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How to make a jean quilt

(Originally posted February 5th, 2021)

I originally had another denim stained glass pattern in mind but, our friend was small so I wouldn’t have been able to cut any 12″ squares (unless I left some leg seams in them which I thought might make the quilt even heavier and not as comfortable to use).

I saw the idea for this quilt on The Flemings Nine blog. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern for it. Stained glass quilts are pretty popular these days so a quick search will give you plenty of free blocks patterns to choose from. Just make sure you look the pattern over before you begin cutting the pieces so you can adapt it to the size pieces you’re able to cut.

Alternately, you can just check out the cutting info below for the quilts I made. I deliberately chose a stained glass design so none of the denim pieces are sewn together. Having that strip of regular black quilting cotton between them made would make the seams less bulky and the quilt more comfortable to use.

These quilts were composed of 48 blocks each and measure 60″ x 80″ finished.

I’m included photos I took as I was constructing the second one along with a breakdown of the size pieces I used.

Press all seams toward the black fabric.

Each block denim:

5″ x 10″
5″ square
5″ x 2 1/2″
(2) 2 1/2″ squares

Each block black:

1″ x 10″
(2) 1″ x 5″
1″ x 2 1/2″

Sashing:

1″ x 10″ between blocks (40 pieces for this quilt) and 1″ x length of finished rows. The blocks should measure 10″. Because several of the jeans I used were stretch denim, I did have to square the blocks up a bit before joining them.

If you’re using women’s jeans which often have a little stretch in them, measure the completed rows and use the average measurement before you cut the sashing strips to sew between the rows.

I used 3 1/2″ binding strips so the outside edge would be the same 1/2″ finish as the rest of the black pieces in the quilt.

Click on the photos to view a larger image.

Begin by sewing black strips to the block pieces but, only sew them on half of the 2 1/2″ squares.

Sew 2 1/2″ squares with the black strip to a 2 1/2″ without the black.

Sew the black edge of the 2 1/2″ x 5″ strip to the squares.

Sew the black edge of the 5″ square to the previous unit.

Add the black edge of the 10″ x 5″ square to the side of the previous unit. Construct all of your blocks with the pieces positioned in the same way.

Next, lay your blocks out in pairs rotating one block 90°. You can see the top block has been rotated one clockwise turn to the right.

Sew a 10″ black strip to the lower edge of the top block. Sew the bottom block to the top unit.

My rows are 6 blocks across (3 pairs of blocks laid end to end).

Add a 10″ black strip between each pair of blocks.

DO NOT add a black strip to the beginning or to the end of each row.
The wide black binding will complete the design.

And they’re done!

(Originally posted February 5, 2021)

The two quilts for the sons of our friend that passed away in November are finished. I’m happy with the way they turned out and so grateful to her best friend for bringing the jeans to me and helping to prepare them to sew into quilts. (Well, one of her best friends… Patti was a best friend to everyone that knew her.)

She loved to repurpose things and find creative uses for them, long before HGTV made it cool. I think she’d have loved seeing her jeans get made into quilts for her boys. ♥

I posted the instructions on how to make this quilt here.

Practice, practice, practice

I’ve been practicing some hand guided quilting… on a white board… too chicken to try it on a live quilt. But, I think I’m ready!

I’m trying one of the design’s from the Pajama Quilter workbook. I have both DVD’s too. I don’t think they are still available anywhere but, if you ever see a used one for sale, grab it!

I’ve had them forever but, I get stuck in the same ole design and afraid intimidated to jump off the twig and see if I can fly. (Of course if you’re following the metaphor, chickens don’t step out on twigs nor do they fly. So, there’s that. lol)

Here’s the design I’m trying.

And, the front of the companion workbook to the DVD.

The 3rd quilt top from the Safe Haven is pretty ugly so I’m not sure if I can make it worse with the quilting. We’ll soon find out. I had 4 large 20″ blocks made that I didn’t want to waste. I added some of the original bird border and an outer border to bring the quilt up to a usable 57″ x 72″ size.

You may wonder why I bother to finish a quilt that I think is, shall we say, not particularly attractive?

It’s because I once had someone ask me “can you try and make some ugly quilts?” She was serious.

I’ve never deliberately set out to make one with that objective so, I ask the lady we were delivering the donated quilts why. She told us that a homeless person, if given a choice, well seek out the ugliest one. It’s less likely to be stolen.

It was something I’ve never forgotten. There’s someone who will love even the ugly quilts. If that’s true, they’re really going to love this one!

Quiet time

(Originally posted December 27th, 2020)

Last night when it was time to sit and relax, I worked on “de-boning” a bag of jeans I was given to make a quilt (hopefully two quilts) for the family of a friend that passed away last month.

This Christmas wasn’t normal for a lot of us trying to socially distance as much as we can. But, looking at a pair of jeans in my lap… jeans once worn by a friend, reminded me how important it is to savor every moment, even the imperfect ones.

I have a lot of projects going on but, these quilts need to be moved up to the top of the list.

Goals

The original post below is from December 21, 2020. Today is August 11, 2025.

I was feeling tired today and disappointed that I’ve once again re-gained the weight I’d lost. I know that’s why my knees hurt and I get tired quickly.

It’s time to get back on the wagon and I hope by seeing how happy I was when I’d reached my Weight Watchers goal this day that I’ll feel motivated to make a few changes.

I reached a big goal today! I’m normal now, at least in size.

I’ve spent most of my adult life hoping, wishing, and making multiple attempts to reach “normal”. I always gave up. Not because it was too hard to eat healthy food or, because tracking what I ate became too tedious. I quit because I got impatient.

I’ve had success in accomplishing goals in the past. Some were easier to achieve than others and many took a lot of work and dedication. None of them, however; challenged my ability to stay motivated like losing weight has.

One of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to overcome is looking in the mirror and not getting discouraged. It’s hard to persevere when the first thing you see every morning is the consequences of your bad choices staring back at you.

While I was working on losing the weight, people would often say “this is a marathon, just be patient”. They were wrong. Not the part about being patient, that’s important, but their analogy was incorrect. Losing weight isn’t a marathon, it’s navigating a maze.

You walk into brick walls, take wrong turns, and have to continue trying to figure out the path that moves you forward. Time and patience alone won’t do it. Staring down that image in the mirror and vowing to keep going (even when you run into that proverbial brick wall) is the only thing that works. Knowing with everything in you that there is no going back to where you began – no matter how familiar that path might feel.