New Baby Stuff

Happy Day after Thanksgiving!  I hope all who celebrated yesterday had a wonderful holiday.
I did get a little quilting done this week, before the turkey insanity.  Little Buddy is posing here with the finished quilt for his little brother, who is due in March.

I posted about piecing this quilt a couple of weeks ago.  It's just a simple 9 patch, from blue, green, and yellow scraps.

I bound it with green, just to add a little more not-blue color.  Max the bunny seems to enjoy it.  Maybe it's the bunny print in the border.

I cleared a drawer in the extra room for the new baby, but there's not much to put in it yet.  The baby will be coming to me for child care, so we'll need a few clothes for emergency changes, and some sweaters, etc. for trips outside.

This sweater is much too big for a newborn, but will come in handy as he grows.  It's made from wool, so will need to be hand washed.  That's a lot to ask of parents who both work, with two other kids.  So I'll keep the sweater here and wash it myself as needed.

I got the wool second hand (maybe at a flea market?  I can't remember).  I looked up the company, and they went out of business in the 1960s.

Knitting sweaters in one piece is so much fun.  This yarn was very thin, so I held two strands together throughout.  It held up well, and is nice and soft.  The sweater will be extra warm for our Wisconsin falls and springs.

Here's the tag that was inside the yarn ball.  I'm glad to know that "Monarch-Knit Outerwear for Children in pure wool is smart and healthful."

Since we moved here 28 years ago, our family has grown from 5 to 11 (soon to be 12) people.  We are so happy to welcome new family members, either through marriage or birth.  For Thanksgiving, we now have two long tables, and I really hadn't kept up with tablecloths, etc.  So this year I bought two matching tablecloths in a neutral color.
If I had bought 12 napkins to match the tablecloths, it would have cost over $75.  That seemed like a lot.  Plus they would have been a light color, and probably would have gotten stained the first time out.
I did this instead.

I cut up this old tablecloth, which I've always liked for its fall colors, but which is too small for either of my tables.

And I made this.  I had 8 napkins already, so I made 4 more plus a liner for the rolls basket.  It took about an hour and cost nothing.  It all worked great at this year's Thanksgiving, and I plan on using these for years to come.

It's very quiet around here today after yesterday.  I miss the people and the fun, but I'm glad to have some time to rest.  Oh, and to sew!

I hope you have a lovely weekend, doing the things you enjoy most.
Thanks for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I Get A Whoop Whoop)
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Bright Hopes and Rainbows

My little buddy loves to paint.  At three years old, some kinds of paint could end up too messy, but watercolors work out fine--cheap, safe, and stain free.  This is his drawing of a rainbow.  The yellow blob is the sun. (Bet you figured that out anyway.)

For the last few years, I have really been inspired by Angela at the Soscrappy blog.  Soscrappy is the home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Every month, we are assigned a new color, to make blocks with our scraps.  The first year, I only did one project.  Now I have to try to limit myself to three.

The last months of the year are for finishing up what we've been working on all year.  Today, I'm sewing the borders on my Sawtooth Square top.  They're cut, and laid out here, but not sewn yet.

I chose a subtle aqua print for the sashing and borders, and this is indirectly connected to the RSC also.  Before RSC, I almost never worked with aqua.  I neglected a whole color!  Using aqua scraps for a month opened my eyes to the possibilities, and now I love it.  (BTW, Hey, Badgers, did you catch the background print in the red square?)

I used this white-background print for the cornerstones.  The aqua print is a very saturated color, so I chose the lighter print to, well, lighten things up.  I love the saying on it:  love, faith, hope.  It's a one way design, so I hope I got all the squares positioned right.  But I'm not taking it out if I didn't!

I still get a kick out of all these crazy animals and trains poking their heads out of this crumb block.  I think they're saying hi.

In addition to the RSC, Angela has given us Tiny Tuesday this year, with quick lessons on blocks that finish at 4.5 in.  I used her Bright Hopes pattern to make my fourth quilt for the Socorro Foundation (pictured badly above).

Here's a detail.  I alternated the Bright Hopes pieced blocks with 5 in. cut squares of hedgehog print.  The border is a fun/crazy chicken print.  I apologize for the pictures, but I can't take any more, since I mailed the Socorro box yesterday. 
The batting for this quilt is puffier than I like, so I'm investigating other batting options.  Do you have a favorite?  I'm making lots of charity quilts, so I need a less-expensive option.

This is the 3 patch chain baby quilt, all finished up.  It measures 36 in. x 36 in., and is going to Jack's Basket (click HERE for the web page.  Click on Donations and scroll down for info about sending quilts.)

I rearranged these blocks over and over until I finally decided on this layout, which is not in the original pattern.  The pink pinwheel above results from 4 blocks set side by side.

All told, there are 9 pinwheels, each in a different color.  But with all this crazy fabric, the pinwheels disappear, and it kind of looks like confetti in a snow storm.

The back is a heart print, that says "Love you more" on the hearts.  I had to sew two pieces together to get enough but it just seemed like it was meant for this quilt.  The red binding is a scrap left from Little Buddy's pillowcase.  I want this to be a bright and cheerful quilt for a family welcoming a baby with Down's Syndrome.

Look at this--the wonderful ladies in my quilt group made this big stack of quilts for Jack's Basket!  At the meeting last Wednesday, I collected 11 quilts!  We have already made and mailed 21, so this makes a total so far of 32.  I'm going to need more boxes!


This week, I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.  May we all be thankful for our many blessings, and try to pass on our blessings to others.

Thanks for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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

The Best Things Come In Small Packages

Guess what came in my mail this week!  Hint--it is not this cute little boy.

Beth, a generous blog reader, asked if she could send me some tractor fabric.  Of course, I said yes, please!

Isn't this cute?

As you may know from previous posts, my Little Buddy LOVES tractors.  His father's family has a farm, now run by some of his cousins, and they have several big green tractors, combines, etc.   I will definitely be making something for my little boy from this awesome fabric.  Thank you, Beth!

The same day the tractor fabric arrived, my friend Debby from Pennsylvania sent me this amazing box of novelty fabric scraps.  Wow!!  It's a scrapapalooza!  I can't wait to use these great pieces in scrap quilts for kids who need them.  Thanks, Debby!

Debby and I met years ago, through the Quilters Newsletter magazine.  There used to be a column where you could post a sort of "personals" ad, mainly to find quilt groups or meet other quilters.  (Needless to say, there was no internet then.  Can you even imagine?)  Debby had posted, and I wrote to her when I was moving to her town.  She was so kind and welcoming, and such fun to be with.  I missed her when we moved away. 

I had to snatch up this scrap and sew it right away!  Here's a puzzle for you.  Can you find this scrap in the second scrap pile photo?

This block is part of this little quilt I'm working on this week.  I wanted every block to be a different fabric, and was running short on yellow.

This quilt is for a special baby.  My Little Buddy is getting a baby brother in March!  We are all very excited around here.
Before Little Buddy was born, we had a baby shower.  I used fabric printed with baby themes for the tablecloths, and later used that fabric to make donation quilts.  More than 3 years later, there are still small pieces left.  The fabric I used for the sashing has teddy bears and the words "baby boy" printed on it.  It was one of those tablecloths.  I barely had enough for this quilt.

The green diaper pin fabric was one of those tablecloths too.

The border fabric has all these cute bunnies.  I fussy cut them for the cornerstones.

Of course dinosaurs had to be included!  Little Buddy can show them to his brother.  I'm sure he'll tell the baby all about them.

Now, on to the quilting!

How was your week?  I'm looking forward to reading about everyone's quilting adventures at the linky parties.  You should come, too!

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






 

Butterflies and Homework

Hello again, and welcome to the blog!
I'm still working on quilts for the Socorro Foundation (click HERE for the info and guidelines) and I managed to get another one finished.  Surprise, it's pink!  (I'm not really that much into pink.)

The pieced blocks are just 3 strips each like a rail fence.  The alternate blocks are a butterfly print.  The scraps came from my bag of 2 in. wide strips.

Check out the back!  It's a beach print.  Doesn't the beach sound good right now?  Our snow is melted here, but the cold November wind is blowing.   I got this fabric at the Vogue Fabric booth at Quilt Expo in September.  It was just the right size.
I've got one more quilt in the works for Socorro, and then I'll mail them off.  I want to get everything I'm going to mail out of here in the next couple of weeks, before Christmas makes things crazy at the post office.
So that's the butterflies.
Here's the homework.

Back when I was a school librarian, the kids at school really liked a poem by Jack Prelutsky called Homework.  The first lines were "Homework, oh, homework, I hate you, you stink!"  And that's pretty much the way they felt about it.
But not me!  I love my homework!  My homework is quilts!
Because of my babysitting schedule, I can't go to the work days my quilt guild has, so I always volunteer to do binding.  I bound these four recently, and they are ready to be distributed next week to people who need them.
Want to see?

Isn't this a pretty scrap quilt?  I would call this pattern Buckeye Beauty, but it has lots of other names.

Whoever chose the colors did a great job.

I had a terrible time taking a photo of this little quilt, sorry.

It's nice and scrappy, and will be a lovey for a child.

I made this top a while back.  I love seeing them after they're quilted by our long arm volunteers.

It's similar to a disappearing nine patch.  The volunteers chose a great backing.

The last one in the pile is this one, that I've already blogged about.

Remember this adorable pink pig flannel backing?

The ladies in my quilt guild are amazing.  Every meeting, the charity committee gets at least five donated quilts and/or tops, and often twice that.  I'm looking forward to finding out the total number we've made and donated this year.  One of the committee members has promised to send me pictures.

The best thing is, we're not the only ones!  I love seeing all the quilts people are making and donating, mentioned in blog posts.   (And, truthfully, not just donation quilts, but every other quilt or project, too!)
Stay warm this week, and keep sewing!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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

Happy Trails

Hello from snowy Wisconsin!  This was officially the snowiest Halloween on record here.

Here's the view out my front door Thursday morning.

And out back.  Little Buddy's chair and tractor were practically buried.

But his snowsuit still fits!  So we went out for a little while.  Honestly, I am not a fan of playing in the snow.  I'd rather quilt!

This is what I was doing Sunday--marking the border on my Wagon Trail quilt.  I cut and marked the Golden Threads paper with a stencil, and pinned it on.
Doing this is well, a pain.  It reminds me of painting a bedroom.  The prep work takes way more time than the actual painting.  Getting this border ready to quilt took forever, but the quilting was relatively quick and easy.

And now it's done!  It's quilted and bound, and on the bed.

I started this quilt in January of 2018, as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, using my 1800s reproduction fabrics.  (Click HERE for the first post.)

The quilt was made in two sections, quilted separately.  I had been procrastinating on the quilting, ever since I finished the sections and joined them.  I was afraid the motifs in the middle would be very tough to quilt on my domestic machine, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

The binding is a black and brown plaid, and came from my stash.  I sewed it on by machine, which is a thing I do now.
So that's that.  It's a big one, 89 in. x 99 in.  Another quilt done, courtesy of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I think I'll call it Happy Trails.  If you're as old as I am, you might hear Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing right about now.
In other news, applesauce.

From a half bushel of Cortland apples, I got 17 pints of applesauce.  They're made from local apples, local honey, and cinnamon from far, far away.

I'm using the cores to make vinegar again.  Doesn't this look fancy?  The rag I have covering the crock is part of an old pillowcase.

Here's what it looks like inside.  In a few weeks, it'll be vinegar.

Last week's zigzag quilt posed on Little Buddy's nap bed.  After lots of ripping and re-pinning, I got the rows to line up right.  Now I just need to quilt it!

Happy November to everyone this week.  Let's stay warm and quilt!
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop 
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap