Earlier this year, a fellow maker, Nicole, gave me 3 gigantic garbage bags full of old jeans. She's into up-cycling old sweaters into new lovely garments. Her sewing room needed more space to store sweaters so... I got a load of jeans. You can find her work at the Sequim Farmers Market on Saturdays (Out On A Whim).

My sister and sister in-law have been making quilts from recycled denim for a long time and I always wanted to give it a try. First I washed all the jeans and then it took four afternoons to cut them apart. This is after I had given a bag to my sister. They are separated now into light, med, dark and gray/black colors. Hard to believe what I started with is going to fit in one large bin after cutting (separate box for pockets). Below is my first project attempt.

The Lady of the Lake block has been on my mind lately so I decided to try it out on a small runner. It's fun using different shades of denim. Batting is the thinnest available pellon fleece. Indigo batik was used for backing and binding. It was also interesting to try quilting this on the longarm. The seams are really bulky as you would expect, but it works. Intrigued enough now to try a small quilt using this block but I think I'll use a piece of flannel as batting or possibly just back it with flannel. Denim quilts can get pretty heavy.

Here are some of my sister's denim quilts. Really fun stuff. She quilts runners on her machine and ties most of the quilts.

This makes such a fun gift. I gave the first one I made to my sister for her birthday. She didn't have a pin cushion. So cute in creamy felted wool. There are a bunch of extra words included in the pattern so you can make cakes for different occasions. This one says Every Day Is Your Birthday. I'm waiting for a small footed cake plate to come in the mail to set this on. To order pattern, click here

Birthday candle pins are from Just Another Button Company's - Just Pins.

Find me on Instagram at robinnelson9304.  I'm working on a pink cake made in cotton and will post it when finished. Hope you make one or many!

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My girl is approx. 36" tall. I made her using the cowgirl applique shape in the Churn Dash Round Up quilt pattern. It's a fun pillow made with scraps.

If you make one, be sure to buy a Big bag of stuffing.

You could use any of the appliques from the quilt pattern to make large or small pillows.

Churn Dash Round Up quilt - Cowboy

Enlarged applique is fun on the back of a quilt too.

Please go take a look at my new pattern up on the Moda Bake Shop called Smile at the Rain.  Fabric is the Rainy Day line from Me and My Sister Design and Moda. It's bright and happy with prints that include umbrellas, fish, stripes... The quilt finishes at 72" x 84", so nice on a twin sized bed. Use the Printer Friendly version button at the end of the MBS post to download and print out instructions.

I've been asked to post the instructions again for this little quilt. Click on the button below to download and print out. It will also be added to the "free patterns" on this website. Have fun!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The little turkey on the platter was made in the 70's.

I am thankful for our home this Thanksgiving. The stockings in the picture below are part of a stocking drive for homeless kids. One of my sons teaches at a middle school and this is an annual project. The kids make stockings and fill them with everyday necessities. They welcome donations so...

I drew a stocking shape and quilted some of the fabrics (Alexander Henry's Snow Fogies - Hilarious snowmen and snow women). Then used Cluck Cluck Sew's stocking tutorial to sew them up. It's a great way to put it all together including the lining, hanger and cuff.

The Snow Fogie fabric made some fun package tags too.

For pkg. tags, use any fabric scraps with motifs big enough to sew around.
Make a little quilt sandwich using denim for backing, cotton batting or Pellon fleece.
The denim backing is fun and helps firm the shape a bit. Scraps from old jeans work great.
Quilt/sew around shape and cut out 1/4" away from seam using pinking shears.
Add a loop of thread at top for hanger or pkg. tie on.

The project on the right is something I work on and put away, work on and put away. The sashing in between the blocks is a geisha pin print. The plan is to make a wider border of the pin print around the piece. Then appliqué some of the flowers and leaves from fabric with the white background. Appliqué and quilting will be done by hand so this will also take some time. I'm using all vintage, hand-dyed, Yukata in this piece. Fabrics are from  Okan Arts A great source for beautiful vintage Japanese cottons!

Hope you have fun with this one! You can make all kinds of things using the appliqués. Size them up or down to suit. More project pictures below the pattern cover. $10 online price for the pattern includes first class mailing and cowboy, cowgirl, horse and star appliqués. It looks good in modern or rustic fabrics and larger prints work too.

Fussy cutting the horse makes it pretty cute!

I enlarged the cowboy shape 150% and made this little stuffed guy.

A little strip quilt was fast and easy to do with leftover jelly roll strips and enlarged horses in opposite corners.

This sweet little mini happened after the pattern was already printed. All I did to make it was cut the measurements in half and reduce the shapes. Really fun for a little girl's room.

OK I won't actually be quilting on National Quilting Day this year. Hopefully you will be and having a great time. Here are some very recent projects. I was lucky enough to get to quilt this beautiful twin sized star quilt. Lory made this one for her six year old granddaughter. It was fun just looking at these great colors. She always does a beautiful job with the piecing.

The pattern for the quilt below is from a 2015 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine supplement. Good Vibrations by Kari Vojtechovsky. I used African themed fabrics for my version and added a border. The napper I have in mind for this one needed a bit more quilt.  And it was fun adding the embroidered elephants. Maybe the pale green would have been better than cream for larger open spaces but... no going back now.

Here is a picture of the car cuddle quilted now. Variegated thread makes it fun.

Barbara's Scrappy Hearts A Flutter in progress. Love the colors she is using.