The Labor of Love!

Once upon a time there was a boy named Josh and this boy told me that he'd always wanted a Levi Quilt that was just his size. I loved this boy so I told him, "I could make you a Levi Quilt!" I think this instant response was partly due to the fact that he was being so great to go into the craft store with the girls and me while I was getting cloth and things. It was also convenient that flannel was on sale and we found the perfect Shark cloth -it had his two favorites on it, hammerhead and great whites!

So... then my mom was able to find a TON of giant jeans at the thrift store and she scooped them up for me. The original plan was to do simple squares, my life was going to be easy (well, relatively speaking when working with Levi). 

Well... for my early birthday present my sisters and friends here told me they would help me cut out my pieces for my present. Well, we have a book called "The Quiltmakers Gift" and I'd used it in a primary lesson and had read it to Addisen (it's really a beautiful book - pictures and story) so it was out and about and Josh picked it up right before I left for my sisters. Well in the back of that book there are bunch of quilt patterns and Josh found one he liked that reminded him of the game Q*Bert he played as a kid and asked if I could do that. Well, I did have 3 colors of jeans and I told him I'd ask my more quilting experienced sisters what they thought. 

They said it could be done, so we had to figure out how to make a diamond pattern to cut out and if the pieces would fit together right. That took longer than we thought, but once we got it figured the cutting went pretty fast. (Thank you sisters for having AMAZING scissors we could use- and to your husbands/mother-in-laws for gifting them!) We actually had a TON of fun and laughs because my niece and her friend were able to fit in one of the pair of pants... together! One in each leg. It was great!

Then a little while later, we couldn't find Kimberlee and we started hollaring for her and she came waddling out. She had stuffed pillows and blankets in the pants and a large shirt. We were all laughing so hard! Then she says, "Mom, now I know why you waddle when you're pregnant!" hahah. It was a great birthday present!

We left for my parents house a few days later and so all the sewing was done at my Mom's house. She was a great help once she figured out my digital sewing machine. I sewed 2 1/2 rows all my myself, she is much faster and she did the other 2 1/2. Let me tell you... sewing diamonds is not a lot of fun. TONS of turning, tons of really thick points with Levi, heavy, etc etc, but it did come together pretty quick all things considered.

Also, I am proud to say, we didn't break even ONE needle! We used one Levi needle for the whole thing! We came close to breaking it twice, but it was at the very end when we were binding the edge and between the felt and the Levi points all together and rolled for the edge there was like 8-10 layers in there, but still, no broken needles! Whoot!

Before the final bind we had it set up to quilt and while Josh knew what he was getting for Christmas, he didn't get to see what it looked like all along the way since we kept covering it up when he was around. When we got it ready to tie, it was kind of late, and Addisen was already in bed, but I had a feeling I ought to go and get her, so I did. I told her I wanted to show her daddy's secret quilt had been turned into a living room tent.  From then on, she called it the "Secret Quilt Tent" We had fun playing under it for awhile then she helped pull and push needles through the quilt from the underside for us. Amelia decided to help by climbing on things and causing me heart attacks on the edge of the rocking chair reaching to pull out tacks.

 Since we finished tying the quilt in about an hour and a half, we ended up setting up just a sheet for Addisen to sleep under since she was really sad because she wanted to sleep under the quilt tent. It was cute. =]

So here is the finished product after we got it all tied and bound. It's an optical illusion for sure.I was also able to make iron-on images of the Q*Bert characters that I put on scraps of Levi that went in the pockets we made in two places on the quilt.  I think it turned out great and I'm so glad for all the help I got. I want to thank Deborah, Brenda, Ruby, Katherine, Kimberlee, Maddison, and my littlest helpers Addisen & Amelia!

This was Christmas morning, him seeing it for the first time. He had some larger grand ideas about adding a zipper to make it like a sleeping bag, and he wanted big pockets on it (I got two small back pockets in there) but in the end, I still think he loved it. He uses it, so I hope so ^_^

Once it was done, one of Addisen's first questions was "Mom, when do I get a Levi quilt?" haha, I told her some day, but I won't do diamonds again, squares all the way!