Sew Happy!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Yesterday, I finally finished the last Heart quilt from last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It was sunny in the afternoon and 40 degrees F, so I hung it outside for a photo.

Here's what the backyard looks like this morning!  The snow is coming down thick and fast.  I don't have anywhere I have to go today, so I will stay inside and enjoy how pretty it is.

I made this quilt with the last heart blocks, even though there wasn't a good mix of colors.  There are 7 red hearts and 6 yellow ones out of the 20 total blocks.  I didn't want to make any more blocks and I refused to have any leftovers to put in the orphan pile, so I tried to balance the colors out and left it at that.

The sashings were cut from a polka dot fabric I bought in Oklahoma.  The cornerstones and border are the same fabric, a Thomas the Tank Engine print.  When my youngest grandson (Little Guy) was small he loved Thomas, so I always bought Thomas prints whenever I saw them at sales and flea markets.  Little Guy has moved on (he's into Super Mario now), so I can use these fabrics for my charity quilts.

The backing is another heart print I bought at the museum sale in June, and the binding is a red polka dot.  Simple quilting as usual, thanks to Mrs. Pfaff and her built-in walking foot.

Are you participating in the RSC this year?  I am so used to it now I think I'd be lost without it!  Many, many thanks to Angela for hosting it year after year.  I'm making the Greek Cross pattern, in blue for our January color.  These are the dark blue blocks.  

I also made light blue blocks.  This year, I have a PLAN.  We'll see if I stick to it.  BTW, did you catch the mistake?  I didn't see it until I took the picture.  Top row, far right.  Sigh.  Seam ripper time.

There, that's better.

A quilt in the book Quilts from the Heart inspired me to choose this block to make all year.  It's a good book, by the way.  The author, Karin Renaud, uses bright colors and novelty prints to make donation quilts for kids.  A lady after my own heart!

This is the photo of her Greek Cross quilt.  I love it!  But her blocks are 7.5 in. finished, and I wanted mine to be 9 in.  I also wanted to use some of the squares and rectangles from my parts department.  And simple math is always better for me lol.

Greek Cross is a pattern that has been around for a very long time.  It's listed as #1646b in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and as #152 Grecian Designs in the Lady's Art Company Catalog of 1928.  The block itself existed long before it was published in print.

When I started this block, I already had the light rectangles (2 in. x 3.5 in.), the Sesame Street rectangles (also 2 in. x 3.5 in.), and the center square (3.5 in.).  I sewed the rectangles together on the long side, and used my Easy Angle ruler and 3.5 in. strips of the white and the Eric Carle fabric to make the corner hsts, which measure 3.5 in. before being sewn into the block. (You could of course use any other method to make the hsts.  I just hate drawing on fabric.)  Once I had all nine components, it was easy to stitch together.  It's also easy to goof up, see the light blue square above, so I need to keep my wits about me!

A New Year is a good time to do some cleaning and reorganizing.  My sewing room has needed a makeover (or just a facelift?) for a long time.  I started with making my light yardage and scraps more accessible.  This dresser is right next to Mrs. Pfaff, so there are tools/accessories in the tin in front, such as sewing machine oil, a small ruler, and of course a seam ripper.

The big basket on the left holds mostly half yard pieces.  The Sew Happy scissors decoration was a gift from my youngest daughter years ago.  I live up to it almost every day.

Fabrics in the center basket have an off-white background.  Heed the message on the little zipper bag:  Life is short, buy the fabric!

I made this basket more than 30 years ago.  It now holds light fat quarters. 

Having these fabric visible and handy makes it more likely I will use them.  It's a start.

Announcement:  Quilt Nihon is back at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts!  My friend Debbie and I went last weekend, and it was amazing!  There are all sorts of quilts, from elaborate traditional ones to knock-your-socks-off modern ones, and everything in between.  We were so dazzled we forgot to take a selfie together!  The show will be there until March.  Click HERE for details.

To put the icing on the cake of a wonderful week, our youngest grandsons were here for a short visit after school.

They love to play Grandpa's drums.  Buddy's sticks were just blurs.

Little Guy's drumsticks were going so fast the camera could hardly capture them.

Oh, and if you have been annoyed by a certain viral trend, you might be glad to know Buddy says that 6-7 thing is "so 2025".  I'm sure something else will come along soon.

Thank you for reading this long post!  I will not be able to post next week since we're going to a funeral, so I put everything in today.

I'm off to see what lovely items other quilters have posted for us.  Have a wonderful week, and Sew Happy!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap