"Starring Monkey Wrenches" - newest upcycled top finished

I decided I simply have too many blues in my upcycled fabrics. I counted 6 boxes of fabrics from shirts and such that were already cut up and thrown into plastic tubs. That's too many and way out of line with the other fabrics I have. I have 2 boxes of reds and 2 of greens and all the other colors - 1 box.  Then I had 6 of blues.

That's crazy.

And time to do something about it.

So, I've decided to keep these boxes "out" until I work them down to 1 of med/dark blues and 1 of light blues.  I've got a problem though. Yesterday when I was looking for something else, I came across some more cut up clothing pieces - end result, my boxes are more full than ever.  Time to get even busier.

This is the top I planned and drew out about 2 years ago. I started it, but then found the Monkey Wrench blocks to be tedious at the time - I had wanted to do other things, I  guess. So I made 4 blocks and put them away. I hadn't forgotten about them, but they were definitely on the "back burner" of projects.

I recently uncovered them and decided that "now is the time" to finish this one.

This is made up of 100% upcycled fabrcis.  There are white shirts I used, and part of a duvet covers/sheet for the whites. The blues include everything I normally use - but mostly men's and ladies' shirts. I think there is a scrub or two represented and the Dr. Who fabric was curtains.

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I've been working on Monkey Wrench blocks for a week or more now - trying to get a minimum of 4 done a day. Of course they were tedious to make, but I knew this was just the look I was going for. And yes, I am quite pleased with the end result of a top.  I'll be happier still when I get it quilted.

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This one is actually quite easy because it is just two blocks - well, three if you count the blue square cornerstones.  The main block and the sashing blocks. Quick? NO, but not hard either.

I tried to keep to using only blue and white fabrics, but I did throw a couple of more blues that had some purple in it as well.  I'll take more pictures of those when the quilt is a finished quilt.

The whites - I tried to stick to white white - and not off white or creamy white. However, I kind of ran out of my whitest upcycled whites. You can kind of tell the difference as you look at the top.  But my motto with these is to "use what I have" - so that's what I did.

The pattern is here.

I hope someone can use it!

Have a wonderful day!


Sometimes you just need solids!  Be sure to check out what my sis has for you!

Becky Petersen7 Comments