One Man's Trash...... My treasure!

A few months ago (before Christmas) my sister called me and said she had a "tub and some bags of fabric" in her car for me that the kids at the local homeless shelter werent able to easily bundle for sale and they were out of room in their shop so they were going to send it to points North aka maybe the dumpster!  Yikes!  I said never!  My sister is the founder and Head Woman in charge of the MyHouse group - its more than a shelter - its an assistance spot for kids 16-24.  It includes a thrift shop, a coffee shop/cafe, as well as job training, music area, lounging area and on and on and on.  Check it out here!  They also have a Boutique/thrift shop called Steam Driven that sells lots of different items, but has a little niche of Steampunk items that are handmade locally, some of it in-house even!  It's really fun and amazing!  The shops and training center stayed open since the start of Covid.  The training and services are always needed.

Here is first glimpse in a couple of the bags!

Here are a couple more of the bags ready for a peek!

This pillow cover was in the tub.  Already finished and with the buttons on even!  I had given sister a fair price for the tub of fabric based on what I could see through the sides.  It might not have been enough!

This stack of fabric was in the tub and there are some scraps and some yardage in the stack- some has some sun fading, as though it had sat in a window for a while without being used.  Nothing that can't be worked around though.  The steampunk shop does use some fabric items, but not quite the same as what I use for quilting.  Our color pallettes are also not even close to the same.  I do not think I will ever be able to make a "Steampunk" quilt.  At least, not for a while!

How much fun is this?  Jungle animals, leaves, and grasses fabrics!

Here is some super fun favorite holiday of all time fabrics!  Amuck!  Amuck! Amuck!

Yes!  Its Halloween!  

This fabric actually GLOWS in the DARK!!!  How cool is this???  The COOLEST!!!

SO many fun things to play with!  A Whale stuffy toy panel, and some soft blue small pieces.

Christmas and Thanksgiving things too!

Thread, yarn and a lovely floral quilt kit too!

Finished blocks and unfinished projects.  Finished blocks can be put together as sort of an "odd blocks" quilt.  They are like a quilty puzzle and always turn out really neat.  Stay tuned for some fun creations from these!

Some that can be finished quickly, or can be taken on the road if I might have to wait somewhere!

I let sister know - and she let the shop sorters know that I can use just about any small piece of fabric or strip!  The smallest I use is actually 1 &1/2" square, but I will use strips that are as small as 3/4" wide - they are great for crochet rugs.  I slao have a friend who uses the strips too so they can be shared.

This quilt used the 1&1/2" squares for the blocks in between the stars.  36 little squares per block! 

This one uses 1&1/4" strips and squares for the center portions!  It's sometimes a pain in the backside, but it is also very fun to see the outcome and know that you have reduced, re-used and recycled something that might have otherwise been thrown away!

I hope you have a store like this in your hometown that you can go and see what treasures are there.  Make some friends with the shop sorters, let them know what you are looking for and Ill bet they will save them for you.  

What's your treasure?

Blessed be and happy treasure hunting!

One Big Rooster of practice and patience!

A few years ago - just after the earthquake - the welding crew got a bit of "practice steel" from one of our local businesses.  It's steel that the business would be casting off or is not able to use for structural uses or becuse it had already been cut down to a size that doesn't fit the products they make.  It is prefect for welding students to practice welding on - making fun and useful items that don't have to have perfect, certified welds.  It also makes great yard art/snow measure/pea protection for me!

Introducing the Big Roster!  The steel piece, not the guy!  That guy is Mr Parker, our welding teacher.  This was taken while Reed was still in school - 2018, and one of the practice projects the kids worked on was this big rooster he is holding.  FOr this piece,othe kids had to practice welding "round stock", and the rooster is made of two pieces of steel that they had to weld (seam) and cut out, or maybe they cut it and then welded it together.  Lots of welding techniques.  Isn't it wonderful!  He is a great reminder that with practice great things can happen.  That goes for the rooster and the guy!  This picture also always makes me smile with great memories - Mr Parker has had to go to another building since our welding shop was part of the building that was destroyed in the earthquake, so our welding students go to another school to learn from him, so we don't get to see him often.  We are being patient while our building is just starting the process to be rebuilt, and we can't wait until he is back closer to home. Practice and patience..

Here is the rooster guarding the peas row from the birds so they won't eat all my pea seeds.  It does not however guard against baby moose who like to lay in the pea row after it has been planted - thats why the sticks behind the rooster are leaned way over!  Darn it!  Easily propped back up and re staked though - but I did have to replant part of the row as the moose had driven the pea seeds to the center of the Earth!  

Here is the rooster guarding in the fall after the harvest had been made and the moose had made short work of the pea vines!  Moose are not afraid of roosters!  He is sturdy though - they have not knocked him down!  You can see how the kids worked on the seam where his ribs are, and on carefully cutting out his comb in this picture!  

And then the snow came!!!  The rooster is barely keeping his head above the snow this winter!  The birds are now using him as a mid-yard roost!  The birds are not afraid of the rooster now either!  

This was as close as I could get to him for this picture - I am barely keeping my boots above the snow on this day!  We got a lot of snow!  It is late March now and it feels as if Spring will never come!  We must have patience and practice our shoveling skills!

Ahhhhh..... finally we can see the whole rooster again and we know we are down to only about 3' of snow left in the yard!  Moving in the right direction.  Birds are still using him as a roost - I think he might have to get bedazzled this summer to protect the peas - maybe some blowing ribbons, or a pinwheel or two?  We shall see what works!

And finally he is roosting out of the snow, fully ready to embrace spring and enjoying that late Alaska sunset!  Reminding us all that patience and practice make great friends!  May you have both.

Happy Spring and Blessed Be!