Patching Blue Jeans

Newly patched blue jeans

Time to patch another pair of blue jeans.  I had worn a hole in the knee, but denim is such a durable cloth that the rest of the jeans were still serviceable.  The colorful, log-cabin quilted patch will give new life to these jeans.  This patching project was quick, pleasurable, and satisfying.

Hole on the knee of a pair of blue jeans

Finding fabric for the patch from the scraps of my scraps

Sewing a log-cabin quilt block from the scrappy strips

Big enough

I used adhesive bonding to hold the patch in place.

Then I machine-sewed the patch to the jeans along the outside edge of the block.

Finally, I hand-quilted along the inside seams.

All done. Patched jeans. Ready to wear again.

 

 

My Latest Quilting Project

“Any day spent sewing is a good day.”
— Author unknown

Twilight Village place mats

“Our lives are like quilts — bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love.”
— Author unknown

I finished piecing and hand-quilting another project, two placemats.  The pattern is called “Twilight Village” and I found it in The Thimbleberries Book of Quilts by Lynette Jensen.  The placemats will be a gift for a young couple as they start their married life together.

Detail of house and star blocks

Signed by the quilter!

Goodbye Flannel Sheets

Embroidered pillow cases

Hand-embroidered pillow cases

Pillow cases embroidered by my Great-Aunt Mary

This week I stripped the flannel sheets from the bed and put them into storage until winter … another one of those seasonal changes marking the move to warmer weather.  I replaced them with plain white cotton sheets and these pillow cases that I embroidered in April 2003 and June 2004.  

Embroidered pillow cases remind me of my Great Aunt Mary, our Dad’s “spinster” aunt who made the rounds visiting her nieces and nephews, always with her embroidery projects in tow.  I have one pair of her embroidered pillow cases.  I save them for company.

I love the idea of making ordinary, everyday things more beautiful by adding my own personal mark.  Seeing these embroidered pillow cases again, after being hidden away for six months,  makes me want to hand-stitch some more.  I’ll have to look for plain pillow cases at garage sales this year so that I can move ahead with this project.