More Quilty Hugs

Welcome to Treadlestitches!
Thanks to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, many of us are participating in her annual Hands2Help drive, which saw 876 quilts donated last year.  Maybe this year will be even better.

Last week I showed you this quilt as a top.  I hurried up and quilted it this week to donate to Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo.

I found this backing fabric in my stash.  It has been there at least 10 years, waiting for just the right project.  The binding is a pink/purple print I bought in a bundle at Goodwill a few years ago.

I thought this would be my last quilt for Hands2Help this year.  After all, we're down to the wire in terms of time.  The quilts need to be completed in the coming week.  And I was actually ready!

But then I thought about the people I have loved who have had cancer, and faced chemotherapy.  Some were women, but most were men.  The quilt I had made was very girly.  I needed to make another quilt, one that would be more appealing to a man.

My dog Bella is helping me show the new top.  I hope to get it quilted this weekend.

There are 9 blocks, each with a center cut from a fish fabric.  The background squares in the corners of the block are a canoe print, that also has fish, paddles, and sailboats.  The dark blue border is a sailboat print.  The theme would work for a woman, but would not be off-putting for a man.

The pattern is called Railroad Crossing, and comes from the book Charm School, by Vanessa Goertzen.

(By the way, there are lots of fun patterns in here for charm squares!)

I thought about my Dad while I worked on this quilt.  When he was a teenager, he ran away from home one summer and went to Michigan, where he worked in a hotel and learned to love the Great Lakes.  At the end of the summer, he went back home, but it really changed his life.  When he was old enough, he joined the Coast Guard, and was eventually stationed on a lighthouse.

When Dad was diagnosed with cancer, he decided not to have chemo, since the prognosis was not good even with it.  For him, it was the right choice, but other situations are different, and there have been advances in chemotherapy in the more than 30 years since he got sick.   If there is even a small thing I can do to help a cancer patient, like making a lap quilt, I am happy to do it.
I'm donating this quilt in memory of my Dad.

The oregano is coming on strong in our little herb garden next to the garage.  I'm drying bunches of it in the kitchen.  If you're local and want some, let me know.  You can come and cut it safely.

My oldest daughter and her two kids came by yesterday, and brought Little Buddy some birthday presents--a dino backpack and a dino print hat.  He immediately decided it was a paleontologist outfit, so he was a paleontologist the rest of the day, hunting for dinosaurs.  We found a few, too!

My dear hubby and I went to Cedarburg Bog on Wednesday to walk in the woods. I had a hard time keeping up with him because I was taking so many photos of all the wildflowers, like the trillium above.  It still seems odd to go somewhere by ourselves in the middle of the week.  Little Buddy's mom is only working on Fridays for now, so we're no longer full time babysitters.

This is Watt's Lake, part of the Cedarburg Bog Natural Area.  Water is very high around here, due to recent rains.
One of Little Buddy's favorite shows has been Dinosaur Train, on PBS.  The paleontologist on that show, Dr. Scott, has a tag line for the kids.  He says, "Go outside, get into nature, and make your own discoveries!"
Good advice!
I am wishing for happy discoveries for all of us this week.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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

Happy Scrappy Stars

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This week, I'm winding up all my projects for Hands2Help, the annual charity quilt drive hosted and organized by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  The deadline is the week of May 31st, which is coming up fast.

This little quilt is for Little Lambs, and will go with a baby going into foster care.  I have been out of some important supplies, like basting spray and my favorite needles, which arrived to squeals of joy.  I love getting packages in the mail, don't you?  Even when I know what's in them!

The pattern is a simple Friendship Star, made from scraps, which finishes at 6 in.  The sashing is 1 in. finished, and is a light fabric with a star print.

It was so much fun putting these stars together.  Here's a robot under the sea.

The back is this bright alphabet print.
Once I got it finished, I started to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have put so much white fabric into a quilt meant for a baby.  But I guess if the foster parents are concerned about stains etc., they can just flip it over.  Problem solved!  Let's not worry about stuff.

The stars for this quilt came from my stash of 2.5 in. squares, triangles, and hsts.  I am working on organizing my stuff better, which I think is a natural response to lots of time off during a pandemic.  I still have to work on the reproduction scraps and other sizes of squares and triangles.  But now when I'm making a quilt from bright fabrics, I can pull out this box to get me started.

The triangles are tucked in the back.  Ooh, seeing these makes me itch to get sewing.

First things first.  This top will be my last quilt for Hands2Help this year.  It will go to Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo, and I hope it brings a little hug from me.

Most of these blocks were made by wonderful ladies in my quilt group.  I won them in block swaps, and then couldn't figure out how best to set them, etc. so they were in my orphan block "collection".

They are orphans no more.  I will focus on quilting this 48 in. x 48 in. top this week, and get it ready to mail out.  I hope they have someone who likes purple.  I love it, myself, it's one of my favorite colors.

We had a birthday party yesterday!  Little Buddy turned 4!  It was our usual babysitting day, so we gave him his presents when he first got here.  The cake and ice cream had to wait til after lunch.  No guests, of course, but he didn't seem to mind.  As you can see, he is still into dinosaurs.

Baby Buddy didn't know what the fuss was about, but he was happy anyway.

Later, Little Buddy became a T Rex on the back porch (that's Grandpa weeding in the background).

All around us, the natural world is coming back to life after the long winter.  In these uncertain times, I appreciate the joy of spring even more.
Some of the rhubarb is ready to cut today.  A pie is definitely in our future!
I hope there are good things in your future, too.
Thanks for reading,
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

Piecing It All Together

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  

Spring has finally come to Wisconsin.  My seedlings are doing well, and now that May seems to be settling down into warmer weather, I'll be planting them in our little garden soon.   These are zucchini, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.

Has this ever happened to you?  The project I was using for leaders and enders just took over and demanded to be made right then and there.

Last week, I started working on an old UFO of 4 patch blocks from 1930s fabrics and solid colors.  Now it's a twin-sized top, with a simple border of print squares.

Here's one of the weirdest squares in the border--a donkey (or burro?).  I think he's kind of cute.

I wanted this quilt to be similar to scrap quilts made in the 1930s, and alternate unpieced blocks were common then.  The alternate block is a very pale yellow solid from the stash. I tried using white, but it just seemed too stark.
After playing with the blocks on the floor for a couple of hours, I decided on the diagonal rows of color.  Kind of like a rainbow.  But this layout left out some of the blocks, especially the dark green ones.

So I made the rest of the blocks into a small top.  This is my nod to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, which is dark green.  All the fabrics are vintage, so I don't think it would be a good donation quilt, since it would likely get a lot of wear and tear.  The fabrics are good quality, and might be fine, but I don't want to take a chance.  I'll quilt it up and use it around here.

We might need a few baby quilts.  Three of my grandsons were here yesterday, including this guy, my Baby Buddy.  Quilts are great for laying on the floor to play with babies.

The weather was beautiful yesterday (in the 70s!) so we were able to take a walk in the park.  BTW, check out Little Buddy's haircut.  His mom has always cut the boys' hair herself, even when there wasn't a pandemic.

Big Buddy would rather bike than walk.  He's taking a break here from math lessons.  Grandpa is tutoring him, more power to him.  It's all Greek to me.  (Little Buddy is not having any success trying to push his big brother's bike.)

Here's what ended up being leaders and enders for the 4 patch quilts.  This is my homework from April--three light blue house blocks for the RSC, and April's diary block.

I love making these house blocks!

This one has cats on the roof and the door, and clowns in the windows.

I've used lots of cat prints in other houses.  This time, it's the dogs' turn.

Scottie dogs live here, and there are bunnies at the door.

Lastly, my April diary quilt block is finally done.  April was a hard month.  Like lots of people all around the world, we couldn't be with any of our family the whole month, including Easter.  But pieced into this block are some of the bright spots.  Our library started a curbside service, I made masks and finished quilts, and every Sunday like usual I talked to my Mom on the phone (those are the yellow bars).  Life goes on.  It's different, but we can do it.

While I was sewing with the vintage fabrics this week, I listened to a Glenn Miller CD and sort of put myself in mind of the 1930s and 1940s.  Women like my grandmothers and great-grandmothers had hard times then, living through the Great Depression and World War II.  They got through it with hard work and common sense.
We can do that, too.

Stay safe, everyone, and thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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

New and Old

Welcome to Treadlestitches!
Here's something new--Little Buddy is back!  We're babysitting three of our grandchildren while our daughter works.  This isn't really a new situation, since we've done this for years, but it's new since the virus and the birth of the new baby.  We're choosing to do this because our daughter and her family need us, but we are still being very careful of our health, only going out for essential items like groceries and wearing our masks when we go out to help protect others.

At the moment, our daughter is only working one day a week, but that may change soon.  In the meantime, it gives us a chance to get used to taking care of a new baby again.  I am so NOT used to it that I didn't even get any pictures of the littlest guy.  These two have school online when they're here, too (yes, even the three year old!) so that's been very new and "interesting".

Here's something old!  It's a UFO, finally turned into a top.  These blocks have been languishing in a basket for literally years.  Once it's quilted by our amazing quilt group volunteers, it will be donated to someone who needs it.

The pattern is Scrappy Mountain Majesties, one of the free patterns from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville.  Click HERE to go directly to the instructions.  My blocks are larger than the ones in the pattern.  At one point I believe there were directions for using a bigger square and making this size, which finishes at 7.5" x 9.5".  (Unless I dreamed it, I don't know.)  At any rate, it's a fun block to make and a dramatic quilt.

I even included a few novelty prints--cats and bees!

There are 8 rows of 8 blocks each, but because they are rectangles, the quilt is rectangular as well.  I kind of regret a few of the fabric choices, especially where there is a lack of contrast, but I am not stressing out about it.

While making the top, I finished making my tumbler quilt rows as leaders and enders.  That's them in the basket, pinned into little sausage rolls.  It will be fun to lay them out and start putting them together.  But now what do I use for leaders and enders?

Maybe this UFO will work!  These vintage 4 patch blocks are what I call a Double UFO.  I bought the squares years ago, already cut.  I just love packets of scraps like that.  They were 1930s and 1940s prints, with stacks of solid colors.  Somebody got ready to make a quilt, and then never got around to it.  I can definitely relate!  I trimmed up what I had, added solids as necessary, and made the blocks above.  And then I let it sit.  So two of us had started this quilt, and stalled out (thus, Double UFO).  Now I've got a plan, and this time maybe I'll keep on through to finish it.  I will need to make more blocks, though.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for the month is dark green, so I'm sewing these first.

They may not look very dark, but they are much darker than the light green row.

More stuff from the basement!  Over the years I have collected lots of unfinished block sets.  I had some sort of crazy idea of finishing ALL of them as their original makers intended. (Hilarious!)  I am finally forced to admit that this is not going to happen, even if I live to be as old as Methuselah.  I love the fabrics in these blocks, and I know they'll be more useful to me in a different form.

So I cut them into 5 in. squares.

Lots of the squares are made from scraps the original quilter sewed together to make a large enough piece.  I think this adds a little character.  Working class chic.  Waste not, want not.

I did the same thing to another set of blocks.  These huge squares were sewn together (badly!) by hand, and some of the fabrics were very poor quality.

So I sliced them up with the rotary cutter into another pile of 5 in. squares, and got rid of the bad ones.  Now they'll be easy to work with.  I'll be going through my charm square books to find some fun patterns.

The last new thing this week is this mask.  I'm trying out patterns for this style of face mask.  The first one I made was just too small (more of an A cup than a B cup).  This one fits better.  I found this yarn in my basement stash.  I remember buying it because it was on sale.  (Could that be how I ended up with so much stuff?)  It's 100 polyester, is very soft, and is similar to a cut up T shirt.  It makes good ties for a mask, but I only have it in green.
If you are local, and want some, I would be more than happy to share.

Yesterday the neighborhood elementary school had a parade of teacher's cars, which happened to come right down our street.  The teachers held signs and waved at the kids, who came out in their yards with signs thanking them.  It was a lovely celebration of the end of the school year.
We are all in this together.  We will figure it out.
Stay safe this week.  Thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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