Dreaming of Tulips

This is the view out my back door this morning.  It's the usual Wisconsin Winter Wonderland.
I can't say I'm surprised, it is January after all, and from my warm kitchen it looks very pretty.

That doesn't stop me from dreaming about springtime.  Yesterday I finished this spring-filled tulip quilt top, in two colors of pink.

Now, I'm not a real fan of pink, as I have said a time or two before.  (It might be because it reminds me of Pepto Bismol?  Not sure.)  So what am I doing with these colors?

This quilt is what I call a rescue.  A friend of mine, who used to have a quilt store, hand dyed the fabric and packaged it as a kit.  The lady who bought this kit did part of it, then set it aside.  When she passed away, her family gave the kit back to my friend, who brought it to a quilt history meeting as a freebie.  The scraps above are all that's left.

I added the yellow fabric, bought at my local quilt shop, and worked on fixing up the blocks.  The lady had done the project in steps, making all the half square triangles on triangle paper, cutting the strips for the corners, etc., and had only put together 3 or 4 blocks.  That was a blessing, because they were all put together wrong and had to be ripped out.  (Oh, and with a tiny stitch length, too.  Sigh.)  Some of the smaller pieces just couldn't be ripped out without raveling away, so I had to use them as they were.

The original pattern was for a square quilt in a smaller size.  I scraped together enough pieces from the scraps to make 5 more blocks, for a twin sized quilt.  There was plenty of dark green for the border.
I did the best I could with it, but it's not perfect.  There are lots of places where points are cut off, seams don't match, etc.  The hand dyed fabrics are very nice, and the colors (even pink!) brighten up a winter's day.  I plan to finish it as a donation quilt.

In other news, more green!  This is the last Saturday in January, so we will have a new color (orange!) for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge next week.  My green blocks are already made, so I'm going to work on cutting this pile of green scraps into future usefulness.  (I've got an idea for those tractors!)

Look what I got--it's a shoe organizer, but I'm using it for scrap strips.  Each pocket is for a different size and/or category.  I have bright scraps and reproduction fabric scraps separated, and when it comes to the 2.5 in. strips I separate light and dark in both categories.  At the bottom (not shown) is a large pocket which I'm using for strings.  So far, I really like it.  The price was definitely right--$10 at Target.  I can cut scraps, sort them, and then put them away and start over.  Doesn't that sound like a fun day?

It would be even more fun if we had any of this left--chocolate pudding!  My little buddy absolutely loves it, and it's a good way to get more milk into him.  I make a big batch and put it in these little containers.  It's great for portion control, even though there is more pudding in these little cups than in those containers at the store.  But I leave out the artificial flavors and colors and preservatives.

Spring is a long way away here.  Winter often doesn't give up until the middle of April.  It's a good thing we've got bright colors (even pink!) to distract us from all that white snow.

Have a warm, wonderful week, and thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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