This is how the evening ended

I've decided my denim quilt will be a 9-patch. Sort of. I don't like to plan too much when I make a quilt. But I do like 9-patch blocks because I can strip piece them. I didn't finish cutting all the 3-strips tonight, but I like knowing exactly where I am and what I'll do when I leave a project (because it's usually a few days before I can get back to it). I need to finish cutting all the 3-strips into 3-patches and then assemble and sew the 3-patches into 9-patch blocks. Usually I sew and cut 'til I'm exhausted (because I don't do it enough, I want to do as much as I can while all my stuff is out). I've decided not to do that this year and see if I'm more productive. Perhaps it will be conducive to having more sewing sessions of shorter duration as opposed to infrequent marathons.

So, I'm thinking that since it's blue denim, that maybe I'll add some patriotic fabric that I have leftover from a 4th of July stack-and-whack quilt I made my MIL for her b-day 2 years ago. Some of the fabric is a thickness similar to denim, so it should work nicely. I could make those into 9-patch blocks, too or just blocks the same size as the 9-patch blocks. Best of all, I have a built-in goal date to finish by. Booyah.

To add even more interest, I'm going to use the pockets as there own blocks. I haven't figured out how to do that yet; I left some fabric around the pockets so maybe I can just square them off. Or I can cut off the pockets and stitch them onto another fabric. I'm definitely going to try squaring them off first: less work! There are 4 pockets now, but depending on how many jeans I need/use, there'll be at least 2 more, maybe 4 or 6 more. It will be so fun to plan out the blocks!

I thought for 2 seconds about making the quilt to donate, but the thought of the using a quilt of someone else's jeans made me a bit squeamish (yes, they've been washed!), so I decided to keep this. I am thinking of donating the green scrap quilt though (see earlier blog...I should link but I'm not gonna, sorry). I was originally making it for BonnieBlue, but now that she's decided her favorite color is blue and that she loves horses, I kind of want to do something with that.

The 'squeamish' factor is why I can't go to a thrift shop to pick up more jeans. I have one more pair that is definitely worn out at some seams enough to use for the quilt, but then I'm looking at a couple of pair that are still fine but are just too small. Only one size! I love these jeans, so I hate the thought of cutting them up when I'm just 10-12 pounds away from wearing them again! So, here's an idea. If I'm not into them by the time I'm ready to piece the blocks, and I need more blocks, I'll cut 'em up!