Thrift Stores and Finishes

 When DH and I were on our anniversary getaway, we went to several thrift stores. That's something we often do on vacations, you never know what you'll find. We did far more looking than buying, but I did get a haul of men's shirts.

I bought 45 men's shirt in total, but five of those went to one of my sons. I also bought some misc clothes for other family members. What was once a pile of men's shirts is now a tote of fabric.

One of my grandkids took most of the buttons I cut off for crafts. I really like using men's shirts for quilting because I love working with plaids and stripes. 

I came across the tail end of an online argument against using men's shirts for quilting. I didn't chime in on the argument, but I will state my opinion here. The online argument was not about using clothing to make quilts, or how long quilts made out of used clothing will last, but was about "taking clothes away from poor people who might need those shirts". 

I really had to wonder how many people stating this was a problem had ever been inside a thrift store. American thrift stores are not running out of clothes, in fact, thanks to Marie Kondo and Netflix's Tidying Up show, thrift stores are being overrun with clothes. Most Americans have far more clothes than they realistically need, and there is no shortage of used clothes. 

Secondly, if you look through used men's button-down shirts, you'll realize that most are a poly/cotton blend, so they need less ironing. I'm not buying any poly/cotton blends, leaving most of the men's shirts behind. 

Third, by shopping at a thrift store, I am giving money to a charity, thereby helping someone besides a retail market. 

And lastly, since I donate a lot of my quilts to charities, I'm actually giving to charities twice, once when I buy shirts or fabric, a second time when I donate what I made. 

On to less apparently controversial subjects (up until I saw the online argument I didn't realize using clothes for quilting was controversial), I've had a couple finishes!

This quilt was a UFO, made from bonus HST's from two other projects. The border fabric was simply chosen because it's what I had in stash that matched the center. I used orange thread for the quilting, because, why not use orange?

More exciting that that UFO, is that I finished the quilt for my grandson, due any time now. 

This may be "just a baby quilt", but it was really a stretch for my FMQ abilities. The fabrics I used for the house were pretty plain, and there was so much sky that I wanted to add a lot of detail with the quilting. 

This quilt had me feeling so many emotions about my quilting. I don't consider myself proficient at FMQ. Maybe advanced beginner, intermediate? I've been FMQ for maybe five years now, but I've never taken a class, just used videos, books, and trial and error (lots of error). I still meander on most quilts, because it's fast and I prefer piecing over quilting. I do have a few designs I feel I am proficient at, but it's mostly easy stuff. I still can't do a loop de loop meander, my mind doesn't work that way. I did a loop de loop in the narrow black border, and honestly, it's the best I've done, but I wasn't having to travel multiple directions. 

I quilted ribbon candy in the larger border, and that was my first attempt at quilting that design at all. 

This was the house before it was quite done. I used a ruler to do the straight lines and ditch quilting. I had planned to use a ruler to do the roof shingles but my smallest clamshell ruler was still too big so I free-handed it. My first attempt at quilting a rope design, on the porch pillars, is pretty abysmal. That said, I think the woodgrain on the door came out well, and overall I like the look of the roof. I think the different textures on each section of the house add to the whimsical feel of the flying house. 

I wanted to pebble in the balloon area, and that was MUCH harder than I expected! It was also much more time consuming than I had anticipated. It's pretty messy, I'm not real thrilled with how I did, but it was my first attempt at this, and I still think it was good choice to add roundness to my square balloon area. Hey, from ten feet away on a galloping horse it looks great!

I took this photo as I started working on the sky, which I had saved for last. I was looking forward to quilting the sky, even though I knew what I wanted was some intense quilting.

I didn't want to add any more quilting where the balloon strings were, but I wanted to add some clouds and wind to the sky. I switched to a matching thread color for the sky, where I used the same gray for everything else. 

Yes, the inspiration photo I used for the quilting idea in the sky is better than this, but I was really amazed that I could even come close to what I wanted. It was one of those, "I did that?" moments. I am very happy with how the sky came out, and what started out as the most boring area of the quilt now has lots of movement. 

I still think my backing idea is pretty funny, and that I haven't shown DD#2 yet. She has seen photos of the front, but I never showed her the back. She won't see the quilt until it's time for baby, so we'll see what she thinks. As for what the baby thinks? He won't care!