Last Call for Green

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Hard to believe, but it's the last Saturday in January, the last green week for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  No finishes this week, but lots of green cutting and sewing, and I spent some time organizing as well.

It's not really an RSC quilt, but here's a green and beige project I'm working on for the charity committee at my guild.  I started with a stack of 5 in. squares cut by the charity committee ladies, and a suggestion to make a Split 4 Patch.  It's a Disappearing 4 Patch variation.  I've been following this YouTube video by Teresa Downunder.

There are lots of ways to put the blocks together.  I've only got 20 or so done so far, but I'm using them for leaders and enders until I get further along.  I always like to try fun new methods for making blocks.

I always have to have at least one RSC project that shows off my novelty prints.  This one is often called Stretched Star, and is very simple, just white 2.5 in. cut squares as flippy corners on 5 in. cut squares.  Which doesn't explain why I messed up the tiger block!  I found that square after the other blocks were done, and tried to do it quickly without looking at the others.  Oops!  The corners underneath were already cut off when I realized I goofed, so poor tiger will have to go sideways.

Oh dear, he does not look happy lol.

I hate to say this is my last RSC project for the year, that's tempting fate, but at least it's the last one this month.  I'm making snowball blocks (seems appropriate with this weather) with 5 in. squares in my reproduction scraps.  Repro quilts were my first love back in the day, and I still have loads of fabric.  I found a pattern online, but when I made the sample (first on the left) it looked nothing like I wanted.  The squares for the corners were cut 2.5 in., so I cut the next try from 2 in. squares (the one in the middle).  Still not it.  Lastly, I cut the corners 1.5 in. square, and that was what I was looking for, more of an octagon shape.

Half the centers will be dark and half will be light.  I will put them together like this.  I'm planning to sew them into sets of 4 to make it easier to manage, as it will be a larger quilt.  (Darn those flippy corners!  They keep wanting to flip up even after being pressed!)

These light ones have green corners, and some of the prints have tiny green flowers or green lines.  Just keeping with the theme!

The ones with green centers aren't done yet, here's what I have so far.

My major inspiration for reproduction quilts has always been vintage/antique quilts themselves.  I saw this antique late 19th century quilt at the Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts (Cedarburg, Wisconsin) last March, with my friend Joey, and it stayed on my mind.  The corners are tiny red squares, and we could see they were appliqued down by hand.  I love the way it looks, but that's just too much work for me.  So flippy corners it is.   

I was also inspired by Vridian's Blog (click HERE), her early 1800s blocks are gorgeous! 

One more "quilt" to show:

My grandson "Buddy" made this at school yesterday from Perler beads.  He gave it to me on the way home, and said it looks like the "blankets" I make, and I could put it in my sewing room.  It's a tiny treasure, and I love it.  I might have teared up when he wasn't looking.

The snow is slowly melting, but it isn't gone yet.  Recess at school has been great fun for the kids, especially Buddy.

Our Little Guy has been building train tracks all through the living room.  He's quite the engineer.  Behind him, Snicklefritz the cat likes to look out at the snow.

And on the windowsill is this gorgeous Amaryllis my mom sent us for Christmas!  Flowers blooming in winter seem like a miracle, even indoors.  Thanks, Mom!

So how has your week been?  I hope you're staying warm if it's winter where you live.  And to everyone, have a great week, with at least some time for the things you love to do.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

Baby Quilts, Scraps, and Snow

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Baby Quilts First:

More flannel baby quilts this week!  I'm finishing up my donations for the Community Baby Shower with one pink quilt and one blue one.  The pink one has this little teddy bear print as a plain block.

I cut the kit for this quilt last year, so it was easy to put together.

The back is this puppy print.  I got it and lots of other flannel yardage at a big second hand sale last February.

The second quilt is for a boy--and it says so right on it!  It's a panel I bought at a flea market.  I added the green border.

Both of these quilts have now been washed free of markings and cat hair, which was absolutely necessary.  My cat Snicklefritz LOVED them, and didn't want to get off them even when I was sewing down the binding.

I quilted a diamond grid in the center, and followed the printed lines in the border to quilt the clothesline, etc.  

The print on back says I Love Mommy I Love Daddy.  The remnant I had wasn't quite long enough, so I inserted the "cheater cloth".

This will be the last of the baby shower quilts.  I will probably drop them off this week, after adding a few baby necessities to the bag.  (FYI, click HERE to go to the web page for the event.)

How are you coming along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  All the blocks posted are so inspiring! I started a couple more projects this week, and both are copying blocks other quilters are making.

I copied these Potato Chip blocks from Cathy at Sane Crazy Crumby Quilting.  Hers are 6 in. square, mine are 9 in.  All the pieces in mine are 2 in. x 3.5 in., and I have a small box full, so it's a good way to use them up.  The only hard part is deciding which pieces to put where.

The second set is a shaded rail fence.  I was inspired here by Julie of Julie's Quilts and Costumes, and she generously gave me permission to copy her idea.  I need to work on choosing fabrics for better contrast, though.

Is a UFO still a UFO if someone else started it?  Our quilt guild had a silent auction a few months ago, and I was lucky enough to take home lots of stuff, including some cute 4 patch blocks made with novelty prints (my favorite!). 

When sorting I discovered that there were 2 different sizes of 4 patches.  I finished the larger ones into a small quilt back in November, but I still had 15 of the smaller ones, which were an odd size.  The individual squares were cut at 2 1/4 in., and the small block would finish at 3 1/2 in.  

I didn't really want to cut more 2 1/4 squares to finish this project.  I had a box of 2 in squares that I wanted to use, so I cut the leftover 4 patches down to finish at 3 in.  Then the fun part, pairing up my 2 in. squares to make the rest of the blocks.  Now I have a kit in this cute little box.  I guess it's still a UFO though, until I finish it!

Look what came in my mail this week!  Novelty print scraps, sent by my friend Debby O. in Pennsylvania!

Dogs, pirates, cats, fish, wow!

Plus a vintage inspired Valentine print!  Thanks again, Debby, it will be so much fun sewing these up.

How's the weather where you live?  Here's what it looks like in my neighborhood.  All the houses are surrounded by these "snow forts", made when the plows cleared the streets.  Hubby had to dig the mailbox out.  All told, we got more than 16 inches over several days.

Unfortunately, these little guys couldn't play in it, due to the below zero temps that followed the snow.  So they were extra squirrelly this week.  Little Guy is using his finger to make himself a mustache, and Buddy's feet just can't stop moving.

It's supposed to warm up tomorrow, but not warm enough to melt the snow, so maybe they'll finally get to make snow men and snow angels.

What's ahead for your week?  I hope there's time for the things you love.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Baby Quilts and Green Strings

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It might be too much to say we're snowed in here this weekend, but my husband had to siphon gas out of the car to keep running the snow blower, so he could unblock the driveway and get out to buy more gas!  At least we have power, plus plenty of food, books, and quilt projects.

These little quilts are ready to be donated to the Community Baby Shower going on here this month.  Both are from kits I cut last year from my flannel scraps and yardage.  The pattern is Rail Stepper, by Alycia of alyciaquilts.blogspot.com.  (Click HERE for the link to the free pattern.)  Thanks, Alycia!

Many of the scraps in the pink/purple/yellow quilt are left over from a big quilt I made for my granddaughter years ago.

You can see the block here in the corner.  There are 3 rails (the pink and purple rectangles) plus a longer white print on the left.  All the pieces can be cut from 3.5 in. strips.  I quilted it in a 3 in. grid.  BTW, my favorite print is the purple queen cat at the top.

The back was also left over from my granddaughter's quilt.

It was so nice to have these kits ready to go!  There are only 20 blocks in each quilt and the sewing is easy.

The back of the blue/green quilt was a remnant from the fabric store.

What's better than finishing projects?  Starting new ones!  January is always fun for me, despite the weather, because I'm planning out RSC quilts for the year.  It is possible to fall down a "sequential vortex" though.

I started here this week.  I have a little bin on my cutting table for snippets left over when cutting pieces.  Over a year ago, I saw Janine-Marie of Quilts from the Little House Blog sewing crumbs like these onto adding machine tape, and decided to do that with this year's grocery receipts.  (Click HERE for her year-end post with the strips, scroll down.  Hers are MUCH nicer than mine!)  The top strip is from last week, and the bottom strip is this week's.  Weird how they're nearly the same length even though I didn't cut them, and I didn't buy exactly the same items.  

That started me thinking about this basket full of strings.  Maybe there were some short strings I could use for the grocery strips.  That required sorting.

Sorting is kind of fun.  Now the strings are separated by color.  And I did find some short green strings.

More than that, I started another new RSC project:  string quilts!  I'm sewing the green strings onto a cloth foundation, and using leftover green triangles for the corners.

Here's what I've got so far.  The sewing is fun, and I love "recycling" these skinny scraps.  I don't know how many blocks I'll make, I'll just keep going until the strips are gone or there's not enough variety.  I'm having so much fun with this that I'm making up a parody song to Greensleeves (oh, green strings were all my joy and green strings all my delight..).

The green scraps are a happy contrast with all the snow outside.  We got somewhere around 10 inches just in the last two days.  It's finally stopped snowing (hurray!) but I might still stay inside today and sew.  How about you?

Stay warm, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Let's go virtually visiting!  I'm linking up with these ladies today.

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

Happy Blocks, Happy New Year!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the first quilt finish here at Treadlestitches for 2024!  My grandson aka Buddy is holding up his new quilt.  I was quilting it on New Years Day, and added the label the day after.  (Please forgive the light pollution in the photo!)

Buddy has designed the last 3 quilts I made for him and his little brother, and this one is no exception.  He chose the fabrics for the centers of the Happy Blocks from my stash (we made two in each print, so he could play a matching game) and he laid them out into rows.  I did all the sewing.

Last year was The Year of the Happy Blocks in my sewing room.  I chose that block for one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks each month, which resulted in three baby quilts for charity (30 blocks each) for a total of 90 blocks.  I made some blocks to donate to Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Compassion quilts (didn't count them, or did and can't remember!), plus 56 Happy Blocks in Buddy's quilt.  So that's well over 150 blocks.  Whew!  Good thing they're easy!

And they are so much fun to make!  I used home cut charm squares (5 in. square) for the centers and 2 in. wide strips for the outsides.  Buddy's quilt uses only solids for the 2 in. strips.  The squares were mostly novelty prints, but Buddy chose some dots and stripes etc. to mix it up.  He's a natural.

Buddy added two squares of this Thomas the Tank Engine print, just for his little brother who is a big fan.

Of course little brother had to get into the pictures too!

The backing is a fun Star Wars print.  Both boys are very into Star Wars right now.

The label on the back is another Star Wars print.  I've used a piece of construction paper to cover the part of the label with Buddy's real name on it.

There is rumored to be another grandson quilt on the drawing board, this time for Little Guy.  R2-D2 is Little Guy's favorite Star Wars character.  There might be an R2-D2 panel in the center of the new quilt, given to me by the lovely and generous Colleen T. 

Meanwhile, I'm still making baby quilts for the Community Baby Shower.  More on that next week.

New year, new color!  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge rides again, and January's color is green.  I'm making these 3-D flying geese units.  (Click HERE for the directions.  You'll need to scroll down the page, sorry.)

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to set them.  There are so many options in traditional blocks.  Also, I may mix up the colors in the blocks.  Stay tuned for updates.

Here are my "big scraps" in green, pieces that are smaller than a fat quarter and larger than 6 in. wide.  Looks like some fun stuff in there, I can't wait to dive in!

This week, everything has started going back to "normal, and I am so glad!  I love the holidays, but it's nice to get started on a brand new year.  Happy 2024, everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Thanks VERY much to the quilters hosting the following link ups!  I can't wait to stop typing and go see what everybody else is working on.

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy (Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge) 

Cynthia at Oh Scrap