Mucking out the sewing room

and she uses the hobbs upc's also. Taria

Polly Esther wrote:

Thank you, Taria, I'd forgotten the hobbs upc's and they are very important for her. She makes hundreds of quilts for the shelter and the Hobbs folks are so very kind to help. Polly

"Taria" and she uses the hobbs upc's also.

Thanks, Polly. This is a good reminder -- I *am* trying to "muck out" and just ran across 2 hideous yards of heavy hunter green fabric. I first thought--a quilting group offer? Then, nah, *nobody* is gonna want this. Secondly, I have a real inability to throw away plastic bags. That includes bread sacks, and every sack I ever bought batting in is neatly folded. I bet the Hobbs bags have UPC's on them!! Now that everyone knows my dirty little secret, I am going to go look. In the mucking process, I did Freecycle the live plants and aquarium. I am starting to feel totally liberated. Sherry

Last month at my Needlework group meeting, one of the ladies brought in a large printer paper box FULL of fabric. Her neighbor was in the process of moving and was going to toss the whole lot into the trash!!!! A few of the ladies found fabrics they wanted and I took the rest home (about 3/4 of the box), added my bits and pieces of fabric & batting scraps and sent the whole lot off to Jill yesterday :-). The point of the story is, I have repeatedly mentioned to my Needlework group that Jill makes blankies for shelter animals and I would ALWAYS take anyone's fabric leftovers. I guess I have mentioned it enough that this woman remembered and knew that, even if no one else wanted the box of fabric, Tia Mary would take it for the animals. CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Thanks for looking out for me and the animals. We always happy to turn your unwanted fabric into a "blankie" that will be loved by a dog or cat that needs a home. Thanks again!! I sure wouldn't be able to provide over 1000 "blankies" to 13 animal rescues without the help and support of all the wonderful, caring people on this board.

Critter Comforts: Quilts for Homeless Animals

Anything for you, Jill, and the little furries.

amy in CNy

I'm just so proud (and exhausted) to announce that I am the proud owner of 7 empty bins and two boxes. Empty! Yes. This mucking out isn't easy but it surely does feel good to have things that don't need to be in my sewing room GONE. It is just amazing the pounds of things that wandered in here and managed to take root that are NOT part of my creating. How many busted embroidery hoops could I need? How many empty or useless cd discs do I have to keep? There are a few sacks for DDIL to consider or toss - porcelain dolls that I am not going to dress, teddy bears that can go naked or to happy homes and velcro dots that are so gummy they make my hair catch on fire. How sweet it is to have so much out of here. Moving on - there's a collection of beautiful embroidered handkerchiefs that I was going to use to make a 'just for show' crib quilt. The handkerchiefs have thus far defied any attempt I've made to remove the pencil marks. Anyone have a recipe or do I just send them on to the trash? Polly

COngrats Polly. Great work you are doing there. Less really is more.

I would probably start by just soaking the hankies in a bowl of biz. Just leave them for the day and see how that goes. Then I'd try oxi clean and do the same. There is a recipe for pencil remover I found online but I can't say I've tried it. I'd try these 3 methods before I would give up on mice hankies though. TAria

To remove graphite pencil marks

Mix in a small bottle and shake well:

Place old, folded towels under the quilt to absorb the graphite and the solution.

Gently apply the solution with an old soft toothbrush or cotton ball.

Does not require rinsing and dries quickly.

Rema> I'm just so proud (and exhausted) to announce that I am the proud owner of 7

Thank you so very much, Taria. I printed the recipe and posted it on the refrigerator. Don't know when I'll get to give it a try but it just might work and it would cause me great pain to give up. Good news! A neighbor of mine is having a yard sale and asked if I had anything to give her. Yessssssss. DDIL is 'in to' selling on ebay and wanted to know if I had anything she might sell. Yessssssss. A local charity is begging for clothes for their thrift shop. So very nice to have some motivation and help. I just might get this done. Polly

"Taria" COngrats Polly. Great work you are doing there. Less really is more.