Denim Graduation Quilt

I am quilting ahead so when graduation time rolls around, I won't be stitching at the last minute.

In May, it's high school graduation for an Idaho ranch kid that has grown into a wonderful young man.

I asked a family member what his favorite color was and she told me it was maroon.  When I looked through all my flannel backings, I remembered I had the perfect color!  

I had this large 62x90 piece of maroon flannel.

All I had to do is make the top to fit with enough room to pin on the frame.

I have about 14-15 more quilts left in this pile of denim.

Years ago, I started "deboning" every pair of jeans that came into my studio.  I know there are lots of super cute quilts with pockets, zippers, etc. But I only use the main part of the legs because that's what I can quilt over with my longarm.

This is all I keep because it is all I use.  I trim the leg with my 6.5" ruler, making sure to keep the denim on grain.

You will end up with strips up to 40" depending on the size of the jeans.  Then you can sub cut these into any size you want.  Easy.

I use a standard 1/4" seam and steam press as I sew each row.

 I press all seams open.

I sewed several whole strips end to end and then started cutting them into 58" pieces. (remember, I only had a 62" backing.)  As you go, you get uneven ends and this makes it good if you want a random color pattern. 

You can see where you want to move the strips to spread out the color.  If you sew them all together by twos, then the twos together to make sets of 4 and then the fours together to make a set of 8 strips.  Then you only have to wrangle the biggest bulk of the quilt through your Bernina only once.

This is where I like to use up a lot of my random spools of thread.  I 

I sewed garments for 40 years before I started quilting.  I sewed all through my teen years, made all my hubby's shirts, sewed for my kids, you name it, I had a thread color for it.  So, I am working my way through a ton of spools for my domestic.  I might add that I always do the snap test to make sure each spool of thread is still strong.  One of my blues didn't make the cut and I had to toss it.

I don't buy spools anymore, I really love using cones of thread on my  Bernina.  My hubby made me a thread holder that will work with spools or cones...so I am gradually using up all my collection of spools,  you can see a lot of empty space, right? 

I just happened to have some yellow flannel for the binding.

 Quilt pattern is Square Spiral by Karen Emmerson. 

How fun is that?

Another Quilt to Love

Most of you know I don't take customer quilts anymore.  However, I make an exception once in awhile.

I heard through the family grapevine that this lady's denim quilt top needed rescued after being stored for many years.  She made it while her kiddos were little and something told me this was one of my exceptions.

We sent a few messages back and forth and she chose this piece of flannel backing from my shelf yardage. I had just barely enough yardage to make the backing and the binding (less than a fat quarter is left!)

Since I prefer the backing seam horizontal, I also mounted the top horizontally, only 3/4" from the edge on the top leader....

When I got to the bottom, I had a whopping 1.25 inch left....

There was a plan for this madness!

I needed all the extra on the sides to make the cute crosswise binding!

A topographical meander works well for denim quilts because you can stitch around any heavy seams.

Tomorrow, it will go back to it's forever-home to be loved and used.

  

Patriotic Denim Camp Quilt

One single pair of red denim jeans in my pile...

...what to do, what to do...

I have been wanting to use them for a long time; last week, I cut them into 6 inch blocks and sketched out a pattern on my graph paper.  At 73 x 83, it is a nice size for a picnic or camping.

'

The color pattern was made possible by reversing the bricks to make a consistent light color.  I like the juxtaposition of using old jeans for the quilt, but having a controlled color. The border is made from black jeans.

Here's what the right side of the bricks looked like on the back, it's pretty messy color-wise.

  I quilted it with my trusty "Square Spiral" pattern by Karyn Emmerson.

It works really well on denim blocks.

 I have a whole bolt of this navy with red and white stars, it is used for the binding also.

Once the binding strips are sewn together, I only handle my binding once before I put it on the quilt. The seams get pressed as I press the fold. It drops into a basket on the floor.

Then, this basket goes under my Bernina and the binding goes straight onto the back of the quilt.

I attach it to the back, join it and flip it to the front. Line up the fold exactly on the previous stitching line, move my needle one place to the right and top stitch the entire binding on the front. By moving the needle, you will get a perfect row of stitching on the back also.

If you are interested, a few years ago, I did a binding tutorial here.

Super fast, neat and tidy. 

From this ironing board to this finished quilt took 58 minutes.

As you can see, I didn't make much of a dent in my denim pile...

...and these are all separated pant legs already broken down from the jeans!

Stadium Quilt #3

 Done sewing and quilting for the rest of the year.  I put the binding on this last blanket last night.  Whoot.  Now, I can make caramels.....

Freehand topographical quilting.

Fleece and denim, Hobbs 80/20 batting, Signature cotton thread.

Fleece binding. 

Stadium Quilt #2

Just finished up another stadium blanket: Denim and fleece with fleece binding. 

I made one last month with no batting.  Good thing it was for myself ...it's great to fold and sit on at the hockey games, but I didn't think it was warm enough when we wrapped up in it at the last October soccer game.  They are 60 x 90--perfect for 2 people.

So.

I put batting in this one and used Hobbs 80/20.  I had several good sized chunks of batting and pieced 3 together for this project.  You can easily piece batting.  I posted a tutorial 3 years ago HERE.

How fun is this?

I grabbed some red fleece from the shelf and whipped this binding on in no time.

Tutorial for that is HERE.

Quilted with bright yellow cotton thread.

Pantograph pattern: Sprung, by Willow Leaf Studio.

Stadium Blanket Done!

Just finished putting fleece binding on this blanket.

light weight denim on one side, fleece on the other.

I did a tutorial a few years ago how I apply fleece binding, you can see it here.

Square Spiral pantograph by Keryn Emmerson

Stadium Blanket

Here's my next project on the frame this afternoon.

I am quilting this piece of fleece and lightweight denim for a stadium blanket.

I plan to bind it with fleece also.

Crown Royal Finish

Quilt is finished.  Our friends (the quilt owners) came to spend a few days and it was on their bed when they arrived. Here is it in my spare bedroom over another comforter...that's what is hanging down underneath...

Crown Royal flannel and Denim  109 x 112

It is now at the end of it's journey...at it's forever home. 

Here is a link to the beginning of the Crown Royal/Denim quilt journey: 

Crown Royal Quilt

A few highlights along the way--

Here's where it all started, from bags to blocks.

I alternated the purple blocks with light and dark denim blocks.

I like how the gold braid corners turned out.

To get the light and dark patches, you simply use the wrong side of the denim for the lighter blocks.

I kept the quilting at a minimum so it's actually quite soft and drapes well.  It's more like a comforter. I used Hobbs 80/20 batting, backing is cotton, Sew Fine Thread ( navy).  Just stitched a serpentine like around each block since I couldn't stitch over the braid.

 Simple ditching and wide bead board on the borders. 

I finished the skinny gold border to reflect the way the braid crosses at the corners of the blocks. 

 

I had exactly one bag left and used it to frame the label. 

The backing is pretty fun too!