Diamonds Are Forever

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  It's the last Saturday of the month, so time for some antique quilts!  Or in this case, antique tops.  

I have loved collecting antique quilt tops.  They're often affordable, store easily, and remind me that quilters of the past didn't finish everything, either.  

Quilts made with diamond shapes really have been around for at least 300 years.  When it comes to pieced quilts, that's pretty much forever!  Diamonds are very versatile, and can be combined with other shapes to make lots of blocks.

First up is this unusual 60 degree diamonds top.

It was made around 1940, and is set in bands of color, like a rainbow quilt.  (Is that why it caught my eye?)

This pattern has several names, including baby blocks.  Quilters would typically sew 2 of these diamonds together (the yellow print ones, here) and add the third with a set-in angle (the yellow solid).   Most quilters would hand piece them.

The quilter who made this top was NOT typical.  For one thing, she/he machine pieced it.  For another, it looks as though the print diamonds were sewn into a long row, and then the solid diamonds were added in.  This would have been quite a job, with all those set in angles, especially using a sewing machine.

But that's not all.  I don't know if you can tell from this very amateur photo, but all three of these large green print diamonds have been made up from smaller pieces skillfully sewn together so that the seam virtually disappears.

Here's another example.  Would you even dream of trying to match up these skinny red and white stripes?  She very nearly pulls it off perfectly!

One more thing!  In this whole twin-sized top, there are no two prints alike.  Some rows, like blue and green, repeat but do not use any of the same prints.  You may have heard of charm quilts (which by the way has nothing to do with charm squares).   This was a fad from long ago, to make quilts with no two pieces alike.  This quilt is NOT technically a charm quilt, since the solid colors repeat.  It is however a very original take on a traditional design.

Let's go back fifty more years to 1890, and see a real charm quilt.

This one is smaller than the first, a narrow twin size or maybe lap size.
 

It's 60 degree diamonds again, made with lots of interesting scraps.  Although many of the fabrics are similar, no two are exactly the same.

I just love looking at all these prints!  The variety is amazing.  And of course that's one of the best things about charm quilts.

The fabrics are typical of clothing from this time period, with lots of indigo blue, brown, red, double pink, and black.

This time, the diamonds are hand pieced into rows.  The quilter sewed two dark diamonds, one light diamond, two dark diamonds, and so on into long vertical rows.  Then she/he set the rows together, and it makes a horizontal pattern of dark and light.  I wonder if quilters had trouble finding light fabrics then, too?  There are twice as many dark rows as light rows, and there are some medium shade diamonds in the light rows.  Just wondering.

The first quilt top came from a silent auction years ago at my quilt guild.  I found the second one crumpled up in a booth in an antique mall in Milwaukee.  I don't know anything about their histories, sadly.  (I always ask.)

Sometimes people ask me if I plan to quilt the tops I've collected.  It is perfectly okay to quilt a top that's not of historic value (neither of these are), but there can be other concerns.  The 1890 charm quilt has a few fragile pieces that would need to be reinforced, and it might need to be hand quilted for that reason.  I probably will not take the time or trouble, and will just enjoy it as it is.  The 1940 top, however, could be quilted by machine since the fabrics are in such good shape.  However, the quilter had some trouble will those set in seams.  The top doesn't lie flat, and there are places that would need re-sewing.  Plus I have so many tops that I've made myself, waiting to be finished.   So we'll see.

In other news, a little more aqua.

Our quilt guild is starting a Block of the Month, and March's block is Shoofly.  We're to make two blocks, but reverse the color placement in the second one.  I already had the aqua strips out for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, so now I've got this "assignment" done.  Quilt homework is the best kind.

I caught our little buddies "reading" together the other day.  I hope they'll always love books!

By the way, if you're wondering why my photos are even worse than usual, blame our weather!  We have had days of gloomy skies, an ice storm, and snow, so today when the sun shone brightly I just couldn't shut it out, even to take pictures!  It was so uplifting to see the beautiful blue sky.

This week, I'm wishing blue skies ahead for us all, and lots of sunshine.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

 

Chasing the Lights

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Don't you just love aqua?  Like lots of you, I've been cutting and sewing aqua scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this month.  Before the RSC, I seldom used aqua at all.  It's not exactly blue and not exactly green, and I just didn't really know what to do with it.  There are so many cute aqua prints though, and once I started making blocks with them, I was hooked! So now I enjoy adding them to my Rainbow quilts (and others!) every year.

Here's the aqua double row for the Razzle Dazzle quilt.  (Click HERE for the start of this quilt, with the red row.)

Some of the "usual suspects" are here--Scooby Doo, robots, etc., cut from 3.5 in. strips like the split nine patch blocks I made last month.

The light aqua triangle in the center of this photo is from a library print layer cake I won at a retreat.  It's printed to look like the old date stamps we used before computers, when we stamped cards and/or date slips with due dates.  My fingers used to get ink stained changing the date every morning.  I'm not sorry we left those days behind.

Razzle Dazzle takes an equal number of dark and light triangles.  The light fabrics are the hardest to find.  (By the way, a little green alien is waving at you!)  I'm always looking for more cute light prints.

Hey, I found some!  Last Saturday, I went to a quilt show for the first time in two years (!), and bought these lights from vendors.  Doing the happy dance!

The show is simply called the Winter Quilt Show, and is put on by the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts.  (Click HERE to see the winning quilts.  Note, you will have to scroll down a bit, past the entry info, etc.).  The quilts were amazing.  The entry form included a place for Quilt Story, where the makers could tell about their inspirations, how they made it, etc.  So many of them referenced the pandemic, and lots of them said they kept busy at home during lock downs by finishing projects.  (Can you relate?)

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More lights, this time reproduction 1800s prints.  Just can't quit those repros, especially when they're blue and white.

I got lots more stuff, which may make it into a later post.  Basically I looked for cute fabrics with a good price, like always.  I even got Girl Scout cookies for hubby and me.

Back home again, I'm working on cutting up my light scraps from this basket of fabric trimmed from quilt backs.

 Plus I'm pulling in the Big Scraps in whites and creams for next month's RSC blocks.

Babysitting this week started out very sweet, with Little Buddy, Baby Buddy, and their teenaged brother (I'm calling him Big G) here on Monday.

The little boys were happiest when building roads and towers together.  (BTW, the tail in the foreground is a big plastic dinosaur).

Last Monday was Valentine's Day, so of course we made cookies.  I had to pull the plug on that activity when they started eating the cookie dough big time.  A taste, maybe that's okay, but not HANDFULS!  Later, when Baby Buddy was napping, Little Buddy and I did the decorating.  Guess which ones he did.  Hint--for him, too much is not enough.

It was a crazy week with kids' activities, plus Little Buddy caught the stomach flu that was going around in his kindergarten class, so not a lot of sewing got done, but there is this.

I pulled out a set of blocks from the "Some Assembly Required" basket, and I'm sewing them into rows.

Check out this cheeky monkey!  He knows he's not supposed to have a remote!  He's grinning at me, like saying "Look what I've got!"  I laughed and took his picture, definitely encouraging him.  (Oops!)  I hope all the channels aren't scrambled.

How was your week?  I hope it was fun, and filled with what you love to do.  

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy  

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

Strings, Robots, Umbrellas, and Beach Balls

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This is a picture of a squirrel in a tree.  No, really.  Back in November, our quilt guild held a silent auction.   Among lots of other things, I won a stack of string quilt blocks made by the fabulous Laverne D.  This is what happened to them.

I just couldn't wait to work on this project!  So I took off after it like a hound dog after a squirrel.  Another fabulous guild member, whom I call Nancy, Queen of Scraps, had been showing us interesting ways to make string blocks, so I used one of her designs.  I cut the squares into rectangles, bordered two opposite sides with solid red strips (making them red was my idea), and then set them together.  

There are so many different kinds of fabric in these blocks.  This bright yellow really stands out.  You can see the very simple quilting I did to get from top to finished quilt.

For the back, I used an older print with a small flower.  There are 4 different red solids in this quilt, including the binding.

Here's how it looks after washing.  None of the reds bled, not even a little bit!  I'm keeping this one, I just love it.  And if wasn't for my quilt guild, it would never have happened.

In other news, it's aqua/teal month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This week's blocks are Split Nine Patches, made from a box of 3.5 in. squares and triangles, plus strips as needed.

Many years ago, I made a pillowcase for my oldest grandson with a border of robots.  I can't believe there are still scraps of that robot fabric in my stash!  The teal boot fabric came from my very first order with Connecting Threads online shop.

More fun stuff.  The little elephant in the light block was in the amazing basket given to me by guild members last month.  Of course the Cat in the Hat and Scooby Doo are here.  And the robots again.

Just can't get enough robots!  And a cheeky lion in the center.  On the left is the south end of a northbound dinosaur.  The odd fabric on the center right is a fish print, with very large fish.

Last one, I promise!  The color of this one is a lot lighter than the others.  I never had any yardage of the Sponge Bob fabric, just scraps from friends.  I will be sad when it's all gone.  The weird little toy  looks like Sponge Bob is surfing across the floor when you push it.  Baby Buddy thinks it's a car.

Here's a little more light aqua, and a cautionary tale.

At the end of last summer, I went clothes shopping.  Before I left the house, I unplugged the iron, turned off the radio and the computer, and switched off the lights.  Somehow, I didn't switch off the "fabric shopping" part of my brain.

It's not surprising.  I'm always looking for fabric everywhere I go, from antique malls and thrift shops to book stores and gift shops in national parks.  And clothes are actually made out of fabric.  Plus we touch them, like we touch the bolts in the quilt shops, to see how it feels and if it's good quality.
 

If you've read this blog before, you might know how I feel about novelty prints.  It borders on obsession.  So when I saw this shirt, with cute umbrellas and beach balls (each with a touch of aqua!) my resistance was quite low.  It came home with me.

I must have tried it on, but I have no memory of it.  Maybe I was blinded by the umbrellas.  The first time I wore it for real was a revelation.  It did fit--well, sort of.  The short sleeves were too short, with an annoying cuff that wouldn't stay put.  The shirt itself was not as long as I like, and the cut was very unflattering.  The buttons were ridiculously small.  And worst of all, I look terrible in this color.  What was I going to do with it?

Cue the Psycho music.

 

Wait, you might say.  What about a thrift store?  I was considering that, until I saw a picture of a huge mound of discarded clothes in the Chilean desert.  (Check it out HERE.)  Let's face it, not everybody is going to want a large greenish-blue shirt printed with umbrellas and beach balls.  It could easily end up in a landfill.

Yeah, this was the responsible thing to do.  At least it was 100% cotton.  I got large pieces from the fronts and the back, smaller ones from the sleeves, back yoke, and collar, and I'm keeping the buttons for a baby sweater.  The pile of seams etc. got thrown away.  You can expect to see this fabric in my quilts before too long.

 Meanwhile, back at the ranch house...

My younger daughter sent me this photo of her boys.  They're hanging out in Little Buddy's room, and something is very funny.  These silly guys light up my life.

I hope your life is full of light today, and all week long.  Happy quilting!

Thanks for reading this,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

I'm linking up with some fun linky parties this weekend.  Come join us! 

Finished or Not Finished Friday, hosted by Alycia

TGIFF, hosted by Sandra 

So Scrappy, hosted by Angela 

Oh Scrap, hosted by Cynthia

 

 

Putting the Pieces Together

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

My little buddies are helping me today.  They are really good helpers, for the most part!  Baby Buddy is playing with his train while sitting on the Two Step baby quilt I pieced in December and just got finished.

The pattern is from Amanda Jean Nyberg, and is included in the book Scrap School:  12 All-New Designs From Amazing Quilters.  Jo of the Jo's Country Junction blog was making the big quilt, and it looked so cute it made me want to jump in, too.  Jo finished hers recently, you can see it HERE.

The baby size isn't in the book, so I had to do a little math to decide how many pieces to cut, but that part was easy.  Then I did a little more math to make sure I had roughly the same amount of all the colors.  

Do you buy fabric on vacation?  (Is it really a vacation if there isn't any fabric?)  I bought this piece on a sale table in a quilt shop in Boulder, Colorado back before the pandemic.  I love looking at all the children's winter clothes.  Much more fun than getting the kids bundled up to go outside!

It's teal/aqua month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I persuaded Little Buddy to hold up my aqua crayon for a photo, but he just couldn't stop moving.  That blur in front is his hand.  He's wearing a crown they made at school for the 100th day.  In the background, that furry cushion is Mr. Biddy the cat, curled up sleeping.

I'm really grateful to Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It's definitely expanded my use of color.  Isn't it interesting how many shades and hues there are?  The blocks above were both made from the same aqua solid, each with a different multicolor print.

I'm using up scraps of solid fabrics as well as the multicolor prints.  I ran out of light aqua, so the next two blocks are made of a darker teal, and more of the colorful prints.  The print on the right is a hint to something we did this week.

You guessed it--we worked a puzzle.  But not just any puzzle.  This one is The Quilts of Gee's Bend.  Even though it was 1000 pieces, it was actually easier than most, because we could work on one or two quilts at a time. 

Little Buddy put the last pieces in after school on Wednesday (he's really good at puzzles).  The end was kind of suspenseful.  I bought the puzzle at Goodwill, and you don't always know if all the pieces are there, but thankfully they were.

I love how the names of the maker and the name she gave the quilt were printed on the puzzle.  After we were done, I got out my Quilts of Gee's Bend book, and found a few of the same quilts in it.

 If' you're unfamiliar with Gee's Bend, these quilts were/are made by African American quilters in an isolated part of Alabama.  They have been embraced by the art world for their unusual variations on traditional quilt patterns, and many quilts have been acquired by museums.  What I love best is reading the women's own words about their love of quilting and how it fit into their lives.  The poverty and racism they suffered is heart-breaking, but their creativity is inspiring.

What's inspiring you today?  I can't wait to get my dose of inspiration from the weekly linky parties. 

Stay warm, and have a good week!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap