Cats and Dogs and Elephants, Oh My

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Hey!  Who's under this quilt?  I just finished it this morning!

Oh yeah, I forgot, Snicky has a side job as a quilt quality control inspector.  That is of course in addition to his regular jobs of holding down our laps and waking us up at 5:00 a.m.  He's a busy guy.
 

I got carried away making these Uneven Nine Patch blocks last year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This is the second small quilt from these, and it uses 30 blocks.  The first quilt used 20.  There are still 51 more blocks!  What on earth was I thinking?

All of the blocks I chose for this quilt have animal prints in the center square.  There are pets, like cats and dogs and rabbits, zoo animals, farm animals, insects, birds, fish, dinosaurs, and sea mammals.  The blocks alternate dark and light centers. 

There are even animals on the back!  You might recognize this as "country look" fabric from the 1980s/1990s.  It's good cotton fabric, and I'm happy to have found a use for it.

Now I'll get the quilt washed and donated to a children's charity.  And then figure out what to do with the rest of the blocks.

The RSC color for June is blue (any blue!) which is great for me because I have so many blue scraps.  I'm just getting started making June's blocks, but these 3-D flying geese are easy and fast so I did them first.

Catch up is still happening with pink blocks.  I didn't have very many pink crumbs, so I only made two of these strips sewn on grocery receipts.

I may not be a big fan of regular pink fabric (yet?), but I have always loved double pink reproduction prints.  These hexies and triangles are cut with the Accuquilt cutter and are fast to sew.  I'm starting to get anxious to see all the colors together in the quilt, with those white stars peeking out.

A couple of months ago, a lovely lady (who used to be my son's English teacher) contacted our quilt guild about a local charity called Ebony Vision.  They have mentoring programs and a free lending library, with special activities for children. (Click HERE for an article about the organization.) Of course that caught my attention as I'm a retired school librarian.  We made a couple of quilts for them to use as a fund raiser, and now we're making book pillows.  The pillow covers (as seen above) have a deep pocket for books, lapped back flaps for easy insert and removal of the pillow, and a handle for carrying.

Our goal is 40 pillow covers done by our next meeting.  The pillows to go inside have already been purchased.  I couldn't attend the sewing day at the guild, but the amazing Colleen dropped off two kits plus instructions.  Those are the blue and green ones.  I also made the other two from guild fabric plus my fabric.

I had to include this red fabric with dinos and books!

There was some non-sewing activity here this week.  Little Guy "graduated" from preschool!  With all the excitement we couldn't get him to hold up the certificate for the photo, but it was such fun seeing the program the kids put on, with lots of happy singing. 

All the kids told the teachers what they wanted to be when they grew up.  

Here's what Little Guy said:

Those big trucks are really exciting.  Plus the man who collects the garbage in our neighborhood is very friendly, so maybe that's what influenced his choice.  I just want him to be happy in his work, whatever it is.

Have a happy start to a new month, with time for things you love to do.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

Passing on the Comfort

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's a hazy shade of winter outside this morning, so indoor photos will have to do.  Here's my latest Rainbow Scrap Quilt finish, the first of the Uneven Nine Patch baby-sized quilts. 

Snicklefritz the cat is really getting the hang of posing on a quilt.  I think he likes this one.  Maybe because another name for this pattern is Puss in the Corner?

Here's a closeup.  The blocks alternate between light centers (like the Sneetches) and dark centers (like the stars and comets).  Each block is made from two light charm squares and two dark charm squares.  (Click HERE for some quick instructions.)  Of course there had to be a Green Bay Packers block!

This red block is my favorite: hands, and hearts, and love.

I'm sure you can't see from this photo, but the white fabric has a subtle butterfly print.  I bought several yards of this print for a different quilt, but changed my mind.  A strip of the blue butterfly print from the border makes the back wide enough.
 

Sometimes I wonder what happens to the quilts I donate.  I always hope they'll be loved and used, but you never know.   Just as I was thinking this, my friend Debbie C. sent me this photo.

It's a detail of a quilt found in Germany.  The tag on the back identifies it as being made by the Canadian Red Cross.  Hundreds (thousands?) of quilts were made in North America and shipped to Europe as World War II was ending, to help refugees and people recovering from the war.

This is the back, and the hand stitched label.

Here's what it looks like close up.  Great pattern, right?  And hand quilted.

The quilt was published in the Suture and Selvedge blog, which focuses on textiles and women's lives.  (Click HERE for the article). 

That started me thinking about a book I had read about similar quilts found in Europe, so I hunted it down on my quilt bookshelves.  It's called Passing on the Comfort:  The War, The Quilts, and the Women Who Made a Difference.  The authors are An Keuning-Tichelaar and Lynn Kaplanian-Buller.

Once I found it, I realized I had only skimmed it before, looked at the quilts, and moved on.  I am very disappointed in myself for doing that!  This week, I actually read it, and was very moved by An's narrative of living through the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.  As a nurse and a Mennonite pastor's wife, she took in people fleeing and/or hiding, including Jewish children and adults, and did very dangerous jobs for the Resistance.

The quilts in the book were made mostly in the U.S. and Canada, and shipped out through the Mennonite Central Committee.  Lynn Kaplanian came along in the 1980s, saw the remaining quilts in a house she stayed in, and arranged for them to be exhibited.  She encouraged An to write down her memories.  

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II history.

In other news, the GSAFE Quilt and Fiber Art Auction to benefit LGBT youth finishes on this Monday, Dec. 4.  I donated three of my quilts, including the crayon quilt above (but not my dog!).  Originally I had planned to give these quilts to other places, but I am finding that they are doing okay in the auction, even though they are miles away from perfect.  It makes me wonder.  Will I do more good by auctioning/selling quilts than by donating them directly?  Maybe I should set aside a few "special" quilts for these occasions? Something to think about.

Have a wonderful week, and happy quilting!

Thanks 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

 

Oh, Happy Day!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Here are some things I'm happy about this week.

 

Snicklefritz is learning to pose!  He's laying on a quilt top I just finished.  (Thanks, Snicky!  He always makes me happy.)

I won these blocks at my local quilt group in October last year.  My little guy, who was only 2 then, was helping me arrange them and looking at all the pretty colors.

Here's the "aerial" view of the finished top.  I sewed the blocks together right away, and then procrastinated on the pieced border.  That was silly of me, this was an easy border, but sometimes things get sent to the bottom of the pile for silly reasons.

Bright prints were specified in the guild directions for the blocks, with either light or dark strips.  I made most of the ones with the darker strips, and guild members made most of the light ones.    This project was a good use of my non-novelty bright squares.  The top will be donated when finished, and it can go a teenager or an adult.  The lovely long-arm ladies at the guild will quilt it, and they can return it to me for binding.

So that's one out of the UFO pile!  

Next, Happy Blocks! 

My little Buddy wants to make another quilt, this time to go on his own bed.  I suggested Happy Blocks, and he loved the idea.  He picked out 5 in. (cut) squares for the center, and I chose coordinating (2 in. cut) solid colored frames.  We've got 56 blocks done, which should work for the size he wants, but we haven't had time to lay them out in rows yet.

This is the fabric he likes best.  I knew he would, with his current obsession with fishing, which is why I bought a fat quarter of it.  Now I might have to look for more.  We do need a border.  And a backing!

Lately, I've not had a lot of computer time, even for my favorite quilt blogs.  I finally noticed the current Compassion Quilts block drive is for none other than Happy Blocks!  The measurements are NOT the same as the ones I've been making lately, but they're very easy of course, and I have all the needed parts in my Parts Department (aka closet).  I even found a few left over blocks from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2 years ago that were made with these measurements and tossed them in.  The centers are 4.5 in. cut and the frames are 2.5 in. cut.

So these are the new blocks going to Cynthia (click HERE for directions and information). 

And these... 

And a few more

I got a little carried away.  They are fun to make, it's for a good cause, and I get to use my novelty prints!

Speaking of novelty prints, check out this amazing hexie quilt I saw at a the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show last Saturday.

Now for the closeup: 

All the prints are cow prints!  Isn't this amazing?  Who knew there were this many cow prints in the whole world?  It's giving me ideas for my own version.  (But not with just cows.) 

 There was lots of other inspiration at the show.  As usual, it was overwhelming.  But in a good way!

Here's what I bought at the show:  clearance fabric!  My mom taught me early to always shop the clearance rack first for clothes etc., and it's a good idea for just about anything.  All of this fabric was on sale, some well below the now-usual $12 or $13 per yard.  It will be put to good use!
 

What else is making me happy?  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge, of course!  It's aqua month, and I've finished the Uneven Nine Patch blocks.  Each month I have made six with dark centers and six with light.

Now I can have all the fun of putting the blocks into donation quilts.

I only had a scrap of this print, but I really like these dolphins.

I really like this guy, too!  Little Guy made a necklace from cereal at preschool this week.  He wanted to show it to his parents, but he also really wanted to eat it!  So I took a picture of him with it to show them, and then he could have it for a snack.

Have a good week!  I hope you get to do things that make you happy.  Like quilting!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

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