Sunday, July 5, 2009

Better Than Laundry

I present here for your viewing pleasure....today's laundry.

There are several shirts and dresses in here, along with some pieces of fabric I dug out of my fabric recycle bin. My "fabric recycle bin" is where fabrics go that I haven't used in ten to twenty years--my fabric graveyard.

I had to soak a few of these pieces in Biz to get the yellow and mold spots out. I guess you could call some of these "zombie" fabrics since they arose from the dead...ha! (You can tell my son is home for the summer. I've watched more than a few zombie films since we put him in charge of the Netflix queue.)

Yep...just a big pile of laundry. But wait!

What is far, far better than folding laundry???

Making a quilt is far, far, far better than folding laundry!

This dress was always too short. Unflattering, too.

It looks so much better as a quilt, don't you think?

So far, I've incorporated six old shirts and two dresses, along with various fabric zombies to make it interesting. I'm having so much fun! This is, by far, my favorite kind of quilt.

Stay tuned. More blocks and sashing to follow....

Update: I'm still waiting for an appointment with a gastroenterologist, so I don't know anything much yet. (I stumped the G.P.) But my lab blood tests were incredibly excellent! So that's good news. Trouble is, we only have one gastroenterologist on the whole island, so I think there's a bit of a wait to see him. Meanwhile, I'm off grains, dairy, starchy vegetables, sugar, and chocolate. Yes, chocolate. If I eat chocolate, my eyes swell shut and I get big itchy lumps all over my head. It would be really quite funny if we weren't talking about CHOCOLATE...which happens to be my FAVORITE THING in the WHOLE WORLD. Sigh....


43 comments:

Laura in IA said...

Ah, also my favorite kind of quilt. It looks spectacular so far.

Salem Stitcher said...

I love that Block Party book. I have created several quilts out of it.

So sorry to hear about the chocolate "ailment". I hope the doc can figure out the problem. Maybe it's not the chocolate but an additive IN the chocolate. You'll just have to so with a higher grade or an organic chocolate. There's just gotta be a way!

Unknown said...

No cookies? No Ice cream? No french frys? No chocolate? What's left? Boy, I would swim to Oahu to to get an earlier doctor appt! You have my sympathy!

Suze said...

I would die if it turned out I had a chocolate allergy...so I feel for you...

(but..it does usually turn out to be our favorite food that we are allergic or sensative to...)

Dawn said...

I am going to look at laundry in a whole different way!! Sorry, kids...I needed that shirt!!

Andrea said...

Years ago my sister discovered she was allergic to chocolate but only one specific type but she wasn't really a big chocolate lover anyway. Me, however loves chocolate way too much so this would be a similar tragedy to you. Least you have your lovely blocks to take your mind off it all. Looking brilliant xx

Pat said...

Love your quilt blocks...maybe I won't be so quick to put old clothing into a box for the thrift shop now. LOL I hope you get your gastro appt soon and can get to the bottom of your health issues and they are easily "fixed".

Howdy said...

Love the blocks... scrappy are my favorites too.

Sorry to hear you are still having problems and still no good answers. One of my daughters recently got in to see a specialist in Gluten issues - then had to put gluten back in her diet so that they could do the scopes up and down to see the effects gluten has on the system. That was 6 weeks of agony for her...

Hope you get it figured out soon... good to see you poke your head in.

sewbusy said...

love the blocks. I too have been collecting clothing for a quilt project. My favorite were some great scrubs I bought at a yard sale, they make such great bright prints (mine belonged to someone from a vets office so lots of anmial prints). Right now my passion is making the bags out of pillow cases. Let's see I think I have made about thirty or so. Thanks for turning me on to the web site, they are so easy and fun to make. All the checkers at my market loved them and I have passed on the web site. Hope they find an answer to your health issues. I will be on Kauai in Aug. looking forward to visiting the quilt shop, must leave room in my luggage.

Nancy said...

They are turning out lovely!!! Looks like you and Bonnie Hunter would get along very well.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

The blocks are fantastic, and way better than folding laundry. I hope you get to the bottom of the chocolate dilemma, that's very strange.

Sally said...

Oh, my! Allergic to chocolate - just shoot me now! Love the blocks...they are so cheery! Can hardly wait to see the finished quilt!

I, too, vote for a swim off-island to see a doctor....time to get you sorted out and on the road to feeling better!

Jan said...

LOVE the blocks, but hate that you've been feeling poorly :( Here's hoping you get to the bottom of it quickly so you can get back to enjoying life and eating chocolate :)

MichelleB said...

The quilt is darling! I hope they find out soon what's wrong so that you can eat chocolate again.

Elaine Adair said...

Your entire post is better than laundry. Plaids look really good to ME, and the book is one of my very favorites. But the end result quilt is stunning!!! How fresh and lively it is. Good job.

Really sorry about the chocolate - bummer if that's the issue! 8-((

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

This is an amazing quilt. I fear I have been to much of a "get rid of it" person (due to lack of storage) to be able to make a quilt like this, but I love yours.

quiltmom anna said...

Lisa,
Hope you are feeling better soon and that you have no more reactions to chocolate.
Your quilt is coming along nicely and is going to be a beauty. It is an interesting thing to ponder which fabrics in one's stash might end up in the fabric graveyard- and which ones are the oldest....It is a bit scary to think about...
I have read both of your books and enjoyed them immensely. I make sure not to be drinking something while reading your stories in case I burst out laughing. It is not cool to spray hot tea at someone VBG..
Regards,
Anna

Sharon said...

Those blocks look amazingly cheerful for a "zombie" quilt! I love scrappy quilts.

Hope you get the gastro problems sorted out soon. My GDs both have a ton of food allergies, and it makes life challenging. No, they can't have chocolate either. Sad....

Anonymous said...

Love your blog !!

Just a thought about your recent gastro difficulties - have you taken an antibiotic ? Clindamycin has caused some severe reactions in my daughter.

Hope you get some answers and relief soon !

Mary in FL

Tricia said...

I had a very sad experience with my clothing graveyard last week...came upon a bucket of "skinny clothes" that should have been given away as soon as I grew out of them so I would not find them again and feel bad about myself...sigh...no way will I cut them up and put them into a quilt to torture me for years to come!
Thanks for the quilt pics-always a great pick-me-up!
Tricia

anne from finland said...

Those blocks look so good! My husband blamed some time ago that there were more fabrics, curtains and clothes from fleamarkets than any real laundry in the basket! How could he know it!!!:-)
I hope you can soon go to the doctor.

Carol E. said...

I love what you have made so far! Great fun! That is one of my favorite blocks, yet I hardly ever make it. I may do so very soon!

susan said...

those blocks look great! since i finsihed the cardinal wall hanging and the top of the WOW quilt i have been stuck...so i have been knitting on max's aphgan. i ran out of the melon color so i am stuck. i will go into norway tomarrow to get some and then to iron mountain to the quilt group. i havent been in weeks...my bad.

Mom IsAmagpie said...

That quilt is fabulous! I love scrappy quilts. I hope you get some answers soon, it's really hard dealing with food issues. We just got to start reintroducing milk and milk products to the youngest after a couple years.
Have you tried carob yet? I know it's not the "same" but we love it here.

Jo Anne said...

Lisa....such a "delicious" quilt....it has to be a class for us....such inspiration for your quilter friends to dig deep into our stash closets and bring out the "left behinds"!!!

Jo

ladydi said...

Wow! Love what you've done with the zombies - an inspiration to all of us. ** Two family members experienced similar symptoms and had countless expensive tests. One gave up a gall bladder, the other an appendix. In the end what worked best was/is prayer. It's so sad that we do that as a last resort, after the medical field failed us. They are both perfectly well now, and eat practically anything. Both have a bit healthier eating habits than they did before. A doctor I work for says to stay away from shellfish - they eat off the bottom and what they eat you in turn ingest - can get nasty. Your good health is in our prayers.

kristi said...

have them check your hormones too. I ran up til the dr told me I couldn't and cross country in high school so I freaked out when the told me I suddenly became allergic to all trees , grasses and plants but I was now asthmatic as well all finally found out to be a hormone problem. Also if it's milk allergies there are chocs out there with no milk in them. Mexican choc I know has little or none and a german brand as well and old relkiable bakers

Cheryl said...

That is one of my favorite books and what a great use of clothes that have no homes!! Your blocks are just wonderful. And a chocolate alergy? Hopefully they will figure out that it is not the chocolate.

GloJoeSews said...

Love your idea! I've been wanting to try something like this for a while and it's great to see what it could look like. Congrats on winning the pink book! I hope you post pics about the book and maybe even make something and post.

GloJoeSews said...

BTW--I decided to link to you cuz I love your writing--funny--and am amazed at the variety of projects you do. Just one question--how and why in the world does someone who lives in warm Hawaii knit so much!?!

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Your laundry looks great, and your blocks even better.

I'm sorry you aren't feeling well. I am feeling like I need to be cutting those things out of my diet as well. Tell me, is there anything left?

Betsy said...

Lisa I too have been using some things that are no longer fashionable in my quilts too.

woolywoman said...

Nice quilt! I have been eyeing up the outgrown little boy shirts around here- I am very short on blues and the shirts are very long on blues. Could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Sorry about the allergies- I have a bunch of food allergies as well, although last time I was at the allergist they did a bunch of blood work and avocado was cleared. Stopped at Safeway on the way home and bought some.Keep on keeping on, that's what I always say.

tina said...

Like I said, I had the same crazy thing with food. Stuff showed and nothing showed, a stumparoo. Took Zyrtec at night and Claritin during the day for a year. Stopped as fast as it started. It is just the pits, hope you get set to rights soon! btw I agree with Salem Stitcher about the additive thing in the chocolate!

Now, the quilt! FABBO!!!!!!! Really love it!

Cheryl said...

Me again...commented earlier. Wanted to let you know I tagged you over on my blog. Hope that you are doing better.

Mary Anne Drury said...

Oh NO !! Not CHOCOLATE !!!!!

......and , what a GREAT QUILT !!!

Hope you and the doc can figure out SOME way that you can still have chocolate !!!

GloJoeSews said...

Ok, I just wanna say I LOVE your blog. I spent the morning pursuing older posts. What a wonderful sense of enjoyment you have. I love your fabric "boxes" and Mr. Bigglesworth is great fun. Beautiful quilts in beautiful surroundings--ahhhh! Love your use of recycled fabrics.

The Calico Quilter said...

Marsha McCloskey's book is the best if you like traditional pieced quilts. Anytime you are feeling uninspired, all you have to do is flip through its' pages and soon you'll be wanting to make every block.

Sorry about the digestive issues. Hope it's an additive in the chocolate and not the chocolate itself. Giving up dairy would be OK if you could still eat dark chocolate! But, no ice cream? They would have to lock me up in detox to get me off ice cream.

anne from finland said...

Hi Lisa, Thank you for the lovely card I received today! My holiday ends next Monday. All the best to you!

Anonymous said...

Praying that you are enjoying your time with your son and that your health issues are not the reason for the length of time between your posts. Working hard on my two hano baby quilts -- done with the hanos now on to the ocean waves!!

Anonymous said...

Just wondering how you're feeling and if you have seen the GI doc yet. You have my sympathy for all that you're going through. I have GI issues too, have for years, and they are NO FUN. Best to you.

Laura in IA said...

Lisa I hope all is well with you. Good thoughts go out to you from the heart of the mainland.

ladydi said...

All righty then, it's been SEVERAL weeks, we're ready to see the rest of your quilt blocks. :>} I do hope you are feeling MUCH better.