Go on over to flekka challenge for more pictures and step-by-step instructions.

Ree was never really planned. It just sort of happened one day when I was trying (unsuccessfully) to sort my thrifted sheet stash. These particular patterns just fell together and I thought they would go lovely with linen. And I think they really do…

As with the flutters quilt, it was sitting unfinished for a few months and I finally got to it in September. And then it sat until two weeks ago when I took these pictures. But I think the pictures do not do it justice. It looks and feels so soft and cozy in person. Something I just cannot see in these pics. The linen gives it that special feel and touch. Maybe the light was not the best. I am not sure.

Initially I thought I would free motion quilt this one all over, but then I changed my mind for two reasons. First – the linen and a few other fabrics were a bit stretchy and that would not be so fun to quilt (and I did not want to try starch for the first time). Second – I thought maybe too many quilting lines would make it busier? So I quilted only the outline of the pieces…

For the backing I used another thrifted sheet, this time a flannel. This one was brand new – otherwise I would not buy a second hand flannel – I’ve seen a few second hand used ones, and they were terrible. But this makes this side a little warmer and cozier. You can see the backing in the pic below on the lower right.

If I had a shabby chick kind of house this would fit perfectly.

It was made almost entirely out of thrifted sheets. The brown/yellow/blue and red stripes were cut from a striped fabric I had in my stash that matched the colors in the butterflies almost perfectly.

I must admit I was in a hurry to finish this quilt, so I ended up quilting only around the “frames”, even though I have recently started gravitating toward more densely quilted work. But I think that it turned out OK.

I didn’t only like the butterflies, I really liked the colors. I am thinking about making another quilt with the same color combo.

For some interest I added those little tiny (1/2 in) squares between the butterfly squares.

I backed it with another thrifted sheet, which also matched the colors – well except the blue. I love how that works with vintage sheets. I used the same sheet for binding. And I just noticed that the colored stripes on the binding are parallel. Not intentional. I love how that works sometimes too.

And arranged one way:

And then another:

Trimming wasn’t planned, but a few squares turned out smaller than the others. Reason? Well, this quilt is made of all repurposed vintage linens which are almost always a blend. In my experience, they do not always like ironing. I do have my iron set to a lower setting, but some squares get warped anyway.

Therefore, this quilt ended up smaller than designed, so I will probably add white border around it. I thought about adding a few more squares, but I have only one more color I have not used, and I did not want to repeat some – I think the way this quilt works is to either use all different colors or repeat all. But it will be a baby/throw size in the end and that’s OK.

I really, really like how this one turned out. 100% recycled material. Well, except the batting. But the top is all recycled sheets, all different prints. Even the solid is from a sheet! Amazing how these all come together. I actually started with a striped sheet, that had the orange solid as an edge, and then tried to find other prints that have the same orange in them. To my surprise, there were more than I could use! It really is amazing how the colors match, from many prints and solids.

I quilted in one direction, along the longer side of pieced rectangles, quite densely. Even though the pillow is a square, the design just does not allow for quilting in both directions.

Very, very happy. I will be doing one more in another color. Or maybe a quilt with the same design. Recently I had some luck with purple sheets. Purple maybe?

Go on over there for details…

Detailed instructions and more pictures here!

More pictures and instructions here.

I will be making many more garments by modifying the basic sloper (or previous patterns) so visit often!