Recycled jean quilt top FINISHED!

Here we are in the new year and I have finished a project!!!  Yay!  However, I had this thing sitting around all summer waiting for only two more rows to be sewn on!  I am so thrilled to finally have the top finished!  This is going to be our massive picnic quilt!!!  It is 80" x 80".  Yeah, it's big!

I have hoarded our family's old jeans for years and now we have this to show for it!  As you can see, I included pockets and seams and a lot of sites said not to use stretchy jeans which I used, too!  Hello, it's recycling at it's finest.  Now, let me say that sewing denim is not the easiest material to work with.  I used the strongest, thickest needles I could use for my machine and I used upholstery thread to make sure the seams were nice and strong.  I didn't break any needles, but I had to help the machine along in a few places.  I had considered felting all the edges, but when I saw how much work was required per square I just went with simple blocks.  This project was too big to felt for the time I wanted to invest in it.  There are six of us in the family and I used jeans from all of us. It's so rewarding to see something so utilitarian repurposed for an even happier and more utilitarian use.

 Here's a picture of the center (sorry about the color...I just took this and had to use the flash...it's dark and my lighting is poor).  The girls always have pairs of jeans with fancy designs on them (can you say hand-me-downs).  I used a pair to make a nice design for the center of the quilt.



As I said, all the jeans we already had.  I bought brand new denim backing for a steal at Walmart when they were getting rid of all their fabrics.  The only thing I spent a good deal of money on was the batting.  With a 40% off coupon, I paid $18.00 for such a big piece of batting.  Because of that, I will be using this quilt indoors during the winter for us on our couches as we watch movies.  I really love how it turned out and now I've got to figure out how I'm going to "quilt" this monster.  I had considered buttons.  I don't like tied quilts.  I may just pick a number of squares that don't have massive seams to quilt so that this thing will stay together.  Any suggestions???  I will post another picture when all is said and done.  That won't be for awhile because my daughter is working on a fine arts project and using my sewing machine.  I will have to wait.  Until then, I hope your projects are coming together and you're finishing old ones or starting new ones!!!  I would love to hear about your projects, with denim or otherwise!  Happy quilting and happy recycling!