1930s Irish Chain and Boston Commons: Hubby for the Win

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  It's the last Saturday of the month, so time for a show and share of some antique quilts from my collection.

Some background information:  My husband and I don't like all the same things.  I love quilts and fabric and yarn, and he reads math books for fun.  (Seriously, he really does.  Can you imagine?)

We both like going to flea markets and antique malls, and along the way I have shamelessly bent his ear about antique quilts.  I didn't really think he was listening (I mean, am I listening when he talks math?), but apparently he was.

One day several years ago when I was busy, he went to an estate sale, and came back with this Irish Chain quilt.  He seemed a little worried about it, that maybe it wasn't something I'd want, but I soon cleared up that confusion!  It's a lovely 1930s quilt, hand quilted, in perfect shape.  It looks as though it's never been used.

He didn't get the maker's name, unfortunately, but we know the quilt was made right here in the town we live in.  There are only 4 fabrics in the quilt:  the print on the front, the print on the back, and two slightly different blue solids for the piecing and the binding.

I was a little bit afraid to ask how much it cost, but inquiring minds want to know, so I did.  He paid $25.00!!!  I might have cracked the house foundation jumping up and down.

With that success under his belt, he next came home with this Boston Commons quilt.  (It's even got purple, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month!)

In this photo, you can see how the corners were done.  Also, there are solid purple squares and solid green squares surrounding the random scrap squares, with white as a background.  The edge is sort of a try at a scalloped border.

The white squares, all eleventy-million of them, were cut and sewn individually.

The back is white also, and the quilt has been machine quilted.  It has a very thin batting, maybe even a flannel sheet, which was common in the 1930s.  The condition is good, but not perfect.  There are a couple of places where seams have popped or raveled out.

This time, hubby knew he'd done well.  He got it for the low low price of $40.00.  

Both of these quilts are in this book:  Warman's Vintage Quilts, Identification and Price Guide, by Maggi McCormick Gordon.  I knew Maggi through the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts.  She came out one day and went had a lovely time going through my quilts and tops.  Many of the quilts in the book came from Wisconsin collectors.

My Boston Commons quilt even made the back cover!

So many thanks to my dear hubby for finding these lovely ladies of the past.

I've often thought I'd like to make a Boston Commons quilt, but I'm not sure how difficult it would be.

I bought this classic book back when I was fairly new to quilting.  It's The Boston Commons Quilt, by Blanche and Helen Young, copyright 1983.  The cardboard templates kind of scared me off.  I kept the book anyway, hoping I'd figure it out someday.

Recently I saw a fun quilt in this book, Easy Layer-Cake Quilts 2, by Barbara Groves and Mary Jacobson of Me and My Sister Designs.

It's called Around the Block, and isn't exactly a Boston Commons, but it's similar, and made with scraps, which I love.  I might have to adjust it a little to get the look I want.

Here's the piecing diagram from the book.  Maybe it wouldn't be too complicated if I took it a row at a time?

With July coming quickly to an end, I had to get this purple crayon made to go with the other RSC blocks. 

There are so many different shades of purple!  These crayons have yummy names like Grape and Wild Berry.

In other news, we went camping in the Wisconsin Dells last weekend.  Whenever I go camping, it rains, and this was no exception.  We had a huge thunderstorm, but we were safe and dry in our cabins.  This is my favorite way to camp, no more tents for me!

All of our kids and grandkids were able to come, and we had such a good time.  This is only part of the family contingent.  The guy in the middle with the red shirt is my hubby, formerly Quilt Buyer Extraordinaire.  He's retired from that job now that I've stopped actively collecting, and is resting on his laurels.

If you go to the Dells, you are almost required to take a ride on a Duck boat, an amphibious vehicle that dates to World War II.  This is the view of the Wisconsin river, just before our driver drove us right into it.  We made a big splash, and the kids loved it.

How was your week?  I hope you had time for fun, family, and quilting.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Just a note--I know I'm going to be too busy this coming week to get a blog written by the weekend.  So I'll be back on the blog Aug. 12-13.  In the meantime, Happy Quilting!

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy 

 

 

Razzle Dazzle, Dinosaurs, First Quilt, and Waffles

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's purple time for my Razzle Dazzle quilt!  July is purple month at my favorite internet quilt along, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I found a few purple novelty prints, including the very hungry caterpillar,

and some little purple bunnies.  For the rest, I had a handful of Kaffe Fassett scraps, some dots and stars, and a floral or two.

I haven't had much time for sewing lately.  Summer fun is taking over.  In Wisconsin, we have to enjoy the nice weather while we have it.  Even when the pool water is a little cold.

Now that the COVID isolation is more or less over (for now?), we had a chance to finally go to the Field Museum in Chicago.  I've been promising my Buddy to take him to see the dinosaurs, especially Sue the T Rex that we've read about in several books.  Above, the family poses inside a life size Quetzalcoatlus model.  What an amazing animal this must have been.

These little guys loved everything, especially all the exhibits that say, "Please touch".

I mentioned last week that my Buddy had been helping me lay out a quilt.  This week, he decided he wanted to try laying one out himself.  He used my box of 5 in. squares to design a quilt for his little brother, who loves Thomas the tank engine.  He asked me to take a picture of him with his "first quilt". 

He and I organized the rows just like I usually do, with slips of paper and clothespins.  The Thomas fabrics on the right are being considered for borders.  I'm hoping I can persuade him to make the quilt wider.  He really didn't understand when I tried to tell him it would be smaller after sewing because of the seam allowances. 

This whole project just warms a grandma's heart.

In other scrappy news, look what I won at quilt group!  Our amazing block of the month organizer, Nancy Queen of Scraps, has been showing us fun ways to use up our bits and pieces and make great quilts.  Each month, she gives out a block pattern.  All of us who make the blocks turn them in, and a winner's name is drawn.  This month it was me!  I won 21 waffle blocks (one is not pictured).  I will have to make some more blocks to get this up to a larger size, which will be fun.

So there's lots of sewing to be done, and lots more summer fun to be had before the kids go back to school.

I hope you're having fun, no matter the weather or the season.  Have a great week!

Thanks for reading this,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with 

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Positivity 2022 Progress #2

 It's a top!  I got my Positivity homework done by the deadline!  It was a near run thing.

This week, before the kids got here in the morning, I was setting the blocks into rows, and then putting the rows together.  I sewed the border on yesterday evening.  It needs a good press before quilting, though.

The border wasn't part of the original directions, I just wanted one.  So for my quilt, I used 63 blocks, set in 9 rows of 7 each, and added 4 in. finished borders.  This made the size come out the same as if I had made 80 blocks and no border.  The math actually worked out!  The quilt will be 64 in. x 80 in. when finished (or pretty close).

The colors I chose were blue, green, and aqua.  And no novelty prints!  I really had to search through all the bins and boxes to find enough variety.  There are batiks, Kaffe Fassett prints, vintage fabrics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and even a light reproduction print or two.  The handiest fabric I had for the backgrounds was a roll of light 5 in. strips I bought on vacation last summer.  In the end, I used what I had on hand except for the border, which was purchased just for this quilt.

I'm thinking of quilting a grid across the top, following the seams, with something curvy in the border.  I'm hoping this will be a calming quilt, for people facing a difficult time.  

Thanks so much to Preeti for coming up with such a fun and easy way to make a block, and such very clear instructions.  Making the blocks has been a breeze.

What if I made it as one of my donation quilts for kids?  What if it was even scrappier?

Sew much fun!  I used 2 matching light charm squares, 2 matching red charm squares, a light 2.5 in. strip and a red 2.5 in. strip, all from the parts department.  These blocks remind me of the folded paper chains we made with gum wrappers in elementary school.  (Click HERE to go to a web page with examples, and even instructions.)  I was never able to really grasp how to fold them right so the chain didn't fall apart, but the guy on the web page holds the Guinness World Record for the longest chain, so he really knows his stuff.

So I just added another project to the long list of projects.  I will never be bored.  I might have to go buy some more thread, though.

Congratulations to everybody for getting this far on the Positivity quilt.    

Linking up with Bernie at Needle and Foot.

Pickle relish and Positivity blocks!

Summer Wild Life

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

As I sit here writing this morning I'm watching a parade of animal life, wild and domestic, crossing the patio.  So far there were a young rabbit, a pair of yellow goldfinches, and a neighbor's orange cat.  This robin in the tree was very angry with me when I went out onto the porch, and just kept hurling curses my way.

This is why--his (or her) family was only a few feet away, in a nest over the outside light.  (Don't worry, we never turn it on.)  The parent birds have been looking after their hatchlings, and warning us off.  We've seen the baby birds a time or two, when they stretch up to be fed.  It's hard to stay away, but we don't want to interfere.

One of the reasons for the animal/bird visits could be our raspberry vines.  They're even invading my husband's wild flowers.  

My young grandsons and I pick berries every morning.  I think we've got about one week left until they're gone.  These are a black raspberry variety, that are a shiny black when ripe.  If you pick them when they're not quite ripe, they're a dark purple.

Speaking of purple, it's purple month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I got these 16 patches done.  

It's been great using the multicolor prints in this project.  Some of them, like this one, would work with a couple of different solids.

I have tried for literally YEARS to find a way to use this fabric.  The background is a light blue, there are red and gold lines running through it, plus purple and darker blue splotches.  I didn't choose this print, it chose me, or rather I got it in a batch of scraps I bought second hand somewhere.  At least some of it has a home now.

I love buying quilt shop scraps!  (This could be why I get weird stuff from time to time?)  Last Saturday, I went to a Wisconsin Quilt Study Group meeting, and treated myself to a quilt shop visit on the way home.  The shop is Ye Olde Schoolhouse in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.  Want to see what was in the bag?

All this!  There were several large pieces, lots of strips, a few small scraps, and some strings.  Lots of variety, good quality reproduction prints, and a whole bag for less than the price of a yard of fabric.

More treats!  I've been thinking about the book for a few months, and finally decided to bring it home with me.  And I love Quiltmania magazine.  It's expensive (!) but jam packed.  I might need to get a subscription.

I've got a plan for these Switch Plate blocks, and my soon-to-be first grade grandson wanted to help me sort them.  He was very good at it, and volunteered to help whenever I'm putting blocks together.   I will definitely take him up on it!

To me, this looks like a colorful card catalog.  I'll show more of it as it gets done.

The past few days have been rainy and cool, but we did have sunshine early in the week.  These two always want to pose on this bench when we go for a walk in the park.  Their silliness makes me happy.

And finally, Happy 17th Birthday today to G., my oldest grandson.  Believe it or not, this is a photo AFTER his haircut.  It has been a joy to have him around this summer.  He's got me listening to his music, and his grandpa watching Korean zombie shows.

How was your week?  I can't wait to go to the linky parties and see what everybody else has been up to.  I hope you have time for all the things that make you happy in the week ahead.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

A Finish, Purple Blocks, Berries, and a Little Thief

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I finished a quilt on Monday.  And it wasn't a baby quilt!  It was one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects from 2021, a twin-sized reproduction quilt.

I got started late in February on these blocks using my 1800s reproduction scraps.  The pattern, called Poinsettia Star, comes from the fabulous Bonnie Hunter's book Scraps and Shirttails II, as part of her Carolina Christmas quilt.  The star shapes (aka petals) were in the color of the month, with an additional color as an accent in the squares, plus a lot of light prints for background.

Here's all the blocks, laid out on the floor.  I didn't make a top for this quilt.  Instead, I divided it into sections so I could finish it quilt-as-you-go, with no handwork.

If you'd like to know how I do that, I've written a tutorial using this quilt as an example.  A couple of years ago I tried my hand at writing something similar, and got bogged down in prose and too many pictures.  This time, I've simplified things.  If you'd like to see it, click HERE.

For backing, I used some of my collection of Toile de Jouy prints.  I specifically chose the ones with patriotic and historical American images.  I only had about a yard of each, and two of the pieces are the same print, just in different colors.

Flags, covered wagons, Lady Liberty and George Washington!

A great quilt to finish on July 4th.

So that's the last of the RSC quilts from 2021!  (Never mind the RSC quilts from earlier years.  I've got more work to do there!)

For this year, the lovely purple scraps have come out to play as the color of the month for July.

I don't seem to have very many purple novelty prints.  How dreadful!  Something must be done!

In other news, our raspberries are starting to get ripe.  The little boys and I have been picking them in the mornings.  It's not cold out, we're wearing sweatshirts to keep the mosquitos off.  They've been awful this year.  (The mosquitos, not the boys!)

Very few of the berries end up back in the house.  I wonder why?

It happened again!  Can you tell what this terribly blurry picture is?  I caught this striped culprit in the netting that goes over my little strawberry patch.  A couple of weeks ago I caught the same one or its relative in just the same way.  This time, I took a quick photo before cutting the little scoundrel loose.  Next year, I'm going to work on a better system to keep the sneaky rodents and birds out.

For now, we're going to make the most of all the pleasures of the season.

Have a happy week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap