Sometimes I'm Not Inspired...Just Cold

Old blue jean quilts from the early 80's. 

I keep these in our camper now.

They had to get a good washing because they were sticky from S'Mores.

So since they were out on the line I thought I would tell you about them.

They are over 30 years old and still in use. 

In 1979 we moved back to Iowa from Florida. We had two kids then and our first winter back in Iowa we didn't have many blankets (or winter coats or boots).  And we didn't have much money to buy any.  I did have a lot of old blue jeans so I made a couple of twin sized quilts for the kid's beds.   This one I used the longer strips from the legs and just sewed them into long strips and then sewed  them to an old sheet using the sew and flip method.  I didn't have enough money for batting but these quilts ended up heavy and warm. 

The other one was just large patches sewn together and then sewn to an old sheet with a sort of stitch in the ditch approach. 

I actually used some wide purchased seam binding from the thrift store and zigzagged it on.. 

This one just has regular seam binding - not wide - and it is starting to fray.  I guess my love of polka dots goes way back. 

You can see on the quilt with four patches that I didn't even sew it all around in the ditch but just around the middle four by six patches.   On the strippie one I stenciled some rocking horses. I was practicing for stenciling on our stairs. 

After all these years those old sheets have held up just fine as a quilt backing.  And that is why I still use sheets now and then as backings. 

Somewhere along the line I started taking the quilts camping....first tent camping and then in our pop-up camper and now in our fancy new RV.  One year we were camping a strong wind (almost tornado force winds) tore out the sides of our pop-up camper in the middle of the night and we quickly packed up what we could and left the campground.  A year later I could not find the quilts and thought I had left them at the campground or that someone had taken them.  Turns out my brother-in-law, camping in a nice RV, picked them up after we left as well as some of our other things but just never told us about it for a couple of years. 

Family Reunion Camping 2016

It seems at the family reunion camp outs there are always lots of kids (my husband has seven brothers and sisters who each have between 2 and 5 kids who each have between 0 and 3 kids) but never enough chairs around the camp fire so I always put out the blue jean quilts for extra kid seating.  Here is only a small group of the kids playing hand clapping games while waiting for time to roast marshmallows.   No, I'm not pictured.  But I did have a S'More.  It tasted as nasty as I remembered. I say that every year after I try just one. 

Ad Hoc Improv Quilting with Kaja and Ann

Looking Back...Are You Ready for a Good Laugh?

I really don't consider myself any type of quilter - Improv, Modern, Traditional, Crazy, Lazy, Wonky...that's me. (Notice the title of my blog is Sane, Crazy, Crumby?)   I'm all over the place. 

But, I guess in the beginning I was what would today be considered Improv. 

I made this blue jean quilt in 1992 out of the family's old blue (and other colored) jeans. I followed no pattern - just followed a whim. 

How do I know it was 1992? Because I embroidered it on this quilt. 

I wanted to practice some embroidery stitches on I didn't know what.  Worn out blue jeans were handy. 

For years we took it camping. That's back before we had the pop up camper and went tent camping. We sat on this quilt around many a campfire and I probably washed many smore's off of it. Kids would sit on it during the day and play card games. If it was cold we would cover up with it at night.  Or we would put it under our sleeping bags to keep the dew off of us.  I  have two other twin sized denim quilts out in the pop up camper we still use when we go camping.  Before camping they were bedspreads on the boy's bunk beds.  The camper is closed up for the winter or I would have gotten those out too.  

I tied the quilt with several strands of embroidery thread.  It has held up well but is now falling apart. It retired to the quilt rack hanging on the wall in the spare bedroom.  I don't know why. It was a learning experience and it is full of memories.   (By the way...I learned that it's not really easy to practice embroidery stitches on blue jean seams).  

Oh, and the back was a big piece of soft plaid flannel.  (Sorry for the blurry photo...it's windy and cold out there.) 

Ok, now let's go back in our time machine to the 70s. You can see the small  denim quilt next to the queen sized quilt made out of left over fabrics from back when I made clothes for the family.  I must have been ahead of my time. It sure looks like what today is called a jelly roll quilt.  (I really don't like jelly roll quilts if the truth be known). 

This quilt is from about 1977 and we lived in Florida then. I made this as our family beach quilt.  Four of us, ice chests, strollers, diaper bags, beach toys,  towels and other stuff fit nicely on the quilt. 

Mickey Mouse fabric was from one of the shirts I made my husband. I was going to go looking for pics of him in that shirt for proof but was too lazy to go through old photos. 

That flowery print was what I used to recover a chair I bought at auction.  Hey, it was the 70s! Anyway, it was a small chair and the fabric was probably too light weight but it is a little heavier than regular cotton and I'm sure it was a good price because we weren't exactly rolling in the dough back then. 

I estimated this as vintage 1977 because I see some little girl fabrics in the quilt and my daughter had some little dresses and sun suits made from some of the fabrics in this quilt.  (Actually this really isn't truly a quilt by the strictest definition of quilt but as far as I'm concerned it's a quilt) . We moved back to IA in 1979 and used this quilt for a couple of years at the beach so 1977 it is.  Again I have some pics of my daughter in clothes made from some of these fabrics.  And strangely enough...that brown calico sure looks like some fabric I just picked up for about $3 yd on clearance. 

To make this I cut (with good old fashioned scissors) the scraps into what looks like about 2.5 inch strips I had marked with pencil and ruler. I sewed those strips together (by color I guess. Wasn't that fancy?)  into long strips and sewed them to an old sheet using the sew a strip, flip, sew a strip, flip method to attach to the sheet.  I don't remember where I got that green plaid I used for binding...maybe from my step mom? 

I actually didn't pay any attention to what types of fabric I used...there's different weights and types; seersuckers and gauzy and some cotton/rayon blends. 

The old sheet I used on the back is yellowing now.  You can see it was old to begin with. I put a few "band aids" on the holes that were in the sheet and I didn't even bother to cut off the doubled over fabric of the sheet.  Remember, I wanted a quilt to spread out on the sandy beach. 

Ok. Here's the part where I show you this was actually made from scraps left over from clothes I made.  See that purple strip there?  And below it, on top of the quilt you can see...

...the shirt I made (and actually wore) with that fabric.  Go ahead and laugh. Yes, I still have it. I have a lot of the cotton shirts I made stored in a box to cut up and use someday in something. I used to cut them down and make things for my daughter until she grew up.  I think that shirt has shrunk about three sizes (or is it just me)?

Yes, I'm a hoarder. An improv hoarder.  

Do you have an improv story? 

Link up with  Ann at Fret Not Yourself or Kaja at Sew Slowly and tell your story.