Bowtie Quilt #4, Happy Hearts, and Horton

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge is the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it?  I've been putting my RSC Bow Tie blocks together for the last few weeks, and this is Bow Tie Quilt #4.

It's snowing this morning, so all pictures are inside.  Not much accumulation yet, but we're expected to get 10 to 14 inches.  I'm glad we don't need to go anywhere.  All our company for Thanksgiving was local, so they're safe at home too.

This time I arranged 30 of the blocks more or less randomly.   The blocks are 8 in. finished, and the quilt comes out to 46 in. x 54 in.  That's about as big as I feel comfortable quilting on my domestic sewing machine.

To get a good balance of colors, I actually had to make more bowtie blocks!  The orange eyeballs, blue Dalmatians, and red reindeer prints are new.

For the border, I chose this cute print of cats in cups.  A couple of them look suspiciously like my Snicky.

The backing is this yarn print.  I did very simple quilting as usual, this time stitch in the ditch.

One more new block is this blue one featuring Horton from Dr. Seuss's books Horton Hears A Who and Horton Hatches the Egg.  The fabric was left from the border of Bowtie Quilt #3, which I showed last week.

Lizzy the cat gives this quilt the snuggle seal of approval.  (Don't worry, I will wash it before I donate it!)

One more bowtie quilt is coming next week!

In other news, Heart quilt #1 for this year's RSC is a top.  I'm calling it Happy Hearts.

Snicky really wanted to pose on it.  You know how cats are, I can't persuade him to pose, but he will if he wants to.  This time I actually had to encourage him to move along to other cat activities after I took the pictures.

I finished the top yesterday.  After having a wonderful family Thanksgiving the day before, Friday was a good day for sewing.  Plus we had plenty of leftovers, so no cooking!  

The heart blocks are 6 in. finished.  I framed them with solid strips (cut 2 in. wide) which enlarged them to 9 in. finished,  and set them side by side.  There are 7 rows of 5 blocks each.

And who is that in the blue border?  It's Horton again!  That kind elephant is one of my favorite children's book characters.

This top is 53 in. x 70 in., too big for me to quilt comfortably, so I will donate it as a top.  Both Happy Hearts and Bowtie #4 will be going to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.

If we're snowed in this weekend I might get more sewing done!  This is my sewing room In/Out box.  Right now I have 2 sets of blocks plus a pattern and squares for a princess quilt.  I like to have lots of choices of which projects to work on.

I hope all who celebrated had a good Thanksgiving.  We certainly did!  My husband always takes two photos of all of us, one at the table...

and one on the couch.  Little Guy was acting goofy, which is why I'm holding him.  I feel so lucky and thankful to have all our kids and grand kids living close by.  (I don't know why Buddy always takes off his shoes and socks when he comes in the house, even in winter!)

Have a good week, everyone!  I hope you have time for the things you love to do.  Like quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 

Bow Tie Trip Around the World

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

This is the third bow tie quilt in my quest to use up blocks from this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I wanted a different set for this one.  Isn't it dramatic?

I only had 4 orange blocks left, so that worked out for the center.

The border is a cute Dr. Seuss print from the clearance section at the local quilt shop.  I never pass up Dr. Seuss!  

Thanks to the RSC, I used up lots of scraps this year, like the jeep on a green background.  (And yet, there are more scraps than ever.  Must be a law of physics or something.)

The blocks are 8 in. finished, and this quilt took 48 blocks set 6 x 8, with a 4 in. finished border.  It's a sort of lap size/small twin, 56 in. x 72 in.

I will be donating this one as a top.  It will go to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee after it is quilted.

So the bow tie quilt count is up to 3.  Still more coming!  (But the end is in sight.)

In other news, I have started assembling the heart blocks I also made for the RSC.  There will be multiple heart quilts also.  The first one I will call Happy Hearts.  I'm framing the 6 in. heart blocks with 2 in. cut strips to make 9 in. finished blocks.  I've made a quilt like this before, a long time ago.  Other ideas for setting the hearts are floating around in my head.

Right now though I'm working on what I'm calling The Princess Problem.  A few months ago, a friend at quilt guild gave me a stack of Princess Life charm squares.  I had them out this week, thinking about how to use them.  Wednesday night at this month's quilt guild meeting she had found another huge batch of these same blocks, and gave them to me.  There are 335 squares! 

 

So what's the problem?  How best to use them to make quilts for little girls.  This is a great problem to have.

So far I have made a chart and a graph and planned one quilt.  Seems like a good start, but it uses less than half of the squares.  Time to drag out my charm square books.

That's what I'm working on.  How about you?

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed I'm not posting as many pictures of my youngest grandsons Buddy and Little Guy.  That's because their mom is between jobs, so I'm currently not babysitting them.  I miss seeing them every day!  We do still get together but I often forget to take pictures (Ack!  sound of hand hitting forehead).  I'm sure I'll be babysitting again sometime soon.

For now, here's a photo from last summer of my daughter and all three of her sons.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Americans!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these great parties.  Come join us!

Finished or Not Finished Friday

So Scrappy

Oh Scrap

 

Bow Tie Rainbow/You Are Loved

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

 Somehow I got carried away making Bow Tie blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year.  Maybe it was because they are so fast and easy to make, or because I had so many cute scraps I wanted to include.  At any rate, it got out of hand, and now I'm putting the blocks together into quilts.  Last week I showed you my little pink Bow Tie quilt all finished.  This one is just a top.

Like most of the kid quilts I'm making, this one will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.  The organizer accepts tops as well as finished quilts, and they have a real need for bigger quilts.  I am happy to make the larger tops, but they are hard for me to quilt on my domestic machine, so I donate them as tops, like this one. 

The blocks finish at 8 in. square, and the quilt comes out to 54 in. x 70 in.  It's a smaller twin size.  There are 8 rows, each with one color of blocks.  So you can see why I call it a Bow Tie Rainbow.

So what about "You Are Loved"?  Take a close look at the border above.  The words "you are loved" appear over and over in the print.  I'm not sure where I got this fabric, probably from a used fabric sale, and I never knew what to do with it until now.  It seems like a good message for a quilt donated to a child in foster care.

More Bow Tie quilts are coming!  Watch this space!

In other news, I finally got around to binding this quilt.  It started as a not-quite-complete kit I picked up at a guild meeting.  I finished the top all the way back in June, and turned it in to our charity committee. 

It was quilted right away by the Fabulous Joy.  Didn't she do a great job?  She has done at least 80 donation quilts this year.  That's right, 80!!!

I agreed to do the binding, using the same blue solid as the sashing.  I have to admit I procrastinated a bit, plus I was out of town for a funeral and then to visit my wonderful Mom.  Yesterday, I finally pulled up my socks and got to work on it.  It's all done now (hurray!).  The guilt is gone, and the quilt can be given to someone who needs it.

I forgot to post this from Halloween!  The pirate captain is my youngest daughter, and her kids (that I call Buddy and Little Guy) are the Pokemon characters.  They had a wonderful time trick or treating.

Have a wonderful week, everyone! 

 

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these lovely bloggers:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Pink Bowties, and Dolls

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

It's so much fun to see all the bloggers working on putting together their Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for this year.  I'm working on mine, too, and finished this little pink bowtie quilt this week.  Unfortunately it's a gray day today, so the photos are inside. 

 These pink blocks were the first ones I made this year for the RSC, way back in January.  I don't have a lot of pink scraps (not my favorite color), but there were some cute ones in the stash.  I made 20 blocks that finish at 8 in. square, and set them 4 x 5, with a 3 in. border.

The Valentine puppies are my favorite!

Also, the llamas!  I don't think I've ever seen llama print before.  This was part of a scrap bag given to me by a friend (hi, Joey!).

The backing is this print that looks like a pieced quilt (cheater fabric?).  I was thinking it would make good doll quilt fabric.

Dolls were on my mind, I guess.  When I was visiting my mom we saw this Halloween display in a neighbor's yard.  These evil little dolls were getting up to all kinds of bad behavior.  Including hauling away a body (!).

My dolls would never do that!

  Yes, I still have 3 dolls from my childhood.  

The biggest doll with the pink dress is Heidi.  My grandad sent her to me when he was stationed in Germany in the early 1960s.  We called her The German Doll until I finally named her, but she was actually made in America.  I think he must have bought her at the PX.  Looking at her makes me think of Grandad, so far away from home at Christmas.

The soft doll with the light hair is Sally Dolly.  She came with a crib that had a wind up music box that played Brahm's lullaby.  The crib fell apart eventually when my kids were playing with it.  Sally was always a doll to snuggle with.

The little doll is a boy.  When my baby brother was born, my mom brought two of these dolls home, one for me and one for my sister, so we could be mommies too.  My own kids discovered him, and named him Baby Paul.  His outfits either disappeared or disintegrated over the years.  My oldest daughter made his current outfit one day when they were visiting, and her daughter played with him too.

I don't know if anyone will want my dolls when I'm gone.  I just hope they don't end up on a murder rampage lol.

Most of October was unseasonably warm, but Fall has finally come to Wisconsin, and winter is not far behind.  The trees have been beautiful, as has the gorgeous blue sky, but we may get a light snowfall this weekend.  It's not surprising, it is November after all.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, whether rain or shine, heat or cold.  And good luck with the RSC projects!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilt bloggers:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Back Home Again

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Did you have a good Halloween?  Very few kids live on our street anymore, so we only had a few trick or treaters.  Now we have lots of leftover candy, which may not be a good thing lol.

Just for fun, I went through my kid fabrics looking for Halloween prints, and this was all I found.  Most of these I've bought recently.  The blue one was in the fabulous pile given to me by my friend Joey.  I've had others, but used them up.

I am so lucky!  I got to spend last week with my wonderful Mom.  We talked and laughed, and even stayed up late one night.  Last Sunday we went to church, then out to my sister's house for a barbecue.

Of course I stopped by a quilt store while I was there.  This is getting to be the theme of my recent blog posts!  Normally I only visit quilt shops occasionally, but when I travel I like to see what shops in a new area are like.

The shop is Sew & Sews, Inc. in Oklahoma City.  It is a big shop, just full of lovely fabric.  The staff was welcoming and helpful, and prices were reasonable.

Want to see what I bought?  

Kid prints, light fabrics (I always need those), and a bright blue that might become sashing.

I'm happy with the loot, but it's time to stop shopping and get to treadling.  The bins are getting full!

I didn't do any quilting while I was at Mom's.  Since then I have unpacked, done a little laundry, and made a few string blocks.  These were a kit made up by our charity committee.  I'm enjoying the process, pulling the strips from a basket at my feet and sewing them to a cloth foundation with my trusty treadle.

While I was visiting, my Mom and sister and I went to the First Americans Museum.  It was amazing.  I highly recommend it.  We toured the gallery, learned about First Nations history, and saw artifacts made both long ago and recently.

These are toy cradle boards made by the women in a Kiowa family.  The colors and designs are so beautiful.

Look what happened while I was gone!  You might remember the Dead Plants Society from my Sept. 27 post.  Before I did all this traveling in October I got rid of the plants that were actually dead, and cleaned up the remaining three.  When I left there were buds on the Christmas (or Thanksgiving?) cactus, and now there are blooms!  I was overjoyed.   The geranium is going to bloom as well.  I promised all three of them to do a better job taking care of them.

I'll be staying close to home this week.  Visiting with family members at my cousin's funeral made good memories in spite of the sad circumstances. Spending time with my Mom and my sister's family was joyful.  I am glad to be back home again now, getting ready for the holidays.

I wish you joy this week in whatever makes you happy.  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

Sponge Bob Quilt, and a Little More Shopping

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Are you ready, kids?  I bet you can guess why I call this the Sponge Bob quilt!  This happy guy appears in 3 of the scrappy blocks and the border.

Most of the scraps, Sponge Bob and others, came from this pile given to me by the Amazing Colleen.

Some of the scraps were already cut into the right size for the middle of these Bricks blocks (3.5 in. x 6.5 in.).  It was easy to add the white pieces (cut 2 in. x 6.5 in.) to make 6 in. finished blocks.

I have made several donation quilts from this pattern.  This one measures 42 in. x 48 in. and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.

As usual, simple quilting finishes it off.

I used up almost all the Sponge Bob fabric with this strip on the back!  I love using scraps, and I really love using them up!  Don't worry, I have more lol.

On my way back from a family funeral, I stopped at Quilted Joy in Louisville, Kentucky.  It's a lovely shop, with very helpful staff.

Here's what I bought:  7 fat quarters, 3 fat eighths, and a jelly roll of rainbow striped strips.  I'm always looking for fun prints, especially in orange and purple, so I was glad to see the Halloween prints.  I have also been looking for rainbow print.  I have an idea I may use to put together some of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.

There was a big antique mall on the way home.  I was intrigued by the block in this antique quilt.

I loved this cute rail fence too.

Want to see something weird?  This is a rest area on I 65.  It looks more like a spaceship to me.  Or a modern Stonehenge?

The inside is also amazing.

I'm traveling again this week, going to visit my mom in Oklahoma.  I won't be quilting until I get back.  But there might be a little more shopping!

Have a good week, everyone, whatever you do.

Thanks for reading!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap