Two Little Quilts, A Big Sale, and Bright Hopes

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I like a challenge.  My wonderful quilt guild has been having several challenges lately, and I was glad to participate.  This particular challenge was called Dots and Zigzags.  We were given paper bags with a small amount of zigzag print and dotted print, both in the same color.  The object was to use the fabrics to make anything we'd like, and bring it to the January meeting.

You guessed it, my fabrics were pink!  Which made it an extra challenge for me, since I'm not the biggest fan of pink.  Both fabrics in the bag were a kind of salmon color. We could add any fabrics we liked to the ones in the bag.  At first I was kind of stuck on bright vs. salmon vs. light pink.  Did they actually go together?  Then I found the green print in my stash, and noticed it had ALL the pinks in it.  That helped!  I even put the salmon-y zigzags next to a bright dotted print.

Of course I made a baby quilt!  It's just where my mind goes lol.  I pieced a row of light pink zigzags and another of dark pink zigzags and added the strips.  Simple quilting and voila.

The challenge entries were displayed at our last meeting, and I was blown away by their creativity and workmanship!  I also had no idea there were so many zigzag prints in existence.  My little quilt will be donated locally.

Here's the back, an adorable bird and flower print, with lots of pink!  (Debbie, does this look familiar?)  I was lucky enough to have this yardage in my stash, because my friend and I went to a sale last Saturday.

The sale was at the Textile Arts Center in Madison.  All sorts of sewing/knitting/crafting items donated to the center were sold for great prices.  Above is the major "loot" I got.  I always think of myself like a pirate at these sales, scooping up treasure.  Arr!  All told I bagged over 40 yards of pre-owned fabric.

That doesn't even count the scraps!  I made a scrap rainbow out of them when I got home.  Lots of them came from a UFO someone had started.  I'm looking forward to cutting them up.

Fabric shopping is fun of course, but the best part of the day was spending time with my friend.  We went out to lunch and spent time catching up, and Debbie gave me these fat quarters and thread as a birthday present.  She knows just what I like!  And the pink one in front is a cat print!  Thanks, Debbie, for a great day.

I'm still making flannel quilts for the annual Community Baby Shower, and I finished this one this week.  I'm having a terrible time getting the color right in the photos.  The background is actually a soft yellow.

The giraffes and happy monkeys were fun to work with. They also came from a sale a couple of years ago. 

Here's the back, a star print from another sale.  I probably have enough left to back two more small quilts.  The simple quilting is easy to do with the poly batting, and makes the quilt soft and cozy.

Snicky the cat thinks so!  I had to make him get off the quilt so I could bind it.  It now comes with cat cuddles.  Don't worry, it will be thoroughly washed before it goes to a baby.

This is a great time of year at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It's so much fun deciding which quilt blocks to make all year in all the colors.  I chose the Bright Hopes block to use up my 2.5 in. squares and 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. rectangles.

It's fun finding cute prints for these blocks.

The one with the unicorn center is my favorite!

Hubby and I are very excited this morning.  We're going to pick up our new kitten!  She's a lovely little rescue that our oldest daughter has been looking after for us.  I hope Snicky will be a good big brother to her.

Have a lovely week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful ladies:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Finishing, and Starting

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's no secret, I love the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Last year, I went overboard making zigzag blocks, and ended up making two Zigzag quilt tops.  I quilted the first one months ago.  This week, I had some time off from babysitting, so I got the second one finished.

 Woo hoo!  These were such fun to make.  (Click HERE for more on this project.)

Of course I started the quilting with the purple row!  Purple is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for August.  Plus it was in the center of the quilt, after all.

The back is a paw print, with hearts thrown in here and there.  The binding is pink, for somebody special.

When I first started making zigzag blocks, I hadn't decided what I was going to do with the quilts when they were finished.  I donate a lot of quilts to charity, and I thought I might do that with these.  But then I started making the denim quilt for my oldest grandson (click HERE for that), and that helped me decide.  This is the year ALL the grand kids get new quilts.

The zigzag quilt on the right will go to Mr. H.  In this one, the rows are in RGBiv color order, with no pink, and it's bound in all different colors.  The new zigzag quilt on the left will go to his sister, Miss E.  She loves pink.  Both of them have birthdays coming up, but I don't think I can wait for that!

These quilts are not big enough for their beds (kids have huge beds now!) but they can use them to cover up when watching TV, or take them camping or on sleepovers.

For this year's RSC, I got my 3 Shoofly blocks done.  All these blocks for this project are made of 1800s reproduction fabrics.

I missed the kids this week--they were up north with their other grandparents.  But it was good to get a few things done.  I spent some of my time canning bread and butter pickles and more pickle relish.  The house smelled like a pickle factory, but it's done now for the year.

Hubby and I went to a state park along Lake Michigan yesterday morning.  It was a beautiful day.

It's a popular park.  See all the footprints in the sand?  We kept a careful distance from other people, and went home when it started to get crowded.

We walked a mile down the beach, and then back across the dunes on the boardwalk.  Growing all over the dunes were these purple flowers.  Standing here you could hear the droning of the bees as they gathered nectar.  It was a welcome sound.  Bees have had a hard time lately.  These seemed very healthy (and happy?).

I wished my Mom was there with us, and not just because she would know the name of this plant.

It was good to get out into the wider world for a few hours.  There's a reason they call it "recreation".

Meanwhile, back at the "ranch", purple inspiration is everywhere.  Even in our shirts on the clothesline!

This week, I'm wishing you inspiration and excitement, and some rest and recreation, too.  Have a good week, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

 

Ups and Downs and Zigzags

It's almost a miracle!  Zigzag quilt #1 got finished this week.

This is one of last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts.  (Click HERE for more details on my zigzag quilts.)  It's not a very big quilt, just 64 in. x 78 in., and it was half quilted last Saturday, so why would it be a miracle to finish it this week?  One word--flu.
My little buddy got it last week, and after a doctor visit and Tamiflu, he bounced right back.  On Tuesday, it was my turn.  (Why didn't I get a flu shot?  From now on, I will.)

This was me, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  I admit to feeling sorry for myself some of the time, but I had lots of comforts--hot tea, warm quilts, and a sweet dog.  Oh, and word games on my phone.  (Photo credits--Little Buddy took this picture.)

Hubby helped take care of Little Buddy, who was feeling fine.  They built a huge train and car layout in Hubby's office/den.

Monday, before I got really sick, I had finished the quilting on Zigzag #1.  By Friday, I was finally feeling human again (hurray!), so after Little Buddy went home I made a rainbow binding and stitched it on.  I don't think I've ever made a rainbow binding before.  Although I have often made scrappy bindings, they are usually in just one color. 

The quilting is simple, just up and down the zigzags with the built-in walking foot.

With that done, I could work on my blocks for this year's RSC quilts.  Reproduction orange fabric, which I'm using for these shoofly blocks, looks sort of like the burnt orange crayon color we used to have in grade school.  I always wondered why anybody would want to burn an orange.

It's been snowing lightly this morning, just when the snow cover had been finally melting.  We're not supposed to get a big storm, but I want to get out and get my errands done.  I need valentines for the grandchildren as well as groceries.  After that, I'm going to take it slow, and do a little sewing.

Stay well, if you can, and take care of yourself.  Have a lovely weekend.
Cheers 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

Dear Diary

Welcome to Treadlestitches, and to a new month!  I can't believe January is already over.

I stopped keeping a diary in junior high because it was the surest way to be ridiculed endlessly by my brothers and sisters, who always managed to find it and read it out loud. (AAK!)  Now, I really have no embarrassing secrets, and my only crush is my Dear Hubby, so diaries are okay again.  I'm making this one out of fabric.

Above are my diary quilt blocks for January.  Each separate block represents a week (mostly), and each strip is a day.  For each day, I choose something to represent that day.

I won't bore you with everything that happened all month long.  I will say that most Sundays are yellow, partly because it's sun-day (Dad joke), and partly because that's the day I talk to my mom on the phone for at least an hour, which is a bright spot in the week.  If I finish a quilt, I include a piece of it for that day (like the dark blue in the center of the block above).  I'm also using lots of my books/library fabrics for Tuesdays, when my Little Buddy and I go to the library.

As I say, each small block is meant to represent a week, with 7 strips, one for each day.  I intended 4 small blocks for each month. The biggest question about this was what to do when the month has more than 28 days.  In that case, I split the last strips into two days each.  Above, the last 3 strips are made up of 2 rectangles, for Sunday/Monday, Tuesday/Wednesday, and Thursday/Friday.

I still have no idea how I'm going to set the blocks.

You might have noticed all the children's prints and novelty fabrics in my diary quilt.  That's because I get to spend my days with this guy, my Little Buddy, seen here helping make his favorite blueberry pancakes.

We make snowman faces in them sometimes.

He also "helped" me pack up some quilts our local group is donating to Jack's Basket.  Here he is pointing out polar bears in the print on this cute quilt.  Bella the dog is nearby, in case we need to have our faces licked.  (Yuck!)  Thank goodness they're going to wash the quilts before sending them out to the babies.

These are the quilts I was packing up.  Aren't they amazing?  There are 12 of them in this batch.  That brings us up to a grand total of 34 quilts sent to Jack's Basket since last summer from our small group of around 50 active members.  I go into more detail on our group's blog, if you're interested click HERE.

Quilting is happening!  Zigzag #1 is about half done.  Mrs. Pfaff will be whirring away later today.

Orange is the new color for February for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I couldn't be happier.  The pile of 1930s repros and vintage prints above will eventually be house blocks.

For some reason, I've been in the mood to cut scraps this week.

This little stack (really orange, not yellow, bad lighting) is six blocks worth of Text Me A Quilt.

The shoofly blocks are cut too, ready to sew.

And I finally decided on a layout for the Roscoe Star blocks, so the last blocks are cut to sew as leaders and enders.
You could say I've got my work cut out for me.
(I can just about hear my Dad saying that.  Gotta love Dad jokes.)
Have a wonderful week, and a great start to February.  If it includes sewing, so much the better!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Treadling A Rainbow

It's a beautiful Saturday morning, just right for treadling a rainbow--a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt.

I'm finally putting my zigzag quilts together!  There will be two of these quilts, and this is the first.

There are eight rows in this quilt, and I'm setting them with a 2 in. sashing strip between each row.  The quilt needed to be a little longer, so this is what I thought of.

It adds a little more light space between each color, but kind of blends in to the white triangles.

You can see better with a close up. 
The second quilt will be set row to row.  Wonder which one I'll like best.

This is the fun fabric in the sashing strips.  It's some of the "loot" I got at Quilt Expo last month.  It never hurts to buy light fabric, especially when it's this cute.

Here's the other project I'm using as Leaders and Enders.  It's just a little squirrel, that came in out of the cold.

The pattern is Three Patch Chain, by Kim Brackett.  (I really love her books.)

It's the first quilt in this book, Scrap Basket Bounty.  The pattern is great.  I especially like the accurate pressing instructions, which make it easier to piece than it looks.

This is 8 blocks on my flannel wall.  All the pieces are scraps from my "collection".  My plan is to make a baby quilt for Jack's Basket from these.

We took Little Buddy to the orchard last week, to get apples.  I bet you can guess what he liked the best.  (Hint--it's big and green and makes lots of noise.)  He dragged me out of the apple barn to take his picture here.

The kitchen is just full of apple goodness.  We bought Honey Crisps for eating, and the big Cortlands are for the applesauce I'm going to make this afternoon.  We got pears, too, and cider.

It's Halloween next week!  I'm sure these dudes want to wish you a Happy Halloween.  Oh, and to remind you to protect your hearing, and wear warm hats.  (They might want to remind me not to eat all the chocolate Halloween candy, too.)

Have a great week!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at SoScrappy
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Cynthia at Oh Scrap (on Sunday)
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict