1st 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July.  When watching the weather I thought for sure my plans of a picnic and fireworks was doomed.  1st the weather man said 96 degrees which wouldn't have been good for Grant, then it started pouring rain and I figured maybe I should just give it up all together.  In the end the rain stopped and it cooled off to about 70 which was perfect.  I made ham,cheese, lettuce and tomato wraps, pasta salad, mini cheesecakes, watermelon, and cucumbers. It was delicious.  Grant barely watched the fireworks and I guess I should have figured that but either way I'm glad we made his first 4th special. My picnic blanket got lots of use and I'm so happy I made it.  I think the thing I love most about it is it has squares from my jeans, Derrick's, my sister, my mom, and her husband.  It's a perfect keepsake.

Here's how I made it:
I took multiple pairs of jeans and cut 6x6 squares out of them.  I pinned the squares in rows of 11 and ended up with 11 rows.  Make sure to iron your seems so the quilt will lay nice and flat.  I used a flat sheet (since we never use them on our bed) for the backing and used my sewing machine to stitch around the edges.  and ta-da! Your done! 

jeans repurposed into picnic blanket

 I would love to take complete credit for this idea but I actually saw it a long time ago on another blog and logged the idea in the "future crafts section" of my brain.  As I was unpacking clothes that no longer fit myself and my husband I thought I needed to find something to make with them.  I immediately thought of a picnic quilt.  We live near a lake and there is a walking trail that goes around part of it.  I have always wanted to have a picnic there especially since Grant is getting bigger. 

I dug through my stash of jeans and decided there was no real need to keep the size 9 jeans my post pregnant body will never fit in again, and then asked Derrick to dig through his.  I cut them all up and took my scraps as well as my sewing machine to Ohio with me.  I told my mom what my plan was and she gave me a pair of her jeans and 2 pairs of her husbands.

This is what I ended up with, I love the brown squares thrown in from a pair of Derrick's work pants.  I cut out 6x6 squares and randomly sewed them together in rows of 11.  My mom gave me a shower curtain I had intended to use as the backing but it ended up being too small.  So now I'm considering using a flat sheet (because I never actually use them on my bed, they just take up space in my linen closet).  I'm still deciding on whether or not to make it bigger, but I absolutely love it and can't wait to use it.  I'll post the finished product hopefully before Monday.