ScrapHappy October 2024: Recycled Hope

It’s the 15th of the month and time for my monthly “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong run by Kate and Gun. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.

The 15th of the month came around quicker than anticipated and I already blogged about the 22nd block I made for the very scrappy Farm Girl Vintage quilt I am working on September 26 (see post I Sewed Something! ) so I couldn’t use that for my October ScrapHappy post, sigh.

So instead I will discuss my series of art quilts made from scraps of recycled denim, clothing and home decorating fabrics – Recycled Hope; and update on you that latest quilt I am working on in that series.

The Recycled Hope Series

Recycled Hope an ongoing series of improvisational art quilts using recycled materials to include denim as the primary fabric on many of the pieces, combined with other recycled materials.

“Hope” and the interpretation of the word “hope” is the primary theme of infused into these pieces. Most of the fabrics were not reusable as clothing or home decor and were destined to end up in a landfill. Reimagining recycled clothing and other materials into art quilts satisfies my hopeful desire to honor the environment and make art that is eco-conscious. Ending up in an art quilt is a better outcome than ending up in a landfill.

My first quilt in the series, Recycled Road, was made for annual art quilt show for the local SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) group I belonged while living in Central Oregon:

This quilt was made using my late husband’s clothing that he no longer wanted, several recycled jeans, a little recycled scrap home decor fabric and this awful pair of orange corduroy pants someone gave me to use in an art quilt. The pants were too hideous to donate to be work as clothing but worked in a quilt! The quilt measures 18 inches by 40 inches which was the required dimensions for the art show which was titled “Pathways”.

I no longer own this quilt, it was purchased by a friend who wanted to support my art.

The second quilt I made in the series was also for an annual art quilt show for the local SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) group I belonged while living in Central Oregon and titled Recycled Door:

This quilt is composed of recycled denim, recycled home decor fabric, and a little of those awful orange corduroy pants (I got a lot of use out of those pants, fabric wise). It also measures 18 inches by 40 inches which was the required dimensions for the art show which was titled “Doors”. This quilt was purchased by a private collector.

The third quilt in the series was also for an annual art quilt show for the local SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) group I belonged while living in Central Oregon and titled Recycled Love:

Made from recycled jeans and home decor fabric, the Artist Statement for this quilt is as follows:

The first law of thermodynamics states that the total amount of energy in a system cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.A quilt is made from changing the existing “love energy” from the quilt maker’s heart into a pieced textile; ultimately recycling that love energy into the quilt’s recipient heart.

It also measures 18 inches by 40 inches which was the required dimensions for the art show which was titled “The Threads That Bind”.

I have this quilt hung in my hallway next to my studio to remind me that “Quilts are Love”.

Here are the rest of the quilts in this series which were not created for a specific show.

Recycled Windows of Conversation:

This quilt measures 55” W x 59” L; and is made from recycled jeans, various recycled clothing, and recycled home decor fabric. It was the largest recycled denim quilt i’d made to date.

It was purchased by an art dealer on behalf of their client, and it now sits in the common area of an upscale apartment complex in downtown Seattle, Washington (see post Oh So That’s What Happened to It!).

Recycled Windows:

This quilt measures 18” W x 39″ L, and is made from recycled clothing, recycled denim, and recycled home decorating fabric. It was juried into the New Mexico Arts Art in Public Places Program but was not selected by any of their public buildings for purchase. So it hangs in my bedroom and I enjoy looking at it everyday!

Recycled Business Casual:

Somewhere in this series of quilts I made this quilt from recycled jeans, recycled wool blankets and menswear wool suiting scraps (this is where I got the name “Recycled Business Casual“. It was more of an experiment than an actual art quilt but it did show along with many of the other quilts shown above in my first solo show: The Wardrobe Meets the Wall in April 2019 at the Seattle Municipal Tower in Downtown Seattle, Washington.

Current Project Update

And finally let’s get to my current project in progress to add to the Recycled Hope series – a denim quilt made with lots of recycled jeans and recycled home decor fabric scraps:

The tentative name for this quilt is “What Direction Do I Go?” but I am rethinking the name as my head is in a different space now than when I first started the quilt in October 2023 (What’s on the Design Wall: An “Upcycled” Work).

I have it back up on the design wall and it is set up for quilting with the backing and batting attached.

I am working out what quilting design I want to use. I created a sample square of scrap denim, backing and batting to try out some designs:

I am really looking forward to completing this quilt and I have a place on my living room to upstairs stairway reserved to hang this approximately 55 inches by 55 inches quilt.

After I finish this quilt, there will likely be more recycled denim quilts in the future as I have a nice stash of recycled jeans in my studio:

Earlier this year a local charity thrift shop had an “All Jeans $2” sale and I stocked up!

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Here are the other bloggers that participate in the ScrapHappy monthly posting event, check out their blogs linked below for their ScrapHappy posts:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Nóilin, Viv, Karrin,  Alissa,Lynn, Tierney, Hannah and Maggie