Grocery Receipts, Bright Hopes, and Greek Crosses

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Don't you love it when you accomplish something with a UFO?  This poor project was languishing in a bag for nearly 3 years.  Now at least it's a flimsy!

Snicky the cat wouldn't leave me alone to finish sewing it, so I finally had to shut him out of the sewing room.  Oh, and lock the door, because he can (and will!) open doors.

Here's the top, laid out on my design floor.

The sashings are made from tiny scraps sewn to grocery receipts.  I had to make a few extra to have enough for this design.  I'm tentatively calling it Rainbow Garden.  It's neat and orderly, like I imagine my garden will be someday.

The light pieces are 6.5 in. cut.  I chose light scraps to color coordinate with the sashing strips.  The cornerstones are solid fabric squares.  If I make something similar again, I will stay stitch the edges of the sashing.  They had a tendency to stretch.

It was fun finally putting the top together.  Angela of the So Scrappy blog was making something similar, and seeing that gave me the inspiration for the design (thanks, Angela!).

The border is even green, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

 

Check out the name of the fabric:  Busy Lizzy!  Lizzy aka Queen Elizabeth III is our shy cat.  I didn't buy the fabric because of the name, but it was funny to see.  The print is from the Kaffe Fassett Collective.

I bought it at this shop, Quiltagious in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.  I was there on Thursday dropping off quilts and tops for the Children's Advocacy Center.  BTW, if you live in Wisconsin you might want to stop by.  They have LOTS of beautiful fabrics including Kaffe Fassett's, with a nice sale section.  (I got the green I used in the border for $7.99/yard!)

I'm not sure exactly what will happen to the quilt next.  I may quilt it myself, or donate it as a top.  Either way, it will be donated locally.

I know I say this all the time, but I am STILL finishing up my RSC quilts from last year.  This little quilt used 30 of the Bright Hopes blocks.  I'm afraid to count how many are left, the bag is still pretty full.

It's fun to revisit these blocks one last time.  I'm so lucky to have all these kid friendly fabrics.  The striped fabric in the border has been in the multicolored stash for so many years I've forgotten where it came from.

Check out the back!  Have you ever made a quilt just to use a certain backing?  The Amazing Colleen gave me this piece, which was given to her by a scout camp that had used it for a tablecloth.  They evidently didn't use it very much, as it was in great shape.  I loved the bug print and the colors, but it was kind of narrow, especially since it had been hemmed.  It would fit a 36 in. wide quilt, so that's what I made.  I picked the blocks to go with the colors on the back.

Simple quilting, as always, this time in a 2 in. grid.

On to the green scraps!  This was my pile of small green scraps, after I removed pieces I know I will never use.  I am not good about doing this, but I have to restrain my inner packrat.  

When I was done cutting, I had strips, squares, and rectangles ready to be used.  The triangles are saved for string quilt corners and that pile of pieces on the bottom left will go in the crumbs bag. No more green scrap guilt!

For the RSC this week, I made 5 green Greek Cross blocks.

Of course there had to be a Green Bay Packer's block!

In Progress

Sometimes I get an idea for a quilt, and then try to find fabrics to make it, either in my stash or at the store.  Other times I start with the scraps and figure out what I can make with them.

This quilt in progress come from asking "What can I do with these scraps?".  The bigger pieces, like Mrs. Cow, were donated to our quilt group.  Many of the smaller ones came from a bag given to me by my friend Joey.  After thinking about this little collection for a year or so, I started working on this farm quilt this week.  The pieces on the left have lots of different animals etc. surrounded by fabric frames in several colors.  Those are done!  

Now I'm sewing the 2.5 in. (cut) squares together for the 16 patch alternate blocks.  I'll be using these blocks for leaders and enders, so it may take a while to get all the blocks ready to join together.  (Did you notice the black and white rabbit that looks like Snicky?)

So what are you cooking up with green scraps, or anything else?  I'm looking forward to finding out at the linky parties this weekend.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, and happy quilting!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Baby Charms and Blue Crumbs

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Every January several local businesses partner with a TV station to sponsor a Community Baby Shower, which donates baby supplies etc. to families in need.  Today is the last day to drop off donations so I rushed to finish this Baby Charms quilt and got the binding on Thursday morning.

I made a quilt in this pattern in 2023 (Click HERE for that post.)  The pattern probably came from somewhere on the internet.  (If you know where it came from, please tell me and I will update.)  The white strips are cut 2.75 in. and finish at 2.25 in., which is half of what the charm squares finish (4.5 in.) so the math works out.  I don't think I would have thought of that on my own!

There are 48 charm squares in the quilt, 3 each of 16 prints.  Four of those are bunny prints!  These bunnies are dressed up and carrying Easter baskets.

These sweet little bunnies seem to be playing with a blanket.  Or a leaf?

I think these bunnies on the green background are taken from the book Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney.  I love those chubby little ducklings too.

Even the border is a bunny print!  I got this fabric at our last guild meeting.  It had been donated to our group.

The back is a solid pink from my basement stash.  It's a little darker in real life than it appears here.

Baby Charms, the Purple Princess quilt from last week, and the last two heart quilts will all be going to the Community Baby Shower drop off today.

You would not believe the mess in my sewing room when I was cutting out the Baby Charms quilt.  Piles of scraps and fabrics were everywhere.  (The cats love when I do that.  They sleep on the fabrics.)  Since everything was out, I cut two quilts, one with pink (the finished one above) and one in just blues, greens, and yellows.  I had enough of the white fabric for both quilts.  The second quilt will eventually be a leader and enders project.  It can be donated to next year's Community Baby Shower, unless it's needed somewhere else before that.

Can you believe it's already the last day of January?  Soon we'll be making blocks in a new color (green!) for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

This is my last RSC set for January,  6 in. crumb blocks.  (Crumbs are small scrap pieces.)  I also use strings (skinny strips) in these.

Leftover triangles are fun to add, too.  I make these blocks free form, without any foundation.

Somehow (maybe because of those leftover triangles?) these houses just came together when I was making the crumb blocks.  Maybe I'll keep these going all year in all the RSC colors.

In Progress:

In 2023 I used my weekly grocery store receipts as foundation paper, and pieced crumbs and strips to them as one of my RSC projects.  (Above is the back.)

I'm finally doing something with these pieces!  I cut them in 6.5 in. lengths and am setting them together with 6.5 in light squares and solid cornerstones.  I was inspired by Angela at So Scrappy who is doing something similar.  (Thanks for the inspiration, Angela!)  I'm liking the project, but taking the paper off is a pain.  Plus it's such a mess!  The cats and I are tracking little pieces of paper all over the house.  (Hubby is safe, he doesn't come in the sewing room much.)

Mr. Snicklefritz REALLY needed some attention when I was sewing those pieces together.  So I stopped for some cuddles.  When he was satisfied that he was indeed the center of the universe he curled up under the ironing board and fell asleep.

I hope everything is peaceful and pieceful in your universe this week.  Happy February!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these fun linky parties:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Kid Quilt and More Multicolor Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This little quilt is finished at last.  I showed the top a couple of weeks ago.  A big stack of these blocks were donated to our quilt group, and I finished some of them into a child's quilt to donate.

In my head, I call this The Paw Patrol Quilt, because of this block in the upper left.  It was on top of the stack when I received them.  I chose 12 additional blocks from the pile, looking for other kid prints and bright colors, and made 7 more from my own scraps.

The block pattern is a Disappearing Nine Patch, using 3.5 in. unfinished squares instead of the more usual charm squares.  Because the pieces are turned after they are cut, it's a challenge to get any one way prints (like these dinos) all going the same way.  I had to figure it out and write down which way to turn the squares.  (I still messed it up a couple times lol.)  I do like this block, and may make it again sometime.

The blocks were a little wonky, so I had to trim them down to be the same size.  They would not have lined up properly if set side by side, so I added the narrow sashing. 

The backing is regular cotton, but was once made into a tablecloth at a girl scout camp.  A friend recently passed the tablecloths onto me to use as backing, and it has worked well.  They must not have used the tablecloths very much at all.  (I used another tablecloth on the back of the Jumping Jacks quilt I showed at the end of August.)

This is such a fun time of year for those of us who participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It's time to start putting quilts together from the blocks we've made all year!  I am working on a couple, but I'm also still making blocks!

This week I made multicolor string blocks.  The colors are even brighter than this photo appears.

Pure chaos!  Wild and crazy.

Smaller pieces make up the Grocery Chain strips sewn on actual grocery receipts.

Still crazy!

These 3-D Flying Geese are a little calmer, thanks to the white background.

So now, am I done making RSC 2024 blocks?  Maybe!  How about you?

Last Sunday, Hubby and I went to the big quarterly flea market in Elkhorn.  It was perfect weather, just a lovely day.

Lots of beautiful quilts were displayed for sale.  Prices were reasonable for the most part.

None of them came home with me, although the rose quilt on the right was very tempting!  I'm no longer collecting quilts.  But I can still enjoy looking.

I found yet another cool block I might like to make!  I saw this in Serenity Quilt Shop in Kenosha Wisconsin recently.  They had kits made up for the blocks, too.  There were blocks with bright colors like this, and...

soft floral prints like this!  Hey, I have soft floral prints!  I keep telling myself I can't make EVERYTHING.  But I keep trying!

No photos of the grandsons this week, sorry.  They were sick two days, and not here very long after school otherwise.  Nothing serious, just the usual bugs kids get when school starts, and they're perfectly well now.  Next week they have a day off school, and we're going to make Halloween cookies and go to the apple orchard.

Thanks so much for reading!  Have a lovely week!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy 

Jumping Jacks And The Last Saturday of Orange

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

The grandkids are back in school, this time both of the little ones go all day.  You'd think this would mean more time for quilting, right?  And it would, if I wasn't so far behind on jobs I need to do around here.  I did get this little Jumping Jacks quilt finished Friday morning.

The pattern came from this book, Quilts in Wales by Kaffe Fassett.  I enjoy his quilt books, and usually get them from the library, as they're kind of expensive.  The fabrics are wonderful, the photography is lush, so they're great to dream over even if you never make anything from them.  This one had several patterns I wanted to try.  After returning it to the library, I just had to have my own copy.

As you can see, this is a simple quilt to make.  The block is often called Hour Glass, and is made of 4 triangles.  Mine is smaller than Kaffe's, and I used the Companion Angle ruler to cut the triangles.  

For the triangles, I used only Kaffe Fassett fabrics and solids.  The music note fabric was just for fun, and the border is a non-Kaffe print.  Many years ago, my friend Debbie C. (hi, Debbie!) introduced me to Kaffe Fassett fabrics at a quilt show.  She makes amazing art quilts, and these prints bursting with color have lots of impact.  At the time, I was mostly making reproduction quilts.  I loved browsing in booths that displayed the fabrics, but I wasn't sure how I would use them.  That has changed!

Here's the back, a colorful bug print given to me by a friend.  It was recycled from a tablecloth!  The binding is a solid aqua.  I'll be donating this quilt locally.

Of course there are orange blocks in the quilt!  I really love orange.

Orange month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is always one of my favorites.  I had lots of fun piecing these bits and crumbs onto my grocery receipts.  I'm starting to think of some ideas of how to use these strips in quilts.  About time!  The end of the year is coming fast.

We recently renovated our tired 1970s bathrooms in neutral colors, mostly gray and white.  That meant I could accent with any color, and I wanted something bright for the en suite.  Of course I chose orange!  The shower curtain was the brightest one I could find around here, and I was surprised and delighted to find orange towels.  I bought the rug at Goodwill when my friend Joey and I went to Sun Prairie a couple of weeks ago.  

I love this color scheme for now, and I love how I can easily change it later if I tire of it.  Maybe next time I'll choose purple!

Happy Birthday again to our lovely granddaughter, now officially a teenager!  Shown here with her wonderful parents.

The sweet corn is ripe and delicious!  We may have a couple more weeks of it.  These ears went into the freezer after we ate a few for dinner.  I'm off to the Farmer's Market this morning to get a few more, and maybe some cucumbers for Bread and Butter pickles.

Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful week!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap