What's New At the Aquarium, and Color Block Stars

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

A few weeks ago, Hubby and I took the two youngest grandsons to Discovery World in Milwaukee.  The kids loved the aquarium which is part of it.

This must have been in the back of my mind when I pulled out the blue batik printed with shells to use in another project, and remembered I had lots of "under the sea" prints, some already cut into 5 in. squares.  The other project was set aside so I could make this little quilt.

In my mind, it sort of looks like the big tanks at aquariums, with little windows to see the animals.

All sorts of aquatic creatures are here:  turtles, manatees, sting rays, seahorses and other assorted fish.

There are a few surprises as well.  Where did that rubber duck come from?

Hey, what's that kid doing in there?

The pattern is Falling Charms, from Missouri Star.  The quilting is meant to look like gentle ripples.

Dolphins swim around the border.  I bought this yardage from a vendor who sells second hand fabric.

Here's the back, big colorful dots.  I think of them as bubbles.

It has been tough to photograph, since there is not much contrast between the fabrics.  Everything is blue!  It definitely looks better in sun light.

I will be donating it to the GSAFE auction.  GSAFE advocates for safe and affirming K-12 schools for LGBTQ students.  Click HERE for more information.

In other news, I really need to assemble and quilt all those blocks I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but at least I finished the Color Block Stars.  I have a set of 9 going to Many Hands and Many Hearts and a set of 12 I will assemble into a quilt to donate locally.

These three are the last ones for Many Hands and Many Hearts.

And these are the ones I made with novelty prints.  The resulting quilt will go to a child.

Two yellows:

Two aquas, one bluish:

and one greenish:

One purple:

It was very hard to find 15 different novelty prints.  BTW, I counted stars and hearts as novelty.  The purple with strawberries is British made fabric I bought in Scotland.

I also made another green block, with mostly darker greens.

And another dark blue to finish out the set of 12.

These are fun to make, I promise!  If you'd like to make some for the block drive, click HERE for directions.

In other news, we went to Lake Geneva last weekend.  The weather was perfect, except maybe a little too hot for my husband.  He hiked around the lake in two stages, half on Saturday and half on Sunday.  I drove him to the drop off point both days.  I like walking, but definitely don't want to hike 10+ miles each day.  So I went shopping!

It was an easy drive from Lake Geneva to The Stitchery Quilt Shop in Delavan, WI.  It's not a huge shop, but is absolutely crammed with fabric.

Here's what I bought.  You might remember me complaining a little about the lack of purple and orange novelty prints.  I was excited to find these two batiks with spider web prints in the Bolt End bins.  All 5 of the prints in the front of the photo were in the bins, so were discounted.  Each was at least 9 in. wide, which I call an old fashioned quarter yard i.e. a skinny quarter.  The fabrics on bolts in the (small) sale room were no more than $9.99 per yard, with a one yard minimum cut.  I bought a yard of the alphabet fabric. The Dr. Seuss/Horton Hears A Who fabric was my favorite find from the sale room.  I bought all that was left, which was 2.5 yards.  Whee!  I love sale fabric!

After Hubby got back from the hike and took a nap we went on a cruise around the lake.  The old houses built by Chicago's robber barons back in the day were very interesting.  We sat on the upper deck of the ship and enjoyed the breeze and the beautiful views.  All in all, a lovely weekend.

Our young grandsons recently had a day off school for conferences.  I took them to the library, and after we found lots of fun Halloween books we went outside to the library patio to play.  I have bragged on my local library before, and you can expect me to keep doing it, because they are amazing!  They have two little play houses, a play car, toys, and this thing the boys were riding on (which they were really too big for imo).  We had a wonderful morning with books and outdoor play.

I hope you have a terrific day today, doing things you love to do.  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

 

Happy Blocks with Black Prints, and More Color Block Stars

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

What's that hanging on the clothesline?  It's another Happy Blocks quilt top!

Last week Angela, our Rainbow Scrap Challenge fearless leader, challenged us to use black, brown, or neutral scraps to make quilt blocks in October.   I admit, I don't use black fabrics much.  Most of my quilts are made for kids, and I want them to be colorful, cheerful, and fun.

But I do have lots of fun black prints, mostly given to me or bought as part of a box of scraps.

What if I cut them into squares, and surrounded them with bright solid fabrics?  

Eureka!  Happy blocks!  All 30 blocks have different centers.  I can't believe I had so many different prints.  

Bugs, a T. Rex, fireworks, happy faces, lots of dogs, and even an astronaut cat made their way into this quilt.

Once I started I couldn't stop.  I made all the blocks last Saturday, set them into rows on Sunday and Monday, and added the borders on Tuesday.  The blocks are 8 in. finished, and the top is 46 in. x 58 in.  When finished it will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee, to be given to a child in foster care.  

The border is also a black print, of books and book worms.

So thanks to Angela for the idea to use these cute prints. 

And thanks to Cynthia at the Quilting is More Fun Than Housework blog for the current block drive to benefit Many Hands and Many Hearts.  It's called Color Block Stars, and you can click HERE for directions and information.  I'm making the calmer ones for the block drive, and keeping the wilder ones to make a quilt to donate locally.

This week I made red blocks, first a "calmer" one:

and then a wild one, full of novelty prints:

Next was orange, calm first:

Then wild:

I'm mostly making these blocks from the squares in my 3.5 in. drawer, and I knew I'd have trouble finding very many orange novelty prints.  But I was surprised to have the same trouble with red.  I may have to do a little shopping.  (But only a little!) 

The weather has been beautiful lately.  My youngest grandsons and I have been hanging out at the playground in the park after school when time and their sports activities permit.  Little Guy posed for me on the rope bridge.

Buddy had just jumped down from crossing the top of the monkey bars.  They're both just a touch theatrical.

And a little goofy!

There are still some summer flowers here, but they will be gone soon now that it's October.  Soon we'll be ready for pumpkins and falling leaves, cold mornings and rainy days.  But for now we'll enjoy the end of summer while it lasts.  I don't want to miss a minute.

Take care this week, whatever the season or weather.  I hope you can take time for all 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