Sewing Through the Summer

My first project goal for the summer was to finish a denim quilt.

195 Circles from used jeans
195 Squares from scrap fabrics
2 spools of thread

It turned out brighter and better than I expected! Now, I'm not so sure that I want it to be for football games and camping. I'm considering it for display only.

I love the swirly look on the back and the diamonds, flower petals and circles that can be found on the front. I love reminiscing as each scrap fabric swatch brings back memories of projects past.

Charlie also loves it. He would not get off of it as I was clipping each of the rag-time petals and each time I walked away from it he would bunch it all together and curl up in it.

My next denim quilt was similar to the first but consisted of octagons instead of circles.  I found a curtain at a garage sale in Utah and used that as my colored fabric, carefully numbering each square to maintain the pattern once sewn in.

165 Octagons
165 Squares
2 spools of blue thread
2 spools of white thread

Using octagons created a star look rather than the flower petal look.  Also, instead of using a straight stitch and clipping each petal to make a rag quilt, I used a zig zag stitch to complete each side of the stars.

I started this quilt with gusto but quickly lost interest because I was spending so much time hiding in my basement sewing when I should have been outside enjoying the summer sun.  So, I put it away until the first week of August when I would be spending a week at Kellie's house watching her girls. The project filled the quiet evenings after kids were in bed and I was so close to finishing when all of the sudden, I ran out of thread.

My 4th spool of thread!! I knew it was crazy and I needed to get kids to bed but I loaded up five little ones and braved Saturday Utah traffic to the nearest Walmart (20 minutes away) to get thread so that I could finish.

I entered both of my quilts in the Madison County Fair and received blue ribbons for each. I had not entered anything in the fair since I was a pre-teen in Jr. High so I felt a little silly but it was rewarding to look up at them on display for others to enjoy their unique beauty.

As I gathered my quilts to take to the fair I also decided last minute to enter a couple of my holiday runners.  They also received blue ribbons.

The pre-teen in me was very satisfied with the work I had put into each project and the ribbons for my scrapbook. I imagine Great Grandma Laws smiling in approval.