The Big Reveal

As promised in my last post, I’m revealing the super secret project that I’ve been working on for a while now.

Yesterday was Lauren’s bridal shower in Alpine and I gave her a jeans quilt!  It’s meant to be a picnic blanket and for outdoor concerts and is something I’ve dreamed of doing for the boys when they married.  To that end I’ve saved all our jeans since the boys were teenagers and have accumulated a large supply.  Fortuitously, a few months ago Mark was getting rid of some torn jeans and I reminded him that we save jeans here.  Lauren overheard and asked why, so I just said I was making some jeans quilts.  She said she had a couple pairs that she was going to toss and would I like them instead?  With great self-control, I merely replied that would be great.  Inside I was jumping up and down because I hadn’t figured out a way to get some from her without spilling the reason.  So….awesome, it has jeans from all FIVE of us in it!

Now to the details.  The quilt is king-size and made of 9-patch squares comprised of 3″ squares cut from old jeans.  Each 9-patch has a light blue center that all match, surrounded by eight squares that all match each other.  I joined the  squares in a scrappy manner so that the light and dark squares are all mixed up.  The backing is cotton duck and the pattern is a musical theme with instruments in homage to Mark and Lauren who are both music majors.

It’s tied with a variegated tan yarn with blue and brown accents and the ties are in the center and each corner of the 9-patch squares.  It’s bound by pulling the backing to the front and machine-sewing the binding through all layers.

I’m pretty proud of how it turned out and love the way it looks.  Hopefully it lasts the happy couple for 50 years or more.