The Traveling Levi Quilt Tops

I started making a levi quilt top in the 1970s in San Bernardino, California. I collected levi's from thrift stores, goodwill, salvation army stores, along with some of my own levi's. My plan was to make a reversible quilt for a king sized bed. It took me years of diligent collecting to obtain enough levi's to cut out all the squares for the quilt top. For those of you who are quilters in today's age of quilting, back when I did piecing, every piece was cut out individually using cardboard templates which I also made. There were no plastic templates back then and no rotary cutters either.

As time went by I had enough levi material to piece the levi squares together. My plan for the quilt top was to have a red star in the middle of the levi squares. I found the red material for the center star and bought enough to make the reverse pieced quilt top with the levi star in the middle of the red square top. Finally I had enough material to make both sides of the reversible quilt. I pieced all the levi squares and all the red squares. Then I set about hand quilting the red star for the levi quilt top and then the levi star for the red quilt top. After having put myself through college, I moved up to San Francisco.

I folded the two quilt tops up gingerly and put them in a plastic tote for safe keeping. I had extra red material, extra levi material, four corner mini star accent pieces, and even some uncut levis to safely store in the plastic tote. Eventually I moved to San Pablo in the East Bay in the 1980s and along came the levi quilt tops with me, safely packaged up in the plastic tote. Years went by and I made many hand pieced quilts but the levi quilt sat waiting in the closet for just the right time.

Next thing you know I got married and moved to Foresthill, California in the mid 1980's with my new husband. Along came the levi quilt top and the red quilt top safely packaged in the plastic tote. The plastic tote was stored in a closet once again. Ten years went by and then we were moving once again. We ended up in Malvern, Arkansas. Along came the levi quilt tops, once again stored in the plastic tote in a closet for safe keeping. Below is one of two down pillow covers I designed and pieced and made for my new husband as a wedding gift.  Below you will see the complementary other one I made back then.

Time went by and my brother died unexpectedly and we planned to move back to California to be close to my mom who was devastated, as we all were. We ended up at Cal Expo RV Park in Sacramento, California with the levi quilt safely stored in our moving bus (but that is another story). Eventually we moved up to Shingletown, California in the late 1990s and along with us came the levi quilts safely stored in the plastic tote. We both got jobs and lived there for two or more years. All the while the levi quilts were patiently waiting in the closet for their day to shine.

Then we planned to move to Sequim, Washington. It ended up that was not the place for us. So we moved to Springville, California in the early 2000s. Once again the levi quilts were safely stored in a closet waiting for their future. Next thing with the downturn in the economy we sold our home and moved to Florida in the mid 2000s. Once again the levi quilts were carried safely in the plastic tote to the Sunshine State. The photos you saw above are when I placed the levi quilt tops on our king sized bed to take some photos and finally see what they might look like. Beelow you see the the two  wedding pillows with my two cats napping on the bed. Both boys are long gone to kitty heaven but the down pillows are still alive.

Once again we planned to move from Florida and started searching for a new home. We eventually settled in Blairsville, Georgia in the mid 2000s and once again the levi quilt tops came along safely stored in the plastic tote. Getting on up in years and realizing I probably would never complete the quilts, I called to donate the quilt tops to Quilts of Valour. Unfortunately they had specific parameters for the quilts and the levi quilt didn't quite fit their specifications. I decided to list the quilts on a website to see if someone wanted to finish the traveling levi quilts. Below is some of the extra material I stored safely in the plastic tote. 

Two days ago a woman called and was all excited about the prospect of the levi quilt. She had her own vision of what to do with the levi quilt top to finish it. After talking to the woman for some time I knew she was the person to take the levi quilt to it's eventual fruition. Tomorrow I am meeting her and she will take charge of the levi and red quilt tops. I am sure they will be lovingly taken out of the plastic tote and eventually revealed for what they have always wanted to be. My vision has been held in my mind for 50 some odd years. I am hoping my dream will be realized by another person with a vision of what the traveling levi quilts were meant to be. I cried a little at all the years gone by that I had not finished the quilt but sometimes things happen for a reason unbeknownst to us. Below is a pottery bowl I made years ago with the quilt pattern of cathedral windows. Quilting has been a part of my life.

After meeting the woman who wanted the quilt I now know the quilts needed her. These traveling levi quilt tops were transferred happily to their new owner in 2023. These traveling levi quilt tops have been waiting 53 years for their new home. I think levi material is quite long lasting to say the least. I hope one day to learn that the traveling levi quilts are happy in their new home.