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I have seen really great rag quilts made with denim squares on the back and the flannel on the front, with no batting between the layers. One quilt even had a few denim stars stitched to some of the flannel blocks about 1/4" away from the raw edge. Made a cute design!

I have made a few denim quilts, but I didn't want just plain squares. My first one was a Kite quilt, using dark and light denims for the kites and mediums for the background. This has been a great picnic quilt. I got the pattern from a "Quiltmaker" magazine March/April '98, and enlarged the patterns. When I taught the "Colorful Kites" class last summer, I cleaned out the company's back issues of that particular magazine. I still have three copies, but the pattern is also included in a book called "Paper Piecing Picnic" which I noticed is still available on Amazon.com.

Then I designed a giant Storm at Sea quilt (24" blocks) to take advantage of all the different shades of denim. I call it a "Tsunami". I even made one with old black jeans and Dockers (khakis) for my son. I'll attach pictures. You can find a slideshow and pattern of this quilt on my website: http://www.quiltscapesquilting.com/slideshows.php

I would recommend that when you cut out your pieces, trim out ALL of the seams. If you like pockets, remove them and re-stitch them on the quilt where you want them, later. I would also recommend using a size 100 needle, and pressing your seams OPEN to reduce the bulk. And I have actually used a little batting such as another layer of flannel to give it a bit of a loft and protect the seams from wearing through. I have machine-quilted several of these on my longarm, and my daughter and I used yarn and pliers to hand-quilt the ties on my Kite quilt.

This is a great way to use up old denims! If you need more, visit your local thrift store, or tell your neighbors and friends you are collecting them. Have fun!