Some might say I am a fabric hoarder, I like believe there are millions of sewers out there just like me. We buy fabric and then never cut it up waiting for that perfect project to come along. Well, years pass and that fabric that we thought was so great ends up not used and buried in a pile of fabric that you forget you have. And as with anything our styles change and that fabric is not something that we even like anymore. Which brings me to the start of what I called my Ugly Quilt while I was working on it.

The other week I was looking for some fabric for a project, rummaging through all my totes of fabric that I will say loosely is somewhat organized. I realized I had a ton of fabric from 8 to 10 years ago when I and all my friends were going through our Americana decorating period. If it was blue, red, cream or had stars or stripes on it I thought I needed it for a project.  Now not so much, the only thing left from that decorating time are my blue couches and I am not getting new ones as long as my kids still spill stuff on it all the time.

So I needed something that would use up a lot of fabric. I decided that I was going to make a quilt for our camper. Nothing is better than sitting by a bon-fire wrapped up in a quilt, even if it is one that you think is ugly. And just as I was thinking about making an quilt all the sudden I had a large block of time on my hands called the 8 days of hell stomach bug that hit my boys. Mind you I was not really happy about this block of time carved out for me, one was my boys were sick and other was the amount of laundry I had to do.

I did not have a quilt pattern in mind when I started this quilt, my goal was to use up most of the Americana fabric and odd other pieces I had accumulated. I just started cutting 6×6 inch squares and scraps I cut into 1.5 inch strips and sewed them together then cut them down to 6×6 in squares. After cutting all my fabric I use a piece of paper to do a simple layout of the quilt. Then started sewing, I mostly used my vintage Singer Rocketter. I love this machine, nothing sews as nice as a well working vintage machine.

This quilt went together really fast and I have to say by the time that I had it all sewn together, it had really grown on me. It kinda reminds me of something a grandma would make. Very homey.

After I had it all quilted together and washed I really liked it. Maybe it is just the fact that it is a quilt and no matter what it looks like there is just nothing better than being snuggled up in a quilt.

Thank goodness there was enough left over fabric to make a small lap quilt because my youngest son has hijacked the large quilt for his own. So I guess I will put the little quilt in the camper. We can’t wait to start our summer camping adventures.

– Mandy