Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Keeping Warm

I know that some of you live in climes where you aren't especially concerned with staying warm in mid-January. Unfortunately, our family isn't so lucky! So I decided to share one of the Christmas gifts I gave Tony this year...it's warm, soft and perfect for cuddling under while we watch movies! Plus, it is a way to use jeans with holes in them that may otherwise be thrown away.



I saved all of my family's jeans in a special corner of my craft area, and when I had about 20 assorted pairs, I cut them all into 6 1/2" squares with my rotary cutter. Then, I also cut 6 1/2" squares of a soft, blue flannel. I then put wrong sides together and stitched with jean-colored thread from corner to corner, creating an "x" on each square. Then, place flannel side to flannel side and stitch together 1/4" from edge. When you have completed the body of the quilt, stitch 1/4" all around the outside of the quilt. Then clip all the thicknesses of seams and wash and dry to fray the edges. No finishing, no binding...the perfect quilting project! I loved putting the labels and even entire pockets from my kids' jeans into the quilt. Tony LOVES it.

And for all you hot cocoa lovers, a favorite!

White Chocolate Cocoa Mix

1 tsp. vanilla powder
1 tsp. dried orange zest
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Mix ingredients together well and store in an airtight container or canning jar. To make, heat 1 1/2 cups milk in a saucepan, then blend in 1/4 cup cocoa mix until the chocolate chips melt. It's worth the effort! Makes 2 servings. You CAN substitute French Vanilla Coffee Mate powdered creamer for the vanilla powder, but it is worth a trip to a specialty cooking store to find the vanilla powder.


For more great ideas, check out Scribbit's Winter Bazaar!

11 comments:

Montserrat said...

I've done rag quilts before but never with jeans. I've done jean quilts before but always had to do the binding. My girls like to sew and want quilts for their beds that match their 'horse' theme. We wear Wranglers and our last name starts with a W so this would be the perfect solution!

jennwa said...

The quilt is very cute.
Cocoa , yum yum !!
Thanks for the great ideas.

Anonymous said...

WOW! That is so cute. I am excited to try that recipe for the yeast rolls...there is nothing like homemade. MMM

Love,
Jeni

Ice Cream said...

I LOVE jean quilts and save all our holy jeans for quilt squares. Sadly I have had 4 quilts in the making for the past ten years and have yet to finish one.

The Bennett Bunch said...

Oh wow, that quilt is awesome!! I have boxes of old jeans I saved to do a quilt. I think I will give this one a try.

Kristi said...

When did you find time to whip that one up, Amber? You amaze me!! I was saving jeans for a long time to do a jean quilt- you know how boys are with jeans, but I finally had too many, I caved and gave them to goodwill.

What's your schedule look like next week? We MUST get together!

Ange said...

Very cool... I have a friend who made a picnic blanket out of old jeans and a red "ant" print fabric... also way cute. Great way to recycle old jeans. Miss you guys!

Scribbit said...

I'm with Kristi--I had a friend that did a jean quilt for each of her boys that I thought was so cute I started saving up all the jeans. Then they overcame me before I got to it and ended up giving them all away.

Anonymous said...

We have a favorite jean quilt as well that stays in the camp trailer that gets used lots! I need to pull it out for keeping warm, like today....brrrrr!
LOVE your cocoa recipe.
Chery

ohAmanda said...

What a great idea for a quilt!

Sharlyn said...

Thanks for sharing how you made that quilt. I totally copied you (hope you don't mind) and made my own. It was my first big sewing project so it isn't perfect but it will keep us warm. Thanks for all your great ideas.