Monday, January 30, 2012

Forever in Blue Jeans (...giveaway...)

I've been wanting to make a denim quilt for years, so I've been slowly saving up our worn out jeans to cut and upcycle.  However, with 2 little boys, while they go through LOTS of jeans, their pants are LITTLE!  Since I was envisioning a rag quilt with 1/2" seams, I need rather large blocks of denim to cut out.

Then, last week, a co-worked gifted me a whole bag of worn out jeans from her husband.  I was so excited that I got started right away this weekend.  I dismantled jeans at my son's basketball game on Saturday (and got some strange looks for it, I might add).  I dismantled jeans while watching shows on Netflix.  I dismantled jeans while singing along with my favorite country music.  I'm surprised I can type today, as my right hand has been working overtime with those scissors!

This is about 1/2 of the cutting I have done.  I still have about 6 pairs of jeans to go.
I am backing the quilt with plaids.  I am making it for my oldest son who fancies himself a skateboarder, and who tells me that old ripped blue jeans and unbuttoned plaid shirts with t-shirts underneath are the unofficial uniform for skateboarders.  This quilt will mirror that "uniform."  I'm thinking of calling it "Skate Dreams."  However, since most of the denim is coming from the pants of my co-worker's husband, whose name is Sandy, I am also playing with the idea of calling it "Sandy Bottoms."

How about a quick giveaway?  Leave a comment with 2 things:  which name do you prefer for the quilt (Skate Dreams, Sandy Bottoms or come up with your own name if you have a creative brainstorm), and tell me which of the following you'd like to add to your stash - juvenile novelty fabric, neutrals, or stripes.  I'll pick a random winner on Friday, February 3 (my goal date for having the top completely pieced), and I'll send the winner 3 Fat Quarters from my stash of whichever type of fabric they said they wanted more of (novelty, neutrals or stripes).  My stash has outgrown my space for it, so it must be time to share.

I don't have a picture of the quilt yet, but how about a photo of what I've been doing with those odd bits left over from cutting that aren't big enough for a rag quilt - denim-backed bookmarks!
Denim and fabric fused together, sewn around the edges and trimmed with pinking shears.
I gave one to my co-worker already, made from her husband's jeans and with pig fabric on front (pigs are her favorite animal).  I've also pulled out some red bandanna fabric - wouldn't that be cool on the other side of the denim bookmark?