Hi all,
While we’re waiting to get that banner (above) fixed, check out my NEW website, Inventive Denim!!! It’s finally here!!!
This is my new Logo:
I’m really happy with it and I’m equally thrilled with my new website!
I’ll be blogging over there now (for the most part) so please check it out!
Heather :)
Here it is, the brand new pattern under my new label “Inventive Denim”!
The picture seen here is of the pattern cover. This pattern is FRESH off the presses, I picked it up from the printer this morning!
If you look closely, you can see that the denim background squares are made up of pockets. I was really excited to use the pockets in this way. It’s a fun look!
The die cut chickens were made using a GO! cutter and the Accuquilt Folk Art Fowl die. The great thing about this quilt is that if you do NOT own a GO! cutter, you can still make it! Accuquilt gave permission for me to make full size outlines of the chicken and egg appliques!
Pretty Cool-eh! I’m very happy that anyone can make it!
Here are some photos of the quilt and table runner taken in my backyard in front of the chicken coop! How appropriate!!
For more photos, check out the Inventive Denim Facebook page!
Thank you to everyone who visits my site. I am so appreciative!!
Heather :)
Written by Kathryn Milstein | | kmilstein@toledofreepress.com
**Note the above, I did NOT write this article but I did reprint it in it’s entirety and left the credits. Hope that counts… :)
This is just such a fantastic article. It’s all about a young 10 year old boy who wanted to help out after Hurricane Katrina. He managed to collect over 5000 pairs of jeans which have been used to create insulation for homes. That’s a LOT of jeans!!!
What a very inspiring story (and it’s about jeans so you know I had to post about it!) :)
Erek “EcoErek” Hansen has kept 5,838 pairs of jeans out of landfills, helped insulate more than 11 homes rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina and helped set a Guinness World Record.
EcoErek is 10 years old.
He said he started recycling in 2009 due to a contest in the National Geographic Kids magazine, which called for pairs of jeans to recycle with the “Cotton. From Blue to Green” organization. The group shreds donated jeans, which become insulation for homes built by Habitat for Humanity across the United States.
EcoErek and his mother, Amy Hansen, hosted a denim drive in their driveway, where they collected about 1,000 pairs of jeans. Combined with a local alternative energy company’s donation of 600 jeans, he shipped 1,684 pairs of jeans to National Geographic.
As the largest donor to the project, EcoErek received a ticket to the Guinness World Records Ceremony in Washington, D.C. At the ceremony, National Geographic Kids magazine was listed as the “Largest Collection of Clothing to Recycle” for 33,088 pairs of jeans.
Amy said after the drive, her son wanted to continue collecting for the organization.
“I think it’s fantastic that your son or daughter can come to you with an idea, something they’re passionate about,” she said. “We always told him he could make a difference.”
Amy reached the organization and made a drive schedule with her son. With five denim drives in three months and several dropbox locations, EcoErek collected 4,154 pairs of jeans — and his nickname — in 2010.
EcoErek
The jeans, which weighed about 9,100 pounds, created enough insulation for eight homes.
“I think that as we get more people who hear about the program, we get more of a response,” Amy said.
This year, EcoErek included shoes in his drive to donate to USAgain, a for-profit organization that collects used clothes and resells them.
Amy said USAgain will pay EcoErek 2 cents per pair of shoes collected. He said he was not sure what charity to donate the money to.
EcoErek set a goal of 5,000 pairs of jeans collected this year. There was no goal for the shoes. With his drives completed — the last was June 11 — he sits on 2,262 pairs of jeans and 1,585 pairs of shoes. Dropboxes in Perrysburg and Oregon will collect jeans and shoes until August.
“The drive has just had a phenomenal response,” Amy said. “I’m not worried about reaching the goal. We were at this place last year with this number of jeans collected, too.”
With more than 2,000 pairs of jeans, EcoErek could provide enough insulation for four homes.
“I’m glad we got four houses worth,” he said. “And we still have the rest of the summer.”
For the rest of the season, EcoErek and Amy will collect items from dropboxes and fetch donations from anyone unable to get to a box who contacts them. The two will visit garage sales at the end of June to drop off cards and offer a place for unwanted jeans.
In August, Amy and EcoErek, who is “kinda known as the jean guy now,” Amy said, will gather the jeans and shoes for a final total before shipping them to the respective organizations.
Until totaling time, the jeans and shoes will be stored in warehouse space provided by First Solar.
The local company has collaborated with EcoErek since 2009. EcoErek and Amy gather the collection goods and haul them to storage. They also put the jeans and shoes into the 4-foot-square shipping containers. First Solar provides the shipping for the jeans.
“We’re taken up about as much space storing the shoes as we have the jeans,” Amy said.
The shoes are about the same volume as the jeans once they’re collected in the bags Amy and EcoErek use to store them until August.
Next year, EcoErek said he will continue the jean collection as long as he is passionate about recycling.
“I love it,” he said. “It’s really fun, and I love keeping the jeans out of the landfill and saving the planet.”
September 20-22nd is the Quilt, Craft and Sewing Festival in Pleasanton, CA and I’ll be there!
I’ve been working nonstop on getting new recycled denim patterns ready as well as kits and samples! Yikes! It’s been crazy around here!
Also, the banner at my Pleasanton booth will be brand new. It will say, “Inventive Denim” instead of “A Passionate Quilter”! And…here’s what my new logo will look like! I’m SO excited about my new name and look. What do you think?
So, if you happen to be in the area and will be at the show, PLEASE shop by and say “Hi”! I would love to see you! If not, my new patterns will be up on the NEW Inventive Denim website very soon! I’ll let you all know as soon as that happens.
Pictures are also coming of the new patterns, die cuts, booth set up, website, etc! Oh my gosh! So much is going on!!!
New Pattern…
Here is a sneak peek at my new chicken pattern. The wall hanging and table runner have been quilted and bound and the pattern is going to the printer this week.
I’m off to proof patterns! Have a good one!
