Jeans Quilt Progress

I need to give you a little background....Saturday we were supposed to have Sewing On Saturday at church but the weather was bad so it was cancelled until next month.  But after getting things squared away here Betsy met me at church and helped me pin the backing batting and quilt top together.  After everything was canceled I had just planned to pin it all together on the kitchen floor.  Ha...what was I thinking, this thing is big!  And I am so proud to say that I have yet to spend a penny on this quilt...well, I do owe Betsy some money for buying me some new safety pins.  But nothing else...everything else was given to me!  Oh how I love free stuff!

So I am pinned and ready to quilt.  This puppy is going to take some time to quilt but I am going to love how it feels when it is finished.  That is what I am going to keep telling myself as I sit for hours and tug and pull, push and prod this beast thru the machine.  Maybe a professional massage will be in order when it is complete.

On another note...I found something I think is going to be fun to do with the kids...bags made from old t-shirts.  How cool is this.  I think it would be fun to tie-dye some kid size shirts for the yahoos so they could have their own bag to carry around when we go to the grocery store or take a hike....the ideas are endless.  And it too all of maybe 10 minutes.

Jeans Quilts All Around

I got a wild hair and Betsy went with it.  I love the ladies of Gee's Bend and their quilts.  They are amazing to me.  I know lots of people really don't see the artistry and the uniqueness of them.  I fell in love with them when Cassie and I got to see the display at the Milwaukee Art Museum in WI.  The came to The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center a few years ago and I missed them.

Betsy and I have been joining a group of veteran quilters once a month at Mt Washington Baptist church.  We showed up with our jeans and began cutting.  It amazes us that the same Idea can look so different.  Creative minds at work.

Betsy is able to tell you who wore every pair of jeans that she put into the quilt.  She cracks me up!  To help with her quilt we brought in the master seam presser Donna.  During Donna's downtime she got hooked on Pinterest.

The pics aren't the greatest but you get the idea.  It is hard to take pics outside around one o'clock when you finish the tops.  Yep, we started at 6PM and sewed until 1AM.  Then I couldn't got o sleep because I was trying to work out the back of the quilt and the ideas were screaming thru my brain.  I was under the covers with the flashlight on my phone drawing ideas until 3AM...I know, sick.

 The first part of my jeans quilt measures one yahoo wide and two yahoos long.

borders one and two 

and three...

why not a fourth one?

finally I think it is the last one

what was I thinking...a red one will do nicely

Seriously the last one completed top with working pockets.  Maybe the pockets will hold a remote, a snack, or a tissue or two.  They are actually covering holes in the jean knees.

We are trying to be creative on the backs this time...which is new for us.  I get my inspiration from my friend Jan in CA.  We have to work all the details out this week because we meet again next Saturday.