The Denim Quilt

I have always liked quilts. Probably because of Mom, who introduced me to them because she has always loved quilts.
When I was seven Mom and my (then teen-age,) older sister went to a series of quilting classes that were being offered in our little town. They met some really sweet ladies there, who became friends long after the classes were over.
So every week they would come home with a new quilting style to make into a block. I remember watching my sister ironing painstakingly as she turned the edges under on an applique. I think it was a star pattern, but the fabrics were autumn colors, with leaves on them. It made me think that the applique was more of a odd shaped leaf itself, in the fall.
I wanted to do some too, so Mom set me up with a nine-patch. Mom gave me my choice of fabrics and I cut them into squares. Then I sewed them together.
I wasn't allowed to use the machine, Mom was extra careful about that since having her eldest run the needle through her fingernail. So I was kept to hand-stitching. I remember working on them curled up on the couch. By the time I was finished with the block I was tired of the idea. One was all there was to be!
Mom has always been the saver type, from buttons off of worn out clothes to the un-worn portions of denim skirts, jumpers and jeans. All these pieces of denim gathered into an apple-box, and were intended to be used someday.
When we moved here all the boxes and crates of saved things came with us, and by the time the whole move was over Mom's patience with all the 'stuff' was wearing thin. So, she threatened to throw out the box of denim.
I was shocked. We'd been collecting those pieces for a long time, and to think of throwing it all away was horrifying.
"What if we made it into something?" I asked. Mom said that would be fine, but she had too many other things going on to take the time.
So Abi and I resolved to make it into a quilt for our tall father, who has trouble with blankets not being long enough for him. We figured that even if it didn't turn out very pretty, (as this was our first try,) he wouldn't complain.
We sorted out the denim by size, and then brain-stormed up a plan. It would be a bit of a crazy quilt, since a few of our pieces would only lend themselves to that, and besides Dad likes crazy quilts. The middle we patterned with a grid like look, nine-patch and four-patch, with a nearly solid block for each corner. We put the crazy pieces along the sides.
We used an old blanket as batting, and backed it with a gray plaid flannel.
We made it to measure six feet by nine, with six blocks down and four across. This way our blocks would be taking full advantage of the size of pieces that we had, and we would not be doing too much time consuming piecing per inch.
It still took a lot of time, and getting it completely together was the hardest part. I did the final quilting just on the Singer, and had a little trouble with running into wrinkles no matter how carefully I smoothed and pinned it. Luckily, just like we figured, Dad didn't mind.
We had kept it sort of as a surprise, and gave it to him in the spring. Even though he had often walked right through when we had everything piled on the dining table, (and were trying to be careful,) he was surprised, (not being the really observant type!)
It has been on his bed ever since.

So this is how it ended up. I like the sturdy way it turned out and will probably do it again when I get the chance. But it does take a long while to save up that much denim!