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in your shipping carton. Easy for you, easy for the recipient, and no one ends up with little "styrobits" climbing up their arms via static electricity!

NEW FABRICS FROM OLD

At one time or another, many of us have considered making quilts from old T-shirts, and usually they are done as a simple collection of squares. Great idea and a good way to work with a theme like school loyalty or vacation visits or rock concerts attended, but there are other approaches.

I am still working on my daughter's birth-to-young adult University of Michigan quilt. I bought solid color fabric for the top and cut out just the logo portions of shirts and appliqued them on in all their various shapes. Because she was always given U of M wear from an early age, I also have cut and sewn on the fronts of various garments. Over here a newborn sleeper, legs and all, over there a tiny little hooded sweatshirt with the outline of the hood and with arms extended Constructing a quilt this way is much more time-consuming, but there probably isn't any practical value in saving all those adorable little togs and, this way, the quilt not only shows college designs, but it shows the actual size that my daughter once was. In a way, this becomes a "living scrapbook" of sorts that can also keep my grownup gal warm!

Another possibility for clothing reuse is to use the no-longer-worn items as raw material for making special stuffed animals. This works very well for small embroidered logo polo shirts, with the embroidered design centered on the front of the animal, but it would be possible to cut pattern pieces from the larger designs on several T-shirts and end up with a patchwork animal. This would be kind of like a crazy quilt effect, perhaps very appropriate use for a group of concert shirts from a more psychedelic time!

Either way, nostalgia quilts or animals bearing past memories, there is something altogether appealing about a "3D scrapbook" that can be touched and used by the recipient every day.

MEMORY JARS

Some of the jars that pass through the kitchen on their way to the recycling bin are almost beautiful, with raised images or incised patterns. Almost to pretty to throw away, you might say. So, don't throw them away; use them to hold memories from special times.

Lidded glass jars are the best for this project. The end result is a jar full of shells or stones from a special vacation or beachfront honeymoon. Be prepared to be disappointed if you just throw the stones or shells in; they will end up

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