Memories for Memorial Day

This past Monday was Memorial Day, a holiday designed for remembering our soldiers, especially the ones who are no longer with us.  This was the push I needed to finish this top.  I did the last of the sewing on Monday, thinking about the soldiers in my family. 

I started the quilt back in March with a pattern from a book I found on the free table at a quilt group meeting.  This is the simple block for this quilt.

Here's what happens when you set the blocks side by side.  Red, white, and blue stars, woven together like the fabric of our country.  The country my grandfather fought for in World War II.

Sections like the one shown above make up the inner border, and carry the design out beyond the blocks.  It was a challenge getting these going right, but I ripped til I got it.  (That's what we have to do, right?)

When this top is quilted, it will go to a Veteran's Home, to be used on the veteran's bed.  When he or she passes away, the family will get to keep the quilt.

My mother's father spent his last years in what used to be called the Indiana Old Soldiers' Home.  He died and was buried there.  I know from family letters that he was glad to be there, even before he became ill.  He was a soldier in World War II.
Mom remembers being at the movies on Sunday, December 7, 1941.  The movie was suddenly stopped, and a man came out to announce the attack on Pearl Harbor.  On their way home, my mother's parents talked about how my grandfather would eventually have to join the army.  He was 31 years old, with a wife and two children.  Nearly two years later, in 1943, my grandfather enlisted.

No less patriotic, my grandmother worked in a shipyard, where the landing craft used in the D-Day invasion was made.  My grandfather's sister looked after the children while she worked.  Mom remembers everyone working together, and celebrating joyously when the war was finally won.

I like to think of my quilt as a very small thank you to a veteran from a grateful country, for whatever service he or she gave, in honor of the soldiers in my family.

My dog Bella had to help me take this photo.  She's great for moral support, but can't sew a stitch.

In other news, I've been to two flea markets in the past two weeks, but didn't buy any fabric!  Here's what I bought instead.

Braided chair pads for my ladder back chairs.  They are kind of old and worn, but I love them.

And a rag rug for just inside the front door.
Hmm...all of these things are made from fabric scraps!  Could this be why I like them?
I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, and are enjoying the lovely summertime.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Busy Hands Quilts.
Also linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts for her last link up of the summer.  We'll miss you, Amanda Jean, but we know you need time with your family.

Dinosaurs Times Two

Roar, roar, dinosaurs!  These two dinosaur quilts will be on their way tomorrow morning to Little Lambs Foundation.  I'm getting the box and the label ready today so it will be quick to do in the morning.
Dinosaur child-sized quilt #1:

Here's a close-up.  Check out the snazzy green binding.  And of course the spaceships.  Hey, creative anachronism.  I originally made this quilt for a different charity, but had trouble contacting them, so it goes with its "sister" quilt to Little Lambs.

The back is a great dino print:

Now for dinosaur quilt #2:

Tilted dinosaur squares.  Blue binding this time.

I had just enough of the light dino print for the back of both little quilts.

Here's hoping these quilts will be fun as well as comforting for kids in a tough situation.  My heart breaks for kids going into foster care, not knowing if things will ever be normal again.  The Little Lambs foundation is doing good work and I am honored to contribute in even a small way.

Thanks so much to Sarah for starting Hands2Help, and keeping it going year after year.
To see all the quilts made this year, go to Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  People will be linking quilts all week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Tales of a Fabric Scavenger

Spring is a wonderful time of year anywhere.  It's especially great here, because it's quilt show season.  I wait all year for this show, put on by the It's A Stitch Quilt Guild just about two weeks ago.  (BTW, all photos were taken by permission.)
It's not just the friendly faces or the amazing quilts or the variety of vendors that draw me, either.

I admit it, I'm a fabric scavenger!  I look for second hand fabric everywhere, and this is one of my favorite places.
Take a look at this!  This section of the quilt show is called Granny's Attic.  Laid out on all the tables are items donated by guild members.  Most of this stuff is fabric!  The prices are good, averaging about $3 to $4 per yard this year.  The money raised goes to local food pantries.

Here's my pile of loot after I got home.
I love scavenging for fabric.  I make lots of charity quilts, and the less the fabric costs, the more quilts I can make for needy kids and adults.
Plus it's just plain fun to search through piles of fabric.  It's like a treasure hunt!
Are you a fabric scavenger, too?  (I know this is not everybody's cup of tea.)

Before I went, I made a list of what I was looking for.  I am so easily distracted by fabric, I need some sort of guidelines.  This time I was looking for:  a) backing for kid quilts (check out the 4 yards of baseball flannel on the bottom); b) blue fabrics for borders and binding; c) other prints for borders and/or alternate blocks; d) light fabrics (always)
and...

novelty prints, my favorites!
When I come home from a scavenging expedition, the big pieces of fabric go right into the wash, and the smaller ones go to the sewing room to be trimmed and tamed.
This time, one of my items was a UFO.  I didn't wait to take a photo of it, I just opened up the plastic bag and started sewing.

This was the pattern in the package, the popular Take 5 quilt.  Most of the pieces were cut, but quite a few were cut wrong (not square), so I wondered if the person who had this first was maybe new to quilting.  There was enough fabric in the bag to cut more pieces to replace the wrong ones, thank goodness, and sewing the blocks together went very quickly.  I made a small quilt, with only 12 blocks.

Here's the finished quilt, on our fence next to the raspberry canes.
It's supposed to be arranged in a more or less random fashion, but I just couldn't stand it, I had to turn the blocks until they sort of chained across diagonally.  I am not good at random.

The fabrics chosen by the original quilter were great, colorful and fun.  There were over 2 yards of the bright yellow print in the package, which must have been meant for the border, but this fabric is even too bright for me in large doses, so I calmed the quilt down the with blue star print, which I also scavenged at the show.  The binding is the puzzle piece print from the kit.

The back is a school print I've had for ages.  It feels good to finally use it.  The quilt will go to a child who needs it.
I think the original quilter was going to make a much bigger quilt, so there are lots of pieces cut that I didn't use this time.  Never fear, they will go in the bins and will be perfect for something else.  So will the two yards of bright yellow print.

Check out the rhubarb!  The warm weather this week has really brought it around.  I'll probably be cutting it before June.
I'm wishing sunshine and fresh air and quilting for you this week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

 Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Pink Plus

I've never been a big fan of the color pink.  Growing up, I wasn't a girly girl, just a nerdy girl that loved to read.  As soon as they would let us wear pants at school (high school years), I ditched my dresses and skirts and never looked back.
But I LOVE double pink reproduction fabric.  So it was fun to make the blocks for my reproduction quilts from my repro scraps in pink, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  Above is Eileen Trestain's book Dating Fabrics:  A Color Guide, 1800-1960, open to the 1880-1910 pink pages.  It's a great book for anyone making reproduction quilts, or collecting antique quilts and blocks.

These are my Mary's Basket blocks for this month, posing with an antique Willcox and Gibbs treadle sewing machine.  So far there are only four, but I might add to their number.

My second RSC quilt is made from these Wagon Trail blocks.  Again, only four so far.

If I had to pick a favorite, this one on the right is it!

When it comes to my third RSC quilt (THREE RSC quilts?  Yes, I know, I have a problem!), I chose a different path.
I make lots of children's quilts for charity.  If you put pink fabric into a child's charity quilt, that automatically makes it a girl's quilt.  In my experience, boys and their parents will not choose a quilt with pink in it.  Several charities I give to have said they get many more "girl" quilts than "boy" quilts.
Because of that, I generally make quilts with bright colors and leave out the pink.  A girl can choose a bright colored quilt, and so can a boy.
So I'm not adding any pink to my third RSC quilt, Fly Away Home, since it's eventual destination is as yet unclear.
But I still have lots of pink scraps.  So...

I made a pink baby quilt.  The blocks are 6 in. finished nine patches, with the colors arranged like a plus sign and a purple square in the middle of each one.

The large fabric squares between the nine patches is printed with what looks like models of atoms, that we used in science class back in the days before computers.  I love the idea of a little girl scientist sleeping under this quilt.

The blocks are a mish mash of all sorts of fabrics with any claim to pink.  There are bunnies, fish, flamingos, giraffes, frogs, turtles, bugs, castles, rain boots, hearts, flowers, dots, and so on.  Oh, and don't forget Dora the Explorer.

The back is a dotted print.
So that's a lot of pink!  My pink scraps are seriously diminished.
Thank goodness for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
I hope you're "in the pink" this week, and every week.
Cheers for reading this,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Links to Busy Hands Quilts, Crazy Mom Quilts, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Tropical Wisconsin

We had an 80 plus degree day this week!  I declare summer officially started!  And to celebrate, I pieced bright colors and awesome parrot fabric into a little quilt for charity.

Fifteen of the blocks in the quilt are "crumb" blocks or "slab" blocks, made from small pieces of scraps sewn together.  (Both Mr. Biddy the cat and I managed to get a foot in this shot.  So talented.)

Here's what they looked like on the design wall.

It was fun to gather these pieces at the machine, and just sew.  Treadling with this lovely Singer 66 is so relaxing.

The alternate blocks are this amazing parrot fabric.  Isn't it scrumptious?

Here's some info from the selvedge.

Simple quilting finishes the little quilt.  The backing is a paw prints print.  The border reminds me of the clear shallow water in Mexico where we went on vacation many years ago.
But wait--more parrots!

I'm experimenting with a design I saw on the internet for a bird block.  What if these birds were parrots?  What if the wings and beaks were 3-D?

My first try.  Not too wild about the color placement, but okay.

Maybe this is better?  The whole wing is green, the body blue, etc.  Seems like a lot of white background.  I'll keep thinking about it.  Any ideas?  I'm always glad to know what other quilters would do.
In keeping with the wild life theme, look who visited our back yard on Wednesday:

It's a turtle!  My grandson and dog saw it out the window before I did.  It was about the size of a small cat.  Grandson and I went outside to see it (we left the dog inside, barking her head off), but we didn't go very close to it.  There is a pond near the end of the street, and I think it must have been heading that way.

Last week I was sick, so no blog.  I'm grateful to be feeling better this week and getting back to the things I love.
Speaking of which, now that I'm done writing this blog, I can go read what everybody else has written.  Hurray!
Have a wonderful week.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Link ups with Crazy Mom Quilts, Busy Hands Quilts, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.