At the Crossroads, Potato Chips, and Ladders

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Here's the Arkansas Crossroads top on the clothesline this afternoon, shortly after I got the borders on.  I had to turn it sideways to keep it off the ground.  That light fabric with blue dots really stands out, doesn't it?  Maybe not the best choice.  I do like it better up close though.

I had to put Snicky in the basement to keep him from pouncing on the quilt top.  He was kind of a wild kitty today.  

 

I had so much fun choosing squares for this quilt!  Nearly all of them came from my 2.5 in. squares box in my Parts Department.  Some were given to me, some came from scrap bags on the Free Table at guild meetings, some came from my own scraps, and some came from scraps I actually bought.  Check out R2D2, pumpkins, an apple pie, a kitten's face, etc.

This one has dogs, cats, Sally from Peanuts, Scooby-Doo, buttons, and more.

This is the border.  It yardage was one of my "winnings" at the quilt guild silent auction last month.  Can you see the date in the selvedge?  Where were you in 2002 lol?  It really doesn't seem like 24 years ago.  It's like I always say, if good quality fabric is stored well it will be useful for decades.

Oh, dear! Dealing with small squares and novelty prints means one always ends up with headless dinosaurs.

Now for the statistics!  There are 576 2.5 in. squares used in the blocks, both in the four patches and the triangle corners on the light squares.  I did not cut ANY squares specifically for this quilt.  I used what was already cut.  When I worked on other projects and had leftover 2.5 in. squares, I tossed them into the basket next to the sewing machine and added them in.  There are also 96 light squares, the ones with the big blue dots, cut 4.5 in. square.

This is the box of 2.5 in. squares now.  The squares on the left are all the colored prints.  The ones on the right are the light ones, not used for this project, sorted by how many I have of each.  There are also solid colored squares, and a few hsts.  Over 500 squares gone doesn't seem to have emptied the box much, does it?

I changed my quilt slightly from the pattern I found in the book Quilts from the Heart, by Karin Renaud.  She used 2 in. cut squares instead of the 2.5 I used, which makes mine larger than the one in the book.  I also only used one border, but cut it 5 in. wide.  In the end, mine top measures approximately 57 in. x 73 in.

It will be donated locally to a child in need.

Oops, I did it AGAIN!  The potato chip blocks were supposed to be my leaders and enders for the next couple of quilts, but I just couldn't stop making them.  Now I have a batch of 30.  This project used 30 3.5 in. squares for the centers and a whopping 480 skinny brick pieces (skinny bricks is my name for the 2 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles by the way) for the rest of the block.  I did have to cut a few skinny bricks to have enough of a few colors (red, green, and yellow) and some lights, but the rest came from the box.  So now what do I do about leaders and enders?

This is what!  There are still lots of skinny bricks in the box!  I'm making what I call Ladders blocks, which use 4 of the rectangles sewn together like this, plus two matching strips cut 2 in. wide on each side.  These will be 6 in. finished blocks.  I will probably use a solid fabric for the side strips, but I'll decide on the color after I get a few more made.  It's a quilt I've made a couple of times before.  If I can keep myself from setting aside the main project to make the ladder blocks (!),  I can use them as I tackle more of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge block sets in the Some Assembly Required box.

Buddy and Little Guy (or should I say Mario and Luigi) had a great Halloween.  Their mom took this photo just as they were setting out for Trick or Treat last Saturday.  When they came back, those bags were FULL!  Then they helped hand out our candy to the Trick or Treaters in our neighborhood.  At the end of the evening, the firetruck came down the street and a fireman gave everybody candy.

The trees in the park have been amazing!  I wanted to get a few pictures before all the leaves are gone.  There was this lovely yellow one, and ...

a gorgeous fiery red one.

We have also had some rain early in the week and lots of these fungi were popping up.  I had never seen any like this before.

It's hard to believe we're already in November!  

All in all, I have had a wonderful week.  I hope you have, too.  Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

 

Halloween Sweet Treats and Arkansas Crossroads

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

I put the binding on this little Sweet Treats quilt less than an hour ago!  This week has been a busy one for sure.

Lots of fun Halloween prints make these little candy blocks.  I knew it was a good pattern when my husband saw the blocks and said they looked like candy.  He is a dear man, but NOT clued in to quilts, so if he can see it kids will too.

Three of the block centers were charm squares I hadn't got around to using.  I cut them down to 4.5 in. and recruited another orange Halloween fabric to be the corner triangles.

I did my usual grid quilting with a serpentine stitch.

The back is this wild rick rack style print.  It was the perfect size, with a couple of skinny strips left over.  The binding is a black Halloween print with yellow bats and stars.  It was already made into binding when I bought it in a box of scraps.

Blue Halloween fabric was new to me!  My friend Joey sent me two fat quarters of this cute print.  

I like this pattern so much I'm planning a Rainbow Scrap Challenge print from the Sweet Treats block for next year.  I may actually get ahead of schedule for a change!  If you'd like to see the free online tutorial from polkadotchair.com, click HERE.

Ever since I bought this book, Quilts From the Heart by Karin Renaud, at a community wide rummage sale, I have wanted to make the cover quilt, which she calls Arkansas Crossroads.  So now I'm doing it!

This project started out as leaders and enders, which happens to me all the time.  The scraps are all from my 2.5 in. squares box.  The background fabric with the blue dots is a vintage print I found in an antique mall.  I made a total of 96 four patches and 96 of the squares with the triangle corners. Then I made those into 48 of these  8 in. finished blocks above.

Finally I'm combining them into 12 of these big (16 in. finished) blocks!  Lots of intersections to pin, so slower going.  And of course I had to find another leaders and enders project.  This cycle can go on forever!

Did something horrifying happen to Buddy's fingers?  (Or are those just the big raspberries that have been on sale at the grocery store?)

Oh, no, it must be contagious!  It happened to Little Guy too!  These kids crack me up.  Don't worry, the raspberries were definitely eaten and order restored.

We are still having good weather here at the very end of October, which is unusual, but a cold snap is expected soon.  Meanwhile, we have beautiful scenery and gorgeous leaf colors to enjoy when walking in the park.

Have a wonderful and safe Halloween, and a good week ahead doing things you love.  Like quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these awesome quilters:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Log Cabin, Stash Building, and Scraps

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

My quilt tops are getting too big to go on the clothesline for photos, but the breeze this morning worked against a good picture in the tree, sorry.  The charities I donate the tops to prefer larger sizes for the kids and I'm happy to oblige, especially since a volunteer from the organization will quilt them.

It's breeze-free in the house, laid out on the floor.  These blocks were one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge sets from this year.

I was calling these blocks Half Log Cabin, but they might more properly be called Quarter Log Cabin.  Each one is made from one 3 in. (finished) square and three sets of 2 in. wide (finished) strips.  Easy peasy!  And it used up strips from my Parts Department.

Did you catch the Halloween prints in the blocks above?  I wasn't trying to be timely when I made them, it was just hard to find good novelty prints in purple and orange.  I've since found more orange, but purple is still harder to spot in the stores.

As usual, this quilt top will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee, to be given to a child in foster care.

This week was a BIG DEAL for stash enhancement!  On Monday I met my friend Debbie C. in Sun Prairie at J. J. Stitches quilt shop.  We shopped for fabric, and had lunch out.   I bought dog prints and several light fabrics.  The best part, as always, was visiting with a friend.  We were too busy talking to take pictures, sadly.  We both admired the quilt above so I'm including a photo of it from their web site.  Great purple fabrics!

On the way home, I stopped at Sew Many Pieces in Richfield.  Of course I bought sale fabric (it was $10 per yard, which seems cheap now when fabric goes for $15 or even $16 a yard).  I also bought these scraps.  They have a big basket full, and customers like me fill a plastic bag for $7.00.

Here's what I ended up with after I cut it up. There are small stacks of squares in 5 in., 4.5 in., 3.5 in., 2.5 in. and 2 in. sizes.  Then there are 3 kinds of rectangles:  2 in. x 3.5 in., 2.5 in. x 3.5 in., and 2.5 in. x 4.5 in.  These are all the shapes I keep in my Parts Department, which makes them ready to go when I need them.  The odd shaped pieces in front are scraps for more crumb quilts.

When I went to put all the cut pieces away, I found that the shoebox with the 2 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles was getting really crowded.  I could get a bigger bin, or I could start a new quilt.  Which do you think I did lol?

Of course I started a new quilt!  The block is a Potato Chip variation, with a center 3 in. (finished) square instead of two rectangles.  Each 9 in. finished block will use 6 light rectangles and 10 dark ones. I don't think I have enough rectangles right now to make a twin sized top, but I'm sure more of these scraps will show up over time.  Scraps are forever!

Quilt Guild meeting last Wednesday night was our annual Silent Auction.  This is always so much fun!  This box of flannel scraps was calling my name.  I tried not to listen, but it was no use.  This is what it looks like now, after I weeded out fabrics I won't use and washed the rest.  There is so much cutting in my future!  If you have any good simple patterns for flannel, I would love a link to them.  I'm going to start with baby quilts.

The Silent Auction went really well.   Our guild raised over $400.00!  I was happy to help.  All told, I bought 6 lots, including the charm squares above and the jar of candy, which came with several yards of cute kid fabric.  (The jar was full when I won it.)

Question for you.  Do you keep your charm squares in their original packs, or do you sort them by color?  I'm always interested in how other quilters work.

It's a beautiful day here, and I'm going to take a walk in the park after lunch.  I hope you have a lovely productive week, doing what you love best.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these fun ladies and their blogs:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Nine Patch Top Ready for Quilting

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Just a quick blog this morning.  We're getting ready for a family birthday party later today.

It's a top!  My nine patch blocks are paired up with fabric from a former guild member who passed away.  

I made the blocks a couple of years ago as leaders and enders with no real plan.  Cheryl's nostalgic children's print went well with the primary colors of the nine patches.

I used this 1930s repro print for the border.  The little sailor figures are having various degrees of success with boats.

At 62 in. x 80 in., it's a good size for a twin bed, and just the right size for our guild's current project making quilts for Sleep In Heavenly Peace.  A guild volunteer will quilt it and I promise to bind it.

Last week I asked for help naming this quilt when I donate it to an online auction.  Three readers came up with cute names.  They were Kitties Kitties Everywhere (from Terry),  Cat in The Box (from Alycia) and Covered in Cats (from Mary).  Aren't these great?  You ladies are so creative!  Now I just have to pick one!

At last!  I am finally to the fun part on this quilt!  Months ago I started it as a leader and ender project, partly to use up 2.5 in. squares.  The directions started with Make 96 four patches.  After that it was Make 96 squares with triangle corners.  Now, at long last, I am putting them together into 48 blocks.  It seems like that would be easy, right?  And it is, if I'm paying attention.  Not so much if I'm chatting with a friend.  Do you see the seam ripper next to the scissors?  I hope I finally have everything straightened out.

I made two more warm hats for kids this week, which is timely considering we're starting to have freeze warnings at night.  I like using the variegated yarn for these for the added color.  Much simpler than knitting stripes and having to bury all those loose ends.

These two wild boys were delighted to wear matching shirts to school yesterday.  

Buddy had an odd request after school.  He needed a plastic straw, a potato, and string.  When I gave them to him, he pushed the straw through the potato to make a hole (I had no idea that would work!) and then drew the string through the hole, had me tie it, and put it around his neck.  I asked the obvious question (Why do you want to wear a potato necklace?) but didn't really get an answer.  I'm guessing he saw this on TV or the internet.  He proudly showed his dad, and wore it home.

I saw this leaf on my walk the other day.  I just love the red maple leaves, on the trees or on the ground.  It reminds me of Canada.

I hope you're having a good week, wherever you may be, with whatever weather comes your way.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilters:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Happy Scrappy Kitties, and New Projects

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Two finishes in a row, can you believe it?  This one is made from leftover cat blocks from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2024.  I blogged about it a few weeks ago when I finished the top.  (Click HERE).

The quilting is nothing fancy, just a grid based on seams in the patchwork.

Remember this border?  These kitties with their rainbow accessories are so much fun.

I put a solid stripe down the middle of the backing to make it wide enough.

Check out this wild print on the back!  I call it "Kitties Go Shopping Downtown".  These funny cats have bags from "Cats 5th Avenue", "Feline's Basement", "Catnel", etc.  

I'm trying to think of a name for this quilt.  Maybe something like Happy Scrappy Kitties?  I need a name because I'm going to donate it to next month's GSAFE online auction, and they like a name for the description.  I hope someone will want to adopt it.

Now what about those new projects?

I confess, I love starting new projects!  How about you?  I was inspired to start this one by the fabric above, which had belonged to guild member Cheryl, and was given to me after she passed away.

In my box of Some Assembly Required block sets there were 20 nine patch blocks I had sewn as leaders and enders.  I added a few blocks and cut Cheryl's fabric to the same size.  Now I'm piecing the rows together.  This one should be big enough for the guild's project making quilts for Sleep in Heavenly Peace.

But wait, there's more!

I seem to remember some awesome quilt bloggers making these Sweet Treats blocks a couple of years ago.  They were so cute!  Seeing candy in the store with Halloween wrappers made me think of it, and decide to make a Sweet Treats quilt.  The free tutorial is HERE.

Right now I'm using Halloween fabric, but I plan to use other prints too.  It won't be a very big quilt though because I only have a yard of the background fabric.

I got the apples done!  Six quarts of sliced apples and 9 pints of applesauce.  We've also had apple crisp and apple cake this week.

The weather has been lovely.  Buddy had a cross country meet on Wednesday evening, and his team got a first place medal.

Little Guy and I went to the park after school Thursday.  He had fun playing on the exercise equipment.  The tooth fairy has been visiting him a lot lately.  I like his toothless smile, but he will have less trouble eating as his new teeth grow in.

My daughter and her boys helped set up our Halloween decorations the other night.  After supper it was just dark enough to start being spooky.  It was so much more fun than when I just put things in the same place every year.

I hope you're having fun, doing whatever makes you happy.  Like quilting!

Have a lovely week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these awesome ladies:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap