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

 

Cutting, Ripping, and a Little Bit of Stitching

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  And Happy 2026!

Quilt production here in the Treadlestitches sewing room has slowed WAY down during the holidays, and now I'm working on some non-sewing jobs, like cutting up the scraps in the photo above.

Blue is the assigned color for January for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and boy do I have blue scraps!  Small pieces, big scraps, and lots of pre-cut pieces in my "Part Department" have been spread out all over the room while I'm trying to find just the right piece.

This week I'm working on my Half Log Cabin blocks.  I drew up this pattern back in August to help me use up some of the 2.5 in. wide strips that are crowding each other out of the drawer.  

As I write this, it's only Day 2 of the new year, so I'm still keeping my New Year's Resolution to

PLAN my RSC quilts instead of just madly making blocks.  I am not known for keeping resolutions, so we'll see how the other months turn out.

This is the fifth block, the one I made back in August.  It's just a variation on a traditional quilt block, but I'm happy to give you the measurements if you'd like to make some.  Like almost everything I make, it's very very easy.

Half Log Cabin Block  

9 in. square finished

Fabrics:  Four different prints of one color.

Cutting:

Color 1:  Cut 1 3.5 in. square.  (I enjoyed finding novelty prints for this.)

Color 2:  Cut 1 rectangle 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. and 1 rectangle 2.5 in. x 5.5 in.

Color 3:  Cut 1 rectangle 2.5 in. x 5.5 in. and 1 rectangle 2.5 in. x 7.5 in.

Color 4:  Cut 1 rectangle 2.5 in. x 7.5 in. and 1 rectangle 2.5 in. x 9.5 in.

If you're cutting from 2.5 in. wide strips, Color 2 needs a minimum of 9 inches, Color 3 needs at least 13 inches, and Color 4 needs 17 inches.

Sewing:

Sew the 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangle to the right of the square.  Add the 2.5 in. x 5.5 in. rectangle to the bottom of the square+rectangle piece.  Keep going like this, sewing the smaller piece of each color on the right and the matching larger piece on the bottom.

I'm planning on setting the finished blocks side by side.

These little blocks are not for the RSC, but just happen to be blue.  I'm trying to use up some small rectangles and squares in two sizes.  They're my leaders/enders project at the moment.

Now for the ripping.  I did not sew even one stitch on either of these quilts, but I'm ripping out stitches like crazy.  These tops were donated to our guild, but already had binding sewn on them.  This doesn't really work for our long arm quilters, so volunteers like me are carefully ripping the binding off.  The one on the left is a Christmas quilt, and the one on the right will make a nice baby quilt.

These two bright tops are more my style!  I love the fabrics.  Only one more little Christmas quilt to go, and then I'll go back to just ripping out my own mistakes.  (Tragically, this happens almost every day.)

Tuesday we went back to the same indoor playground as last year.  This time our daughter could come too, and the grandkids were thrilled to have their mom playing with them.

There was a dark room with a mirror ball and the boys were dancing around.  They say they remember Grandpa dancing in there with them last year, but he will neither confirm nor deny.

It's cold outside, but Lizzy (on the pillow) and Snicky (looking at you) are cozy and warm in the guest room, cuddling up on quilts.  Oh, the perks of being quilters' cats!

I hope you're cozy and warm or cool and comfy as we start another journey around the sun.  Have a wonderful week, and 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

Duckworth Quilt, Sports Top, and the End of the Year

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Here is a weird picture to start this post.

This photo was taken at the November guild meeting.  Yes, that's me, caught mid-sentence, being the meeting moderator.  My friend Margaret and I are holding up my entry in the guild's Duckworth Quilt Challenge.

Duckworth quilts are named for the originator, Jo-Ann Merrill-Duckworth.  It is essentially a free-form wonky log cabin.  (Click HERE for a good explanation by Lea Ann Brummit of Podunk Pretties Quilting.)  Our guild held a challenge to make a Duckworth quilt.  It was a fun way to try a new technique, and many of us then donated the finished quilts.

Many/most Duckworth quilts use only two colors, but I just couldn't resist adding more.  The center of each of my blocks is a 2 in. square of yellow duckie fabric (of course!).

Why did I post such a weird picture of my quilt?   Because I didn't take any of my own!  Somehow I forgot to photograph it before bringing it to the meeting and putting it in the donation pile.  Doh!  So I'm posting the pictures our guild media person took.

Here's the back, a print with a dog, a bear, and of course a cute little duckling.

Everyone who participated got this adorable patch!

I might make more of these blocks sometime.  They're kind of like a more-organized crumb quilt.

In other news, I finished this Scrappy Bricks top that has been languishing since May.  I was trying to decide if I should add a border or not.  In the end I decided all these seams at the ends of the rows needed to have a border in place to keep them from raveling out.

The quilt is a real mishmash of all kinds of sports fabrics:  football, baseball, basketball, hockey, cycling, soccer, skateboarding, etc.  It's chaotic, not my usual style at all.  I made it to donate to the Children's Advocacy Center using a free pattern from The Linus Connection in Texas.  (Click HERE for the Scrappy Bricks pattern in four sizes, or click HERE for a list of free patterns and ideas.)

I hope a young sports fan will enjoy it after it is quilted.

The year 2025 is rapidly coming to an end.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the year end posts and being reminded of all the wonderful quilts that were finished this year.

I also like to look through my Quilters Journal and see how I did. I started this journal to track how many quilts I started in a given year, and how many of those were actually finished.  I didn't want to have tons of UFOs (who does?) and hoped writing these down would help me push through and finish things.

So, what's the score for 2025?  On the plus side, I finished 20 quilts this year, mostly small ones, pieced, quilted and bound.  I donated all but the flannel cat one I made for my daughter's family (above).  I also donated 16 pieced tops, mostly lap or small twin sized.

On the other hand, I have 6 small quilt tops not yet quilted, like the one above Snicky is sleeping under.  Plus there is one problem top I need to fix.  

And that doesn't count all the Rainbow Scrap Challenge block sets I haven't finished from this year OR last year.  I'm pretty sure there are a couple of sets from even before that!  So there is always more quilting to be done, and I am very thankful for it.

We didn't take very many pictures at our family party this year (too busy!), but I did want to preserve this wonderful cookie "art" done by the grandkids.  Two of my favorites are the green Grinch in the upper right and the Santa in the center with the goofy viral 6 7 on his beard.  

I hope your holidays were/are lovely and safe.  Happy New Year, everyone!  And as always, Happy Quilting.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Pink Hearts and Sisters Choice

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Happy Holidays!

I'm still on my quest to use up the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks I made all this year.  This is the next-to-last heart quilt, which I'm calling Pink Valentines.

For somebody whose favorite color is NOT pink, I seem to be making a lot of pink quilts!  This one uses up the last pink hearts.  It's a little one, just 35 in. x 43 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center.

My pink stash is tiny (wonder why?).  I had a couple of strips of this heart print that I used for cornerstones to fit the heart theme.

The border is this very subtle heart print.  I also used what was left of it for the binding, along with another pink to make enough.  I'll be on the lookout this year for some bright pink prints and solids.

The backing is this same "cheater" print I've used on the two pink Bowtie quilts.  There's only a scrap of it left now.

Coming soon, one last heart quilt!

Meanwhile, I've moved on to the Sisters Choice blocks.  Even though I didn't expect to have much time to sew this week, a few hours opened up on a couple of days.  It doesn't take long to put a top together if all the blocks are already sewn!  

To set the blocks together, I used sashing strips cut from this paw print, and cornerstones and borders from the mottled blue.  I bought both of these fabrics at Sew & Sews quilt shop in Oklahoma City while I was visiting my mom.

This red block is my favorite.  The dinosaur in the center is waving at us!

The top is 54 in. x 66 in., and will also go to the CAC.

When I'm piecing I need leaders and enders, which can lead to scrambling around in the scraps and getting totally off track.  A better use of the time is participating in block drives, like the current one being run by Cynthia at Oh Scrap.  (Click HERE for the block drive post/directions.)

The blocks this time are 4 patches surrounded by either white-on-black prints or black-on-white prints.  I didn't have any of the black-on-white ones (I think they got used up in a guild challenge?) but I had a few of the white-on-black.  These quilts will be for adults, so I didn't use my usual kid prints.  It gave me a chance to use up some colorful non-kid squares.  

The quilts made from the blocks will be donated through Many Hand and Many Hearts.  Click on the link to learn about their mission.

The holidays are here!  This can be such a busy time for those of us who celebrate.  How are you doing?  Don't forget to stay hydrated!

Hubby and I went to a program this week at our youngest grandson's school.  That's him, with the vest on, next to his friends.  The program was wonderful as always, and really gets me in a holiday mood.  

More holiday merrymaking is on the schedule for today.  My daughters and their kids are coming over, and we're making Christmas cookies.  It's a family tradition that we look forward to every year.  I'm almost ready.  Three different doughs are chilling in the fridge, but I do need to make about a gallon of icing, so I'd better get going.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  And a joyful week to everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Heart Quilts, Part Deux

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

More hearts this week!  I'm working on making quilts with the blocks I sewed all year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  These are the second and third heart quilts.

In the little quilt above, I have alternated the heart blocks with Bright Hopes blocks, which were also an RSC project this year.  I'm calling it Hearts and Bright Hopes (I am nothing if not obvious!).  I arranged them in rainbow rows.  There are fifteen Hearts and fifteen Bright Hopes.

The border is an Eric Carle print.  This one features The Very Lonely Firefly from his book of the same name.  I got several yards at a sale in Madison almost a year ago.  You can expect to see it again!

Here's the backing, red hearts on white.  This yardage came from the museum sale last summer, and was just right for this project.

The quilt is 36 in. x 42 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center.

More hearts!  I call this one Hearts and Squares.  It's a lap size/small twin at 54 in. x 62 in.

I was hoping to use up some of these 2.5 in. squares, so the rest would fit better in the drawer.  I bet you know what happened.  This is the "before" photo.

Here's a photo from today.  This quilt top used up 213 of the squares.  And the only reason the drawer looks a little emptier is that I moved the solid squares to a different drawer.  This proves it.  I will never be able to use up all my scraps.  

That's okay with me!

The sashing pieces were handy to use for leaders and enders.  When I finished the top, I realized it was a bit bright.  Even for me.

All these wild fabrics might be a bit much.  I put a calmer border on it, not sure if it helps.

It was definitely fun digging all these squares out of the drawer and adding them together.

The top will also be going to the CAC in Milwaukee.

Christmastime is here for all of us who celebrate.  We got a little help decorating the tree this week from our youngest grandsons.  Buddy was kind enough to pose for me.  He is growing so much lately, getting taller.

So is Little Guy!  He can reach farther up on the tree than ever.  You can see we still have snow on the ground.  It's been here for two weeks now, not melting any time soon.

I hope you're having a good week, in spite of or because of the holiday excitement.  I'm not expecting to get much sewing done this coming week, which is one of the reasons I don't sew gifts.  I am looking forward to all the fun social activities this week.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  And happy quilting to everyone!

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