Hot Wheels! Beep Beep!

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

 It's another cold and snowy morning here, so indoor photos will have to do, I'm sorry to say.  Just another little quilt this week, this time it's the Windmill block, made from Hot Wheels prints.

If you've been to this blog before, you know how I LOVE scraps.  Digging into a new-to-me scrap bag is as exciting as opening a treasure chest.  The scrap bag in question came from a man who had managed a fabric shop and was now retired.  He donated many tops to our quilt guild, plus fabrics and scraps.  

The pieces in this particular bag were cut into 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. rectangles.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as Hot Wheels fabric, but there were lots of them in the bag, in six different prints!  So of course there had to be a Hot Wheels quilt.

Orange novelty prints can be hard to find, so I was really glad to discover these rectangles.  There were also pieces cut from the same print in light blue.  The race car background fabric was one I found in an antique mall.  I didn't quite have enough of it for the whole quilt, so I filled in with other car-related prints.

This one is my favorite.  Dare to be rad! it says.  I wonder how old this fabric is.  I'm not sure kids want to be "rad" anymore lol.

Here's the back, more race cars!  Also from the antique mall.  As you can see, I quilted it in a 2 in. square grid.  The quilt will be donated locally.  I guess it qualifies as using my blue scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, which is blue.  I'm starting to realize I use blue in almost everything.  Does that make it a neutral?

Five blue Sisters Choice blocks for the RSC!  These blocks are 10 in. finished.  I'm planning to make a twin sized top with them at the end of the year.  Maybe I'll even do the math!  At least 10 is easy to work with.

New Project!  These blocks are fun to make, and use up lots of my blue scraps.  The centers are 5 in. squares and the other pieces are cut from 5 in. strips.  No waste!  You cut one way for blocks leaning left and another way for ones leaning right.

The pattern comes from this book, Dessert Roll Quilts, by Pam and Nicky Lintott, and is called Highland Fling.

Last Saturday's quilt show was wonderful!  I took lots of photos of the show quilts, but of course I can't share them here without the makers' permission.  I did have permission to show these antique quilts from the Wisconsin Quilt History Group booth.  Aren't they wonderful?   Notice how one of the small doll quilts seems to be made of orphan blocks.

I spent Saturday afternoon at our quilt guild's booth, talking to people and answering questions. When I volunteer at a booth, I like to bring some handwork to do.  This project was started before I was born.  How do I know that?

This is the template the pieces were cut from, part of a postcard mailed in 1940.  The fabrics back that date up.  This pattern has a lot of names, like Hummingbird and Periwinkle, but the original quilter wrote Snow Ball on a paper template, so that's what I'm calling it.  I think I'll make it into something small, like a table runner.  Or a doll quilt!

We are more than halfway through February!  Can you believe it?  I need to get on with the blocks I'm making for Many Hands and Many Hearts.  Just an easy Split 4 Patch, using novelty prints and solids.  Click HERE for details.

My youngest grandsons weren't here much this week, since their Mom was off work, so no kid photos.  How about one of Lizzy?

She curled up with me this week while I battled a rotten cold.  And of course we shared a quilt!

Have a lovely week, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Of Cats and Quilts and Puzzles and Books

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

If you visited Treadlestitches last year, you might remember all the cat blocks I was making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I got carried away (so not unusual for me)!  It was so much fun to see these made up in all sorts of prints.  This is my third little quilt made from those blocks.

This time the cats alternate with a pieced block, with a multicolored cat print in the center.  The block is called Puss in the Corner, which is completely appropriate.  

Lots of the fabrics in the quilt are multicolored.  Some even feature things cats might like, such as sushi.  (Isn't it amazing how many different prints there are in the world?)

Snicky the cat decided to pose next to the quilt when I was taking pictures.

The blue inner border and the binding are both from my scraps, so they're in keeping with the RSC color of the month.  (Sorry for the dark photos.  It's a dismal day here, and the flash didn't help much.)

The back is this blue plaid.  Can you see the hint of sparkle in it?  It was recycled from a little-used tablecloth from a girl scout camp.

More blue scraps!  All of these hearts were made from pieces cut from my Big Scraps basket.  I seem to have more dark than light blues.

Ice cream cones, dinosaurs, butterflies, Thomas the Tank Engine, Curious George, etc.  The hearts will go into quilts to be donated to kids.  I hope they like these fun fabrics!

A quilter's cat needs to be ready at all times to inspect quilt blocks laid out on the floor.  Lizzy, our little quilter's cat in training, just came across these blocks by accident while chasing Purple Mousie, her favorite toy.  I'm sure she'll refine her technique in time.  

She and Snicky are working out their relationship with lots of running and chasing.  He objects (rightly!) to having his tail attacked.  They still spend some time each day apart.

The quilt blocks are Rail Fence blocks from last year's RSC.  So many blocks, so little time!

Last Friday, hubby and I spent the morning book shopping.  I bought this puzzle at Barnes and Noble, and we worked it right away.  It has two of my favorite things, cats and books.  There are STILL some leftover cat blocks in the RSC bin.  Maybe I could make a quilt like this?  Only simpler?  

Our next stop was Half Price Books, where I found all of these!  Lots of great ideas for future projects.

It's been a busy week, and it's about to get busier.  Today is the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend!  I will spend the morning enjoying the show and the vendors, and the afternoon working at the guild booth.  I hope I can remember to take pictures of the action for next week's blog.

Have a lovely quilty week, everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilters:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Sesame Street and Bowties

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

One last flannel baby quilt got finished this week, and sent on its way.  As you can see, it's a very simple design, just scrappy 4 patches paired with alternate blocks.  Lots of blue in this one, so it fits with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for February.

The alternate blocks are from a Sesame Street print.  Around here we love Sesame Street.  My grandson Buddy's favorite character was "Melmo".  (He couldn't say Elmo at first.)  Later we both loved Cookie Monster and Gonger and their food truck.  I learned a lot about foods, like how cashews are grown.  If the kids were still up for it, I'd still watch!

Lots of colorful flannel scraps ended up here.  I cut the kit up a while back and had it ready to sew.

Just about all of the fabrics in the quilt came from pre-owned fabric sales, including the back (the one with stars) and the binding, which came from the most recent sale a few Saturdays ago.

The deadline for the donations to the Community Baby Shower was the end of January, so I packed all of these quilts up and delivered them on Thursday, after taking one last photo.  Bye bye, quilts!  Make somebody happy and warm!

Now on to tackling the blue scraps in the Big Scraps bushel basket.  I should say that blue has been a favorite color for me all my life, so naturally I have lots of blue fabric.  There were 3 bundles of blue in the basket:  light, medium, and dark.  I'm hoping to consolidate to one bundle by the end of the month.

I started with Bowtie blocks.  They measure 8 in. finished.  I cut 4.5 in. strips from the scraps for the big squares and 2.5 in. strips for the small ones.  I'm also using up some of the light Big Scraps, which is a bonus!

I am so happy to use all these fun prints!  It was hard to stop cutting them.  I want to make some twin sized quilts this year for a local charity that uses them, so I'm making some larger blocks like these.  And lots of them!

 I might have gotten carried away!

This is my "vintage" iron from the 1970s or 1980s.  I bought it at a tag sale last May for $1.00, and I have bragged on it on this blog repeatedly.  This is an iron that gets VERY hot immediately and stays hot, which even improved my piecing.  Sadly, she finally burned herself out this week and had to go to that great appliance dump in the sky.  She will be missed!  I have my back up iron, of course, but it's not the same.  I'll be looking for a replacement.

Little Lizzy aka Queen Elizabeth III is doing well and working on fitting in to our household.  Snicky is still not a big fan, but I think he's coming around.  She is hard to photograph as she's usually running and playing.

I love this picture my younger daughter took of her 3 sons.  The biggest brother lives on his own now, but still stays close to family.  His little brothers adore him.  I adore them all!

Have a good week, everyone!  Happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these awesome quilters and their blogs:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Trip Around the World, New Kitten, and Pink Scraps

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

How are you doing this week?  I find quilting is great for being distracted.  And for keeping warm!

Sorry for the lighting here.  This was the first flannel quilt I cut out in January, now finally finished.  It's a little pink Trip Around the World made to donate to the annual Community Baby Shower.

Here's what it looks like inside the house.  The poly batting makes it very soft and warm.  I know many parents don't put quilts/blankets in cribs anymore, but this one will be good for cuddling or laying baby on the floor to play.

The back is this flannel print, Aunt Grace from Judie Rothermel.  When I first saw it at a sale, I thought it was vintage.  Judie really knows her stuff!

I used up most of my pink flannel prints here.  Giraffes, teddy bears, rainbows, etc.!

Look what happened when I left the room!  I found this guy snuggled under the quilt sleeping.  Easy to tell that Snicky is a fan of flannel quilts.  (Me too!)

Snicky has a new little sister!  In our family, we take turns naming our animals, and this time it was my husband's turn.  So this little fluffy girl is named Queen Elizabeth III.  Yes, really!  I didn't really want to tell the vet's office her government name, since they call it out when it's your turn to see the vet, and I would feel really silly.  We're just going by Lizzy.  She's about 7 weeks old, and got her first shots on Wednesday.

Turns out it's tough to take a picture of a kitten that barely slows down, but these were the best I could do.  Lizzy was found outside, and rescued by a friend of my eldest daughter.  Our daughter looked after her for us until we could come and get her.  Now we're working on socializing her, and getting Snicky to stop being quite so grumpy about it.

We're almost done with pink month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I thought I'd cut up the pink scraps I bought at the big sale.  Above is the "before" picture.

The UFO I bought at the sale had LOTS of these big triangles.  I have no idea what the original quilter was making, and didn't have a definite use for the triangles, so I cut them up like this.  The rectangle was cut into either a 3.5 in. square and small rectangle or a 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. rectangle.

Here's the "after" photo.  All of these are now useful pieces.  The bigger triangles will probably end up being corners on string blocks.

I used some of the smaller triangles to make more of these blocks.  I started making them with the bonus triangles from the heart blocks, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them.

Now I know!  I'm going to make a variation on the traditional Sisters Choice block.  Now with extra scrappiness!

My goal this year is to use up lots of my Big Scraps.  So how did I do this month?

Well, not great.  Here's what's left of the pink bundle.  This might be even MORE than what I started with.  Oh, dear, I hope the whole year doesn't work out like this!

In other news, our youngest grandsons were here all day Monday and Tuesday.  Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. day of course.  Tuesday the schools were cold due to extreme cold.  It was -13 F in the morning, and even colder with the wind chill.  The guys found things to do with ships and castles and such while Snicky "supervised" from the couch.

Little Lizzy even got in the act after they went home.

It's warmed up here now.  We're at a balmy 29 degrees F!  Much better.  Plus it's a beautiful sunny day.  A great day for quilting!  But aren't they all?

Have a lovely week, everyone!

Linking up with these fabulous blogs:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap