Last Yellow Blocks, Museum Stuff, and the One Dollar Quilts

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

 The last Saturday of August is here already.  Summer fun has been taking up more of my time, but at least the yellow blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are done.  Above are the 16 patch blocks.

This one is my favorite!  

I figured out why I started making 5 every month.  If I make 5 of 8 colors (leaving out pink, I made a whole baby quilt of the pink ones), I'll have 40 blocks at the end of the year.  That could make 2 baby quilts of 20 blocks each, or I could just make 2 more blocks and have 42 for a bigger quilt. 

I'm making 12 each of these Uneven Nine Patch/Puss in the Corner blocks each month.  I have absolutely no idea how many quilts or what size I'll be making.  Just winging it!

The big annual sale at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts was a great place to find cool scraps.  I got several small pieces of Dr. Seuss character prints.  I've always loved Dr. Seuss.  His wacky stories have delighted readers for generations.

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish!

This was the last week of summer vacation for our youngest grandkids.  Buddy earned a free Milwaukee Public Museum admission through the library's summer reading program, so we took both boys and went there on Wednesday.  They're posing here in front of a pretend street car.  We all had a great day.

My husband and I love going to museums, especially when on vacation in far away places.  While walking through the Pitt River Museum in Oxford, I spotted this bit of patchwork in one of the cases.  It's a pieced Parcheesi board, hand made from cotton fabric, that folds up for storage.  This museum does cases by theme, this one is games of the world.

I enjoy seeing and learning about all sorts of things in a museum, but "quilty" objects always catch my eye.  This is a female mummy in the Ashmolean Museum (also in Oxford) with traditional cloth wrappings that might look to us like log cabin patchwork.  The portrait of her face is original and was painted on linen.  It has been painstakingly restored.  (Click HERE for more information.)

What would you think if you saw this price tag on a quilt?  Would you grab it, pay, and run home?  That's what my eldest daughter did when she found not one but TWO quilts priced $1.00 each at a rummage sale.  And then she gave them to me!

Here's the first one.  Barbara Brackman identifies this pattern as Baby Bunting, and it was available from the Ladies Art Company from the 1890s through 1926.  I estimate the quilt to be from this period as well, judging from the fabrics.

It's hand pieced and hand quilted.  Can you imagine cutting out all those tiny little triangles?  It must have been a labor of love.  I believe the triangles were once a brighter red that has faded (very common for turn of the century non-Turkey red).  I'm a little confused about the tannish brown, which is not a usual color for the time period.  Has it also faded, possibly from green?

But, the quilting thread is brown.  The only damage besides the fading is the narrow binding, which is also brown.  Maybe it was red and brown all along?  Hm, it's a mystery.  

Less mysterious is this sweet old Double Nine Patch from the 1930s.  The nine patches are set with yellow, which makes it on theme for the RSC today, and the alternate blocks are a lovely lavender.

The blocks are about 8 in. square, or less, and the tiny squares are an inch or under.  The fabrics are scraps typical of the time period.  It's hand pieced, except for the borders which were added by machine, and is hand quilted.

The quilting has helped to keep the quilt together despite heavy use.  There is lots of fading and damage to the fabrics, especially in the lavender alternate squares and the border.  It has been rebound in recent years.

Neither of these quilts are museum pieces, but I think they're worth more than a dollar!  Many thanks to my thoughtful sharp-eyed daughter.

Lastly, here's something I've been working on instead of quilting!  Hubby and I really like jigsaw puzzles.  We leave them out on the kitchen table and add pieces as we walk by or after the kids go home.  I bought this one in an Oxford bookstore, it came in the cloth pouch to the right.  Only 500 pieces, but it was tough with all those colors, and it was possible to fit pieces in the wrong place!  When it was done we felt a real sense of accomplishment.

I hope you feel that way this week, even about something as silly as a puzzle!  Happy quilting!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Quilts, 2020

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the very last Saturday of 2020 (thank goodness!), and Angela has asked us to share our RSC projects for the year.  This is my little stack above.  The only one finished is my Shoofly quilt, made in 1800s reproduction fabrics. 

I have three basic categories of scraps:  1800s repros, 1930s repros plus vintage fabrics/feedsacks, and bright colored newer fabrics, which includes lots of novelty prints.  For the last few years, I have tried to make three RSC quilts, one in each scrap category.  I say "tried" because other projects always seem to invite themselves along for the ride.

This year was no different.  I started out with 3 quilt ideas--the Shoofly, a 1930s house quilt, and a bright colored quilt from a Kim Brackett pattern called Text Me A Quilt.

I put the borders on the Text Me A Quilt top yesterday.  It's a large quilt (for me), 76 in. x 86 in., seen here on a queen sized bed.

The border is a print I've used lots of times on kids' quilts.  The prints is butterflies, appropriate for this year since butterflies stand for hope.  This will be a donation quilt.

The 1930s house quilt is in progress.  I'm quilting it by the block (tutorial to follow, hopefully soon).  The first two rows are quilted, and ready to be joined together.  It's actually fun to quilt this way.

The last RSC quilt for 2020 didn't get started until the year was half over.  My daughter's maternity leave was extended due to the pandemic, and since she didn't need me to babysit I spent some time cleaning up old projects in the basement.  I came across this partial top I had bought at a flea market years ago.

It looked like a rainbow!  How could I not include it?  

There was no way to match the old sashing, so I took it apart and changed the layout.

And that's my last RSC quilt for this year, a double nine patch set with a green solid.  I will quilt this one myself, and we will probably keep it.

 

Of course I'm thinking ahead to next year.  How about you?

 

I just want to say "Thank you!" to Angela for hosting the RSC and keeping things going, with her busy teaching schedule and the pandemic besides!  Making colorful quilt blocks and sharing them has been a mood lifter through this whole year, and I really look forward to Saturdays, when I can see what everyone else has been up to.

 

And now for a little Christmas cheer.

Here's Little Buddy, showing off a paper airplane he and Grandpa made.

  

And here are all 3 of my buddies, wearing the hats I knit for them.  

We had a little celebration Christmas Eve with the people in our bubble, and a quiet Christmas at home yesterday.  In the morning, I took a virtual trip to Jane Austen's house in England HERE.

I especially enjoyed section entitled The Twelve Days of Christmas, which has short readings from Ms. Austen's books and letters, plus recipes and Christmas traditions.  

Have a lovely weekend, and stay safe!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

and Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

 

Priorities

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Little Buddy helped us decorate for Halloween this week.  He would like us to have more dramatic displays, like the blow up clowns and pumpkins at his house, but we are much more laid back than that.  Decorations have just never been a big priority.

 

I finally get to display this little one block wonder that I made back in February, during the Rainbow Scrap Challenge orange month.  It started as a mistake, a block that just didn't work in a Block of the Month quilt.  So it got its own tiny quilt instead.

Pumpkins and black cats!

Oops!  Somebody forgot to feed this guy!

How are you doing on your RSC projects?  I can't wait to see all the link ups today.  Above are my last 3 blocks for the Text Me A Quilt project. 

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge has helped me use all colors of scraps, and I love that.  But what about all those strange scraps that don't really have a definite color?  It's really hard to know what to do with some of these fabrics, even though I really like them.

So I added a few of these multicolored weirdos into the Text Me A Quilt blocks.  It's already a bright quilt, so I think it will work out.  No scraps left behind!

I think I'm getting into the swing of full time babysitting the grandkids again.  It doesn't leave me a lot of time for sewing, but that's okay.  I have all the baby cuddles I could want, Little Buddy sings me songs (his current favorite is Roger Miller's King of the Road), and my high school Buddy actually talks to me about stuff sometimes.

My goal for this week was to put the double nine patch quilt top together.  I got it finished just this morning.  This is the one I've been making from a vintage UFO I bought at a flea market and took apart.  Last week's yellow blocks were the final ones, and I had decided on this set when I first started working on it.

My poor dog is feeling neglected.  She would not leave me alone when I was laying out the top on the floor.  (Sorry, Bella!  I will make some time just for you this weekend!)

It's a good sized quilt, 78 in. x 93 in., shown here on a queen sized bed.

All the fabrics I used in it are vintage, including the white squares, the cornerstones, and the green sashing and border.  I chose the green to give it a 1930s feel, since many of the fabrics in the blocks were from that era.  Green was so widely used in the 30s that it almost seems like a neutral. The border is narrower than I would have liked, but I didn't have enough of the green to go wider.

I could add another border, maybe a print, but it's already pretty big.  I'm planning some simple grid quilting, and already have a backing I think will work.

The quilting will have to wait a bit, until I get this job done.  I went to the local orchard on Thursday, and brought home Ida Red apples for sauce, Cortlands for pie/crisp slices, and Honey Crisps for eating.  All of those were seconds, which is like the clearance rack for apples.  It just means they have an irregular or small shape, or maybe a blemish, which doesn't matter at all.  The pears were regular price, and since they're nice and firm I'll can them last.

If you do any canning, you'll know how hard it is to get jar lids this year, and how expensive they've become if you manage to find them.  I'm prioritizing this good fruit from the orchard with my time and supplies.

This difficult year has made a lot of us adjust our priorities, and has shown us what is really important.  Many things we took for granted are cancelled or unsafe.   The list of activities I miss just gets longer all the time.  But, I truly believe it will not be this way forever.  We can handle hardships.  Our long-ago ancestors' daily lives had far more hardship than most of us have ever seen.

Hang in there.  We're going to get through this.  Stay safe, and keep sewing!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop 

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

 

Patches of Yellow

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  

It's yellow month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and there are lovely touches of yellow in nature all around us.  Like this bloom in my husband's wild flower patch.

Just a few cherry tomatoes are left in my little garden.  They are really more orange than yellow.

Of course, the trees are so dramatic.  I've never understood the term "leaf peeping".  I don't peep at the leaves, I positively gawk at them.

These trees are in the park near my house.  That path is calling me.  Later today, my dog and I will take a walk and do some leaf gawking.

Now, what about the yellow inside the house?

The last blocks for the 1930s Double Nine Patch quilt are done!  It's the fabrics in these little blocks that prompted me to save them from a vintage UFO.

This little kitty seems to be waving hello.

The animals in this print are cute.  And a little weird.  Kind of like 1930s era cartoon characters.

This print is almost modern.

And of course a leaf print.  I've got leaves on the brain today.

Now that these blocks are done, I can start setting them together and planning the quilting.

But wait, there's more!

Yellow Text Me A Quilt blocks are done, too.  And once again it's the fabrics that make sewing this so much fun.

Here's my favorite--two tractor prints!  You just can't have too many tractor prints.

The background print here reminds me of the Japanese beetles that are trying to get in the house now that the nights are colder.  Sorry, beetles, bugs are cute on fabric but NOT in real life.

Last week's little quilt is quilted and bound.  It's a variation of Ring Me, from the book No Scrap Left Behind by Amanda Jean Nyberg. 

I chose this hearts and paw prints fabric for the back, to go with the Clifford the Big Red Dog fabric on the border.  The binding is a red print.  The quilt has been washed and is ready to mail out to Jack's Basket.

Here's how I feel about finishing a quilt:

Woo hoo!  Thanks, Little Buddy!

 How are you doing this week?   Everything is so crazy right now, and that's very stressful.  We have to remember to take care of ourselves.   When I need some peace, I shut off the TV, radio, etc., open the window if it's warm enough, and just quietly sew.  Before long, I'm humming away.

I hope you're humming away too, enjoying all the things that matter most.  Have a great week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Know what else is a great stress-reliever?  Linky parties!  Come and see what everybody is making.

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cynthia at Oh Scrap