Little Bricks, A Free (Very Easy) Pattern

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Can you stand another baby quilt for Hands 2 Help?  I'm calling this one Little Bricks. 

This is a stack of bricks.  Quilter's bricks, of course, rectangles measuring 2.5 in. x 4.5 in.  I first learned about them from Bonnie Hunter, quilter and teacher extraordinaire, who has used this shape in many quilts.  When I'm cutting pieces for a quilt and only have a small amount left of a 2.5 in. strip, I cut it into a brick.

If I don't have enough left for a brick, I often cut these pieces.  I call them little bricks, and they measure 2.5 in. x 3.5 in.  They can also be cut from short (or long!) 3.5 in. strips.

It's great to have both sizes of these rectangles cut ahead and ready to go.  And I'm always looking for new ways to use them.

My two youngest grandsons, whom I now call Little Guy (he just turned 2) and Big Buddy (formerly known as Little Buddy, he's in kindergarten), love to build with Duplos, the Lego bricks for toddlers and above.  These colorful bricks inspired me to design this little block.  I'm going to share the simple pattern with you.

Here's the block, done in yellow in honor of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  It measures 6 in. finished, 6.5 in. unfinished.

For each block, you need:

3 Little Bricks (2.5 in. x 3.5 in.) in a color of your choice

For the background, all the pieces can be cut from a 2.5 in. strip at least 11 in. long.

2 Little Bricks, 2.5 in. x 3.5 in., in the background color

2 small rectangles, 2.5 in. x 2 in., in the background color

The sewing is simple, as seen above.  I finger press towards the darker fabric.

When the blocks are done, the two wide seams can be pressed either up or down, which is helpful if you set the blocks side by side and want the seams to nest.  (By the way, it's extra fun to put a tiger in the middle.)

I made 25 blocks, set them 5 x 5, added a 5 in. cut border.  The finished quilt is square, and is approximately 40 in. x 40 in. (a little less after washing and some crinkly shrinking.) 

If you've seen my quilts before, you know I'm fond of a diagonal rainbow of colors, and lots of novelty prints.

The back is a colorful dot print that I LOVE, and the orange binding is just for fun.  It will go to Little Lambs, to be given to a child entering foster care.

If you make a quilt from this pattern, I'd love to see it.  

In Rainbow Scrap Challenge news, I made a few 16 patch blocks with solid yellow and multicolor prints.

Puzzle pieces,
 

happy flowers,

and stripes, like this print cut from an unfinished shirt, are all fun fabrics to use for this quilt.

I made a math mistake when cutting out this one (not that unusual for me!), and ended up making two blocks instead of one.  Not sorry, though, both will be used.

This has been a busy but happy week in our family.

Our Little Guy had a train-themed birthday party, and we were able to celebrate with extended family, almost like before the pandemic.  (BTW he's trying to show me a star toy, that's what's in his hand.  After this he ran gleefully off and no more photo opportunities were offered.)

Our oldest grandson, Teenager Guy, had the ACT test and a couple days off school for teacher inservice, so he hung out here with us.  (No photos, as per his request!)  The kids had dinner with us one night, too, before heading off to activities like play practice and wrestling.
 

Plus Friday was Grandparents Day at Big Buddy's school, so I got to spend a morning with him and his friend.  There were lots of fun activities, plus a book fair.  We had a great time.

Have you heard of Peptoc?  If you're ever feeling down or in need of a little encouragement, there's a free hotline called Peptoc with recorded messages from elementary school students to help.  Big Buddy and I tried it out yesterday, and it was lovely.  The kids' voices are very sincere and kind.  You can choose what kind of message you need.  We chose the kindergarteners', of course.  They told us to "keep going!"  It's a project of a school in California, and the phone number is 1-708-998-8410. Could be something to keep in mind when a quilt just won't come out right.

I hope all your projects are coming together perfectly, this week and every week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

With A Little Help From My Friends

This is my string quilt.  I made the top over a year ago (as described in this post).  It has bits and pieces of so many memories--quilts made and used, quilts given away, shopping trips with friends, scraps of fabric and time.   There are even 3 blocks in the quilt that were made by my friend Debbie for her own quilt.  She gave me the extras and lots of plaid scraps.

My cat and I are looking at it here.  I LOVE it!  (Mr. Biddy is also giving it his seal of approval.)

Here's the back of the quilt, made from orphan blocks and random fabrics.  My friend Joey and I made up the backing together, and Joey did the quilting.  Can you see it in this picture?  She did a Baptist fan over the whole top.  She does this freehand on her long arm.  It is amazing, and exactly what I was envisioning for this quilt.

I have since bound and labeled the quilt.  I can't stop running my hands across it.

Here's the label.  It's part of my New Years Resolution, to label the quilts I make this year.

Ties that Bind Quilters may remember this quilt.  Louanne S. led us in a mystery quilt, with one clue per month, in 2014.

I chose the spools fabric first (it was a Connecting Threads print), and then chose the other fabrics based on the colors in the print.  I really liked this quilt, even though these are not my usual colors.

But it didn't come to life until Joey quilted it!

Look at these beautiful feathers, done with variegated thread!

And check out how it turns the corner!  It is just so wonderful!
Both of these quilts would still be just tops, hanging in my sewing room closet, if it wasn't for Joey.  This is the first time anyone else has quilted anything for me, and I could not be happier.

I bound it in a bright green, and sewed on the label.  The quilting looks even better from the back!


Yesterday was a busy day, but it was also Martin Luther King Day, so I made time to work on a little quilt for charity.  (I think I'm going to try calling them "giving quilts" this year.)

I quilted and bound this baby quilt, all on the sewing machine.  The top was hanging in the closet, waiting for me.

I have made quilts in this pattern lots of times.  It's sort of my go-to pattern when I just want to sew something.  I call it Evelyn's Quilt, since I made it first for my granddaughter Evelyn. 
Click here to go to the free pattern.

I quilted a diagonal grid as well as a horizontal one.  My quilting is SAD compared to Joey's.

Here's the back of the quilt, a Winnie the Pooh print I got at a sale for $1.00 per yard.  I think I have enough to back at least one more quilt.

The redwork quilt sits on my kitchen table, where I can quilt whenever I have a few minutes between cooking and laundry, etc.  The masking tape is working out for quilting lines without having to mark them.

I'm hand quilting diagonal lines through each square.  When those are done I'll tackle the sashing and border.  The lines are 1 3/8 in. apart.

This is one of the best of the squares--a mule and two dogs.  The embroidery is mostly chain stitch.  Blue lines are visible on some of the blocks.  Either the original quilter bought the blocks ready-stamped or stamped her own with a transfer pattern.

I like this one, even though it is very simple.  I believe it was traced from a rooster cookie cutter.  I'll have to look for one of these the next time we go antiquing.

My life has really been enhanced by my quilting friends, and I bet yours has, too.  Let's remember to appreciate them this week.

Stay warm!