As Seen In...

A few months ago I was asked to submit one of my pencil cups to Pregnancy & newborn Magazine to possibly be included in an eco-friendly issue.

 Laurent the owl and I agreed that this was a good opportunity, so he packed his bags and went on his way. I pretty much forgot about the whole thing until I got a message last week that little Laurent made it into the magazine!

It's the April issue and this is the cover. How cool is it that something I made is in a pregnancy magazine and I'm actually pregnant? haha What are the chances?

They did a nice article about doing an eco-makeover on your whole lifestyle. Each page features a different aspect of life, and Laurent is in the "Work" section.

 Doesn't he look cute? I'm so proud. hehe

Oh Bamboo

Today's post is all about bamboo, batting that is. I picked up a package of this stuff a while back and have finally found some time to give it a try. I have to say, I really like it. I tried another environmentally friendly batting back in January. Remember? That one was made of corn. It was alright, but ended up very thin after ironing and washing.

Lately I've been using either 100% cotton or a cotton/polyester blend. I like all cotton batting, but this bamboo batting is going to be taking 100% cotton's place at my house.

Bamboo is naturally antibacterial, a plus for many folks who suffer from allergies & such. The bamboo batting is made from 50% bamboo fiber and 50% organic cotton. I feel better using a renewable resource and a portion of the proceeds go to help support environmental and ecological initiatives. That's pretty cool. Check out the poly-fil website to read more.

It's hard to tell this apart from the 100% cotton batting. It looks and feels very similar, just softer and a tiny bit thinner.

And after washing this new quilt in the machine, I'm super happy with the weight and look. I'm a big fan of those wrinkles you get with washing and this batting offers an estimated shrinkage rate of 2-3%. I'd say that's accurate.

You can get bamboo batting online in lots of places. I believe the 60x60in. pack I bought retails for about $14. I got mine 40% off with a coupon at JoAnn.

p.s. While I'm on the subject of environmental awareness, let's wish our Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day! The environment is one of the top 3 priorities at election time in Canada. Awesome.

Quilting for the Planet

(Click the image to read the package)

We all want to do our part for the planet, don't we? So I was really excited when I came across this new eco-friendly quilt batting at JoAnn Fabrics, it's made by Mountain Mist. Naturally, it was all the way around back on the island of batting, but at least they're selling it. I bought this package of crib size batting and a bag of the fluffy fiber-fill that's used for cuddly toys & things like that.
This stuff is really interesting, it's made from corn (read more about it on the Mountain Mist site here)! It looks a lot like polyester batting, but it's a lot fluffier and light. It's hard to describe, but it really is very light, like what you'd expect a cloud to feel like. It's not as fibrous as the polyester, but the thickness is similar. It doesn't crease like polyester either, it's much smoother and easier to work with and pin. The only problem is that it's so fluffy that it seems to take more pinning. The fabric just springs back at you as it's pinned.
Anyway, I used this corn batting on my latest CHECK Quilt. I like to machine wash my quilts after they're made to make them look more loved, so this quilt was no exception. I thought this batting was light before, but after washing it seems to be almost non-existent. It got really thin. The finished quilt is so light and thin it feels like there is no batting. Now, I'm all for being environmentally conscious, but I don't think this makes a great quilt in the end. I think I'll use it occasionally because my market customers love their sustainable materials. I just fear that it will seem sort of, well, cheap. I'm a little disappointed, but super glad that someone actually bothered to try. I'm sure products like this will keep coming and keep improving. For now I'll probably stick to cotton, at least it's natural.
Side note: I read online that there is a version of this batting that is 50% cotton, that might work out a little better for me.