445 squares

156 hours

55 pairs of jeans

6 broken needles

3 ruined markers

2 spools of thread

2 sisters

1 well-loved square template

. . . . . .

1 amazing journey to a long-awaited dream come true . . .

THE QUILT IS DONE!!!! : D

So, the story behind the story . . . I have been saving jeans since we were married, and soon after Daniel wore through the knees of his first pair, I decided that someday I would make THE JEAN QUILT. So titled because I had this plan . . . Daniel's first pair of jeans had to be big enough to fit around his middle, and rolled up enough to fit his shorter-than-the jeans chubby legs. This made the hole he made land about mid-thigh on an average pair. They looked so funny, and made for such great memories (thanks to my ever-wise neighbor at the time, Janeen!!!), that I thought they'd look great appliqued on a jean quilt. So I have saved the first pair of jeans from each of my kids, and that is what you see in the middle of our masterpiece (I say "our" here because we all know it never would have happened without my darling sister's enless patience and help--I love you, Tiffy!). Daniel's are the top right, Livia's are the bottom right, Micah's are the bottom left, and Sophia's are the top left (with the ruffled edge). This is where I have been all summer . . . hunkered down over a pair of jeans . . . or many pairs, as it has turned out. : )

This is the top of the quilt, finally finished. It's upside down, so Daniel's and Sophia's jeans are at the bottom, and Livia's and Micah's are at the top. You really can't get an idea of how big it is (king size), which is why I took the next picture of the finished product . . .

The fact that I can fit all four kids on there, with room to spare, should give you an idea of how gianormous this is!!! (it's VERY heavy too!) They are each laying by their jeans--it's so cute how excited they get to see part of their history here--makes it all worthwhile. : )