I had the BEST mail ever arrive this fine AM.
A dear blog friend heard my plight of not being able to find grain sacks in my area and rescued me from my depths of despair!
This girl didn’t mess around either. She found quite the eclectic varied collection!
With some looking crisp and brand new…
… while others looked weathered and very time worn. LOVE!!
What this gal probably doesn’t even know is, I’m fanatical about typography as I’m a signmaker by trade. I’ve always loved vintage advertising, and this stuff is right up my funky alley! I’ve long drooled over other’s grainsack collection only to be frustrated at not being able to find my own.
Check out the most boring wall EVER. This is right above my crate stairway. And it needs some fun.
I can totally picture boarding up this entire wall, coating it out in white, beating it up abit, then mounting grain sacks to it. And I mean, filler up!
Hence starts my varied collection, once piece at a time. I’ll be able to look at this wall and smile BIG and wide one day. And blame it all on Cathleen. 🙂
Cathleen, thank-you so much for the lovely ‘just because’ gift! I promise I’ll do you proud with this new project!
Cathleen’s blog is called Today Along The Journey. Check out these yummy benches she redid. Nice!
Ohhh! And she’s a pro sewer too! Check out these cutie pies HERE.
Inspiration has HIT. It’s time to board up this wall so I can hang up Cathleen’s contribution and start this project off right! How to board it up? And above a stairway no less?!? I have NO idea. But isn’t that part of the fun after all? 🙂
Update:
Dear Great Wall of Grainsacks. You are in grave danger. I mean seriously. Cool no sew pillow cases… hello?!? I can barely stand all this goodness.
Are you a grain sack collector? What’s your fav thing to do with yours?
Closes Tuesday midnight. Get in while ya can. 🙂
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Where in the world did she find those grain sacks?! They are awesome! Very sweet of her. Very lucky of you. Looking forward to seeing the sack wall.
Cathleen answers:
“I have just “accumulated” them over the years. Some were given from family, some were in the bottom of “box lots” I purchased. No special place really.”
I think I need to have a talk with my family. LOL
Donna
Your wall is going to look SO cool! I can’t wait until you get them all and start the project!!
-Kendall
{songbirdsandbuttons.blogspot.com}
I am also looking forward to seeing your wall! What a fun, creative and totally Donna project!
It will look amazing in that stairway!
Donna! You should make a rustic wall quilt with them!!! Seriously – it’d be awesome! You can still board up the wall and beat it up, but just turn that pile of fabric into a quilt.
Cecily, that IS a cool idea! Does this mean I need my sewing machine saved from being upside down buried deep in the basement somewhere? Gaahh…
Lemme think more on that one. Cool idea. 🙂
Donna
I am, in fact, a grain sack collector (I have over 300). I make purses and tote bags out of mine and can’t wait to see your finished wall! GREAT idea.
http://www.ginnymae.etsy.com
Yes, you will need to use your sewing machine for a quilt. And, Donna, it will NEED to be turned upright while you use it, k? Then when you’re done just toss it down the stairs to the basement and call it good!
LOVE the sacks. I would, if I had any, which I don’t, be using them to carry stuff or for the TP in the bathroom or something fancy like that. Because NOW I THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX in JUST ABOUT EVERY WAY KNOWN TO MAN!
Or, you could use hot glue to get the girls to stay together for your framed display. (Polly might not approve, though!)
ps – nice to have friends like Cathleen!!! What a wonderful gift!!!
~Kolein
they are great! I collect old cloth rice bags, well I dont collect more than I inherited from my grandmother
Oooh, I’m seething with ENVY. On the other hand, I’m very happy for you that you have friends who send you “just because” gifts, so, um… I guess you could call it seething happiness too, huh? Yeah, let’s go with that.
P.S. Dear Cathleen: Wanna be my BFF?
I think a quilt from them would be awesome. What a fun project and I cant wait to see what you d.
Robin
Now that is a good friend to have! I can’t wait to see what you do with your new stack of feed sack treasures! We don’t have any grain sacks where I live either. I scour ebay trying to find the ones I like best for the cheapest prices.
I have a few grain sacks I found on Husband’s family homestead in ND. The family called them ‘old junk’ and I snatched them up. And a friend just brought me back a gift from Guatemala… a coffee burlap sack made into a tote. So cool!
Love the pillows!
Donna, will do them justice….oh, my word, what a gift!! I can’t wait to see what you create! And it is just so perfect for your stairway area!!!!
Gosh I love those! I don’t have any grain sacks but I do have some coffee sacks. I think I’m going to make a wall hanging out of one. My son is keeping his eye out for more cool designs for me. He is roasting part time.
That Cathleen sure is a sweetie! She sent you a really great collection! I had a hard time finding vintage grainsacks in my area, too… that was before I found Etsy… LOVE! There’s a great shop called Grainsacks. She has so much to choose from. I recently ordered some from her shop, but I’m still waiting for them to arrive all the way from Austria no less!
Can’t wait to see the wall display you come up with, Donna! I know it will be GOOD!!
Happy Monday!
~ Jo 🙂
My neighbor has a wall in her kitchen covered in old coffee bean sacks. It looks really cool 🙂
I think a Quilt out of them would be awesome..and then put on a bed…ohhh..that would be awesome!!!
I wish I was as creative as you..we are moving to a new house in january and I want it to be a mix of funk and junk and modern..my head is about to bust! Do you ever come to the Whiterock Area?????
What a great idea and a wonderful friend!! I can’t wait to see what you can find up your sleeve!!! 🙂
I hear a muffled sewing machine weeping.
***************
Seriously, those are adorable sitting on your sofa!!!!!!
What a nice collection and a sweet friend! I can’t wait to see what you end up to do with all your grainsacks 🙂
Why George (I think that’s supposed to be a GW likeness) never looked so good, the pillow is fantastic! WOW and fast, you are like greased lightening.
Patricia: In addition to having a few grain sacks I have a hot line to the North Pole. Is there anything you would like that I can tell the big guy in red?
How wonderful of Cathleen to think of you! I love the grain sacks and can’t wait to see your wall completed.
xo, Sherry
I can’t wait to see these up on the wall! Cathleen needs to see if her family will adopt you. Time to start searching… I mean helping them clean their attics and out buildings. These are gorgeous!
I have a grain sack that I seperated at one seam and hung it so both front and back sides are visible on the wall in my dining room. From what I have learned, it is a pretty rare one as it has light blue diagonal stripes over the entire sack front and back(most are more than one color and were decorated only on the front side)and has the image of two roosters fighting (most grain sacks I’ve seen oddly don’t have pictures of animals on them). I took the no-committment approach and just hung it with those sticky poster hanger tabs made by 3M. It has hung there for over a year with no problems and I like that I could just move it if I want to without damage to the wall. Love your idea of having them cover the wall of your stairwell.I have a similar blank space and haven’t thought of what to do there yet. Once again, you are inspiring me! Can’t wait to see the results!
I have some coffee bean sacks that are totally awesome and I have yet to do anything with them. Pillows? Maybe!! Chair covers? Good idea! Reupholster bench? Could be!! Just so many ideas…don’t know which way I will go. So right now they sit.
Love your grain sack pillows!
Hugs
SueAnn
I would staple them between rows of wood, like your ladder with the photos between that you posted the other day. That way the wood frames each one and you pull them and staple on the back of either logs or barn wood or pallet wood. I wished you lived closed ’cause I would make you the ladder system!
Love the pillow effect…but ohhhhh, that comment about the quilt! Yes that would be amazing!
Place mats would be funky or a table runner…how about an overstuffed chair upholstered in grainsacks. Throw some over a rod for valances? Framed is fun…but adding a touch of grainsack to denim would be divine 🙂
I love the old fonts too. Your old sacks are amazing. What a sweetie she was to give them to you. I found some great horsie ones while I was in Tenn. and they sold right away. On the hunt for more. I love your blog. xo Lynn @thevintagenest
I agree with the idea to just staple them up there on the wall, then later, if you get the urge to make some pillows, you can just yank them down willy nilly and do something else.Just sayin…
I too am green with envy at such a friend who shares such gorgeous grainsacks. Would love to know how to make no-sew pillowcases…????
I had to chuckle with Kolein about using your sewing machine upright and all. Just think of it as another power tool. These are sure right up your alley, my friend. Have fun!
What awesome ideas!! Julie, it’s high time you move on over here I say. 🙂
#32 BAE, I simply stuffed a pillow inside the empty grain sack and folded the top over. Nothing was done permanently. I’m still in experimental mode… but when I figure it all out, I’ll be posting about it, I assure you!
Donna
I’m late to comment here, but I love the pillows! I have a good collection of old feed sacks, coffee bean sacks and most recently burlap potato sacks. I have begun making a potato sack purse (I couldn’t find any purse I wanted to buy!), and found an awesome pattern & idea on etsy. Will update when complete 🙂 Next up will be two HUGE pillows out of the burlap coffee bags! -Tammy