"Hawaiian Dreams" - upcycled blues top #33 finished

I was able to get number 33 of my upcycled blues series finished. I had planned on a Hawaiian quilt ever since I started since I had several of these shirts in the collection - and they were mostly blue or at least blue was a main part of the scheme.

So here it is. There are so many colors involved in this quilt it is hard for me to realize it is part of this series, but it is.

All of the fabrics are upcycled.

I had a different plan for the border but I would have needed more light blue and I didn’t have enough, so I changed my original plan and made it into a plain piano key border. And I’m okay with that.

Here are some of the piano key border pieces.

Then, guess what I found just before lunch as I was working on consolidating everything into buckets? If you said, “One more light blue shirt” you would have been right! Yes, I did.

But it was too late by this time. I already had the quilt top finished and photographed even.

I am very drawn to these kinds of prints because of my FL upbringing. Plus, I was born in FL - I didn’t just live there part of my life. Did you realize that? These gorgeous over-the-top flowers are common down there - Hibiscus is probably my favorite flower, though I’d be actually hard pressed to choose a favorite. I just love their luscious colors and BIGness - you can see them so easily from afar.

One summer many years ago (the summer I turned 21), I went on a mission team to Guam - that’s an island in the South Pacific - where we had Bible clubs and helped out in a church there. I thoroughly enjoyed it. These pictures make me think of that place/those memories.

I’ve also been fortunate enough to take some trips to Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Crete (Greece) and Spain where these types of flowers grow and grow. They’ve been good memories, so of course, I love things that remind me of them!

I chose a variety of prints, but blue was the common theme here since this is for my upcycled blues series.. These were all from shirts that had been upcycled. I have to say that I did buy most of these shirts in FL thrift shops, though, and not here in Poland. However the ombre blue used in the sashing was an IKEA duvet cover. All those solids used for the borders were various duvet covers, curtains, etc. The green was a shirt.

I’ve put the picture on the upcycled blues series page. It’s here!

The pattern is up on the free patterns page now.

And now you know…this is what I’ve been doing! Have a great day!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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