zyxquilts

Last Christmas time, my great nephew Max, leaned over to me during dinner & asked: "Could you make me a big boy quilt now Auntie?" :D When he was about 8 or 9 I had made him a quillow....and he turned 22 this past August. I was still reeling from what we had spent on the Infamous Wedding Quilt, so first I let him know how much a quilt might cost, then told him that I'd see what I could do. (I am so bad at finishing, I didn't want to get his hopes up that one would be appearing any time soon!) :wink:
Recently, I remembered about the giant bag a friend had given to me - full of her dh's old jeans ~ ah ha! I'll make Max a rag quilt with the jeans!
So...I have begun. I've cut a bunch of squares, but the dh was a skinny guy, so the biggest I could get was 8" squares, but more often only a 6" square. I've managed to get a stack of each size - then decided maybe I should figure out just how many I'll need! I sat down with my graph paper the other day, & this is what I've come up with ~ the center will have 30 of the 8" squares, and the outside will be 42 of the 6" ones. To make them fit together, I'll put some "coping strips", 5" ones on the sides & 4" ones at the top & bottom. This should give me a finished size, using 1/2" seams, of 55" X 60".
I'm attaching a scan of my sketch. It will be all denim blues, I just left the coping strips white & used 2 different colors of blue so I could 'see' it better. I think I'm going to back it with 3 or 4 different flannels.
So, what do you think?

Murphy

I think this is one lucky young man. It is going to be beautiful. What a generous and loving GA you are :-).

Jo M

I like your idea! It sounds & looks relatively easy (ha! like they all do at the beginning). Well, not too complicated anyway so I'll bet you'll turn into a "finisher" on this one. May all your seams run true and straight. :o)

wolfkitty

I very much like your pattern! Show us a picture when finished, please.

thequilterslink

Great idea, he will love his 'big boy" quilt

Ditter43

I think he will love it! Looks like a great layout!! I'll be watching for the finished quilt!! :thumbup: :-D

amma

Looks great! He is going to love his "big boy" quilt :D:D:D

Ramona Byrd

For what it's worth, if you have lots and lots of pretty much the same color/shade/tone, then all you have to do is simply turn half of them over and use the back side for contrast. That's what I usually do when making picnic quilts. And I back it with the same, no batting. Washes well and lasts and lasts. Good for car camping.

Ramona Byrd

For what it's worth, if you have lots and lots of pretty much the same color/shade/tone, then all you have to do is simply turn half of them over and use the back side for contrast. That's what I usually do when making picnic quilts. And I back it with the same, no batting.
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AND forgot to mention that when I know it's going to get a lot of hard use, I sew the seams, then flatten them out and zig zag over those same seams for double security. They never come loose. And I usually use a different color (red) in the bobbin, which winds up being the top of the spread.

Mariposa

Great idea for a "big boy" quilt! Please share pics when you are finished! :)