Plugging Away

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for June is pink, so I'm starting with my double pink reproduction quilt scraps.

I often complain about not liking pink.  But not when it comes to reproduction prints!  I absolutely LOVE these.

The Shoofly blocks I'm making are very simple, just what I need right now.

I usually make 3 Shoofly blocks per month, but I just couldn't stop with the pink, so there are 4.  The math will work out.  (Probably?)

This one is my favorite.  I don't have favorite children or grandchildren or pets, but I think it's okay if I have favorite quilt blocks.

I'm not worrying about directional prints for this quilt, and if you look at the pink fabric on the corners you can see what I mean.  When quilters long ago made scrap quilts, they mostly didn't worry about fussy cutting all the stripes and directional prints to make them line up.  I'm with them, scraps is scraps, let's just cut them and use them up.

More pink!  This is a salmon-pink nursery print from the 1930s or 40s.  Weirdly, there are only 3 kinds of animals on it--elephants, giraffes, and mountain goats.  (Mountain goats??)  It was part of a child's comforter with matted batting that I bought at a flea market and took apart.

The salmon pink backing is on the reverse of this little quilt.  I blogged about the quilt HERE when I finished the top.

I thought really hard about hand quilting it, I really did.  But I know myself.  If I set it aside to hand quilt, it might wait a long, long time.  Plus I'm starting to have some arthritis in my hands.  So I machine quilted the blocks very simply, did a cable in the border, and bound it.

Now it can hang on the wall, and I can enjoy it.  If I hadn't cleaned out my stuff in the basement, I never would have made this quilt, which saves those embroideries and the little swatches.

As long as I was finishing little quilts, I got this one done, too.  These are the 1930s four patch blocks left over from the bigger quilt, and also a basement project. 

Check out the back!  No, I didn't piece it, it's a cheater print!  This one dates from roughly 1940s-1960s.  It was in my stash of vintage fabric.

Surprisingly, "printed patchwork" was made as early as the 18th Century in Europe.  It was even called "cheater cloth" in a 1910 catalog.  (Click HERE to learn more from quilt historian Barbara Brackman.)

I don't make a lot of wall hangings anymore (maybe since I've already got lots?) but it is nice to have some new ones to display.  I'll keep the four patch up until I get out the July 4th quilts.

This is my first post with the new version of Blogger.  Sigh.  In real life, I like a certain amount of change, but not in computer stuff.  However, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  And that is probably the best thing I've ever said about a software "upgrade".  I'll keep plugging away.

And that's what I'm doing every day, just hanging in and plugging away.  We have two epidemics in this country--Covid19 and police brutality.  I am encouraged to see so many people stepping up and speaking out.  I know change is possible, if we respect each other, reject violence, speak clearly and calmly, and work together.

I am comforted by this quote from anthropologist Margaret Mead.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Trash and Treasures

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's spring in Wisconsin.  The robins have been back for at least a month, and this plump fellow likes to perch on a tree in our backyard just about every morning. 

With spring comes spring cleaning.  I've had more time for it this year, with less babysitting, so I am taking it more seriously.

Do you have one of these?  It's a yarn monster!

For the last 2 weeks, I've been cleaning out my basement stash, sorting out what to keep, what to sell or give away, and what to toss.  Above is a nest of yarn ends, from the bottom of a box.  It was easy to decide to throw the yarn monster out.  Other decisions were tougher.

In a box of embroidered linens, I found these vintage dish towels.

Most of these date to before World War II.  Cute little figures are outlined on towels made from flour sacks.

See the little bear on the upper corner of this sack?  All the little bear embroideries are done on these Sunnyfield flour bags.  I wonder if the maker thought the lettering would wash out.  Although the companies confidently promised this would happen, it often didn't.
At one time, I thought I might cut the embroidered bears, ducks, etc. out of the towels and make them into quilt blocks.  I could still do that.  For now, I've washed them all and stacked them in the pantry.

As I was sorting through things, I happened to set some little embroidered blocks next to these tiny scraps.  Hmm.  I loved both of them.  Could I put them together?

Well, yes I could!

On the back you can see the pinked edges of the little scraps.  The small size, pinked edges, and multiple colorways of each print make me believe these were swatches, sent by fabric companies to stores and seamstresses to assist in ordering yardage.

The blocks are rectangles, 5 in. x 6 in. before being sewn together.  The embroideries are kittens, puppies, one chick and one rabbit.  I bought them on Ebay many years ago.  The seller lived in the next town over, and actually delivered them to my door.  She didn't know anything about who made them.

I used a vintage bunny print for the border, also reclaimed from the basement stash.

Right now, I am debating how to quilt it.  I know it won't be a donation quilt.  Embroidery doesn't fare well with the frequent washings donated children's quilts need.  I may use it on the wall in our extra room.  It measures about 30 in. x 36 in.
There is still lots to do in the basement, but I was sidetracked this week by a different kind of project.

The United Way is sponsoring MaskUPMKE, an effort to assemble face masks for local use.  (Click HERE for more information.)  Each volunteer takes home a box like this.

Here's what's in the box--rolls of mask material, perforated for each mask, and latex-free rubber bands.  We assemble the masks in our homes, and return the box with the completed masks.

Here's what they look like.  The first one you make is yours, to wear as you work.
It's not official PPE, and not very pretty, but if it helps at all I'm glad to do it.

Here's what the box looked like this morning before I taped it up and dropped it off.  There are 692 masks in here.   If you live in the area and are interesting in helping out, they are taking volunteers at least through next week.  They deliver and retrieve the boxes from your car trunk to minimize exposure to the virus.

More treasures of spring--the rhubarb is up, and looking very healthy after all our rain this week.

And the tulips are blooming!
All of these are good reasons to keep going, and keep hoping.  Times are tough now, but there are better days ahead.
Stay safe this week!
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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