A Finish, A Fix, and Fall

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Here it is, my first Rainbow Scrap Challenge finish for this year, made of 42 crumb blocks.  In my head I've been calling it From the Cutting Room Floor.

I'm excited to have this finished because I have a deadline at the end of the month.  I'm donating this one to the GSAFE online auction.  GSAFE is an organization that supports LGBTQ kids in schools.  

If you've made crumb blocks, you probably know how much fun it is to fit all these little pieces together.  Lots of my scraps are novelty prints, so there are little pictures all through it of things like rockets and lions and dinosaurs and Piglet and Patrick Star from Spongebob.

Sometimes thing can look sort of strange, like the back end of a cat or a headless Pooh Bear.  (Sorry, Pooh!)

For the border, I chose a  border print designed by the late Laurel Burch called "Jungle Songs".  The designs were printed in strips across the fabric.  I bought it second hand and didn't have a very large piece of it, not enough to have all four borders the same.  So there are two different borders, one for the top and bottom and one for the sides.

The top and bottom borders have all these amazing animals.  I especially love the leopard.

The side borders are a colorful African mask print.  I've had this piece of fabric in my stash for a long time.  I'm really glad to find a good place for it.

It's not a big quilt, just 42 in. x 48 in.  It could be a child's cuddle quilt, or hung on a wall for a splash of color.

Here's the back, a neutral for one of October's RSC colors.  And a purple binding for last month!

And now for a correction.  Do you remember this quilt top?  I was making it from a kit cut by the amazing Nancy, Queen of Scraps from my quilt group.  

Above is the adorable frog fabric it's made from.  I thought I had finished it and posted it on Sept. 11.  But when I went to clean up I found the directions stating it was supposed to have 9 rows, and I only had 8.  I then found extra pieces, but I was one short of the large squares.  I looked all over, and didn't find it.  Nancy didn't have any more of the fabric.  The organization we are making this for asked for quilts to be 60 in. x 80 in., which it wouldn't be without the last row.  What to do?

In my collection of novelty prints, I only had one small piece of colorful frog fabric.  I made a 9 patch block with the orange print and pieced the new row.

Then I ripped and resewed to get the new square in the center.  Now it's a "design element", right?  Anyway, the top is the size we needed.  I'm not sure what happened to the missing square, but I have my suspicions.  Our young cat Lizzy has been carrying around the occasional sock or glove lately.  I may very well eventually find that square tucked in a corner or under something.  

Probably after our volunteers have quilted this top though.

One of our long-time quilt guild members passed away recently.  This week volunteers from our group sorted through her fabric etc. that her husband had bagged up for us.  Knowing I make lots of quilts for children, they set aside these fabrics for me.  Here they are, all washed and dried and ready to go.  I'll be thinking of Cheryl as I work with her stash.  RIP Cheryl.  Hope you're quilting in heaven.

We're having a lovely fall in Wisconsin this year.  I went to the orchard yesterday and bought a half bushel of Cortland apples, one of my favorites for crisps and pies.  I'm going to get started on canning them today.  I also bought some Honey Crisp apples, my husband's favorite, just for eating.

The trees are starting to turn, like this little maple.  Walks in the park are more colorful every day.

Have a good week, everyone!  And thanks for reading.

Cheers,

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

  

 

Not Finished, But Making Progress

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Woohoo!  I got back from Oklahoma just in time for the big rummage sale at the Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts in Cedarburg, WI.  This is the loot I scored, over 33 yards of bright cotton fabric, most with cute kid-friendly prints.  I can hardly believe how lucky I am.  Many many thanks to all the people who donated fabric and the volunteers who organized it all.  Yippee!

Some of that loot will be made into Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks, now and in the future.  These yellow blocks are part of this month's pastel challenge.  Some of them are a little bold, I know, but I'm using up what I've got.

It's fun to put them with last week's light blues and test some possible layouts.  I'm interested to see what everybody else is doing with this challenge, since it's a new one.  (Check the link ups below to see for yourself!)

In Progress

What is your favorite thing about finishing a quilt?  Mine is picking the next project!  Last year I made Color Block Stars for the Many Hands Many Hearts Block Drive at the Oh Scrap blog.  I loved them so much I also made blocks for a quilt to donate locally.  I set them aside due to other deadlines, and in my head I thought I had made 20 blocks, which would made a nice sized top.  Imagine my surprise when I opened the bag and found only 12 blocks.  Oops!  Well, that's a problem I can fix!  So now I'm making 8 more.

Click HERE for the directions from Many Hands Many Hearts.

Here's my current sewing set up.  We're moving some things around in the house, and I can't use my beloved treadle right now.  Luckily I have an adorable Featherweight to sub in.  Don't worry, treadling will be restored, probably this weekend.

I had such a good visit with my Mom and sister in Oklahoma last week.  One of the highlights has to be the Oklahoma City Senior Follies.  Wonderfully talented senior guys and gals entertained us royally with singing, dancing, comedy, and screaming guitars.  It was great fun, and the show raised $20,000 for the Alzheimer's Association.

Of course I did a little quilt-related shopping while I was there!  Mom and I went to a new-to-me store called B Sew Inn.  Most of the shop was devoted to Baby Lock machines, but two charm packs came home with me.  Check out all the cats!  I especially love the prints with tuxedo cats like my Snicky.

The second pack had these bright prints which will be great in my kid quilts.  The colors are brighter in person.

As excited as I am to go visiting, I'm always happy to come home again.  These guys are just two of the reasons why!  It's full summer here now, alternating between warm days and thunder storms.  Buddy and Little Guy love cooling off with ice cream.  Me too!

I hope you're feeling well and having fun this week, doing things you love to do.  Like quilting!  Have a great week, 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

Strings and Things

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Look, it's an outside photo!  And the ground is almost snow-free!  Could this be Wisconsin in February?  We're having a nice little thaw.  The high today was 47 degrees F, and that dripping sound is ice and snow melting off everything.

I did not even wear a coat when I went outside to take these pictures.  I did zip up my sweatshirt, though.  And I wasn't out very long lol.

I love string quilts!  Even though I make a huge mess in the sewing room when I work on one.  These blocks were part a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from 2024.  I'm slowly working my way through the RSC blocks.

Do you see those wild blocks above?  One month I made string blocks just from multicolor fabrics.  They might even be a little too wild for me.  I had a hard time deciding what to do with them.  In the future, I think I will mix the multicolor strips in with plainer strips for more of a balance in any given block.  I do love all those multis though.  There are so many fun fabrics in there.

Lizzy tested out the quilt before I got it bound.  It has her seal of approval for naps in the sunshine.

Check out this summery border!  Flip flops and swim suits, bucket hats and the summer sun.

The back is this aqua print with aqua and purple dragonflies.  The solid lavender fabric was still on the cutting table from binding last week's bright hopes quilt, so it was an easy choice for this binding as well.  The quilt is 39 in. x 45 in., and will be donated locally.

As usual, I'm digging into my scraps to make green blocks for the RSC color of the month.  First are my Dawn Chorus blocks (above and below).  The green pieces are 2.5 in. wide, which is one of the strip widths I keep on hand in my "parts department".  I did have to cut a few more strips from the big scraps to get enough variety.

The light strips are only 1.5 in. wide, and I don't keep them in stock.  It's been helpful to have my light fabrics more accessible, including the scraps so I can grab them and cut them up.  If I happen to have a full strip I can cut enough for two of the quarter sections of the block, and save the extra set for another month.

 

I got a second set of RSC blocks done ahead, which must be some kind of miracle.  These are the ones I've been calling Half Log Cabin.  It has belatedly occurred to me that this set and Dawn Chorus are both log cabin variations.  I guess I just wanted to do more log cabins this year.  Both of these are going to use up lots of 2.5 in. strips, which is a good thing.  That drawer is REALLY full.

This Wednesday I joined some of the awesome ladies from our guild to work on charity projects.  I don't know why I can't remember to take pictures at any events.  Maybe I get too wrapped up in what's going on?  Anyway, we were making book pillows, like the one above.  Last year a local group requested some of these, and our guild ended making at least 100 of them.  My friend The Amazing Colleen had a whole box of kits cut out for more, so we sewed them up.  I made this one after I got home.

When we give them away, they have a pillow form inside, and we add a book in the front pocket.  The handle is so kids can carry them around.  They are made so that the pillow form can be taken out for washing.

The book I put in the pocket is one of my grandson Buddy's favorites from when he was little.  It's the classic story of Corduroy the bear, by Don Freeman.

In Progress

I'm still working on the farm quilt as a leader/ender project (see last week's post) with 6 blocks left to go.  The small top I was working on got moved to flimsy stage (hurray!) so this set of Little Bricks blocks is next.  

The box on the left contains my Little Bricks pieces, which are rectangles 2.5 in. x 3.5 in.  I was hoping to use up a lot of these this year.  So far I have pieced 3 small tops from them, plus these blocks.  And the box is still full.  What kind of magic is this?

Valentines Day is tomorrow! Buddy and Little Guy (and their mom) came over after school yesterday and we sent them home with candy and cards and hugs.  Today their big brother stopped by after work for his.  We sent a box of treats to Kenosha for our grandkids Mr. H and Miss E.  Then we gifted each other chocolate and cupcakes.  Oh, dear, I feel a diet heading my way.

Happy Valentines Day to all who celebrate! And have a very happy weekend!  I know I will have a good day tomorrow:  I'm going to a quilt show!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Grocery Receipts, Bright Hopes, and Greek Crosses

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Don't you love it when you accomplish something with a UFO?  This poor project was languishing in a bag for nearly 3 years.  Now at least it's a flimsy!

Snicky the cat wouldn't leave me alone to finish sewing it, so I finally had to shut him out of the sewing room.  Oh, and lock the door, because he can (and will!) open doors.

Here's the top, laid out on my design floor.

The sashings are made from tiny scraps sewn to grocery receipts.  I had to make a few extra to have enough for this design.  I'm tentatively calling it Rainbow Garden.  It's neat and orderly, like I imagine my garden will be someday.

The light pieces are 6.5 in. cut.  I chose light scraps to color coordinate with the sashing strips.  The cornerstones are solid fabric squares.  If I make something similar again, I will stay stitch the edges of the sashing.  They had a tendency to stretch.

It was fun finally putting the top together.  Angela of the So Scrappy blog was making something similar, and seeing that gave me the inspiration for the design (thanks, Angela!).

The border is even green, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

 

Check out the name of the fabric:  Busy Lizzy!  Lizzy aka Queen Elizabeth III is our shy cat.  I didn't buy the fabric because of the name, but it was funny to see.  The print is from the Kaffe Fassett Collective.

I bought it at this shop, Quiltagious in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.  I was there on Thursday dropping off quilts and tops for the Children's Advocacy Center.  BTW, if you live in Wisconsin you might want to stop by.  They have LOTS of beautiful fabrics including Kaffe Fassett's, with a nice sale section.  (I got the green I used in the border for $7.99/yard!)

I'm not sure exactly what will happen to the quilt next.  I may quilt it myself, or donate it as a top.  Either way, it will be donated locally.

I know I say this all the time, but I am STILL finishing up my RSC quilts from last year.  This little quilt used 30 of the Bright Hopes blocks.  I'm afraid to count how many are left, the bag is still pretty full.

It's fun to revisit these blocks one last time.  I'm so lucky to have all these kid friendly fabrics.  The striped fabric in the border has been in the multicolored stash for so many years I've forgotten where it came from.

Check out the back!  Have you ever made a quilt just to use a certain backing?  The Amazing Colleen gave me this piece, which was given to her by a scout camp that had used it for a tablecloth.  They evidently didn't use it very much, as it was in great shape.  I loved the bug print and the colors, but it was kind of narrow, especially since it had been hemmed.  It would fit a 36 in. wide quilt, so that's what I made.  I picked the blocks to go with the colors on the back.

Simple quilting, as always, this time in a 2 in. grid.

On to the green scraps!  This was my pile of small green scraps, after I removed pieces I know I will never use.  I am not good about doing this, but I have to restrain my inner packrat.  

When I was done cutting, I had strips, squares, and rectangles ready to be used.  The triangles are saved for string quilt corners and that pile of pieces on the bottom left will go in the crumbs bag. No more green scrap guilt!

For the RSC this week, I made 5 green Greek Cross blocks.

Of course there had to be a Green Bay Packer's block!

In Progress

Sometimes I get an idea for a quilt, and then try to find fabrics to make it, either in my stash or at the store.  Other times I start with the scraps and figure out what I can make with them.

This quilt in progress come from asking "What can I do with these scraps?".  The bigger pieces, like Mrs. Cow, were donated to our quilt group.  Many of the smaller ones came from a bag given to me by my friend Joey.  After thinking about this little collection for a year or so, I started working on this farm quilt this week.  The pieces on the left have lots of different animals etc. surrounded by fabric frames in several colors.  Those are done!  

Now I'm sewing the 2.5 in. (cut) squares together for the 16 patch alternate blocks.  I'll be using these blocks for leaders and enders, so it may take a while to get all the blocks ready to join together.  (Did you notice the black and white rabbit that looks like Snicky?)

So what are you cooking up with green scraps, or anything else?  I'm looking forward to finding out at the linky parties this weekend.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, and happy quilting!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap