles from the Sault.

I've had fun at Joann's at the Sault. Our closest Joann store is in Escanaba on the shores of Lake Michigan. The Joann store at Marquette on the shores of Lake Superior closed a few years ago.

Do you ever attend Engineer's Day at the Locks? It is the last Friday of June each year. We went two years ago and had lots of fun. DH is a boatnerd and has been watching the "traffic" on the Great Lakes.

I sure hope we can have the money to build a new lock. Two locks are out of service and the so called new lock is forty years old. Our economy will really take a hit if shipping is restricted due to one of the two remaining locks being out of commission.

Well, I've rambled long enough. I have to put some laundry away and get back to my quilting book. I am re-reading my collection of books as a new year's resolution :roll:

Piecefully yours,
Kay Susan

Mousie

this thread is making me feel so good. I didn't think of all my re-using as recycling, but i must recycle 80-90% of practically everything. I was trying to break myself of it, lol.
let's see...my mom gave me all her sewing, quilting, crafting books, she can't see anymore. I kept gift bags to 'copy' pics to applique and embroider. I use cereal boxes for everything...laces, bias tapes i make, templates, also butter lids. Jars - buttons, etc. oatmeal boxes, cookie tins, shoe boxes.
I always have a plastic wal mart bag hanging from the lamp by my sewing chair to put all threads in for stuffing pillows. Snippets go in ice cream buckets for landscaping wall hangings. Strips go in another bucket to wrap around wire clothes hangers, crumbs go in a see thru bin for appliques...some strips go in a bowl bc i use to them to tie quilt bundles for each future project.
mcdonalds milk containers become snowmen. boxes that colas come in hold my ufo projects...i could go on for days. I cut up clothing, especially old prom dresses. somebody put some clothes on a table at our post office and not only did i get some that fit, but i got a prom dress that will become a ballerina/princess dress for my granddaughter. jeans go into tote bags. old towels become wash rags and sometimes i double them and use as bath mats. wow, i am greener than i even knew........

Mousie

i should write a book, lol! just got to list a few more. all that maddening junk mail...doesn't make me mad anymore, bc I can put in printer or put three holes for binders, where i keep pics of quilts, clothes i cut from magazines and junk mail, lol. i use envelopes to write grocery lists.
I use free stickers, etc. to cover those, "eyes" in public bathrooms that make the toilet flush, bc it scares my granddaughter and when we are done, i put back in my purse or toss it. She thinks her nana is so clever!
colored paper is re-used to put up cute sayings and inspirational quotes around sewing room. Like this one: The quilter that dies with the most fabric wasted a lot of time!
That is a great motivator. speaking of time, it's time to go, but I haven't even scratched the surface, lol. good for me. :) C

christina bennett

Over two years ago a friend told me about using the small bits for scrappy quilts. I never knew how much I was throwing away. Now that I know better , I have a system. Every time I sew ,I work on one quilt pattern for a while, sew a few blocks from scraps and have one on the table inprogress for tie-ing.
This way I don't get board, scraps take longer to make a 6 inch block, so by alternating tasks I ENJOY ALL THE PROJECTS!
chrissyb

Mousie

christina, i like your system. I get bored too. It's that I love the fabrics and piecing and all, but all the math involved in quilting is the work part. I might have erred in that I am doing my first "real" quilt for my granddaughter and I designed it myself instead of using a pattern, so now I am taking parts of block apart to "square" up rows.
I rotate projects, but I like the way you keep something close by and jump to it often. I might try that. sounds like fun and might energize me. thanks for sharing that. C

mic-pa

Hi, If you go to www.quiltville.com that will show you string quilts and many other scrappy quilts to make. I have made several quilts using her ideas. Marge

sunflower

Ksusan Have you ever gone in Gloria's Happy Hooker in the Sault? It's on M-129, not far from Joann's. They have beautiful fabric there and lots of it but it is a bit more expensive than Joann's - about $8.00 a yard. Next time you are in Sault it would be worth checking it out. Also, there is a place called Fabricland on the main street _ Queen Street - in Sault, Ontario, not far from the International Bridge. Half of their upper floor is dedicated to quilting fabric in several price ranges and they have frequent sales. I use all three stores for my projects. It's possible that the Joann's store in Sault, Michigan didn't close because they get so many Canadian customers.
I have lived in this area since 1968 and moved to Canada in 1984 after marrying a Canadian. I have been to Engineers' Day and Art in the Park at the Sault Locks. It's a shame about the Portage Street tourist trap area. Business has been going down ever since 911 and some of the stores have closed. Michigan economy and high gas prices are partly to blame. There are also fewer ships going through the locks than what used to. I have been to Iron Mountain. My mom lives over in that area - in Ontonagon.

minstrel

I don't know if this officially qualifies for "recycling", but I had an empty cabinet (used to use it as a pantry) sitting down in the basement that I had my dh bring up that now I'm using for my stash. Makes me happy to have all my fabric where I can easily see what I have. I had two boxes of old fabric that is cheap fabric I bought when I first started quilting that I'm in the process of organizing by color and cutting into strips to make rag rugs so I don't waste the fabric. And I've "repurposed" a small wall quilt I made years ago when my youngest (now teenaged) daughter was little that has pockets in it for Beanie Babies. She hasn't used it in years, so I've got it in my quilting room to use to put small quilting stuff in.

GailG

OOOH, I love the idea of "re-purposing" the ex-pantry for your stash. I have my grandmother's armoire that is loaded with books. AND it's in my sewing/craft/misc. room. If I could just figure out what to do with the books (without getting rid of them, of course :lol: ), it would be perfect for my stash.

christina bennett

Good morning,
I have noticed that by using this system I am not always checking the clock. I listen to music and sing far off key and lose all tract of time. Some afternoons I start around 5 pm and my husband comes home at 1 am and I am still having fun.
I tell peopl I just love to play with fabric.
Have a happy scappy day!
christinab