Category / reuse

by princesshotflash

Unneeded Items

I am sharing a project I started from the scraps of the donation quilts I’ve been working on. The fabric for the donation quilts comes from the adult bibs from the hospital’s acute care facility. The hospital’s volunteer crafter created them but didn’t need them anymore. I eventually got them to reuse as material for donation quilts to sell at the hospital’s thrift shop.

My pile of bibs in multiple stages of trimmings

For the donation quilts, I trimmed off the neck area and the finished edges to get a large area of fabric to cut my pieces. I had about 20+ bibs, which makes for much trimming waste of the bib’s neckties and finished edges. I thought I could make wrap cord bowls or trivets from the trimmings. It’s like a version of my denim seam trivet I made during the pandemic.

my pile of trimmings
wrapping and stitching
turning the sides

This is definitely a form of slow stitching.

I used the neckties (bias tape) as a cord, then wrapped and twisted the strips of fabric from the finished edges around them. I stitched around the wrapped cord to secure and connect the rows. I laid the wrapped cord on top of the previous row to build up the sides. I ended it by folding it under itself and stitching it tight so it would come apart.

Where my embroidery floss lives
plus a trivet

Two finished pieces

There is still a bunch of trimmings left and more to make. I hope I can use all of it. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.

by princesshotflash

Mending

If you look up stitching or mending, you may notice the term slow stitching. For me, slow stitching is a mindful practice to keep my anxiety at bay and to create and learn something new.

This spring, I found an online workshop called Making Zen from https://www.zenstitching.ca/ with demonstrations of all different stitching techniques and processes. The workshop lit a fire in me, seeing what others were creating out of stitching and mending. I posted about the blanket stitch technique I used on my scrappy jeans trivet in Seams and Scraps.

I’ve recently started doing random stitching projects involving upcycling items being tossed out. They still had a lot of life in them. It would be my job to address the staining, broken zipper, hole, or tear to have another round of enjoyment by someone.

Aloha Shirt

I got this long sleeve aloha shirt from the 2 for a $1 bin. Its only real problem was a brownish stain on the front pocket area. I had an idea about using a running stitch technique in a lighter blue to disguise the staining.

What do you think? Was it a success?

Slouchy Hippy bag

I should have put this bag out to pasture. Broken zipper, tears, and staining on the inside, especially on the big pocket. I saw its potential to continue to carry things.

The patchwork was the reason I kept it.

I decided to address the staining on the inside pocket. I didn’t have a real plan, but I knew I needed heavier coverage at the bottom, with most of the staining. I don’t know what this stitch is called, but I’ve used it with flowers and grass. I like adding other colors to give it more depth. It is still a work in progress.

I’m hoping the black snags with work into my stitch.

I’ll post more when I start working the outside, patching up the holes. Then I’ll tackle adding a working zipper back again. Stay tuned.

by princesshotflash

Beginning of Dad’s Blanket

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Dad is always cold. Remember he lives on the west side of Oahu, not the coldest place in the world. Here’s an example, last August when I was back for a visit, it was hot. My parents have an window air condition in the dining room/living room, which my dad kind of controls. It is only turn on when it is really hot to him or when he feels sorry for his youngest child.

I guess he was felt sorry for me and turned it on that day. It was on for a little while but suddenly noticed that I was feeling really hot and sweat was beading up on my face. Now  I know that I’m Princess Hot Flash so I did wonder if I was having one of them but I turned to my mom and she has sweat beading up on her face, too.

I kind of whisper to her (dad is hard of hearing)  if the air conditioner was working.  And she said, “Dad turned it to fan because he was cold” while motion me not to say anything.

What!! I turned to look at him and he has his fleece vest on.

So this is why I’m making my dad that lives on the west side of Oahu (the dry hot side of the island) a double strand merino wool blanket. Hopefully this will keep him warm.

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Pattern: Compy Blanket designed by Linda Daley

Yarn: Merino Wool from Morehouse Farm; Originally Oat’s Sweater

Status: Row 13