A Longhorn Luncheon

Project Quilting is a fantastically fun every other week challenge I am participating in.  It allows me to grow in my quilting skills as well as creative and artistic skills as I crank out a quilting project in one week's time.  This week's challenge is called "Upcycled".  The product must be made entirely of things that have had a previous life as something else, and two of these items must be things never intended for a quilt or clothing.  While it does not have to be a traditional quilt, it must include at least one of the following: patchwork, applique, or 3 layers stitched together by hand or machine.  (I didn't read the directions closely enough with the first challenge, and actually made sure I met ALL those requirements.  Hah!) 

Since we have moved twice in the last two years, we don't have a lot of extra things laying around waiting for the donation truck.  We did, however, inherit lots of curtains with this house.  Most of them we love, but a few we took down.  Some of those just happened to be burnt orange!  Now what is a University of Texas grad to do with burnt orange curtains!  This was very exciting.  There were also some white curtains.  Perfect!

I decided a tablecloth for our outdoor table would be both practical and fun.  I used a curtain on top as well as on the bottom because I wanted some extra weight.  The white cotton curtains were used to make four Longhorns to applique.  This project let me really get comfortable with applique, which was way more fun than I thought it would be.  I expected the polyester curtains (with lining, again wanted to maintain some weight) to be a challenge to applique onto, so I pinned the lining in place before hand. 

Perhaps my favorite thing about quilting is seeing the secondary design come to light as the blocks are put together.  So when my mom suggested putting four longhorns together, I knew that is what I HAD to do!

Now the only thing worse than bees joining you for lunch has got to be when your tablecloth blows away.  Enter my two items never meant for clothing or quilts (the curtains really weren't either, but these fall into the non-fabric category nicely).  By taking some ribbon that previously wrapped some fat quarters and four washers, I created a system to anchor the tablecloth to the table. 

Isn't that nifty?!  I've wanted to make a tablecloth that anchors down, but I don't know if I would have ever actually done it without this project! 

Ta-Da!  Now who wants some BBQ?