towel patchwork

This project was fun, fun, fun! It went so fast. About one hour to cut all the pieces, another hour and a   half or so to design the rows and stitch them up and lastly about an hour to stitch the rows together. All done over the course of 2 nights and one morning. I think I enjoyed this project so much because I just dove right in--no rules, no precise measuring, no one else to please except myself and I'm easy :)

Of course I was eager to put it to use right away, along with my little shadow there digging in the sand. The size is not very big, perfect for 2 people to lay down on or about 3 for sitting. All seams were zig-zagged along with the outside edge. I added the lace hem tape because I have ton and I thought it was time to start tapping into the bounty (it all came from thrift stores).

I started collecting the towels several months ago during my thrift shop outings. Vintage towels are small, not like the giant things you can get today, so this blanket took 4 towels plus one large-ish hand towel that had the pretty pink flowers and butterflies. I cut out as many 10 x 10 squares as I could get from each towel and fitted the left overs in to fill out the rows and to use as much of the towels as possible. I really like the look of the mis-matched seams and different sized shapes. Something about the randomness of it makes it very appealing to me. Once all the rows were sewn together all that was needed was to square up one edge and add the hem tape.

Reasons to love a project like this:
*fast and easy---just jump in and don't think too much :)
*if you get your towels second hand, you are recycling and re-purposing! that is always good. cheap too.
*this doubles as a blanket for sitting and as a towel for drying off with! dual function is always good. It's also a lot cuter then the plain ol' towel I usually bring to the beach.
*towels hold up to lots of use and are easy to clean.

I hope this has inspired you!