Flannel-palooza, or Fluffy Side Up

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Today's blog is brought to you by Snicklefritz the cat, official quilt tester.  Three of these little flannel quilts will be going to the Community Baby Shower early next week.

I've been on a flannel kick lately, inspired by the winter and by an overabundance of the soft fluffy fabric. And what's better to make out of flannel than baby quilts?

Two of the quilts were made with these Tumbler shapes, cut with the Accuquilt die cutting machine.  This scrappy one has blue and green prints for the darker pieces, and various lights.

There are lots of fun prints here, from frogs and bugs to dogs and crocodiles.  I think this is the last of that Baby Boy print.  

I'm hoping someone's little guy will find this quilt warm and cuddly.

The second tumbler quilt is a classic two-color quilt in yellow with a green binding.

Duckies!  And a soft plain yellow.  It's easy to tell which side is the right side with printed flannel, but it's harder with solid colors.  Both sides are soft, of course, but there really is a difference.  I had to keep checking to make sure the fluffy side was on top.

Each of these quilts use 48 tumblers.  I cut 24 each of lights and darks for the scrappy one, and 24 each of duckies and solid yellow for the second one.

Once the rows were sewn together, I straightened the edge with a long ruler and a rotary cutter.  The quilts measure 33 in. x 35.5 in. finished.

More duckies on the back!  I got this fabric at the quilt group silent auction last fall.  It came from the stash of a very nice lady (Mary G.) who had passed away.

The third flannel quilt is a Trip Around the World, and it started like this, as a kit I cut from scraps.

I know some (most?) people strip piece this pattern, but I sew it from individual squares.  I keep track of the rows like this, pinning them to the makeshift design wall with paper row number labels.  It helps to keep me on track, especially since I don't usually sew for long blocks of time.

Plus there are furry distractions laying on the pieces!

In the end it came out okay.  The pieces are 5 in. squares (cut), and the quilt finished at 40.5 in. square.

And guess what the theme is---

That's right!  Even more duckies! 

The back is this gorgeous Hoffman print.  I don't remember where/when I acquired it, but I wish I had a whole bolt.

The Community Baby Shower contributions are due at the end of the month, which is Tuesday, believe it or not.  Since two of these quilts are meant for boys, I might try to make a pink one in the spirit of equality if I have time.  Plus the RSC color for February is pink!

In other news, here's my last dark blue Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for January.

I made these Capital T blocks a few years ago from reproduction 1800s fabrics.  The plan had always been to quilt them by the block, so now I'm finally getting going on it.

There will be some handwork, but I don't mind at all.

We're expecting snow here, so I'd better wind this up and get to the store before it starts.  I don't want to be stuck in the house like this guy!  (He wiggled out right away, of course.)

If we do get snowed in, we'll at least have plenty of chocolate brownies my Little Guy and I made yesterday.  Bet you can tell his favorite thing is licking the spoon!

I hope you have time for your favorite things (and people and animals!) today.  Happy Quilting!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

A Scraptastic Week

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

First finish of 2023, my Rainbow Streak of Lightning!  The blocks were made last year as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Many thanks to Hubby for holding it up for the photo.  I apologize for the photos, it's gray and dismal outside so we'll make do with inside shots.

Snicklefritz the kitten is posing on the quilt.  He was NO HELP when I was quilting the borders and sewing on the binding yesterday.

The back is this fun dotty print, and I made a rainbow binding with strips from the parts department (drawers in the closet).

It's a twin sized quilt, bigger than my usual.  I'm hoping to give it to a group that works with kids in foster care.

In my morning sewing time (before my Little Guy gets dropped off for babysitting) this little top was sewn.  It was quick to do because I had already it cut out as a kit, and sorted the squares.

In my head I'm calling it Dinosaurs Around the World.  I keep thinking I've seen the last of this dino fabric, but more strips keep popping up.

This project was also brought to you by the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, dark/bright blue.  Another one for the quilting pile.

Speaking of challenges, my quilt group had a scrap bag challenge that was due this week.  Here's what we started with:

We had a sheet with the rules, deadline, etc., and a bag of random scraps, mostly smaller pieces.

Here's my pile spread out.  I liked a lot of these fabrics individually, but to my mind they just didn't go together.  I have a tough time with random.  I love sorting scraps into happy groups.  I knew a string quilt would be a good option, but it took me a long time to figure out what to do.

This was plan A.  I traced a template out of a book for the blue pieces, and sewed the scraps onto triangles cut from phone book pages.

Can you see the problem above?  When I sewed the triangles together, all the points on the blue pieces were blunted.  Either the template was printed wrong in the book, or I messed it up tracing and cutting (probably me).  Not the end of the world, of course, but not what I wanted.  Back to the drawing board.

So here's Plan B.  I had used up a lot of the strips already in Plan A, so I used my own fabrics to fill in the colors.  I had always wanted to make a rainbow string quilt, so that will be off my bucket list when I get it quilted.  It will be a donation, maybe a wheel chair throw or something.  I still have pieces left over (of course!).

More scraps!  Our local quilt shop had a big sale, and of course I participated.  They also keep a huge basket full of scraps.  Customers can fill a bag with their choice of scraps for less than the cost of a yard of fabric.  I chose colors I always run out of, like orange and purple, plus some fun prints.

We have lots of fun around here!  My youngest grandsons, whom I call Buddy and Little Guy, are "working" independently here.  Buddy was drawing a picture, and Little Guy was covering a toy dinosaur with play dough (not sure why).  Did you notice Buddy's hair?  He's in wrestling this year, and his team has haircuts like this for tournaments.  I guess they look fierce?  (He just looks cute to me.)

My Little Guy and I gave the dinosaur a bath after the play dough dried.  He did a good job scrubbing.  We might have to make more play dough.

I hope you're feeling well and having fun this week.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Fits and Starts, But Mostly Starts

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

New year, new quilt projects!  Here's a fun new project for this year.  I'm using dark and bright blue on these blocks, since that's the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, my favorite internet challenge of all time.

I stole this idea from a lovely quilt blogger, and I can't even remember who!  The blue pieces are cut 3.5 in. x 6.5 in. and of course I cut them from some of my favorite novelty fabrics.  (Will I ever use up all that dinosaur fabric?  It's probably going to take a few more years.)  The white pieces are cut 2 in. x 6.5 in.

Update:  The pattern for this quilt comes from Maryquilts.com, and is called Forest Bricks.  You can find a link to the free pdf on this page (Click HERE).  Thanks to alert reader Connie in VA for the info.  I saw it on Sara's blog My Sewing Room.  You can see hers HERE.  Her quilt is named Scrappy Bricks.

My plan here is to make at least two toddler-sized quilts for donation, while using up some of the apparently endless supply of 3.5 in. strips in the drawer.

Speaking of endless supplies, the local chain store is having a big flannel sale, so I looked through my flannel bins in the basement.  Holy overstock, Batman!  Something must be done!  First, I'm staying away from the sale.  Second, I put three kits together for cozy baby quilts.

This one was easy--the strips were already cut.  I grabbed the purple and pink strips, plus light strips that would go with them.  This will be a rail fence quilt for a little girl.  There are a lot of strips, it could make two quilts, we'll see.  Most of these are leftovers from a big quilt I made for my granddaughter.

The first die I got for my Accuquilt cutter was this large tumbler.  I went nuts with it, cutting up all kinds of fabric, but especially flannel, and made several quilts.  Most of these tumblers were already cut, just needed a few more solid yellows.  I think the aqua will make either a border or a binding.

More duckies!  I cut a Trip Around the World baby quilt kit from 5 in. strips and remnants.  These are easy to cut and piece, but it always takes me forever to decide which fabric goes where.  It's especially tough if I only have a small amount of a print.

Since when did phone books start giving life advice?  I'm working on a string quilt (more on that next week) and using phone book pages as paper foundations.  It was fun to find this encouragement for having a hobby.  Quilting definitely helps with stress and gives great opportunities for social interaction.  Not sure about the exercise bit, though.

This page had Reasons to get a Pet.  I can get on board with pets being good companions, etc., but I'm not sure if our kitten relieves more stress than he causes.

Here is Snicklefritz, attacking my Rainbow Streak of Lightning quilt.  In spite of this little wild guy, I got the center quilted, just need to quilt the borders and bind it.

 There was a mystery in the sewing room this week.  My reliable treadle was suddenly having terrible tension problems.  It would be working fine, I would step away to press or cut, and when I started sewing again the tension would be messed up.  As always, I went through my checklist for tension problems, including rethreading the machine.  When I did that, it went back to normal.  Have you guessed what it was?  That little cat was playing with the thread and partially unthreading the machine!  It wasn't obvious, so I didn't notice. Finally I caught him in the act.  I sent him off to play with hubby for a while.

Oh, no, somebody's in the tunnel!  My little grandson and I play with his beloved trains every morning. Sometimes we use this old book as a tunnel for the trains to go through.  But not when there's a giant cat in the way!

Seriously, it may not be relaxing having a kitten around, but it is a lot of fun.

I hope you have fun this week, doing whatever you love to do.

Cheers for reading,

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

 

 

Old and New and Blue

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Happy 2023!

The Christmas quilts are washed up and ready to put away for another year.  It took me all week in fits and starts, but I got the decorations down and packed up, with a little help from my Little Guy.

Isn't it fun to start new quilts?  Every year, I enjoy doing projects following The Rainbow Scrap Challenge (Click HERE for information).  Sometimes I choose my projects based on something I just really want to make.  A few weeks ago I showed an antique quilt made with concentric rounds of 4 patches.  I loved that idea.  Since the RSC color for January is dark or bright blue, I started with these.  (Click HERE for the post with the antique quilt.)  

Sometimes my RSC projects are based on scraps I need to use up.  Two of my projects this year come from this:

The two large bins on the bottom are filled with 5 in. wide strips of bright fabrics.  The shoe box sized bin on top holds 5 in. squares.  These pieces need a home.  (Maybe several homes?)

The boxes are absolutely stuffed full.

First, I cut a simple baby quilt, just out of the squares.

Here they are, spread out.  This will be a Trip Around the World, and will measure 40.5 in. square before borders.  Having it already cut will make it easy to use for leaders and enders around other projects.  Most pieces came from the bin, but I did have to cut some squares from larger scraps.

Here's a quilt I had my eye on.  It's called Row Houses, by Judy Gauthier.  I'm going to make all my houses the same size.

The pattern is from this book, and you won't believe how easy it is!

Just one seam turns a square into a house.

The house are sewn side by side, and then machine appliqued onto a background.  These are my test blocks.

My houses will be made mostly from novelty prints.  These are what I got done--dinosaurs, cats, baseballs, a singing chicken, an alligator, a toy boat, Clifford, and Marvin the Martian.  If the strips are relatively short after I cut the square, I cut up the rest of the strip into useful pieces.  Maybe the bins will be less full?

That's the new stuff.  What about the old?  Here's my last RSC project for 2022. (We won't talk about earlier years!)  I call it Rainbow Streak of Lightning.   It's spray basted and ready to quilt.  I should get some time with it this weekend.

Want to play with pretend clay?  Littlest grandson and I had fun this week.  He made a clay birthday cake for his dinosaur, complete with candles.  The dino couldn't eat the cake until we sang happy birthday and he blew out the candles, which of course were not really lit.

Our Little Guy and Snicklefritz the kitten love each other, but they do need a referee.  Cats don't want to be hugged around the neck.

The tiny rescue kitten we brought home last month has really grown!  He alternates between running around the house like a maniac, and passing out asleep on laps and chairs.  It's fun having a kitten again.

The new year always feels like a fresh new start.  Have fun this year.  And every year!

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