In the Middle

I'm happily sewing again this week, working on a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt from 2018.

Do you see one of my purple blocks from last year?  These were really fun to make.  The blocks are set so that a large plain space occurs where four blocks come together.  I knew I wanted a stencil quilted into that spot.
As a rule, I quilt my own quilts on my Pfaff Select machine (yes, electric, even though the quilts are pieced on a treadle).  In order to quilt something this large, I pieced it in two sections.  This made it possible to quilt the stencil design without screaming my head off.  (We wouldn't want to alarm the neighbors.)

I've always loved the graceful shapes of leaves, so I chose my stencil for this kind of look.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to use a stencil with Golden Threads paper.

You need the stencil, a PERMANENT INK pen, and the paper.  (Do not use anything but permanent ink.  Otherwise, the marks will transfer to the quilt, which defeats the purpose of using the paper.)

Trace the stencil onto the paper.  Note here, the paper comes in several sizes.  I find the 12 in. size the most useful and least wasteful.

Place the stencil on the quilt, and pin.  I use safety pins so I won't be constantly stabbing myself with straight pins.  (Just respecting the peace and quiet of the neighborhood.)  You can see through the paper, which helps in positioning the stencil.
The next step is quilting through the paper.  It really helps to trace the lines with your fingertip before starting, so you can plan where to start and stop.  This design is continuous, at least for the larger leaves, but I quilted each set of smaller leaves separately.
Lastly, tear off the paper.  The quilting will be done, and there will be no marking lines on the quilt.

I used a thread that matches the area to be quilted.  At a distance, the shapes stand out (but not the thread).

In the half blocks at the sides of the quilt, I quilted half the motif.

Two corners ended up like this.  I used one section of the stencil to quilt them.

It's taken quite a while to get this far, but each of the two sections is now quilted, and I have joined the sections, by machine on the top and by hand on the back.

Now what?  I have to quilt the middle!  This will be harder, as I will have the whole bulk of the quilt to maneuver.  If it's too tough, I might hand quilt the stencil motifs.

In other news, we went to a book sale at the West Bend library on Thursday.

Little Buddy didn't want to leave!

Under our feet was this colorful rug.  Isn't it great?  I wish I had fabric like this!

Have a wonderful week!  Can you believe October starts on Tuesday?
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Alycia at Alycia Quilts:  Finished or Not Friday
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

What Do You Do When You Can't Sew?

Most weeks, I spend my free time sewing.  Not this week.  This week, I had other commitments.  The sewing machines barely got warmed up.  The spirit was willing, but the time was just not there.

What do you do when this happens to you?

I just tried to make the best of it.
Most of my time is spent babysitting my Little Buddy, the most adorable 3 year old in the world.  There are many fun things we can do together, like taking pictures of Canadian geese in the park.

We've also been picking green beans and tomatoes in our little garden.  We missed a few beans, that will now only be good for seed for next year, but we've had quite a few for dinner.

I've found a little time to put up some of the fall quilts in the dining room.

I made this one in 1988, after we took a family trip out west. 

Our youngest daughter, who was 4 years old then,  loved the little Native American-made dolls sold in the souvenir shops.  The alternate block replicates a design on a book about Native American textiles that I bought on that trip.  The colors are right for fall decorating.

These little quilts are for Jack's Basket.  There are 13 of them!  The ladies in our quilt group made them (I made one a few weeks ago).  I'm getting ready to mail them out this week.  They are all different, and all amazing.  Little Buddy helped me lay them out and take pictures.

I'm often too tired to sew in the evenings after supper, but I can definitely sit and knit.  I'm making a baby sweater as a shower gift for a friend of my daughter's.

Now here we are, finally at the weekend.  I will have time to sew now, and here's what I'm going to work on first--putting the binding on this donation quilt.

I made this top awhile back, (for details click HERE) and handed it in to the wonderful ladies on the charity committee to be quilted.  Didn't they do a nice job?  Now it's back to me, to be bound.  What do you think of the fabric I've chosen?  In person, it's sort of purple.  It goes okay with the top...

and the back!  Check out these fabulous pink pigs!  And they're flannel!

I'm glad these no-sewing weeks don't come along very often, but when they do, I know eventually I'll have time again to work on my favorite hobby.

This week, I'm hoping you'll have time to do what you really love to do.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Alycia at Finished or Not Friday
Angela at Soscrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

Fun, Fabric, and Friendship

It has been so much fun making these sawtooth square blocks, as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019.

In addition to the crumb scraps that make the centers, I got to use some way cute fabrics for the saw points.  Like these bats and moons.

I really love this background fabric!  Sadly, I only had a small piece of it that I bought secondhand.

This cheeky little blue dog is peeking out of the center.
As I said, I really enjoyed making these blocks.  I'm almost sorry they're all done.

Twenty-five blocks seem like just enough for this quilt.   I made 3 blocks each of orange, yellow, aqua, light blue, dark blue, green, and purple, plus 4 red blocks (I had lots of tiny red scraps.)  It will be donated to a child when it's done.  I left out pink for two reasons--I don't have very many scraps of pink, plus using pink narrows down the recipients for the quilt.  Most kids, boys and girls, like bright colors, but boys seldom want quilts with pink.  Every so often, I make a mostly-pink quilt, just for the girls.

Now I have to decide what to use for sashing and cornerstones, and a border, so I can get this one finished up.

Don't worry, I have lots of fabric on hand to pick from!

Here's a stack I bought last Saturday at The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show (aka Quilt Expo).  Can you see the purple fabric on top?  It's the only 1800s repro fabric in the pile.  The rest are light prints, bright prints and novelties.  These were all pre-measured, and priced at $5.99 per yard. (Woot!)

Here's more purple fun from the quilt show!  I bought this scrap bag from Primitive Gatherings, a wonderful quilt shop in Menasha, Wisconsin.  (I am a sucker for quilt shop scrap bags!)  I think I see a string quilt in my future.

More loot!  This is a transfer, printed on linen.  Look--the Eiffel Tower!  It had to come home with me.  It's a souvenir from Paris via Wisconsin.

And of course, I love this one even more.  What's better than antique sewing machines?  I'm picturing a wall hanging to showcase these linen pieces.
The linen transfers came from L'Atelier D'Isabelle.  I don't have any other information, sadly.

As much as I love looking at amazing quilts and shopping for fabric, I probably wouldn't have gone to the show if it hadn't been for my friend Debbie, who lives in Madison.  We wore ourselves out, and had a wonderful time.
Everything is better with a friend.

This week, I'm wishing the joy of friendship for all of us.
As the Girl Scouts say, Make new friends, but keep the old.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at So Scrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Alycia at Alycia Quilts Finished or Not Friday
(Check out her churn dash quilts!
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

In Praise of Purple

It's purple month!  The color for September for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple.

What an amazing color!  It's an exciting range from pale lavender to deep dark grape.

What kinds of things besides flowers are purple?  We found a purple cow at the Linden Sculpture Garden in Mequon, Wisconsin.  (Little Buddy is not really feeding it.)

Sometimes green beans aren't green at all.   I am amazed at all the beautiful colors of the vegetables at the farmers market.

These are my purple quilt blocks this week, two spiky stars.

I make these stars with reproduction fabrics, and I really didn't have very many purple scraps.  So I used whatever I had, and only made two blocks.

The center of this block is the very last scrap of this purple stripe.  It doesn't exactly match the spiky points, but I don't care, I just like it.  When it's done, I'll run my hands over it and remember where it came from.
As you can probably tell, these blocks are not just pieced, they are quilted.  All along, I have been making blocks in the RSC color of the month and quilting them.  Soon I'll be ready to start putting them together with sashings and cornerstones and borders.
I absolutely LOVE quilting by the block.  It is so fast!  It only took half an hour to do both of these.

This is what the back looks like.  As you can see, the quilting is very simple.  I do it in one continuous line, without breaking the thread.
I cut my pieces of batting and backing a little differently than most people (I'm just like that.)
The blocks are 12.5 in. unfinished.  I cut the batting squares 12 in., so there is no batting in the seam.  This makes the seam lie flatter.  Then I cut the backing squares to 13.5 in.  It gives me a little more fabric to work with when I do the hand stitching after the sashings are added.

Soon the weather will turn, here in Wisconsin.  The flowers will be gone again, only to reappear in spring.
In the meantime, we'll enjoy the color in our quilts.

I'm wishing colorful fabrics and quilts for you this week, either making or appreciating.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Alycia at Alycia Quilts
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap