Rayen

To make the lap quilt out of my old t-shirts I had to cut all the fabric into rectangles. I decided to save the graphics from each t-shirt and put one in every row. Knit fabric is very difficult to sew on a domestic machine. It's almost as troublesome as linen, but instead of moving it stretches and rolls. I did a lot of pinning. Here's the finished quilt top. It's not perfect, but I think it came out better than I expected.

To turn old t-shirts into quilting material you have to deconstruct them. I have never paid much attention to garments made of knit fabric, and quickly learned that the humble t-shirt is really a neat garment. When you cut off the hem, collar, shoulder seams and sleeves you're left with a seamless tube. When you cut that apart to lay flat you actually get a huge piece of fabric. I ignored the book instructions and cut all my deconstructed tees into two pieces so they would be easier to handle. I also want to play with placement because I'm using several different colors besides white. Next step is to cut them down to the size I want for piecing.

I had some 4" X 6" photos I wanted to frame, so we took a trip over to our local Goodwill where I purchased a bag of small frames. For $4.99 I got eight picture frames, three prints that I can remove to use their frames, and a little framed mirror. I need to use cups with lids on them because my arthritis makes it hard for me to hold drinks steady when I walk, especially hot drinks like tea and coffee. Having just cleaned all the carpets, and not wanting to dribble new tea and coffee stains on them, I bid on and won a 5 lbs. lot of reusable Starbucks tumblers and coffee cups with lids. That worked out to 20 tumblers, including 12 of these coffee cups which are in mint condition. I paid $9.99 for the lot. Image Credit: The third picture in this post came from the original auction listing at ShopGoodwill.com.

To begin my fourth week for Creative August I grabbed some thifted vintage white yarn to complete a crochet basket I began at the end of week three. I found a yo-yo maker I've never used, and hauled out the scrap bin to change that. By the way, making yo-yos is a wonderful way to use up scraps. Unable to handsew, I got out more thrifted yarn to crochet another basket as physical therapy for another bad arthritis flare-up. I decided on the perfect way to use four of the seven vintage patchwork blocks I found at a junk shop. The other three blocks came together for a stitch practice piece. So far in August I've worked on 29 different projects, only three of which I haven't finished (all embroidery, which has to wait until my hand improves.) Since I have four more days in the month I'll likely work on a couple more things. Stop by the blog on September 1st to see all of them.

For my art quilter's bingo lap quilt space I decided to use a throw project from Maya Donenfeld's Reinvention , which has a bunch of ideas of how to use rescued materials to make things. This barn throw is made from a thrifted bed sheet and old t-shirts. It's easy to thrift a queen size flat sheet for a couple of bucks; I found a nice gray cotton sheet with white pin stripes at our local Goodwill (far right.) From my closet I took a bunch of t-shirts that have become too tattered for me to wear anymore. I've never made a quilt from t-shirt material, either, so the project appealed to me as something new to learn as well as a way to reuse my old clothing. Stay tuned to the blog to see how this project progresses.

Sometimes (not often) the Japanese do produce romantic dramas that I like, and falling squarely in that category is Cinderellas of Midsummer , which has a trio of interesting love stories that don't slither down the usual depressing/arty/everyone dies path that so many other J-dramas do. The eleven episode series is lead by beach girl Natsumi Aoi (Nana Mori), who works hard to teach paddleboard surfing, run her family's tourist cafe and take care of her younger brother and her mostly useless father. Mom left seven years ago, so Natsumi has had to shoulder a lot of responsibility, and doesn't really have time for romance. The same could be said of her two childhood friends, fledgling hair stylist Airi Takigawa (Ai Yoshikawa) and single mom dry cleaner Risa Ogura (Sawa Nimura). Naturally three princely guys appear on the scene, led by Kento Mizushima (Shotaro Mamiya), a busy construction company executive who stands to inherit the business from his dad. Natsumi and Kent

Back when I first watched the Chinese drama You Are My Glory I wasn't all that impressed; I liked the actors and the romance but felt a lot of peripherals got in the way. Since the lead actor is gorgeous but has always been a little controversial, and lately is getting slammed by his critics for the poor quality of his performances and other issues (which frankly seem pretty contrived), I decided to watch it again. I came away from it thinking better of the entire series. Part of that has to do with me becoming more accustomed to Chinese productions and the usual problems with them, just as I eventually got used to most Japanese dramas being overly arty, pointless and depressing. The other is I'm stepping away from my Westerner point of view and trying to see these series impartially -- which, I admit, I'll never be able to do completely -- and take away more about the story and less about the politics. The story remains unlikely, but I liked it better this time.

Professional Single is a Chinese drama that seemed a bit staid and drawn out for a college series, with the usual contrived conflicts and not-so-subtle propaganda. Yet I enjoyed it, mainly because despite all the script and production problems the actors all did a very fine job with their roles. The story is a typical romance between two unlikely characters: Yuan Xian (Ireine Song), a clumsy art student with a tiny body but a big heart who is stuck in the wrong department and has nothing but bad luck, and Qin Shen (Aaron Deng), who is detached, cold and by-the-book as well as the top artist in the same department as Yuan. These two shouldn't even notice each other, but of course they do. Weirdly Shen is the one who falls for Yuan and starts pursuing her. There's also a childhood friend of Yuan's who has grown up to be a star athlete, as well as a high school classmate who relentlessly stalks Shen to serve as competition and distractions, and both do a fine job with

Sometimes when I'm browsing Goodwill.com I see crazy good deals in bulk quantities, which makes it hard not to bid (I did not bid on any of these, however, and by the time this post publishes the auctions will be over, so I won't link to them.) For example, this bolt of Insul Bright insulated batting, which is used for things like potholders, table pads and such. It's 45" X 40 yards @ $19.99 for the opening bid, and the listing had no takers, probably because it was pickup only in Wisconsin. But Insul Bright runs about $3.50 a yard these days, so that bolt is worth $140.00. How much fabric can you get for $9.99? Seventeen pounds right here, in what appears to be big pieces and yardage. That's approximately 51 yards of fabric, by the way, so it works out to nineteen cents a yard. See if you can find anything new that cheap. Finally, someone donated their stash of DMC Floralia needlepoint wool, which runs about $1.50 per skein new. I'd guess ther

Netflix now has two seasons of The Victim's Game available, and since I've watched both I thought I'd do a write-up on the good, the bad and the unnecessary of this Taiwanese forensic homicide mystery series. Both seasons revolve around forensic investigator Fang Yi-Jen (Jospeh Chang), a high-functioning autistic man who has turned his disability into (mostly) an asset as he solves some very gruesome murders. He's estranged from his daughter, Chiang Hsiao-Meng (Moon Lee) who went with his ex-wife after they divorced. The mother and daughter's story after the divorce is really pitiful and quite depressing, but Yi-Jen seems entirely unaware of what happens to them. Yi-Jen is pretty much oblivious to everything but his job, or so you assume. The brilliance of this characterization of the lead and how the others around him come to realize why he's the way he is has no comparison; it's just that good -- and that's the good. The bad: there's a lo

For the third week of Creative August I wanted to try to step outside my comfort zone every day. I haven't made a journal in quite a few years, so I got out my papers and some pretty linens and started with that. I got out these two thrifted kits that didn't come with all the components to do a little jewelry making. I've never tried a pre-fused applique kit, so I decided to use this one that I thrifted and see how they work. I made an adorable vintage handkerchief into a mini-quilt box topper. I've never tried to make anything from the selvages I save from fabric, so I hauled out the bag to change that. I found a dusty wooden hatbox at a junk shop for a few bucks that I thought I'd try to clean and upcycle to store my perle embroidery thread. I sewed together some chili peppers from the garden in my first attempt to air-dry them. This little raggedy piece of vintage patchwork became a stitch practice piece, and then evolved from there.

Here's one of three skirts that came in the two thrifted lots; it's from the Loft and retailed for $59.99. On a side note, the prices of all these clothes astounded me. I haven't bought new clothes for many years, so maybe that's why everything seems super expensive to me. This pretty burnout velvet dress from NY & Co. retailed for $74.95. Another dry clean only item; Alfred Dunner wanted $60.00 for it. For a skirt that feels like polyester and isn't even that pretty. Anyway, it went with that green jacket to the donate pile. This skirt from the GAP would have cost $69.95 to buy new. It'll be nice to wear in winter, but seventy bucks for a skirt? Yikes. Finally, this pair of slacks from Ashley Stewart retailed for $29.70. I think I'll make shorts out of this. If I had bought everything new it would have cost me $536.64. I paid $19.98 for everything. Savings: $516.66.

I lucked out by landing not one but two bundles of clothes that came new wth tags from ShopGoodwill.com; I won both for the minimum bid, and since they came from the same source they shipped together, saving me half on that cost. Let's see how I did. Pretty sweater from the GAP; retailed for $54.95. Golly, sweaters are expensive these days. This designer jacket was the most expensive piece at $90.00. It's also dry clean only, which makes it impractical for me, so I'm going to donate it to our local Goodwill. I used to buy a lot of INC clothes back in the day, so I was very happy to get this floral pull over. It retailed for $69.50. This dress from Francescas sold for $27.60. That does it for the first bunch, stop by tomorrow for the rest plus what I paid for everything.

One thing I noticed after cleaning out three bins of scraps from my fabric stash is that I am good about saving scraps, but not about using them. Rather than keep my old habits, I decided to do some new things with the scraps I collect after I finish one project rather than toss them in storage. This project bag is made from most of the scraps leftover from summer's art tote. I fused them onto an old cloth napkin, stitched the edges down, and used a big scrap leftover from the lining fabric to make the handles, back side and lining. To keep from spilling coffee in the mornings (I'm not too steady in the hands when I first get up) I thrifted a bunch of these Starbucks reusable coffee cups. They're great, but they get hot, so I'm making sleeves for them. Two old bookmarks and scraps from the art tote made this batch. I do use mug rugs all the time, so it doesn't hurt to make a few more, especially when they match my cup sleeves. :) I'm considering