Friday, June 14, 2024

Rainbows and Blue Skies

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Here's my small Rainbow Rails quilt, finished just in time for Pride Month, and hanging out on my front porch.

I got the pattern from American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, issue #188, seen above.  Of course I didn't make it exactly the way the pattern says (do I ever?) but it was great inspiration.  Plus it used up lots of my light/low volume strips and solid colored strips.

How do you like this artistic swirl?  It's brought to you by Snicky the cat, almost seen here in the middle.

It was fun putting all these light prints in one quilt.  They usually get to be the backgrounds, hardly ever the starring roles.

The back is this Kim Schaefer fabric with lots of cute short words.  I finished up with a rainbow binding of more leftover strips.

Blue month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is nearly half over!  Yikes, time goes so fast!

Some blue rail fence blocks got sewn up.  I'm enjoying using both light and dark blues this month, it worked out well in these blocks.

These strips sewn on grocery receipts use all kinds of blue crumbs.  I have WAY more dark blue scraps than light blue, so I just mixed some light blue pieces in the dark blue strips and made one with just light blues.  Still not sure what I'm making with these.  Hope I figure it out by the end of the year!

So, this happened!  Again!  It was the big annual sale at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts.  Fellow quilters, you would have loved it!  I stocked up, as I guess you can see.  The column on the left is flannel, the rest are regular cottons.  It took me all day yesterday to wash and fold it all.

In the last several years, I have found that I really like buying and using second hand fabric in my quilts.  For one thing, it is SO much cheaper, which I appreciate since I'm giving away 90% of the quilts I make.  Also, it's like a treasure hunt finding kid-friendly fabric at flea markets, yard sales, etc., and I love when I find good pieces and "rescue" them.  It's recycling, right?

I'm going to try something new.  From June 2024 (now) to June 2025, I'm making it my mission to use mostly second hand fabric.  (It's not like I don't have any, lol!)  If I need to buy any new fabric, it will just be what I need for a specific project.  No stash building at the quilt store.  Wish me luck!

In other news, we had a perfect day at the ball park.  Hubby and I joined our eldest daughter, son-in-law, grandson and granddaughter at Sunday's Kenosha Kingfish game.  It was so much fun.

Even better than the game was the pregame show by this wonderful gymnastics group.  Our lovely and talented granddaughter Miss E. is on the far left as they're warming up.

Our weather here has been lovely, and we appreciate it so much after our cold winters.  I'm going to get a glass of iced tea and sit out on the porch.

Have a lovely week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap










12 comments:

  1. I love your Rainbow Rails! It is a Happy Quilt. The blues scraps are looking good.

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  2. Your rainbow is so pretty! Nothing wrong with second hand fabric. I have been known to pick some of that up from time to time.

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    1. Thanks, Vicki! I was doing an inventory last night while putting the "new" fabric away. Yikes! I've either got to slow down the buying or sew faster!

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  3. Rainbow Rails is such a pretty finish, Sylvia. I love it there in the sunshine. I always check out fabric at the thrift stores and have found some gems. Isn't it a fun family outing to watch the grandchildren at these events. I too love it.

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  4. Rainbow Rails is delightful, Sylvia! I love the way each colorful strip is surrounded by two low volumes - it really makes the pretty color stand out. You are really good at finding usable secondhand fabric, so I have no doubt that you'll achieve your goal! The baseball game looks like a lot of fun, too!

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  5. Your quilt is the perfect way to honor Pride Month. Your blog had me back in Wisconsin. We lived in Appleton for 8 years before my husband retired and we returned to the Boston area. I made several treks to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. I served with their Executive Director, Melissa Wraalstad on SAQA's Board. I also had work in several exhibitions in Kenosha.

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  6. Lovely Rainbow Rails quilt! You certainly know how to find the best second hand fabric. You have a super collection of novelty fabrics- I would love to come and see your wonderful stash- pitl I live so far away!

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  7. Locely projects, and great purchases too.

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  8. A finished quilt, some BLUE blocks, and a fabric haul, too? Way to go, Sylvia! Fabric bargains are the best!

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  9. Snicky the cat is pretty artistic!!! love that Rainbow quilt - that's a great way to show off those bright colors!

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Thanks for reading! Post a comment--I want to know what you think!