Treadlestitches: Sailboat quilt

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Sailboats, Dinosaurs, and Flea Market Finds

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Now that Hands 2 Help is done for another year, I'm getting back to other projects.

Here's what I started with, a little quilt top. It was made by Mary G., a nice lady who worked in a local post office. When she passed away, her heirs contacted our quilt group and donated lots of fabric and unfinished objects. This was one of those UFOs.

The top originally was long and narrow. I had a border fabric in mind, but didn't have enough of it for a larger quilt. So I took off one row of sailboats.

Don't worry, I didn't toss them! I put them on the back, along with a sailboat print.

There was just enough of the wavy blue fabric to go on the border. The binding is a solid navy blue scrap. Can you see the ocean creatures and plants in the black print? Mary G. had a good idea there. And she even staggered the blocks, like I've been doing lately. I'm sorry I didn't get to know her.

For quilting, I chose these curvy lines, like the wind blowing the sails or the waves in the water. I used a stencil and a purple disappearing marker, which washed right out.

So, lots of dark blue in this little quilt for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month. I also got my 16 patch blocks done in dark blue.

I think this print looks like gumballs.

This one is like a rainbow brick wall.

Here's some Thomas the Tank Engine print.

And numbers. Why is it if I only have a little scrap of something it becomes my favorite?

In other news, dinosaurs!

Dino skeletons invade the library lobby! My little guys wore their dino shirts, and posed with their dino pals. My Little Buddy made sure to tell me this tall one was a baryonyx. He's going to be a first grader in the fall, so he knows these things. Our Little Guy liked the dinosaurs, but really loved getting more train books. We're all signed up for summer reading.

Hubby and I went to a flea market on Memorial Day weekend, and I got this little group of fabrics, all good prices. There are 3 yards of the dog fabric, I just have to think of something good to do with it. (Any ideas?) We also got some toys for the kids and more track for the toy trains.

I just couldn't resist stopping to look at this pretty treadle. It's a Singer 66, with the decals collectors call Red Eye. A very useful treadle, by the way, since it takes modern needles and you can still find bobbins for it sometimes in the chain fabric stores.

This tag on the machine cabinet caught my eye. The M.P.S. is probably Milwaukee Public Schools. The machine dates to 1920. I'm guessing it was used to teach sewing, either to high school students or adults in the Extension Dept. Not much wear on the decals! As electricity was coming in, treadles were going out of favor, so it may not have gotten much use. Wonder where it's been all this time. While looking at it, I met another sewing machine enthusiast who also uses her treadle.

And that's what I'm going to do today, use my treadle to stitch up some more blocks and tops. Right after I get back from the Farmers Market. And there will definitely be some time to read quilt blogs! I am so grateful to the bloggers and to the gracious ladies who provide the link ups. Many thanks!

And thanks to you for reading this!

Sincerely,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Sailing Away

Welcome to Treadlestitches, my little corner of the world.

This week, we went to the Lake Michigan shore with our oldest daughter and her children for an afternoon. (Her husband is working from home, and no doubt appreciated the quiet time!) The weather was perfect, the company was wonderful, and it was so good to actually go somewhere, even if only an hour away.

My daughter's family comes to the shore often, and a favorite activity is looking for beach glass.

We all got into the act, even Grandpa. It's like a treasure hunt.

The kids (Middle Buddy and Girl Buddy?) swam a little, especially our grandson, but the water is just too cold for most of us. We got our feet wet, but that's about all.

After we got home, a squirrel bit me, and I just had to drop everything and make this little sailboat quilt.

The unpieced blocks in the quilt are made from fabric leftover after the last quilt I finished. I was cleaning up the scraps when the squirrel attacked. There were sailboats in the dark blue print. What if I made sailboat blocks to go with it?

Years ago, I made this tied comforter for my son. I had come across it recently in the mending pile. The blocks in the old quilt were 12 in. finished. For the new quilt, I used the same traditional design, and just made the blocks 6 in. finished.

Want to see why the old quilt was in the mending pile? The border fabric ripped in the washing machine. I will have to replace this section. Since it's a comforter, it will be easier to fix than if it was quilted. The real problem will be finding the right color fabric. When the virus is less of a problem, I'll take the quilt with me to the quilt store and just get the closest match I can.

Here's my patented method for choosing fabrics for boats and sails and backgrounds--just dump out the 2 in. strips on the floor and root through them! Messy quilty fun.

Look what I found in my stash for the back--happy whales and crabs. The border is a lighthouse print that I had completely forgotten about, and the binding has white anchors on red. I quilted it with a serpentine stitch done with Mrs. Pfaff's built in walking foot.

This little quilt will go to Jack's Basket.

When I recovered from the squirrel bite, I made 6 more blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. This is my Text Me A Quilt project. I neglected to make dark green blocks last month, because I just didn't have much of any dark green scraps. I need more blocks, though, so I scrounged up whatever greens I had.