It's a Green Thang...

I've read on several other blogs about quilters who recyle soft stuff when it is finally, undeniably, too small to sew into anything else by throwing it into an old pillowcase. When the pillowcase is full, it is sewn shut to make a pet bed.

I thought this was a great idea; the only problem being that I never seem to have old pillowcases. This has come up before - at the guild quilt show we are asked to deliver our quilts each in their own pillowcase. Each November my children have been asked, invariably in first grade but also in other years, to send in an old white pillowcase to help recreate the first Thanksgiving. Where these pillowcases are supposed to come from, I do not know.

What I do always have lots of is old towels. Sure, you can cut them up to make rags, but just how many rags does one person need? Maybe if I cleaned more I'd go through them a little faster. But let's not dwell on that. Anyway, I decided to try it with a towel.

First I trimmed away the worst of the frayed edges. Then I matched up the short edges and used a tight zig-zag stitch to sew up the sides. I used a denim needle, but still broke the first one going through the tightly woven strip. After that lesson, I gently "walked" the machine through that part and it was fine. It made a little pouch that looked like this...

...which fit perfectly into an old basket I had on hand. The basket was filled with random odds and ends, and this project motivated me to go through it and pitch at least half the items, and put most of the rest in the GoodWill pile. I also found a small photo album with pictures of me when I was pregnant with my oldest child. Treasure!

I put the basket next to my cutting table to catch those skinny slivers of fabric. It's amazing how quickly it fills up!

When it is nice and fluffy, I will sew it shut. I'm sure it will be a perfect crate cushion for Divot. The best part is that when it gets nasty (he's a beagle!) I can pitch it into the compost heap without a second thought.

I hope you find some project today that gives you a feeling of satisfaction.