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

Night Vision Quilt, Color Block Stars, and a Scrap Rainbow

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

One little quilt finished got finished this week!  I showed the top back before we went on vacation, so it was on the top of my list when we got back.  The pattern name is Night Vision, but I think it looks like a pinwheel, especially in these colors.

The cats were sleeping on it, so I washed it yesterday after I got the binding on.  It's extra crinkly, probably because the blocks did not lie perfectly flat.  C'est la vie!

All the prints I added to the blocks except the binding (sashing, border, and backing) are polka dots!  I didn't even realize I was doing that at the time.  A friend of mine loves dotted fabric, and has got me into loving it too.  BTW, all these polka dot prints were bought second hand.

I laid the quilt out on the floor to take another photo, but it was attacked!  Can you see the culprit's tail?  

All that exertion tired Snicky out, so he went to sleep under the china cabinet.

His sister, Little Lizzy, was looking out the window, sitting next to the Dead Plants Society.  Poor plants!  I have lots of work to do here.

A few more Color Block Stars got made, this time in green, as we finish up the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2025.  The "calm" one above is for the block drive for Many Hands and Many Hearts.  (Click HERE for directions.)

And here's the wild one, made from novelty fabrics.  Can you guess which one I love the best lol?

This one is a bit of a hybrid.  It's the first one I made, and I didn't really think about the recipients.  Are the novelty fabrics, like the Packers print, too much?  Should I send it to Cynthia, or keep this one for my wild version?  I can easily make her another calm one.

Is this a scrap monster, or a mini Mount Scrapmore?  No, it's just a pile of strings, most of which were given to me by my friend Joey.  The pile was bigger before I started a new project this week (more on that when I make more progress). 

While sipping my tea this morning I sorted the strings into a scrap rainbow.  I'm thinking of making string blocks again as part of next year's RSC.  It's so much fun using them up making something colorful and useful.

Oh dear, here I am planning MORE blocks, when my box of RSC block sets is overflowing!  Maybe I'll get to work on that today.

Have a wonderful week ahead, everyone!  And Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these great linky parties.

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge
 

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Back From Vacation, and Color Block Stars

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

We're back from our vacation in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It was a wonderful trip, but it is so good to be home.

Just walking down the streets of this modern but 900 year old town was amazing.  We took in lots of sights, including Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace.  In addition to all the historic wonders there were many textile things for a quilter to enjoy.

As is usual with us, we went to several museums.  In the National Museum of Scotland I saw a display about the color Turkey Red, which was often used in quilts of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Above is a laboratory book recording experiments creating Turkey Red prints, from the United Turkey Red Co. Ltd., Dunbartonshire, Scotland, 1928-29.

 

They also had a Jacquard loom.  The pattern of the cloth woven on the loom was controlled by the punched cards, which are hanging in the background of the photo.  The weaving was done by hand (no electricity yet!).

Check out this sign!  It's a carved wooden likeness of a hand cranked sewing machine.  The shop it advertised sold hand made craft items.

Inspiration was everywhere, in tiled floors and brick houses as well as museum exhibits.

Plus there was an actual quilt shop!  There may have been another one too, but this was the only one I had time to go to.  It's called My Bearpaw.  It's a very small shop, with very kind and helpful ladies.

This is the fabric I bought and crammed into my already-stuffed suitcase.  Some of it is British made.  I bought a few fat quarters, a few fat eighths, and three scrap bundles.  I can hardly wait to start sewing with it!

I didn't take any quilt sewing with me, but I did knit these two hats to donate.  I'm trying to use up some of the yarn stash to make warm items for kids.  Winter is coming! 

After I got home, I made this Color Block Star for the current Many Hands and Many Hearts block drive, which will run through the end of November.  (Click HERE for details and directions.)  Because these quilts may go to anyone, I tried to choose squares that were calm prints, like florals and geometrics.  I made it in blue because we're finishing up blues for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

But I liked it so much I just had to make one with all novelty prints!  And I loved that so much I'm going to make a whole quilt from these!  I will make one block for the block drive and one for me in each color.

I did light blue next.  Calm first, then ...

novelty explosion!  This is so much fun!

Look who I found in the basement stash!  Little Lizzy must think I put those fat quarters there just for her.  Both cats were well looked after by family while we were gone, but have been keeping very close to us since we came back.  Guess they missed us!  We missed them, too.

I didn't always have internet while we were gone, so I have lots of quilt blog reading to catch up on.  Seems like a good way to spend the rest of this rainy day, while recovering from jet lag.

Have a wonderful week, everyone.  And happy quilting!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap