October 7, 2021 is World Cotton Day and it seemed like the better excuse to finally get myself back to writing something for this neglected website. I routinely think I should write something about…. And then I get pulled back into my day job or something I was already in the midst of. But today, World Cotton Day stopped me in my tracks and made me open the browser.

World Cotton Day Theme

The proliferation of days to acknowledge one topic, industry, group gets a bit overwhelming at times. Yet, the reality is, there are so many things happening that simply tagging a specific day to consider a topic that few give thought to can make a difference. And for those who are involved in the topic at much greater depth, this year the theme the UN set was “Cotton for Good.”

If you read much on this site, you know there are a range of factors that can get connected to something that many of us don’t give a thought to as something that starts as a plant and ends up as fabric. But cotton is amazingly good in so many ways!

One of the things that this theme does is really show some differences among countries about the role cotton plays. For some countries, cotton is a primary economic driver where as in others it may be a fashion piece more than economics. Cotton really does do it all as this silly meme I created shows.

Cotton and the Environment

As someone who worked at a cotton seed company for years, I’m used to thinking about the origins of cotton. How farmers in the US and the more temperate and tropical countries grow it, tending the soil and stewarding water and more but the product itself has such inherently good qualities too!

A few things I’ll point you to:

• Water Use in Cotton — Sometimes I hear about the amount of water cotton uses, appreciate having good resources on it.
• Does cotton have an after life? — The natural fiber is definitely a boost when you think about how to discard of it. Cotton can break down naturally in the soil AND it can be used to insulate homes too!

Creating Jobs & More

The economic engine of cotton has had some challenges in the US with cheaper, unskilled labor in several countries luring textile jobs from the US, but that could be changing.

We are seeing small niche companies like Red Land Cotton producing heirloom quality sheets and sharing their full supply chain. And major brands like Wrangler have product lines that move through the US cotton industry from farms to textile mills. And we can see the contributions of even small town cotton gins! And farmers who are taking the creative spin to do home decor too!

And it created this little website in my mind and now maybe I can get it back in my weeks!

The post Celebrating World Cotton Day with Extra Goodness This Year appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Challenges on the internet come and go pretty quickly. I remember getting some friends at work to do the ice bucket challenge. This week as Dolly Parton put out a meme that quickly became the latest viral challenge. I had to think about how clearly it fit cotton, my favorite fiber. Next thing I knew, I had a cotton meme!

In case you haven’t seen the Dolly Parton post I am talking about, here you go:

View this post on Instagram

Get you a woman who can do it all

A post shared by Dolly Parton (@dollyparton) on Jan 21, 2020 at 10:02am PST

Dolly definitely has a brand of being able to do it all. She posted that on her Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts and brought so many smiles and made people think. The simplicity of showing how she is many things by putting it in the context of prominent, distinctive online networks that offer really different value.

It’s why memes can be so powerful. You can wrap up so many things into a simple image or collection of images with a few words. People can’t help but share in the fun.

Next thing you knew people were calling it the Dolly Parton Challenge and doing various versions. I had friends who did them for themselves, pets, brands they work for and more. And I thought people should know to get a fiber that can do it all too!

Cotton Meme: The Fiber that Can Do It All

If you read Hundred Percent Cotton Often, you have seen article after article about the various strengths of the fiber but putting into a simple format that would resonate on Twitter and Instagram…. I had to really ponder things. Here’s the cotton meme I came up with:

It probably doesn’t need much explanation, but a bit may be helpful. So here’s the thought behind each photo:

• LinkedIn — When it comes to business, cotton has you covered! In fact, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing reports that US bills are printed on 75% cotton and 25% linen stock. And if you look at what you can do with a bale of cotton (about 500 lbs), you could make 313,600 $100 bills!
• Facebook — Facebook is for fun and family. What’s more fun than t-shirts, jeans, digging in the dirt and a big old pair of underwear? Also, when things get a bit more serious, talking about the environment is more fun when you can talk about soiling your undies (to show soil health).
• Instagram — Lifestyle and beautiful photography are what makes the day on Instagram and as that sunset shows and as cotton farmers know, you can get a great lifestyle with the natural fiber AND harvest photos are often stunning!
• Tinder — Looking for love? Well polyester sheets would have you in all the wrong places! Obviously you are going to want some awesome cotton sheets!

Cotton really is the fiber that can do it all! Think I’m missing anything? May need to make a second cotton meme too!

The post This Cotton Meme Suggests You Get a Fiber that Can Do It All appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Cotton isn’t exactly the first thing to come to mind if you are asked to list crops that go farm-to-plate. That may be in the process of changing for more people this month as the FDA approved a ultra low gossypol cottonseed for human and animal consumption. The research on this has been undergoing at Texas A&M led by researcher Dr. Keerti Rathore. I met Dr. Rathore long ago and even wrote about the promise of reduced gossypol cottonseed a year ago when the USDA approved the product for farming.

This brings a few things to mind for me that I would guess are pretty uncommon.

What is gossypol?

Gossypol is a naturally occuring chemical for cotton plants — it’s in the plant’s leaves, stems, seeds, etc. It helps protect the plant from some of the insect pests that love to damage the plant. I am always amazed by the ways nature is cool, but you have to admit that is cool. The bummer is though, that gossypol can be toxic to some animals and to people.

Why feed cottonseed to animals & people?

This one is hard to look at from the place where a lot of us sit. We have a multitude of foods available if you were lucky enough to be born in the developed world. And farmers have lots of choices in livestock feeds that keep those of us who eat meat satisfied.

That isn’t the case in many parts of the developing world. In fact, there are hundreds of thousands of people who live on cotton farms in the developing world. These farms are frequently subsistence farms and while they may have vegetable gardens and/or grain, the addition of another food source for the family and/or livestock, could be life-saving or life-changing. I am not overstating to say it could be a total god-send for people who have a goat, a couple of chickens, etc. 

Would I eat cottonseed?

I am firmly in the “I’d eat it” camp. In fact, I recently fixed myself avocado toast (thanks to visiting an avocado farm) and mixed a little bit of the cilantro-flavored cottonseed oil in with the avocado. But realistically, I know I have so many food choices, that I probably wouldn’t end up eating it directly. I think it could probably be useful in producing some of the meats I eat though. 

The post New Ultra Low Gossypol Cotton Food Product Approved by FDA appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I’m not sure when I first became familiar with Garrison Keillor’s work, but it seems like I’ve always known him. In some ways, I think my watching The Waltons as a kid somehow merged with his Prairie Home Companion. I mean, the feeling of nostalgia and simplicity was probably the tie. And the image of the Waltons listening to radio & his big following without video. Anyway, a friend sent me the email he’d gotten thanks to his subscribing to Garrison Keillor’s website & I dove right in.

It is kind of heartwarming & funny how he starts the post talking about how his wife is always pushing him to do better for the planet. Most of us are striving to leave the planet we call home better than we found it and yet, most of us also know someone who is far more committed to the idea than us. We have a range of things that come with that social license… sometimes we subscribe full, others we have a different view and still others we ignore. I’ve known more than a few people who dated, married or somehow became connected to someone who wanted them to give up meat based on the environmental footprint as they understand it. But I also know a lot of people who have very different reads on that. And when Keillor lets us all get a shared laugh at the reality most of us have an omnivorous diet, even if that means sneaking meat, I was ready to move on.

And then I realized why the friend thought of me. Keillor writes about her comments on cotton with a sense of exasperation cause he, like me has a deep love of cotton:

But the other day she told me that cotton is a bad fabric, that to grow the cotton to make three pairs of jeans uses more water than a person will drink in a lifetime. And dreadful chemicals are employed in the making of denim. “What am I supposed to wear? Silk?” I said. She told me that silk is more sustainable. So is linen.

But cotton?? I love cotton. Jeans are my uniform. I walk down the street in old faded jeans and a black T-shirt and I am 25 again, a young attitudinous writer.

Unexpectedly on a dark day, light shines through from GarrisonKeillor.com

I would love to personally invite the Keillor couple to go deeper than the ideas that cotton as a fabric is “bad” or that chemicals are “dreadful.” I hope he used literary license. Lots of people have read about the water footprint of cotton and yet few have had the chance to dig into the topic with some depth. I’d like to help Garrison and his significant other (is her name Jenny?) get to know cotton on a deeper level.

I love that Jenny’s advice is to stick with natural fibers — I am certainly a fan! I have some great linen clothes for summer and my hatred of cold weather means I truly love wool in winter. And while some folks will point out polyester uses less water, I think Jenny and I will agree that the footprint of synthetics with a dependence on petroleum takes us down a whole other path. And I am one of those folks who wears jeans several times before putting them in the laundry.

My passion for the natural fiber has led me to spend hundreds of hours with farmers asking them about how the crop is grown. It would also be a chance for me to learn too. I don’t have all the answers on the topic of cotton by any means, but after decades of talking to people who grow the crop, others who design fabrics, and who look at dyes and finishes and more I have found it has been improving leaps and bounds over the past few decades. And, we’d have a great time doing a small tour of some points of interest in the conversation about cotton and we could learn a lot.

A Potential Travel Itinerary

We could start with a farm visit. If Jenny & Garrison are ready to go, I hope to spend tomorrow/Friday in the Missouri Bootheel showing a friend what cotton plants look like. We’ll have a chance to ask a farmer about how he utilizes water on the farm. We plan to see Darren and he has some irrigation but also has some dryland cotton. What’s amazing is how precise irrigation is and how farmers understand the soils they have, things that they can do to help the soil capture rainfall and retain it for use later. They pay close attention to flow rates of water and more. Those are improvements that have been happening throughout the decades I’ve been learning from farmers. PS — Darren sent a photo to make sure I keep focus on my visit.

But I should mention we may not be able to go because he may be rained out. And rain on cotton at harvest can cause some tough issues in terms of soil health, crop quality and yield. And while it isn’t exactly Lake Wobegon, there’s a YouTuber in Minnesota who grew & made his own tshirt!

We could learn about fiber use after the farm. How’s Cary, North Carolina? or maybe Lubbock, Texas? When cotton moves from the farm, it goes through ginning & warehousing before you get into carding, spinning, etc. Eventually you get to the finishing and dying. It’s awesome to see this up close and personal. understand how it is done because each company is in improvement mode too. I like seeing this in the labs at Cotton Inc. or Texas Tech first, but then seeing it done at scale with denim or towels… that’s amazing.

One of the things I have been impressed by, is how many scientists are looking at ways to make all of these processes better environmentally. One of the innovations that really blew me away on a visit was the way the worn look can now be achieved with lasers (yes LASERS!) instead of chemicals.

And if they want to come to St. Louis with me, I can introduce them to a researcher at the Danforth Center I met a few years ago as I had the chance to see what plant breeding is doing to see if indigo can make a resurgence!

Lots to Talk About

In my experience, this diving deeper offers so much to all of us. And while I have studied up some on why people have the impression that cotton is so water intensive, I am always amazed at how much more there is to be learned. And quite frankly I learn more by talking with people who have different questions or presuppositions than I do!

I have the feeling that Jenny and I agree that the constant purchasing of clothes for right now rather than thinking about the perfect t-shirts that you will wear long-term (Have mercy I love a good black v-neck! Have had some well made ones for close to 10 years!) Also like dresses that can be worn across seasons and dressed up or down to easily help reduce our personal footprint. And those things keep the commercial bug at bay.

The post Dreaming of a Cotton Trip with Garrison Keillor & His Wife appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Years ago I laughed as my niece was picking cotton and dreamed of her mom making her some socks or something with the fiber. Well, if that niece was on the How to Make Everything team, she may have figured out a way to make it happen AND get video throughout the process.

Watching this video made me laugh a bit cause there were some things I knew really should have been thought about in advance (reminder cotton doesn’t like too much rain). But mostly the video made me think about how much goes into the stuff we have. It takes a lot to make a t-shirt! 

The Premise: Hard to Know What it Takes to Produce Common Items

If you aren’t familiar with How to Make Everything you may want to check out a few of their videos. They break down something as simple as a new t-shirt but walk you through all the complex pieces of work it takes to happen. This episode is especially useful for people who purchase those cheap $5 t-shirts but may not think much about what it takes to make t-shirts and the true cost of cheap clothing. As someone who advocates for a better t-shirt rather than simply more in my wardrobe (confession I still have too many), and someone who has seen the various processes at a bigger scale, I am beyond impressed someone would be so committed to the idea that they spent three years working on the project! 

It’s collapsed down to a really good 20 minutes if you want to see what it would take to produce a cotton t-shirt…. all the way from growing to sewing and wearing.

It’s Hard Growing Cotton

I love how honest he is on why it took so long to get this project done. Trying to grow cotton in a garden is hard but growing it in Minnesota…. that’s a few extra levels of hard. I lived in New York years ago and grew a cotton plant in my office. Although we all enjoy how much longer the days are in summer when we live in northern areas, reality is the number of days where that sunlight is paired with the temperatures cotton thrives in is not enough.

The things I saw that I thought hmmm…. I started seeds similarly to the way he did, small tray or pot, and I moved it to a five gallon bucket under heat lights later trying to give the tap root a good shot. Having some sand mixed into that potting soil could have helped too since cotton doesn’t like a lot of water on it (farmers say cotton doesn’t like wet feet). Seeing him try to scoop up cotton plants out of deep water…. all I could think was bless his heart. Cotton farmers know the pain though they may have looked for a different patch of ground and planted soybeans there.

The Knitting Process vs Weaving

Did you get the part where they actually built looms? I haven’t thought much about the world without knit fabrics…. I mean t-shirts, yoga pants, etc are so awesome in their stretch because the way the machinery works… so even though it is 100% cotton, it has that nice physique hugging quality.

Seeing them weave fabric and him make himself fit? Priceless!

Options to See Dirt to Shirt

There are some farmers who work with specific suppliers in the U.S. who are trying to help the textile industry here rebound. Ronnie Burleson is a farmer in North Carolina I met years ago when friends and I toured his farm (Brian of The Farmer’s Life wrote a post about his first cotton farm visit). Ronnie grows and his cotton is spun, dyed, knitted all nearby in the Cotton of the Carolinas products. They call it going dirt to shirt, a spin on farm to plate that fits. I’m guessing those shirts would be a perfect fit with the North Carolina Wrangler jeans.

The post What would it take to make your own t-shirt? appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

One of the most interesting parts of having such a clear niche in blogging is having people contact me about specific things they want to know about cotton. While some of those questions are about jobs or things I really can’t solve, I love helping diagnose problems. You may have seen the post about why a cotton boll was so tiny a few years ago. The recent conversation about planting container cotton plants though, really made me stretch my mind muscles beyond just the whether cotton can be grown in a backyard garden!

Email About Container Cotton I Received

The email I received asking me a deep question follows. Please note, I’m not including the name, etc cause I’m not sure that would be cool with them. However, I did say I wrote them such a long reply I thought I may turn it into a post.

Hello Janice, I live in central North Carolina. Last year my girlfriend and I picked two plants from a farmers field nearby and put them in potting soil black plastic pots at out respective homes for decoration. After winter I pulled 16 seeds from my one boll and planted them in the same pot next to other flowers. This spring – NOTHING grew. I mean NOTHING. No clover, no weed grass – just bare soil. It is so barren it looks like the soil was poisoned. Pots next to it were alive with weeds and spontaneously generate new plants even after hand weeding. Same soil, same care (none), same feeding (none). Is this cotton a Monsanto GMO plant with ‘Roundup’ springing forth from its corps?

Thanks. BTW: The farmers field has NO volunteer weeds among the cotton.

Reading that, you can tell, the person writing it was perplexed. There are a lot of things I wanted to know as I read it because I think we both came at it with really different backgrounds and ideas. Over the years, I’ve found if I can ask people several questions, I probably can give them a better answer.

Questions I Asked & Answers I Received

Really, I enjoy getting messages from real people who have read something here & decided to share or ask questions. (I’m not a fan of the robo requests for placing a post here.) Here’s what I sent back:

I’ll be glad to help think through what may have happened. I have some questions that will let me be sure I understand.
— When you say you picked a cotton plant, did you just cut the stalk and put the stalk in a pot or did you dig up the roots? 
— When you picked the plant, was the cotton boll you collected seed from already open or was it a green boll that cracked open later? Any chance you have photos? 
— Was the plant/seed kept inside your home over winter or left outside? 
— The pot you had the cotton plant in…. you said it was in potting soil. Have you used the soil for other things before or was it fresh from the bag. 

This may make a good blog post. And where in NC are you? I have family in the Asheville & Charlotte areas. Love the state. 

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I’d get a reply, but I did. One-by-one, all my questions got answered:

1. We neither cut the stalk nor dug it up – we pulled up the plants by the trunk including the roots. They were runt plants at the edge of the field by the road. 
2. Yes the cotton was open and the cotton boll showing nicely. 
3. Both the plants overwintered alongside the driveways with the other potted plants – which always come back in the spring. 
4. Yes the potting soil was previously used for flowers such as sweet william or hemp plants. 

I went out this morning to look again – still the soil in that pot is bare – but in pots to the left and right are rich with grasses / weeds – greenery on either side of the pots that the cotton was in. 

Very mysterious. Where are YOU Janice? Want to come see?

My Response Got Really Long

It was obviously mysterious, but I had a lot of information that I thought could help. As I started my reply, it really was going long. I have to confess, I thought hard about ways to simplify it. Make it shorter. Easier to read. I did the best I could but it was still long. I share it here in case you are following and have questions:

Thanks for the offer of a visit but I’m in the middle of the country… not in NC often unless I have a detailed agenda with family. I am sure you understand that doesn’t leave time for random cotton plant checks There is a state cotton specialist in Raleigh if you want to talk to someone local. https://www.ces.ncsu.edu/profile/guy-collins/ 

I am trying to figure out what some of the issues are and there are really a couple of big possibilties: 

1) The seed wasn’t mature so it wouldn’t germinate. There are a few things that can happen to plants during the growing season — maybe the plants didn’t get enough heat units during the period when the seed was forming, maybe moisture in the fall led the seeds to rot, etc. In fact, because that is so likely, each state and seed companies have testing facilities that pull samples of commercial seed and test it. And the plants that help bag seed also frequently use various screening processes to determine whether the seed is the right color or weight, etc. There is also a question of whether the seed went through dormancy which is the way the seed’s energy moves from harvest to gain the energy needed to sprout in the spring. This post explains some of the problems. 

2) Planting conditions may have been challenging. Cotton is a somewhat fussy plant. Potting soil can really retain water and cotton seedlings want just a bit of water. They typically do better in sandier soils than potting soils are. You also want to think about the depth the seed was planted. Cotton likes a good bit of space — farmers usually plant a couple of seed every 6 inches. It also likes a specific set of temperatures to emerge so you want to make sure the soil is 65 degrees or so, 6-9 inches deep.  More on planting.

I’d bet one of those two things is the reason the seed didn’t emerge. The other question you raised was about why nothing else is growing in the pot. That’s a real puzzle for me too. The one idea you mentioned was whether that could be related to the seed. I’ve never heard of anything with cotton seed having an impact on other things growing. In fact, cotton farmers build full weed control programs using cover crops, etc to protect young cotton plants from the weeds and grasses that grow up with them. This post will help you understand some of that. 

The way you asked the question about Roundup, I can tell you have heard about GMO crops. You may not be familiar with the way they work. The Roundup Ready cotton you mention is popular in North Carolina so the seed may have carried the trait. The way that trait works, a single gene was found in aquatic environments that made Roundup or glyphosate was ineffective on it so some of Monsanto’s scientists was added to a cotton plant. I’ve met a bunch of those folks working at the company. The trait allows farmers to spray Roundup on the cotton when weeds and grasses are growing all around and while the vast majority of weeds will be controlled, the cotton (or soybeans) will grow successfully. Farmers usually focus on controlling weeds and grasses early in the season, when plants are small because as they grow, the plants shade out any new plants from growing. 

Understanding all of that, I wonder whether the difference is whether the other plants (all perennials) had attracted pollinators to play on them. That may have accounted for some of the extra things ending up in the same soil. 

I will keep giving this thought. One of the things I wonder is how much of the root structure was there. Cotton’s tap root is usually 3 foot or so on a healthy plant and I’m guessing pulling this was a lot shorter. So that may have impacted the seed’s viability. 

Definitely feel like I wrote a full blog post writing this whole thing out so I am going to see about turning it around. 

Hope this helps! 

And I forgot to remind him about the boll weevil eradication program being a challenge!

Where We Are Now

So, that was a lot to take in. And I’m still thinking about some of the causes — now that I have this all in a blog post, I can get some expert opinions on it too!

My new friend admited I overloaded them a bit. They also decided to do a few things to see what else they can figure out. They will:

• Send a soil sample to the state department of agriculture to be tested.
• See if some other plants will grow in that pot/soil.

The post Diagnosing Problems with Container Cotton Plants appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

A good friend from work recently shared a photo of her holding a quilt saying it was her first one. The pride of workmanship was infectious. I immediately asked her to tell me more, ultimately, I knew her story needed to be featured as a creator spotlight on the blog!  Thanks to Ginger Price (check out pricegingerm on Instagram) for sharing her story with Hundred Percent Cotton! This post was written by Ginger.

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

It never occurred to me that finishing my first quilt would remind me of a favorite quote from Harley Davidson — “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” The process of tackling a quilt started well before choosing the fabric, the pattern or in my case not choosing the pattern, cutting, sewing… all building to that final moment when ‘ta-dah’ the quilt top was complete.

Nor did it occur to me that once that final moment would arrive how reflecting on the process would be a deeper process of what making the quilt taught me about myself, my heritage and some future desires of things to accomplish creatively. Most of these things had nothing to do with the technicalities of making a quilt.

Creativity has always been a part of me. It’s a gift, some days a curse, but mostly a gift.

I’m the fourth generation creative female on my mom’s side of the family. The curse comes from the frustration of trying to find my ‘thing’. There’s been something in me that has been struggling to find a way to produce some sort of art.

Growing up our house was filled with art produced from each generation—except me—unless you count refrigerator art from grade school. Expressing myself artistically has been a challenge. In part, perfectionism crippled me, intimidation crippled me and being a stubborn goat of a child my unwillingness to sit and learn from my mom also crippled me.

My quilting journey started when my mom made her first quilt. Literally she woke up one day and had the idea to make a quilt top and embroider over it and that it was going to be a gift to me. These early morning ideas are the best—I get them too. She hadn’t made a real quilt before, but she’s good on a sewing machine and an amazing embroiderer.

At the time she wasn’t feeling well and asked me to go pick out fabric for her—cringing on the inside and shaking in my Chucks—I set off to the local quilting fabric store—only to cheer my mom up—telling my mom no isn’t an option. My version of sewing is ‘fake’, in my life maybe five things have been attempted—none really great. So picking out quilting fabric was an overwhelming ask.

Being on a Journey Together

This first step taught me, we are on the journey together. Selecting the fabric in the end was fun, the owner of the store showed me a couple of options to get started and in no time fifty bolts were spread out in the back of the store. You never know how things in life will spark another step—being forced to go by myself for my mother made me realize how much fun selecting fabric can be—surprisingly she loved every piece selected, which made me feel confident.

My parents live in Oregon, for now Missouri is where I reside. My mother continued to quilt and when I’d go home, we would shop for fabric together for her projects. She would buy fabric and make something, my role was to find a few pieces that were attractive and add to my collection. My mother started to make a lot of quilts, she can finish a top or two in a month, in the last five years she has easily made more than 40 quilts and countless smaller quilted things.

One day while shopping she said, “Are you just going to collect fabric…or are you eventually going to make something?” Challenge accepted mom. That day we made an apron together and started the process of making my first quilt.

Planning?

It would be easier to tell you the better way to do things now that we’ve made a couple of quilts together. Mind you my mom is much better. Both projects that started did not have a real plan. Next time there will be a better plan, this lack of planning slowed me down. Decide what size quilt you want to make, decide what pattern you want to use.

Not having a plan made things more difficult—funny how that translates to life in general. We literally copied a pattern from etsy just by looking at a photograph. The journey taught me to slow down and listen, even though it’s painful for my personality—listening and planning make things easier. Mom kept nudging me on committing to a quilt size, and this girl wouldn’t budge.

A challenge faced in finishing the quilt was that my lack of sewing mojo made me want to work on the projects with my mother. Since we don’t live close this required working on it in during my trips home to visit my family. Lugging my quilt across the country four or more times was difficult.

My mom has an amazing community of friends who meet up to quilt. A few trips home it worked to be able to join them. It was so fun to engage in the ‘sisterhood’. They help each other, collaborate on ideas together and best of all just enjoy each other—all three text and encourage each other in quilting, art and life outside of their sew dates. They reminded me the journey, any journey is enriched by community. My suggestion is find a quilting group and join them locally. It was really hard to set out all my stuff and pack it up, then many months later set it all out again.

A Long Journey, Planning to Finish

Four years, multiple trips home this last year my goal was to finish my first quilt before the end of 2018. Christmas break was my deadline, my last shot before the year closed.

My original plan was for me and mom could hop on two machines and tear it up. My plan wasn’t her plan. Deep down she knew it was my mountain to climb. While piecing the quilt together it became VERY apparent that some pieces were not sewn or cut uniformly for size. This caused some heartburn. Making a hexi quilt, the hexis have to line up or it doesn’t work.

After piecing together three strips the thought crossed my mind to trash it. Literally in a rage my vision was walking to the dumpster and heaving it in. Having to take pieces apart, recut, resew and reposition was daunting. Next time attention to precision will be utilized when cutting pieces.

Thinking back to all the trips the quilt was drug home to Oregon, the countless time spent cutting and putting patterns together—tossing it in the garbage couldn’t be the solution. The journey reminded me that even if things don’t come together perfectly, it doesn’t mean the finished product won’t be beautiful.

Imperfect? Maybe. Still Beautiful.

As the final stitches were being made my heart welled up with so much pride and joy. It isn’t perfect, but was finished and just days before 2018 wrapped up.

There were many that helped me along the way, but doing the final piecing of the top gave me so much confidence that a future project solo is possible—don’t get me wrong, sewing with my mom will still happen and maybe buying fabric will too.

Working on the project locally will be very relaxing—cutting, looking at pieces, picking the fabrics, thinking through how to put it together are all therapy for me. Finishing was a landmark achievement—putting it together solo is the sweetest part for me. She was in the background if help was needed, but making me do it on my own was the best victory.

Next step is to finish the back and send it off to our longarmer Teresa Silva who is part of my mom’s sewing group. She is very talented and does all of our longarm work. You can see her on Instagram @quiltingismybliss along with my mom @cmpricefamily.

Plans for another quilt are being made…actually a couple of projects are in the works. My next goal is to not be a one hit wonder—there may be some other arty ideas in the mix, but right now my focus is on creating some beautiful pieces for my loved ones. Back to the Harley quote…the journey continues.

Know a Creator? A Farmer?

Know someone who creates with cotton or even someone who grows cotton and who’s story should be shared here? Please let me know by commenting here or sending a private mesage via the contact form.

The post Creating a Quilt is a Journey, not a Destination — Creator Spotlight appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

As I started the series about creators doing cool things with cotton, I thought of a small company doing really cool decor with my favorite fiber. Then I decided to do some “farmer Friday” features so readers could get to know the people who grow the crop. Thinking of both of those, North Carolina’s Julius Tillery, the founder of Black Cotton, came to mind.

I haven’t met Julius in person, but over the years we have talked quite a bit on Twitter (he goes by @Mr_Black_Cotton). He’s worked on his business and I’ve watched as he clearly found ways to add value to the family’s harvest.

Farming for Generations

Julius is a “fifth generation, life-long cotton farmer. We raise a crop of cotton basically every year of my life since I can remember and planning to continue to crop cotton til my last years.”

The family’s farm in North Hampton County, NC is in one of the state’s leading cotton-producing counties. He said the fact that his family has maintained their small farm and are still growing cotton is a bit of a differentiator in the area.

“My cotton is from fields of the last remaining farmers of African American descendants. I had no idea it would be this few people of color producing cotton now when relatively every black farmer I knew raised cotton when I was younger,” he explains.

Creating Black Cotton

Not all farmers decide to sell their cotton as decor — in a vase, as ornaments to hang, etc. In fact, it is pretty rare other than some who have flower shops in the family or enjoy crafting.

Julius wanted to be part of the “new economy and pride for people in my rural poor community in Northeast NC. Thought the best way to make a change was to start with the asset my community has that I participate in every year in producing.”

Out of that vision, he created the company and has added products over the last few years. “The reach of BlackCotton.US in pulling in tourists and shipping out products across the USA.” He’s got a lot to be proud of too as the have sold products to over 30 states in nation! And it’s a lot of fun to see some of the nearby shops that carry the products as well.

Since I’ve already mentioned that I met Julius via his personal account on Twitter, you know he’s online. The company’s website (where they sell various products made from the Tillery’s family farm) is www.blackcotton.us. On Instagram it is blackcotton.us and on Facebook they are blackcottondecor.

You may also enjoy this video by Culture Quest, it lets you go behind the scenes with Julius for a few minutes.

The post Black Cotton — Farming and Creating All in One Place! appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I’m not sure how you all choose the various oils you use in the kitchen, but I have a few that I like. I remember a time when my family used a lot of just general vegetable oil and Crisco (crystallized cottonseed oil). For me, cottonseed oil I use in the kitchen is different. (This post includes affiliate links to Amazon where you can purchase the products I use.)

To be clear, I have a combination of a few oils I use — olive oil is pretty common and you may remember my seeing some olive oil be pressed a few years ago. But I also have used a variety of cottonseed oils that many would find unusual.

Last year, I shared a recipe for a tortilla soup I make in my Instant Pot and casually mentioned that I used a cilantro cottonseed oil. However, I have to confess, I more commonly use the shallot version but also really like several other flavors.

Why cottonseed oil?

There are lots of choices in terms of cooking oils and they all have reasons to use them.

• Flavor — I love the flavor of really good olive oil and use it with a range of the things I make — especially things like hummus, salads, etc. One of the things I love about cottonseed oil is it doesn’t really have a flavor. It seems to take on flavors of the things it is cooking or mixed with.
• Flexibility — Cottonseed oil makes a great oil for frying since it cholesterol free, has a high flashpoint so sauteeing goes well without the oil changing its profile and it is great on salads too — especially some of the flavored oils! Love that Acala Farms, the company that makes the oils I use, has a variety of suggested recipes using cottonseed oil.
• Long history of safe use — I appreciate that cottonseed oil has a long tradition of use, especially in areas of the world where cotton is grown. After all, it is one of the primary uses of cottonseed. The oil doesn’t contain the gossypol I mentioned in a recent post on the effort to create edible cottonseed.

If none of those reasons are enough, then let me add lots of prominent chefs and restaurants use it — my beloved Cafe du Monde beignets are fried up in it!

Cottonseed Oil on the Menu!

I had a chance to taste several of these cottonseed oils thanks to Tom Wedegaertner (@CottonTom) and some of the team at Cotton Incorporated. I’ve been there with my day job to speak to farmers and found the dinner included a range of flavors! Appreciate the Cotton Inc team for working with catering staff to get me thinking about the many ways I can use the oils at home! I have made that happen.

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It feels like I’m telling my age when I say that I remember how 1970s Halloween costumes were really basic, I swear the stores were just starting to sell them when we were little. At that time I thought a store bought one was awesome…. people hadn’t gone pinterest crazy and, well, they came with a mask. Little did I realize how much I would enjoy making comfortable costumes later!

Comfort figures prominently into my ideals for costumes. And for that reason, you know cotton is high on the list! I’ll share one I made & have enjoyed and a few I thought were particularly good.

Voodoo Medicine

Since I work in a field where we frequently hear people passing around the most absurd claims, sometimes I wish I had the power to magically strike people mute of woo. That led me to create a costume that lets me do some voodoo medicine too. The greatest part? Most of the costume is easy to pick up and run with.

The scepter draws alot of attention. I bought a corn wreath, removed one cob & replaced it with a large dowel I painted black to hold onto. Then I placed some feathers into the wreath and found a skeleton halloween decoration and attached it too.

I get to wear simple black — yoga pants and a turtleneck — carry a really cool prop, wear a funky (but pretty comfortable) mask & just tie some something around my waist. And it is something I have been able to let family & friends borrow…. it can be used by anyone who likes comfortable costumes!

Like Fashion?

So this one is funny and like I said, simple and comfortable. It is a play on The Devil Wears Prada. Simple t-shirt with the Prada logo on it (lettering that I’m thinking is easier done with fabric paint than found in some stores & definitely cheaper). With devil horns & tail. Go crazy and carry a scepter for that too if you find one.

This photo/idea is from Honolulu Magazine. They have a lot of costumes on the list that are fashion related.

Cotton Boll Kid

Years ago I saw this photo Ashlee took of her daughter at Halloween in a costume the family made. Blair made the cutest cotton boll. It is the opposite of simple and easy, but it does look comfortable. And at that age kids seem to tumble, so maybe it would be a safety boost!

She’s wearing brown leggings or pants, a white turleneck. I would love to talk to Ashlee’s mother-in-law about how she did it but it looks like she may have made some sort of a slipover vest/dress with an outer layer of netting to help keep the tufts of fiberfill in place with a few places tacked in. There there are brown fabric triangles coming up from the bottom making the bracts on the cotton boll.

Is comfort an important part of costumes for you?

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