Purple Patches, Old and New

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for dropping by!

The demolition phase of remodeling this vintage quilt top is almost done.  Only 9 more blocks to go!  

Here's what it looked like when I bought it at a flea market.  The maker must have run out of the sashing fabric, and just given up.

I'm rescuing the blocks, and making Double Nine Patches with them.  This month, it's purple for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  These old fabrics are lots of fun.  Check out the one in the center of the lower right block, the one with the black background.  Not your usual sweet 1930s print!

Most of the fabrics in this project date to the 1930s and 1940s, but a few (like our friend on the left) are from the 1960s.  How can I tell?  The solid purple fabric in that block is a poly cotton, which didn't come into widespread use until the 1960s.  I am not a fan of poly cotton in my quilts.  It doesn't wear the same as 100% cotton, over time it "pills", and it doesn't shrink the way cotton does.  So this little 9 patch is sitting out.  I replaced it with the 9 patch in the center of this block, which I made with a feed sack print. 

On to the new stuff--more purple!

Isn't it amazing how one quilt just leads to another? 

 

 About a month ago I finished the quilt top above that used 1.5 in. strips of blue and neutral.  (Click HERE to see that post.)  There were scraps left over, of course.  Instead of just putting them away, I started making 4 patches, and then adding in other reproduction fabrics and colors, and before you know it, a new quilt was started.

Here's how much is done now.  I'm using these little 6 in. blocks for leaders and enders, except when I can't help myself and just have to make a few more.  They're as addictive as potato chips, but with way less calories.  I'm using clothespins to hold groups of ten blocks together.  This is my handy hint of the week.  You can see at a glance how many blocks you have finished, plus no more getting stuck by pins.  (Why didn't I ever think of this before?)

 Pretty quickly, I ran out of neutral 1.5 in. strips.  Cutting from yardage seemed like a hassle for such small pieces, and it would mean less variety.  Plus I was pretty sure there were some scraps around here somewhere.

What about these Accuquilt apple core pieces?  They were leftover from a quilt I made years ago.  I'm not planning to make another one, so let's cut them up!

If I cut carefully, I can get 8 squares from each apple core.

Oh, and yeah, I forgot I had this little box of small neutral scraps.

And if there's a small box of neutral scraps, there must be...

a larger box of repro print scraps.  Plus a basket of them.  Or maybe two. 

So now I'm sorting these scraps into colors.  Some of them I'll use for the new little blocks.  But I won't need all of these scraps for that project. What if I made some crumb blocks?  Oops! One thing leads to another again.

I once read a mystery novel, where one of the characters was a quilter.  Over many years, she made quilts from her scrap box.  At the end, the box was empty.  That's how I could tell the author was not a quilter.  Scrap boxes don't get empty!  Seriously?

No photos of the grandsons this week.  Baby Buddy was sick (nothing serious) and needed to be held almost all the time.  Hubby and I tag teamed with the other two kids.  By the end of the week, Baby Buddy was his happy self again.

There is such beauty all around us at this time of year.  I took this photo of wild flowers at the edge of the parking lot at Outpost Natural Foods in Mequon.  Mostly yellow and green, but there is a little purple!

Even in these hard times, there is so much to be grateful for--sunshine, gardens, baby smiles, children's laughter, and, of course, quilts.   I am very grateful to everyone who reads this blog!  Thank you, and have a good week.

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