I did have a couple of bones to pick with the article, but there were also quite a few good things that were new to me. First, the Green Quilts Project, founded by Susan Shie, encouraged quilters to make quilts from 1989 to 2004 to send healing energy to the Earth. I had never heard of this effort before. I also didn’t know about Mountain Mist’s Eco Craft batting, fiberfill, and pillowforms, which are made from corn fiber. The Aurora Silk website offers natural dyes and great tutorials for using them. And it was good to see a mention of Betz White’s delicious recycled wool sweater crafts and her book Warm Fuzzies, which always make me want to buy every wool sweater within a 10 mile radius and start felting them. Readers of Crafting a Green World will no doubt recognize a few of the other artists and businesses mentioned! What didn’t I like about the article? First, the claim that there is little need for eco-friendly notions because many notions are made from bamboo. Maybe that’s true for buttons, but not for everything else. Second, the following recommendation, emphasis mine: I hope the readers of this article check with their nonprofit of choice before donating torn, stained, or worn out clothing! Not all nonprofits participate in such programs, and receiving “donations” like this just increases their disposal costs. The article mentions that Mountain Mist and the International Quilt Study Center are co-sponsoring the Crafting A Better Planet Quilt Competition. Unfortunately, the deadline was March 1st. We’ll keep an eye on it to see who wins and keep you posted. [Photo by Rodolfo Clix.]
