I've decided to take a Going Green challenge and you are more then welcome to join me.
As you can see, I have some reading ahead of me. I'm pretty green, but I know I can be greener. Here are just a few of my green ways or soon to be: My garden is pesticide/chemical free. I compost and plan on getting a rain barrel. Household cleaners have already been changed over to environmentally friendly products. It is amazing how many uses baking soda and vinegar have around the house. Most of the light bulbs have been changed over. I hang more things to dry, then go in the dryer. I use my own fabric bags when shopping. I reduce, reuse and recycle. Try to walk more or use my bike for errands. I am considering purchasing an electric bike, for longer trips and one of the biggest challenges will be to come up with a way to eliminate the need for a car. One challenge, at a time, for a greener tomorrow.
I am also going to take this challenge to my quilting room. To help me stay focused on becoming greener, I am challenging myself to complete by Earth Day, which is April 22, a Going Green quilt. Do you remember my Quilters' Compost entry? Going Green has already begun in my quilting room. Also, for this project I have some Eco-Friendly batting to test out. One is Bamboo and the other is a corn-based synthetic fiber.
If you would like to join me in this challenge, feel free to use my This Quilter is Going Green logo. Please be sure to link it back to this posting. To link it back to this post, just click on the title of this posting, then copy the http:// at the top of your screen, as your link. This way, anyone that clicks on it will come straight to the Going Green Challenge post and get all the information they need.
I hope you can join me in my Going Green quilt challenge. As a thank you for participating in my challenge, between April 20 and 26, leave a comment on my April 20th post, for a chance to win a thank you for Going Green gift. The draw will be random and in order to qualify, you need to leave a comment on my blog (that you have made a Going Green quilt) and a link back to your blog, so I can see your Going Green quilt. If you do not have a blog, leave a comment, with your name and e-mail address. You must then, e-mail me a photo of your Going Green quilt, to qualify for the draw.
What do I mean when I say a Going Green quilt? I don't mean a quilt made from green fabric, but I am pretty sure, I will be using some green fabric in mine! A Going Green quilt is a quilt with an environmental message. There are so many things we can do or stop doing to make a greener world. Hmmm..... wonder if I could incorporate some recycled materials into my quilt?
You may find One Million Acts of Green an interesting read. Lots of green ideas. Also, David Suzuki's Nature Challenge.
"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, one finds it attached to the rest of the world." John Muir
Until next week.....happy quilting!
Karen
16 comments:
I can't wait to hear what you think of the bamboo batting.
Being more green and frugal is part of my New Years Resolutions too. I compost, use cotton dishcloths and scrubbers I can wash and reuse, just hung a line inside my utility room and dried my first line dried winter wash last night. I will switch to natural cleaners after I use up what we have (too frugal!) I walk when I can, have decided not to buy any more cards or wrapping paper, will use what I have... I'd love to hear any tips you have for other small things we can do.
I think I will do my 2 sided quilt as my green quilt, as it uses up tiny strips and tiny bits of my wool batting!
I'd love to join up with you for the challenge!
Karen since I already do many things Green I am going to join you in this endever.
I do all those things you do except walk or ride a bike to my destination. I live out in the country and I have many miles to go. But I do try to make all my trips go together when I can. I look forward to seeing your "green" quilt.
Congrats on your decision to go green! How exciting. C&T Publishing has been an official "green" company for over a year now and we reap the benefits every day. Our blog has a green section with lots of ideas and motivation. Check it out http://www.ctpubblog.com/category/green/
Happy New Year,
Megan
Good for you, Karen. It is becoming more and more important that people take better care of our planet and it seems like more and more people are aware and doing something about it. When I was growing up, we were really "green" - no central heat, no bathroom, plastic had not yet been invented. I didn't have an automatic washer and drier until after our kids were out of diapers and there were no disposable ones back then (diapers, not kids!). Where I live, we have recycle bins and they are picked up every other week. I tumble my clothes for a few minutes then hang them on hangers in the basement to dry--I do things like that for my part. Maybe one thing going green will bring back is the wonderful smell of getting into a bed with clean sheets that have been dried outside on a coolish day! How many remember that?
I think it's a great idea, and have already done a lot of "green" things like you, but I cannot pledge a green quilt as I haven't extra time. Good luck on yours however!!! I can't wait to see them all.
I am would like to have report about the bamboo batting. I am always trying to be as green as possible, I'll check out the web site you offer to see what else I can do.
I have used bamboo batting, it's great to work with.
I am going to keep my scraps, put them in cushions I am making for the pound. I saw that on a blog and just can't remember where right now.
That's green. Reusing...
This post is driving me crazy! Nice idea to begin working with batting that is not poly or cotton, but the REAL challenge would be to only use recycled fabrics and not to use any new cotton fabrics or cotton threads again -- unless they are organically grown. Why? Growing cotton requires a great deal of pesticides and fertilizers. All chemicals.
The big factor is that growing cotton uses 25% of all of the farm chemicals used in our Nation.
So, if you take a "Going Green Challenge" seriously, do it without any new cotton and see how far you can get.
I've been an organic gardener for 22 years, live in the country and do as little harm to the environment as possible (way before it was hip to 'go green'). Our family does all of the small things that you have mentioned, and many more. (Have you converted to solar yet?)
I've been unable to locate a good source for organic threads, but organic cottons are available.
The other issue involves the construction of your quilt. Will this be hand-sewn or machine-made. Let's think of your use of electric power to sew. Is your utility company a coal-fired plant, nuclear plant, or what? I don't suppose you have a treddle sewing machine, so I was wondering how you are planning to do your sewing. Going green involves the generation of some form of energy to do the construction of your quilt.
So are you ready to take the REAL challenge to go green now?
Dear Anonymous,
Wow! I wish not to drive you crazy. My goal is to do my best to live greener and hope that my challenge of making a quilt, with an environmental message, would lead others down greener roads.
You may be greener then I, but everyone has to start somewhere. Please don't shoot me down for trying.
In the quilting world, eco-friendly batting and some organic cotton, has arrived and hopefully soon, organic thread. I look forward to using all these products. And by the way, I do have a treadle sewing machine, but I prefer to hand sew.
No matter how small or how big, every step you take is part of the REAL challenge.
Do not hide behind anonymous. You take living green very seriously. Good for you. We all should. But, positive encouragement is the only way to go. I could remove this post, as not to drive you crazy, but I am confused? Are we not on the same side?
Great idea to make a going green Quilt!
I won't participate because I've got some projects I want to finish first, but your post reminds me of thinking to live a little greener myself. I also do many small things (in fact, many have become normality now for me) and maybe it's time to invent some new things.
As a quilter in Europe (germany), I really have a hard time to get organic cotton that is suitable for patchwork. All that can be found here, is clothing and not fabric.
To be green I can only use a lot of recycled fabric, for example cotton men's shirts and old bed sheets and so on. And fortunately, this is something that I can get easily here - and it's looking good as well :)
Dear Anonymous......how much 'cotton' have you grown...???...Most people who 'don't REALLY know what they are talking about prefer to go 'Anonymous'......we farm 3000 acres of cotton and don't experience all of these 'chemicals' you talk about!!!..It's comman practice these days to use organic fertilizers...and we don't have any known 'Pests' we have to use pesticides on.....so, it seems YOU are the one speaking out of turn!...or just looking for someone to argue with......we're not interested...so, take it somewhere else!!!...and I'm posting this under MY name for all the world to see!!
I think it's great that you're doing more and more for the environment. We all should! We're trying to figure out a way to commute to work, but it's just too dangerous to bike, which is a real shame. We have tried to map it out every way possible but there's no avoiding a very busy road for a good portion of the trip. Maybe soon we'll get better mass transit!
Congratulations! We've been going Green one step at a time. Every little bit counts and I don't think that we need to go crazy over it. I do plan on making a quilt on my threadle machine one day! Keep well!
I'll join in, I just picked up a bunch of batting made from corn products, its on clearance at joanns, and i want to try that out. i also will not buy anything new for this project, i want to pull everything from my stash. This sounds like fun, thanks.
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