Sunday, December 27, 2015

Man's shirt repurposed and the Shop Drop Challenge 2016

Creations from a man's shirt of the Hawaiian shirt hoarder continue with repurposed fabric art. Beginning this summer, I obtained over 40 Hawaiian shirts at an estate sale and garnered numerous fabric scraps through thrifting. This year I produced eight quilts ranging from crib to queen sized. Two log cabin quilts are awaiting "sandwiching" (combining the top, batting and backing) for quilting and binding.

Links to some of those quilting posts

UpcSycling-and-hawaiian-shirt-hoarder
The-first-of-hawaiian-shirt-quilt-series
Summer-jumble-patchwork-quilt
The-mom-quilt-and-fresh-blackberry-pie

At first I didn't like this print because it seemed untraditional for quilting purposes, now I am glad I kept it for this project. This is one of the processed shirt panels. 



I cut 3-1/2 inch strips of shirt material and of solid black and alternated in sewing them together. I affixed the quilt sandwich together with a straight stitch down each side of the black strips. My goal was to cover this section of my cubicle so it looked less like a bank vault.  

Before

After

I will update this post with a close-up after I quilt concentric circles with gray thread and highlights of black on the printed fabric.

Now that we are rounding the bend into the New Year, I am preparing my posts for the a-to-zchallenge.com beginning April 1st that will focus on fashion and sewing. Signups for the 2016 challenge open on January 25th. 



I have also joined the Shop Drop Challenge 2016 hosted by Mommygreenest.com, text from her blog as follows:

"Need a New Year’s Resolution? Sign up for Shop Drop 2016! Take the Shop Drop Challenge and pledge not to buy any new clothes for 30 days, choosing like-new consignment, thrifted and swapped fashion instead. Shop Drop 2016 begins January 1st!
Why? To break the fast fashion cycle. The average American woman spends $60 on clothes and trashes six pounds of textile waste each month. If the 160 million women in America took our 30-day shop-and-drop pause, we could save nearly one billion pounds of landfill waste. Yes, that’s billion with a b.

Right now we have 213 people signed up, and our goal is 1,000… representing 6,000 pounds of landfill waste saved. Thanks to presenting sponsor thredUP.com, everyone who takes the Shop Drop Challenge is entered to win a $250 like-new consignment shopping spree and invited to our VIP party in Los Angeles. Sign up now!"


Pattern of the Day is from 1969. I see more than one current trend represented in this graphic. 




My first linkup with Amanda Jean at Crazymomquilts for finish it up Friday for a neat year-end surprise of my pageviews doubling.  Wow! There must be a bigger audience for quilting than I ever imagined. 


Thursday, December 24, 2015

Wishing you a Wonderful Christmas!





Thank you for joining me for this Countdown to Christmas.





May you all be as comfy as this kiddo wrapped in a Christmas quilt.

What I'm listening to ~






Such cute artwork!



Signups for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge will be on January 25. Be sure to mark your calendar. 

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Yarn Gone Wrong

The yarn has not gone wrong, it is the fabric artist's creative vision that has gone slightly awry.  








Blog linkup gone wrong. For those mobile users, my apologies for the inLinkz script that prevented you from viewing my Countdown posts. All have been restored. Html coding can be tricky sometimes.


What I'm listening to ~



Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Von Zalez loves Vintage

Rounding down these last few days of the Countdown are the remainder of the shopgoodwill.com inmates that caught my eye.




The card cutout looks vintage but the toothpick frame seems recent. It was in a bag of ornaments I bought at hospice thrift for 50 cents.



One blog I can count on to post vintage or retro images is goldcountrygirls.  Here is one image from their Scenes from a Vintage Christmas post.




@vinnyboyvintage on Instagram

These images are undated Christmas cards from the Passionist Missionaries that I received from another blogger on a gift exchange.




I found a pair of Leftons, only 50 cents each, on this last week rounding into Christmas.  Silly sentimentalist that I am, tears came to my eyes, I was so happy. I have never seen these two before in all of my image surfing. I am not sure whether the Lefton on the left is a cross-dresser or not - he/she has a moustache and red lipstick. 


I am delighted with the thrift shop rescued ornaments I have gathered over the years with this lot being this season's purchases.





What I'm listening to The Whispers with my favorite track of Funky Christmas. 



Monday, December 21, 2015

The Abominable and T-Rex

Being a Seattle native, I love this picture of the Abominal and the Space Needle.  


I just discovered this Abominal finger puppet I had snagged some time ago thrifting.  This year I decided to use all of my holiday decorations and there he was tucked away with one of my lighted houses.  


I could not resist this Abominable Snowman, a $1 thrift shop rescue. T-Rex is not too keen about him joining my collection.



The Abominal Wreath

Vinylmation Abominal Snowman


Tyrano from the 2014 Countdown

What I'm listening to ~



Sunday, December 20, 2015

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Gifts that make you go Gah and glitter bombing

Some Christmas decorations defy description, like this Santa toilet paper holder.


Outhouse ornament?

And that perfect gift you've been searching for?



There were the Golden Girl granny panties.



A link to some alternative gifts The-still-weird-gift-guide-stuff-to-wear

And now there is glitter bombing
http://www.abc10.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/12/09/lumbersexuals-glitter-bombing-beards/77030932/
(lumbersexuals - their term ....)



What I'm listening to ~



I watched the Ally McBeal show - what a romp! 
The best of the recording is Macy Gray's version of Winter Wonderland.