Chambray and Denim Flying Geese Quilt

Happy Thursday! I'm excited to share a new quilt finish with you all today! This was the first big quilt that I started and finished this year.


One of my goals for 2019 was to make a quilt from my stash of denim and chambray fabrics. I wasn't sure exactly what kind of quilt I wanted to make, but decided early in the year that I'd make the quilt for Michael. I made him a quilt a few years ago (The Sports Fan Quilt), but it's too small for him to sleep under. So I knew this quilt needed to be plenty big and I also wanted it to have wool batting for extra warmth.

I've collected a pretty sizeable stash of these fabrics over the years, mostly from Robert Kaufman's House of Denim, and a few random thrifted pieces too. I originally thought these would all be used for garments, so most of the fabrics I had a yard and a half or more. I was able to make the entire quilt top, backing, and binding from my stash.


I decided to make this quilt for Michael about two weeks before his birthday, so I wanted to choose a pretty simple design. Some of these fabrics are also pretty stretchy and there are a lot of variety of weights and textures, so a simple design would also be easier to execute. I sketched up a few different ideas and landed on flying geese blocks.


The blocks finish at 5"x10" and I made 119 blocks for a quilt that finished 70"x85". All of my fabrics were prewashed (since they were going to be clothes originally!).


I thought I would try to finish the entire quilt and have it ready to give Michael on his birthday, but quickly realized I didn't want to quilt this myself. All the different fabrics were a bit difficult to work with and it was big! Plus, I didn't have any wool batting on hand and I was set on using that. So, I gave him a preview of the finished top instead.

I sent it off to Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting for the quilting. Michael chose a simple stipple for the quilting design and I think it fits the quilt really well. Also, I couldn't believe how flat and square the quilt came back. It would have been a mess of puckers if I had tried to quilt it!


The backing and binding is more of the same fabrics. This quilt took a huge chunk of my denim stash which is great! I love how the texture and weight turned out with these fabrics paired with wool batting. It's soft, fluffy, warm, cozy. And most importantly Michael loves it and has slept under it every night since I finished it last month. That's a win in my book!

Happy Quilting!