A Pieceful Week

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

How was your week?  Mine was peaceful and pieceful.

The Two-Step top is done!  Elmo is helping me show it on Baby Buddy's bed.

It was so much fun to make.   The "game" is to pair up scraps that blend together.  Most of mine don't really, but check out the Daniel Tiger block.  His tail is from a Tigger print.

The pattern is called Two Step, and was designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg.  It's in the book Scrap School:  12 All-New Designs From Amazing Quilters.  The quilt in the book is a lot larger.  Mine measures 40 in. x 44 in.

Lately it seems like I'm concentrating either on quilting or piecing, never both in the same week.  This week was a piecing week.  Above I'm putting together the blocks of my 2020 quilt.  Each strip represents a day.  When you get down to it, this is really a string quilt.

String quilts have been on my mind lately, so when I saw these blocks at our guild's silent auction, an idea clicked, and I was lucky enough to win them.  The maker was our Lovely Laverne so I knew they would be pieced and pressed perfectly.

Another guild member, Nancy P., Queen of Scraps, has been showing us different ways to make string quilts.  Using her idea, I cut these blocks up, and sewed red strips on either side.

Here's what they look like now.  I'm going to sew all the small blocks into 4s and then set them together.

Another handy item from the auction--this little light!  Treadles don't come with lights, of course.  Before electricity was common, most people placed their treadles near a sunny window, and I've done that too.  But a light right on the work, especially at night or on a gloomy day is a big help.  It's battery operated, and is resting on the pressure knob, well away from the take-up lever.  Plus, it's purple!

The highlight of our week was going to Little Buddy's Christmas play.  It was called A Country Kind of Christmas (hence the bandanas), and he was a very serious little shepherd.  Baby Buddy went with us and enjoyed it too, especially the singing and the clapping after each number.

Later, Little Buddy helped us decorate for Christmas.  His style is simple--mash everything together, and add a dinosaur.  "But he's green!" he insisted, when I mildly objected to a T Rex next to the Christmas tree.  He also assured me that the dino was friendly and wouldn't harm anyone.  So okay then I guess.  All are welcome.

Guess who loves leftover cranberry sauce?

As we go through this busy holiday season, I'm trying to stay focused on what's really important--love, laughter, and family.  I hope you have plenty this week, and every week!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Happy Blocks, Happy Quilts, Happy Holidays!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Happy Blocks, made this year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, are getting finished into Happy Quilts!  These 3 will be donated to Project Linus.

It's such a simple block, and so much fun to make, especially with novelty print squares in the middle.  Click HERE for a link to a really good tutorial on how to make them from maryquilts.com.

The blocks measure 8 in. finished, so 30 of them set 5 x 6 side by side makes a quilt 40 in. x 48 in.

The back of Quilt #1 is the rest of a bug print I've used on another baby quilt.  Quilts #1 and #3 are what I call anybody quilts, meaning they're not gender specific.

Happy Quilt #2 will probably be given to a girl because of all the pink in it.

Hope she likes cats.  And purple monkeys!

To make the backing big enough, I put a strip of charm squares down the middle.

Lastly, Quilt #3.

Alphabet print on the back.
 

So many fun prints here!  Race cars, dogs, tractors, trains, and of course dinosaurs.

Speaking of dinosaurs, don't look now, Pilgrim dolls, you're about to be the main course!  I found this photo on my camera this morning.  Little Buddy and his cousin Miss E. were having fun with it on Thanksgiving.  We had such a good visit with all the kids and grandkids this year.  That's what I'm most thankful for.

I also love having time to sew!  Every year, I spend Black Friday and the rest of Thanksgiving weekend in the sewing room, catching up on projects.  Yesterday I made the treadle wheels spin!  The project on the wall behind the treadle is called Two-Step, and was designed by Amanda Jean Nyberg, formerly of the crazy mom blog.  It comes from this book:  Scrap School:  12 All-New Designs From Amazing Quilters.

Jo Kramer of the blog Jo's Country Junction posted about making this design, and got me interested.  I already had the book and most of the 2.5 in. squares ready to go.  I'm piecing mine in columns rather than rows.

I finally finished the blocks for my 2020 diary/calendar quilt!  Why on earth did I pick 2020 as the year to do this?  It was hard to keep up enthusiasm for it during the lockdowns, etc.  But there were good things that happened in 2020 too, like the birth of my Baby Buddy, so I pushed through and got the blocks done, about a year late.

The strips for the calendar quilt came from this little suitcase.  Why is it still just as full as it was before?  The mystery of scraps.

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, the holiday season has begun for real.  I'm wishing the joy of this time of year for all who celebrate.  Happy Holidays!  As for me, I'm thinking about another slice of pumpkin pie.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at SoScrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap