Jelly Twist, the Parts Department, and Rail Fence

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

A little finish on the clothesline today!  It's called Jelly Twist, and is from a pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew.

This size is not in the pattern, but it's just 16 blocks set 4 x 4, with a 3 in. finished border, so no complicated math needed, thank goodness.  It is possible to get confused making the blocks, but the pattern is thankfully in color and that helps a lot.  If there is a way to mess it up, I usually find it, but it's not difficult if you keep your wits about you, and are not me.

The border is a very subtle Toy Story print, with silhouettes and names of the main characters.
 

For quilting, I just did a 2 in. grid with the curvy serpentine stitch on my Pfaff.

On the back, I've got this print of multicolored hearts on white.  I had a big piece of it I was saving for a larger quilt, but decided to go on and use it up now. 

This quilt is brought to you by my Parts Department.  Every colored rectangle in the quilt is a different fabric.  I did not have to drag out any yardage or even cut up any scraps to piece the blocks, which meant I could start sewing right away.

This is my Parts Department.  I'm not sure who came up with the term Parts Department for our precut stash, but I love it.  Each quilter can customize her/his system to the sizes and shapes they use most often.  Most of my Parts Department stash is hand cut by me, but I do sometimes have charm squares or jelly rolls that are commercially cut.  When I cut up scraps, I trim them to the largest size possible, and then store them in the boxes and drawers.

When I first started my own Parts Department, I filled all of the drawers with 1880s reproduction scraps, because that's what I was sewing.  Gradually I started making more and more quilts with bright novelty prints, and needed room for those scraps.  Back in 2018, I decided to make a rail fence quilt as a leader and ender project, which would help me use up my 2 in. wide repro scraps and make room for the 2 in. bright scraps.

There are all kinds of ways to make rail fence blocks.  I made these with 4 strips, cut 2 in. x 6.5 in., for 6 in. finished blocks.  Each block had one strip of the brown floral, one strip of lightish print (ranging from white to dark beige) and two random colored strips.  Eventually, I had 143 blocks.

I set them 11 x 13, and then just put the top in a pile to decide on a border.  It sat in that pile for at least 4 years.  Until this week, when I finally put a 3 in. border on it!

The border is this Jo Morton print I had in the stash, that I also used for a different quilt.

So now the top is done!  But I'm not going to put off quilting it.  I'm not going to quilt it at all!  I'm donating it, and the wonderful ladies in my quilt group will quilt it.  I think it will look nice with some curvy long arm quilting stitches.  It can be warm and comforting for someone who needs it.

Here's what's left of the 2 in. reproduction strips--just one plastic shoe box.
 

And now the drawer is filled with 2 in. wide bright print strips, bagged up by color.  I can easily grab what I need, especially when making blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

In other news, the weather here has been weird!  On Thursday, the boys and I went to the park for a little while.  The temperature was in the high 70s (F), and it had even been over 80 at the beginning of the week.

Buddy was showing off his acrobatic skills.

Friday, the high temp here was a cool and rainy 60.  This morning when I got up it was 41 degrees F.  Time to get out the winter coats, and make sure we have hats and gloves/mittens ready.

Snicklefritz likes snuggling into a pile of quilts on days like this.  Or on any day.  Me too!

Have a lovely day, whatever the weather, and a good week ahead.

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Check out these great linky parties!

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy
 

 

Easy Baby Quilts for Hands 2 Help

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Hello, Hands 2 Helpers!

It is such a good idea to have us share easy patterns for Hands 2 Help.  (Thanks, Mari!)  Through the year, I make lots of quilts to donate to babies and children, so I'm sharing some of them here.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other people post, especially for larger quilts for grown ups.  I definitely need some help in that direction!

First up, classic 4 patch!  What could be easier?  I started making these many years ago to donate to Quilts 4 Kids.  They have several free and easy patterns, click HERE to go to their pattern page.

 

I have used their 4 patch pattern many times, and highly recommend it.  You need a fun print for the plain squares and the outer border, so I start with that.  You need about a yard, although you can get away with less if you use a different fabric for the outer border.  Next I pull fabric that goes with the fun print for the 4 patches.  

Usually, I use just two fabrics for the 4 patches, but these 4 patches came to me in a silent auction, and it all works out.  It's a great pattern for beginners, or anytime you need a quick quilt.  (I love it because I get to use my novelty prints!)

Next is my own pattern (free, of course), which I'm calling Little Bricks.  Click HERE for the link.  (Can you believe there was snow on the ground two weeks ago?  Oh, yeah, for sure, it's Wisconsin.)

The little bricks are 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles, and the blocks measure 6 in. finished.  No seams to match in the block makes them work up very quickly.

I'm really on a kick of using little bricks!  This top will be quilted soon, but I thought I'd include it, as it is a very easy quilt to make.  I'm calling it Little Bricks and Ladders.  I don't think I've seen this exact quilt anywhere else, but if this is someone else's pattern please let me know.

Here's the recipe:

For each block, cut 3 little bricks (2.5 in. x 3.5 in.) and two background rectangles 2 x 6.5 in.

Sew the little bricks together on their long edges.

Add the background rectangles to each side of the assembled bricks.

Make 30 blocks.  Alternate their orientation across the quilt, and set the blocks 5 x 6.

Cut borders 3.5 in. wide.

You will need 90 little bricks, cut from scraps, and about 3/4 of a yard of background fabric, depending on the width.  The border uses about 1/2 yard.  (My fabric measurements are slightly more than needed.)

Finished size:  36 in. x 42 in.

I love making quilts of all kinds, even the tougher patterns, but the easier ones let me get more done to donate to others.  Plus they're fun!

Let's have fun making quilts!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Mari, the Academic Quilter

 

Homework

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  

I hope you're having a good week.

The quilt group I belong to is amazing.  One of the reasons I joined this group was their strong focus on making quilts and other items for people in need.  We all participate in our own ways, donating fabric, making blocks or quilt tops, saving labels and coupons for discounts on batting, etc.  This little quilt was part of my homework this month.  The group supplied the top, backing fabric, and batting.  I did the quilting.  

We have a small group of dedicated long-arm quilters on our charity committee.  In the last year, our group has donated at least 85 quilts, large and small, to local hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, veterans, a hospice center, a center for abused children, Jack's Basket, and even the Humane Society.  The majority of the quilts were quilted by our long-arm volunteers. 

Some of the smaller quilts, like this one, can be easily quilted on a regular domestic sewing machine.  So some of us have volunteered to do just that.

You might wonder if I made this top, when you see all the novelty prints!  (Love those cats!)  But I can't claim credit for it.  Maybe when I bring it to the meeting next week I can find out who made it.

Here's the back, a soft green print.  The quilting is my usual go-to, a serpentine stitch grid.  I first saw this kind of quilting done many years ago by Laverne D., one of our group members, and really liked it.  This little quilt will be a warm and cheerful lap robe for someone in a nursing home.

A little more homework!  One of our guild members has been bringing flannel hearts for us to sew.  She very kindly packages them in groups of five, pre-cut and ready to go.  These hearts go to a local hospital, for use in the newborn intensive care unit (NICU).  Mothers of preemies pin the hearts inside their clothes to pick up their scent.  Then the heart is placed with the baby.  I must admit I had a little trouble getting these hearts sewn right (which is why you can't see all of them!).  More practice needed.

Here's my last homework project, which is not done yet.  Doesn't this look like a modern art painting?  It measures 30 in. x 56 in. which is kind of an awkward size.  If I add some borders, it could be a useful quilt for a local men's shelter, to go on a cot.  I'm thinking of adding black print borders just to the sides to make it wider, and then a scrappy piano keys border all around.  What would you do?  I'm open to other ideas.

As if I didn't have enough work to do, I keep bringing more home!  We went to the orchard on Wednesday and got a bushel of apples and a peck of pears.  I've got 17 pints of applesauce made from half the apples, hope that's enough.  We ran out last year, and commercial applesauce is just not the same.  Today I should finish canning the other half bushel as pie apples, and then I'll start on the pears.  Lids are still hard to get, so I'm just using what I've got left over from last year.

Friday morning was a Stash Enhancement Experience!  A quilt guild from a neighboring town held a quilters' rummage sale, which they call Granny's Attic.  They usually hold it as part of their quilt show, but the pandemic has prevented them from having shows the last two years.  Their members donate the fabric, and they use the money they raise for their own charity projects, including scholarships for area students.  I'm happy to say I helped them raise some cash!  I got some very cute fabric for less than I would pay in the store.

And now for something weird!

Just for fun, Baby Buddy's daddy pulled his shirt over his head!  He thought it was funny, and ran around after us, making this toy bear growl at everybody.  We have big fun around here.  

Looking after this little guy is my favorite kind of home work.  Even more fun than quilting!

As always, have fun and stay safe this week.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Check out these linky parties.  Lots of great inspiration!

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Math Genius???

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  

Guess what's in this box--that's right, it's a quilt!

 

 Sometimes, when I'm cleaning up scraps, I cut up pieces for a baby quilt and stash them away in a box, waiting for when I have time to sew.  It's like a little present for myself.

 

The pattern for the quilt in the box came from this book:  Quilts for Scrap Lovers, by Judy Gauthier.  There are LOTS of good patterns in this book.  The one I chose is called Mathematical Genius.  If you've read my blog before, that might strike you as ironic.  My struggles with math are not a secret!

One recent Sunday, I just couldn't wait to start this any longer.  I shooed away the dog and cat, turned on All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, and started laying the quilt out on the floor.  The pattern is kind of like a Plus quilt, but all the pluses have to fit together.

Without the book, I would have been lost.  It doesn't seem complicated until you start actually placing the squares.  (Did you notice the yellow parrot fabric?  I keep using it everywhere this year!)  I must admit, I lost track of the TV show, and had to rewind and watch it later.

This quilt pattern turned out to be a good place to use multi-colored fabric, like the Pete the Cat and Snoopy/Joe Cool prints above.

Keeping everything straight when moving from the "design floor" to the sewing room required a little thinking.  First, I took a photo of the layout on my phone.  Then I pinned the squares into rows and stacked them back in the box.  As I sewed, I would take a pinned row out of the box, sew all the squares together (checking the photo on my phone as needed), and then drape that row over the ironing board as shown above.  If any squares were in the wrong place, it would be easy to tell.

Now it's a top!  Adding the bright red border made it a slightly large baby quilt at 40 in. x 48 in.  Today's job will be basting and quilting it, to get it ready to be donated.

In other news, more yellow!

Four patch stars, and log cabins.

 

 More half square triangles, that I still have no specific plan for.

My favorite blocks this week are the Happy Blocks.  I used a yellow square in the center of each one, and surrounded it with a color picked up from the square.

So, lots of piecing but not much actual quilting.  Piecing for 20-30 minutes a day gives me a good start to the weekday morning, before my Baby Buddy gets here.

Speaking of Baby Buddy, here he is, in the middle of getting into everything.  He is so fast!  We have to batten down the hatches when he arrives.

This was the only picture I got of my Little Buddy this week where he WASN'T growling like a T. Rex.  Here he's watching a video on my phone about (of course) dinosaurs.

 My heart goes out to all the people in Texas and Oklahoma (including my family members) who have been hit by the disastrous weather.  It's so easy to take infrastructure like water and electricity for granted, and so tough to manage without it.  I'm hoping warmer weather will help start getting things back on track.

My guess is when things get a little more settled, there will be a need for quilts to help people who have lost so much.  The quilting community always responds to disasters, and I know we will do so again.  In the meantime, click HERE for a list from CNN of places to donate money to help people in Texas.  If I find a similar list for Oklahoma, I will post it.

Good luck to everyone in the week ahead.  Stay warm, stay safe, and let's keep sewing!

Thanks for reading,

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

 

 

 

 

More Quilty Hugs

Welcome to Treadlestitches!
Thanks to Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, many of us are participating in her annual Hands2Help drive, which saw 876 quilts donated last year.  Maybe this year will be even better.

Last week I showed you this quilt as a top.  I hurried up and quilted it this week to donate to Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo.

I found this backing fabric in my stash.  It has been there at least 10 years, waiting for just the right project.  The binding is a pink/purple print I bought in a bundle at Goodwill a few years ago.

I thought this would be my last quilt for Hands2Help this year.  After all, we're down to the wire in terms of time.  The quilts need to be completed in the coming week.  And I was actually ready!

But then I thought about the people I have loved who have had cancer, and faced chemotherapy.  Some were women, but most were men.  The quilt I had made was very girly.  I needed to make another quilt, one that would be more appealing to a man.

My dog Bella is helping me show the new top.  I hope to get it quilted this weekend.

There are 9 blocks, each with a center cut from a fish fabric.  The background squares in the corners of the block are a canoe print, that also has fish, paddles, and sailboats.  The dark blue border is a sailboat print.  The theme would work for a woman, but would not be off-putting for a man.

The pattern is called Railroad Crossing, and comes from the book Charm School, by Vanessa Goertzen.

(By the way, there are lots of fun patterns in here for charm squares!)

I thought about my Dad while I worked on this quilt.  When he was a teenager, he ran away from home one summer and went to Michigan, where he worked in a hotel and learned to love the Great Lakes.  At the end of the summer, he went back home, but it really changed his life.  When he was old enough, he joined the Coast Guard, and was eventually stationed on a lighthouse.

When Dad was diagnosed with cancer, he decided not to have chemo, since the prognosis was not good even with it.  For him, it was the right choice, but other situations are different, and there have been advances in chemotherapy in the more than 30 years since he got sick.   If there is even a small thing I can do to help a cancer patient, like making a lap quilt, I am happy to do it.
I'm donating this quilt in memory of my Dad.

The oregano is coming on strong in our little herb garden next to the garage.  I'm drying bunches of it in the kitchen.  If you're local and want some, let me know.  You can come and cut it safely.

My oldest daughter and her two kids came by yesterday, and brought Little Buddy some birthday presents--a dino backpack and a dino print hat.  He immediately decided it was a paleontologist outfit, so he was a paleontologist the rest of the day, hunting for dinosaurs.  We found a few, too!

My dear hubby and I went to Cedarburg Bog on Wednesday to walk in the woods. I had a hard time keeping up with him because I was taking so many photos of all the wildflowers, like the trillium above.  It still seems odd to go somewhere by ourselves in the middle of the week.  Little Buddy's mom is only working on Fridays for now, so we're no longer full time babysitters.

This is Watt's Lake, part of the Cedarburg Bog Natural Area.  Water is very high around here, due to recent rains.
One of Little Buddy's favorite shows has been Dinosaur Train, on PBS.  The paleontologist on that show, Dr. Scott, has a tag line for the kids.  He says, "Go outside, get into nature, and make your own discoveries!"
Good advice!
I am wishing for happy discoveries for all of us this week.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap