Flying Geese, Radio Windmill blocks, and the End of the Summer

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

No outdoor photos today, sadly.  The sun is out, but so are the mosquitos.  Ever since the flood they've been getting worse, to the point that swarms of them descend on us just coming in from the car.  Apparently we live in a swamp now.  It even rained a little more last night.

Other than the pesky mosquitos I have very little to complain about.  Most mornings this week I was able to spend at least a half hour sewing before the grandsons arrived, which makes every day even better.  Part of my progress was finishing this little top.

I don't know the name of the block, and couldn't find it in Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  If you know, please tell me!  I made the flying geese last year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and made them into blocks earlier this month.

This project was an experiment.  I came across the directions for the 3-D flying geese in Mary Ellen Hopkin's classic book, It's Okay If You Sit On My Quilt.  She called it Loose Goose.  (Click HERE for my first post on this.)  I wasn't sure what I would do with these geese, but I could practically hear Mary Ellen saying, "Go on, give it a try!"  So I did.

I have to say right now that I do not ever plan to make flying geese this way again.  

Here are my reasons.

1.  It's fiddly.  There is only one seam, which is dead easy, but then it needs to be carefully ironed to come out right.  It might help to have three hands when doing this.

2.  It adds bulk.  Just what we want, more bulk?  Take a look at the back of the quilt top.

3.  I mostly make quilts for kids, so this should have occurred to me, but the blocks being 3-D means loose flaps that might not hold up to multiple machine washings.  To fix this before I set the blocks into the quilt, I top stitched all the loose edges (the short sides of the triangles) down.   3-D which was meant to be a feature was now a bug that required extra work.

I like the look of the quilt, and I'm glad to be using up most of the blocks I made.  I don't regret trying something new, but it's not a technique I want to repeat.  Just my humble opinion, of course.

I do like this set!  There are six vertical rows, with five blocks and five sashings each.  The blocks are 6 in. finished and the quilt will finish at 42 in. x 48 in.  I will donate it to the Children's Advocacy Center.

I'm not sure what a Radio Windmill is, but my Radio Windmill blocks are done for the RSC for August.  These are the left-leaning ones.

And now the right leaning ones!  It was a challenge to find center squares.  I wanted light backgrounds with at least some aqua in the print.  The pieces on the outside helped me use up some of my aqua big scraps.

We had a good week here.  I'm especially happy about that because it was our last week with the kids before they go back to school.  Buddy invented a concoction he calls Sprinkle Pie.  It's a combination of plain yoghurt, blueberries, strawberries, a little sugar, and sprinkles.  He's very proud of it as you can see, and later made some more for his brother.

We went to Discovery World in Milwaukee yesterday, and it was wonderful.  Little Guy especially liked the Curious George section, which is huge.  

All these monkeys had a good time!  And so did I.  

Buddy loved the aquarium best, and even got to touch a ray and another fish.  Little Guy was not tall enough to reach the fish in the "touch me" tank, but later both boys got to gently touch a turtle.

We have had a good summer, but I can't say I'm sorry the fall is coming.  I still get to see the boys after school for an hour or two per day, and I'll have more time to do things besides babysitting.  Like quilting!

Have a wonderful week ahead, whatever you do.  Happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

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

Little Brick Ladders Finished, and Aqua Sisters Choice

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Do you remember this little quilt?  I posted the top almost a month ago.  It's quilted at last, and ready to be donated.

Lizzy and Snicky are posing for me here.  Just after I took this photo, they were wildly attacking each other under the quilt.

I call this pattern Little Brick Ladders, because I call the small rectangles in the blocks (2.5 in. x 3.5 in.) Little Bricks.  Most of them are leftover pieces from 2.5 in. or 3.5 in. strips.

It was fun choosing which pieces to use.  There are 42 blocks of 3 bricks each, so if my math is correct that's 126 pieces.  I don't think I repeated any prints, so it's an absolute chaos of novelties.  The aqua Dr. Seuss print in the border is a nod to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

For the backing, I used the same jelly bean print from the front.  The quilting is my usual serpentine stitch done by Mrs. Pfaff, still going strong after coming home from the repair shop.  For a binding, I chose a darker aqua polka dot from the big scraps basket.

I discovered an embarrassing amount of larger batting scraps in the basement, which is leading to more Franken-batts.  This quilt and the last one I finished both were made with them.  I find I like to piece them by hand at the kitchen table while the grandkids are playing or supper is cooking.

My aqua blocks this week are Sisters Choice.  I divided the scraps roughly into greenish and bluish aqua.

One more greenish one.

Now the bluish ones.

and

Question for you quilters:  If you had a quilting assistant, what would you have them do?  This week I was vaguely remembering a magazine article from a long time ago.  The lady in the article was an art quilter who had received a grant to hire an assistant.  She was wondering what she should have her/him do.  It made me think about what I would choose.

I have lots of small piles of scraps lying around.  The squares and rectangles in the background were cut from some 2.5 in. x 5 in. rectangles I was saving with no real purpose.  Now that they're cut into either 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. or 2.5 in. squares, they need to be sorted by color and filed.  An assistant could do that!

The pile in the front came from the big sale at the museum.  I bought a plastic shoebox of 3.5 in. strips.  Some of the strips were really short, so I set them aside to be trimmed into 3.5 in. squares, etc.  An assistant could do that!

While rummaging through my multicolor fabric drawer, I noticed how messy it was.  An assistant could sort this.  But--I don't have an assistant.  So I sorted it myself, and I am now more familiar with what's here.

I'm also going to sort the small pieces in the previous photo, and cut those 3.5 in. chunks down too.  Maybe I'm my own assistant?  I need to take time to do the non-sewing jobs that make the sewing go smoothly.

Guess what I was doing this morning instead of writing this post?  You're right, I went to the West Bend Farmers Market, and here's the loot I brought back:  12 ears of corn, 2 large green peppers, 10 small to medium cucumbers, a bag of Crimini mushrooms, a bag of fresh green beans, and a bundle of rhubarb.  We are so lucky to have all of this produce near us.  This whole pile cost $31.00.

The cucumbers and peppers will go into my annual pickle relish canning.  The rhubarb will make a sweet/tart pie.

So I guess I bought myself some more work!  Well, it's worth it. 

We're all safe here from last week's flood, although some roads were closed and lots of basements were flooded.  It kept raining on Monday, which meant the kids were indoors too long and we all got cranky.  Thank goodness the sun finally came out, and life is mostly back to normal.

Take care this week!  I hope things are even better than normal for you.  Happy quilting!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

I Heart Aqua Prints, Crumbs, and Old Projects

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

How are your aqua blocks coming along?

What with one thing and another I did not get much done in the sewing room this week except for a few blocks.  These hearts are aqua for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

I was a little surprised at how many aqua scraps I had, especially in novelty prints.  (The top right heart is a dinosaur bones print.  How often do you see something like that?)

I have had some of these scraps for literally years, like the cat print on the bottom right.  Someday I will use the last scrap of it, and I'll be sad.

Favorite block:  Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too.  I still have a lot of this fabric, mostly in smaller pieces.  It will probably turn up in aqua blocks for the RSC for years to come.

Does this ever happen to you?  Sometimes I'll be working on a project and find I've used up all the pieces for the leaders and enders project I'm doing at the same time.  Then I'll be hunting around in the sewing room for something else to use as leaders and enders, and accidentally (!) start a new project.  

That's what these crumb blocks are.  I have a small bin on my cutting table for "crumbs", those small bits that can't be cut into any of the pieces I save.  For me, that means anything smaller than a 2 in. square.  

When the little bin gets full, I sort the pieces by color, and store them in a small bag inside a larger bag of strings the same color.  (The aqua crumbs are getting out of hand!)  I start the crumb blocks with the little pieces, and finish them with strings from the bag.  I only got three made this week, but they were fun to do.  Plus they used up small scraps and strings!  This will be a long term project, with no pressure to finish soon.

I still have lots of block sets I made for last year's RSC, like these 3-D flying geese.  (Click HERE for the post with a tutorial.)  It was still in the block bin because I couldn't decide what I was doing with them. 

I ended up going back to my original idea and putting them together like this.  It's aqua month, so I did aqua blocks first of course.  Maybe I'll get a couple of 2024 quilts done before we start putting together the 2025 RSC blocks.

It's been hot here this week, 92F yesterday, so we've done some inside things, like crafts.  Buddy had fun making these Minecraft and Super Mario items from Perler beads.  They're assembled on a hard plastic base and melted with an iron.

My hubby made this one.  Do you think he might have been influenced by living with a quilter?

Whatever the weather at your house, I hope you are having a good week, with time to do the things you love.  Like quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

  

August is Aqua

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Well, look what "grew" in my garden this week!  It's a little nine patch quilt, ready to be donated.

Most of the 2.5 in. (unfinished) squares came from a bag I picked up on the free table at our quilt guild.  There were lots of solid and print squares, so it made sense to combine them.  I call this one Nine Patch A and B, because there are two kinds of blocks.  Block A has 5 solid squares and 4 print squares, and Block B has 5 print squares and 4 solids.

The border is a Sesame Street print.  This is what was left after I used it on a previous quilt.  Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Zoe are skating and jumping rope etc., having a good time outside.

The binding is made from a scrap!  I had to piece seven strips together for a quilt 36 in. x 42 in., but it was worth it to use up the scrap and get this color.  From now on I'm calling this shade Elmo Red.  The back came from the big sale at the museum.

The quilting is my usual serpentine stitch in a two inch grid.  Mrs. Pfaff and I are on a roll finishing up some small tops.

August is aqua!  It's the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  My aquas seem to divide into greenish ones and blueish ones, so I made blocks of each.  Above are the greenish aqua Bright Hopes blocks, 6 in. finished.

These are the blueish Bright Hopes.  Lots of fish, bugs, frogs, and even Hello Kitty.

There were some fun fabrics to piece into big bowties, too, like dinosaurs and Scooby Doo.

More fish here, even Baby Shark (sorry if that brings up an earworm for you like it does for me!).

It was just like potato chips, I couldn't stop making Bow Ties.  Some of these were not strictly aqua, but it won't matter when they're put into quilts.

Favorite block of the week:

I had never seen this fabric before.  I just love that frog with a banjo.  You never know what fun prints you're going to find when you collect scraps!

My little rascals went to Vacation Bible School this week.  They're posing in a pretend magnifying glass.

After VBS on Thursday we went to a park with lots of structures to climb on.  Buddy is getting ready to launch himself onto some monkey bars.

Little Guy got into the act, too.  It was good for them to get out and get some exercise, after being stuck indoors due to the rain on Wednesday.

I'm glad to have made some inroads on the UFOs and RSC blocks this week, since I don't know how much I will be able to do next week.  I have unfortunately acquired a summer cold.  I rate it 0/10, would not recommend.  Avoid it if you can!

Have a lovely week!  I hope it's filled with all the things you love to do.  Including quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Lions and Tigers and Bears and Purple

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

It's a rainy day, so no outside photos, sorry.

At last, a finished quilt!  By some miracle, I got a little extra time this week.  Mrs. Pfaff and I made short work of this little 40 in. x 48 in. Happy Blocks quilt.

I showed the top on the blog back in March.  It was waiting for quilting when Mrs. Pfaff had to go into the shop.  In my head I'm calling it Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My.

The pieces in the center of the Happy Blocks are animal prints cut from panels and striped fabrics, and bordered by solid colored scraps.  The squares were cut at 4.5 in., and the outside strips at 2.5 in. wide, making blocks that finished at 8 in. square.  

I'm donating this quilt to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.  In my experience, most kids love animals, so I hope an animal quilt can brighten a child's day.

Wait, we've got a moose, a skunk, an elephant, birds, butterflies, etc., but where are the lions?

Here they are, on the back!  Along with zebras, giraffes, more elephants, turtles, and even more tigers!

I bought this fabric at a second hand sale, and it fit perfectly for the back.  The copyright on the selvedge is 1998.  Older cotton fabrics (in good condition!) can be great for backing, since they are usually 2 to 3 inches wider than today's fabric.

It's hard to believe this is the last Saturday in July.  The summer is speeding past!  I had to push hard to get my purple blocks done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, since I know I won't have much time next week.

Sisters Choice is first, just five blocks, but with lots of purple scraps.

Next are the heart blocks.  I was surprised I had so many different shades of purple in the scraps.

There are TWO ghost print blocks.  The one on the upper left came from the box my friend gave me two weeks ago.  I'm already working on those scraps, Joey!  I just need to sew faster!

My favorite block this week is one of those prints that looks purple with blue fabrics and blue with purple.  I call them chameleons.  It's a cat print, I think it's by the late Laurel Burch.  It won't matter what color it reads when it ends up in a scrap quilt.

I did get the peaches canned last Saturday.  We also had peach crisp and some for eating.  I already had peach jam from last year, so I didn't bother with it.

Yesterday we met our oldest daughter and her kids at a lake.  The boys would hardly get out of the water, even for lunch!

Buddy was looking for fish.  There were some very tiny ones.  He was too busy to pose.

All of us are well here, and I hope you are the same.  Have a lovely week!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap