Happy Variations

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This week's story is a tale of two quilts.  

This one:

and this one:

(It was below zero when I photographed this one.  Of course it had to be an inside picture!)

There is definitely a family resemblance, but they're not exactly alike.  Both of them are variations on Happy Blocks quilts.

First up is this one, with a square in the center.  The only real difference from the usual Happy Block is the size of the center squares, which is 3.5 in. cut, instead of the more common 5 in. or 4.5 in..

Why so small?  Because this is what I started with!  The Amazing Colleen, a member of our quilt group's charity committee, brought me a lovely bunch of donated scraps and fabric, including these novelty squares.  The white edges were tiny and looked as though the blocks had been cut out of a top.  (No idea what the story was, sorry.)  I trimmed them to 3.5 in., which was the biggest I could get.

All that was left after trimming was a stack of 3.5 in. squares and this trash.

I framed each square with solid strips cut 2 in. wide, to make 6 in. finished blocks.  I hope it will be fun for kids to look at all the different prints.  They may need to have someone explain what phonograph records are.

The border is a Sesame Street print I bought at the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in September.  The binding is a color I'm calling "Elmo red", it goes so well with that furry little guy.

The second quilt is actually made from Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt blocks from 2023.  I've been  thinking of different ways to set these very simple house blocks.  Framing them like Happy Blocks was an obvious choice.

I think of both of these quilts as I Spy quilts, since none of the novelty centers are repeated.  The houses are top-stitched to a 5 in. square, and then framed with 2 in. cut strips, making blocks that finish at 7.5 in.

Fun fact--There are two Dora's in the quilt:  Dora the Explorer (above) and D. W., Arthur's little sister from the Arthur books and TV show, whose full name is Dora Winifred Read (shown in the previous photo).

The house quilt's border is another Sesame Street print I bought from the same vendor.  The binding is the same "Elmo red" fabric.

Sometimes I think I should make bigger quilts more often.  Probably they'd be more useful.  But as a mother and grandmother I remember how nice it was to have small quilts to put on the floor for the babies.  And they were much easier to roll up and take with us on outings (the quilts, not the babies lol!).

Both of these quilts will be donated locally.

In other news, Buddy had his Christmas program at school.  There was lots of singing and excitement.  It always gives me a little boost of holiday spirit.  And the kids are adorable.  Especially our guy, of course!

I hope you're having a lovely week, and not stressing out too much about the holidays.  Maybe this holiday joke from my friend Debbie C. will help.  

What do you call an unidentified gingerbread man?  

John Dough

I laughed out loud at this one.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Melva at Sew and Tell

P.S.  The quilts I donated to the GSAFE auction brought in $510.00!  This year's goal of $40,000 was more than met.

Roadblocks, Blue Blocks, and a Tulip Block

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Does this ever happen to you?  I've got a quilt that needs to be quilted, but keeps getting set aside so I can finish other quilts.  So finally I get very stern with myself and say, "That's enough!"  (I MIGHT not say this out loud if there's anybody else at home.)  "This quilt HAS to be finished, and I can't quilt anything else until it is!"  So the quilt becomes a roadblock.

My current roadblock is my 1930s house quilt, a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from last year.  As you can see, making it a roadblock is working towards getting it done.  I put the top border on last night, and will work on quilting the borders this weekend.  Eventually I will finish writing up the tutorial on my quilt-as-you-go method, using this quilt as the main example.

More light/bright blue blocks for the RSC!  The reason I am always so far behind in finishing quilts is probably because I piece quilt blocks just about every day.  My treadle is facing a window that overlooks our driveway.  In the mornings, once I've got things ready for the day, I can sew while waiting for the baby to be dropped off.  When my daughter's car pulls up, I shut off the iron and the lights, and go downstairs.  No need to shut off the treadle, although I kept trying when I first got one!

The log cabin blocks share a lot of the same fabrics, as I'm running out of 2 in. strips.  I don't think it will matter, since they may not be in the same quilt.  I'm planning to make several baby quilts from the RSC blocks this year.

These crumb hearts always make me feel so frugal!  All the tiny chunks and pieces are recycled into something useful.  Some old triangles made their way into this batch.

Tulips aren't blooming here yet, except in the sewing room.  I made this block to try out an idea for a Hands2Help quilt.  Click HERE for the excellent tutorial by Kristina of Center Street Quilts.  It's easy to cut and sew, and makes a cute rectangular block, 6 in. x 12 in. finished.

Speaking of cute, you know what's coming now--photos of my grandkids!

This was Easter Sunday at my oldest daughter's house.  We were able to be together this year after being vaccinated.

Little Buddy drew this adorable bunny on our kitchen chalk board.  I do not have the heart to erase it.  Not sure why one eye has some kind of a problem. 

Baby Buddy has just discovered Duplos.  I have just discovered making quilt patterns with them.  We're both having fun.

Usually things go well around here when I'm babysitting.  But once in a while, when the dog is barking madly, the cat is throwing up, the preschooler is having a fit about nothing and the baby is trying to crawl away while I'm changing his messy diaper, I think back to that old TV commercial and want Calgon to take me away.  (I think Calgon was bubble bath???)  When it all gets sorted out, and I end up with both little ones, clean and calm, close to me reading a book, I know there is no place I'd rather be, and no job I'd rather have.

One more flower picture.  The barrel cactus in my little window garden is responding to the spring sunlight with these pretty pink blooms. This hardly ever happens, so I made sure to take a photo.

I hope all is well in your world this week.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Quilts, 2020

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the very last Saturday of 2020 (thank goodness!), and Angela has asked us to share our RSC projects for the year.  This is my little stack above.  The only one finished is my Shoofly quilt, made in 1800s reproduction fabrics. 

I have three basic categories of scraps:  1800s repros, 1930s repros plus vintage fabrics/feedsacks, and bright colored newer fabrics, which includes lots of novelty prints.  For the last few years, I have tried to make three RSC quilts, one in each scrap category.  I say "tried" because other projects always seem to invite themselves along for the ride.

This year was no different.  I started out with 3 quilt ideas--the Shoofly, a 1930s house quilt, and a bright colored quilt from a Kim Brackett pattern called Text Me A Quilt.

I put the borders on the Text Me A Quilt top yesterday.  It's a large quilt (for me), 76 in. x 86 in., seen here on a queen sized bed.

The border is a print I've used lots of times on kids' quilts.  The prints is butterflies, appropriate for this year since butterflies stand for hope.  This will be a donation quilt.

The 1930s house quilt is in progress.  I'm quilting it by the block (tutorial to follow, hopefully soon).  The first two rows are quilted, and ready to be joined together.  It's actually fun to quilt this way.

The last RSC quilt for 2020 didn't get started until the year was half over.  My daughter's maternity leave was extended due to the pandemic, and since she didn't need me to babysit I spent some time cleaning up old projects in the basement.  I came across this partial top I had bought at a flea market years ago.

It looked like a rainbow!  How could I not include it?  

There was no way to match the old sashing, so I took it apart and changed the layout.

And that's my last RSC quilt for this year, a double nine patch set with a green solid.  I will quilt this one myself, and we will probably keep it.

 

Of course I'm thinking ahead to next year.  How about you?

 

I just want to say "Thank you!" to Angela for hosting the RSC and keeping things going, with her busy teaching schedule and the pandemic besides!  Making colorful quilt blocks and sharing them has been a mood lifter through this whole year, and I really look forward to Saturdays, when I can see what everyone else has been up to.

 

And now for a little Christmas cheer.

Here's Little Buddy, showing off a paper airplane he and Grandpa made.

  

And here are all 3 of my buddies, wearing the hats I knit for them.  

We had a little celebration Christmas Eve with the people in our bubble, and a quiet Christmas at home yesterday.  In the morning, I took a virtual trip to Jane Austen's house in England HERE.

I especially enjoyed section entitled The Twelve Days of Christmas, which has short readings from Ms. Austen's books and letters, plus recipes and Christmas traditions.  

Have a lovely weekend, and stay safe!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

and Cynthia at Oh Scrap.

 

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

 Welcomed to Treadlestitches!

How are you doing in this crazy busy season?  Before the Christmas tsunami hit, I got a good start on quilting the house blocks, my current quilt as you go project.  I made these as one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts for 2020.  I didn't know when I started how appropriate houses would be as a symbol of this year, when we spent more time at home than ever.

I'm working on a tutorial for the quilting, taking pictures of each step.  I hope to post that the first of the year.  My method combines ideas from lots of ways I've tried, with a couple of tricks of my own.

Meanwhile, there's shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, etc.  I have had some good helpers.  Hubby and I finished up shopping for the grandkids, Little Buddy and Big Buddy were my Christmas ornament hanging team, and my older daughter and her kids made the delicious cookies above.  (There were more in there before Little Buddy had a snack!)

Last Sunday, we had a lovely socially distanced visit with our older daughter and our grandkids, Mr. H. and Miss E.  We took a walk in the park, and Bella the dog got to come, too.  (Bella was thrilled!)  With the virus so bad now and asthma in the family, we are being very careful.

Sometimes, you just have to get your sillies out!  It was Little Buddy's idea to get out all our silly hats one day after lunch.

Baby Buddy wasn't sure what the fuss was about, but he liked the tassel on this one.

Thursday morning this happened!  Little Buddy was so excited to give me a balloon for my birthday.

For many years, I just felt overwhelmed by Christmas.  There was so much to do, and my life was already so busy.  It's been much better since I retired, and since I gave up the idea of the "perfect" Christmas.  I'm also learning to break all the Christmas jobs into smaller parts, and just do them one at a time.  Quilters definitely know how to do that!  Inch by inch, row by row, we get there in the end.

This week, I'm wishing Happy Holidays to all who celebrate, and happy quilting to everyone.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Dear Diary

Welcome to Treadlestitches, and to a new month!  I can't believe January is already over.

I stopped keeping a diary in junior high because it was the surest way to be ridiculed endlessly by my brothers and sisters, who always managed to find it and read it out loud. (AAK!)  Now, I really have no embarrassing secrets, and my only crush is my Dear Hubby, so diaries are okay again.  I'm making this one out of fabric.

Above are my diary quilt blocks for January.  Each separate block represents a week (mostly), and each strip is a day.  For each day, I choose something to represent that day.

I won't bore you with everything that happened all month long.  I will say that most Sundays are yellow, partly because it's sun-day (Dad joke), and partly because that's the day I talk to my mom on the phone for at least an hour, which is a bright spot in the week.  If I finish a quilt, I include a piece of it for that day (like the dark blue in the center of the block above).  I'm also using lots of my books/library fabrics for Tuesdays, when my Little Buddy and I go to the library.

As I say, each small block is meant to represent a week, with 7 strips, one for each day.  I intended 4 small blocks for each month. The biggest question about this was what to do when the month has more than 28 days.  In that case, I split the last strips into two days each.  Above, the last 3 strips are made up of 2 rectangles, for Sunday/Monday, Tuesday/Wednesday, and Thursday/Friday.

I still have no idea how I'm going to set the blocks.

You might have noticed all the children's prints and novelty fabrics in my diary quilt.  That's because I get to spend my days with this guy, my Little Buddy, seen here helping make his favorite blueberry pancakes.

We make snowman faces in them sometimes.

He also "helped" me pack up some quilts our local group is donating to Jack's Basket.  Here he is pointing out polar bears in the print on this cute quilt.  Bella the dog is nearby, in case we need to have our faces licked.  (Yuck!)  Thank goodness they're going to wash the quilts before sending them out to the babies.

These are the quilts I was packing up.  Aren't they amazing?  There are 12 of them in this batch.  That brings us up to a grand total of 34 quilts sent to Jack's Basket since last summer from our small group of around 50 active members.  I go into more detail on our group's blog, if you're interested click HERE.

Quilting is happening!  Zigzag #1 is about half done.  Mrs. Pfaff will be whirring away later today.

Orange is the new color for February for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I couldn't be happier.  The pile of 1930s repros and vintage prints above will eventually be house blocks.

For some reason, I've been in the mood to cut scraps this week.

This little stack (really orange, not yellow, bad lighting) is six blocks worth of Text Me A Quilt.

The shoofly blocks are cut too, ready to sew.

And I finally decided on a layout for the Roscoe Star blocks, so the last blocks are cut to sew as leaders and enders.
You could say I've got my work cut out for me.
(I can just about hear my Dad saying that.  Gotta love Dad jokes.)
Have a wonderful week, and a great start to February.  If it includes sewing, so much the better!
Cheers,
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