Fun, Fabric, and Friendship

It has been so much fun making these sawtooth square blocks, as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019.

In addition to the crumb scraps that make the centers, I got to use some way cute fabrics for the saw points.  Like these bats and moons.

I really love this background fabric!  Sadly, I only had a small piece of it that I bought secondhand.

This cheeky little blue dog is peeking out of the center.
As I said, I really enjoyed making these blocks.  I'm almost sorry they're all done.

Twenty-five blocks seem like just enough for this quilt.   I made 3 blocks each of orange, yellow, aqua, light blue, dark blue, green, and purple, plus 4 red blocks (I had lots of tiny red scraps.)  It will be donated to a child when it's done.  I left out pink for two reasons--I don't have very many scraps of pink, plus using pink narrows down the recipients for the quilt.  Most kids, boys and girls, like bright colors, but boys seldom want quilts with pink.  Every so often, I make a mostly-pink quilt, just for the girls.

Now I have to decide what to use for sashing and cornerstones, and a border, so I can get this one finished up.

Don't worry, I have lots of fabric on hand to pick from!

Here's a stack I bought last Saturday at The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show (aka Quilt Expo).  Can you see the purple fabric on top?  It's the only 1800s repro fabric in the pile.  The rest are light prints, bright prints and novelties.  These were all pre-measured, and priced at $5.99 per yard. (Woot!)

Here's more purple fun from the quilt show!  I bought this scrap bag from Primitive Gatherings, a wonderful quilt shop in Menasha, Wisconsin.  (I am a sucker for quilt shop scrap bags!)  I think I see a string quilt in my future.

More loot!  This is a transfer, printed on linen.  Look--the Eiffel Tower!  It had to come home with me.  It's a souvenir from Paris via Wisconsin.

And of course, I love this one even more.  What's better than antique sewing machines?  I'm picturing a wall hanging to showcase these linen pieces.
The linen transfers came from L'Atelier D'Isabelle.  I don't have any other information, sadly.

As much as I love looking at amazing quilts and shopping for fabric, I probably wouldn't have gone to the show if it hadn't been for my friend Debbie, who lives in Madison.  We wore ourselves out, and had a wonderful time.
Everything is better with a friend.

This week, I'm wishing the joy of friendship for all of us.
As the Girl Scouts say, Make new friends, but keep the old.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at So Scrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Alycia at Alycia Quilts Finished or Not Friday
(Check out her churn dash quilts!
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Back Home Again

I've said it before, I'll say it again--it is GREAT to be back home.  In celebration, I even finished this quilt.  Okay, it isn't any of the MANY quilts I'm supposedly working on, and it's only 36 in. or so square, but a finish is a finish.

I was inspired by one of the Tiny Tuesday blocks from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The block is called Nine Patch and Rails, and you can find a link to the tiny block HERE, at Life on the Hill blog, by Libby.

My blocks are not tiny at all!  They're 9 inches square.  I used lots of novelty prints from my 3.5 in. strip box.  (Check out the monkeys here, and the smiling tacos in the second photo!)

Here's the back, a cute and snuggly flannel.

Close up time!  Aren't these lady bugs fun?
I haven't had a finish for a while, so I am making a big deal out of this little quilt.

But this stack really is a big deal!  Members of my local quilt group, Ties That Bind, made all these little quilts for Jack's Basket.  My quilt is joining the pile.
Earlier this year, as part of the Hands 2 Help Comfort Challenge, (put on by Sarah at her blog Confessions of a Fabric Addict), I made some quilts for Jack's Basket, and showed them at my local group.  Other quilters wanted to help too, so we started making and collecting more quilts.
You may already have heard of Jack's Basket, a wonderful 501 c 3 charity.  The donated quilts go in baskets that are given to families upon the birth of a child with Down's Syndrome.  It's a way of welcoming the babies and connecting the parents with resources and other parents who are also raising kids with Downs.   Find out more about Jack's Basket HERE.
I'm filling up a big box with these little quilts.  If we have more donated after that, I'll fill up another box.

More stuff done!  In spite of having a very busy week, I got my 3 light blue crumb blocks pieced for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I think I like this one best.  Dinosaurs, caterpillars, bubbles, and more.

I really love making the crumb centers for these blocks.  For the longest time, I've just been throwing crumb-sized pieces in a basket, and sorting through them when I needed a certain color.

But not anymore!  You are looking at my new improved crumb box.  Each color of "crumbs" is sorted into its own zip bag, so I can easily pull them out and get to work.  I have found that I like making crumbs in one color, rather than a mix.
This is progress for me.  For the longest time I really just couldn't do crumbs at all, they were just too random for me.  Using the same color for any one square seems to dial down the randomness, and makes me feel better.  I envy all of you who can just go for it.  I'm still working on it.

Here's what else I'm working on--pickle relish!  This was a small batch, and I'm not kidding.  Only 2 and a half pints.  Since I still have all the ingredients, I'm going to have another go at it this weekend.  I like having it on hand.  A couple of tablespoons really perk up a tuna salad, chicken salad, or potato salad.

Aren't these awesome socks?  Don't tell my granddaughter, she's getting these as part of her birthday gifts.  The ones on the left have sparkly hearts!

May your heart sparkle this week, with whatever gives you joy.
Thanks for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Finished or Not Friday's New Home at Alycia Quilts
Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

Block by Block

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by!
This week is all about the blocks.  I've been making Sawtooth Square blocks (above) with crumb centers, in the colors of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This month is orange.

I already had two RSC quilts in the works, but this one just came out of nowhere and added itself to the list.  (Does this ever happen to you?)  So now I'm working backwards, making the aqua blocks for April.  Next will be green, yellow, and red.  I'm hoping to catch up before too long.

When I took the photo of all six of the blocks, I could see all these eyes staring at me from this center.  I didn't realize I had done that.  It's a little creepy.

More orange blocks--my spiky stars made from 1800s reproduction fabrics.  Orange is not an easy color to find for reproduction quilts...

but I had a few prints that I really like.

The star points on the block above are the same fabric as the center of the first block.  Context really makes a difference, doesn't it?

As you can see, the spiky stars are quilted by the block.  I love doing this!  It is so fast and easy, and I can do outline quilting, which was very typical of quilts from this era (although those ladies outlined by hand, not by machine).

Aqua is another unusual color for reproduction quilts.  I got around to finishing these blocks from last month too.

This one is my favorite!  The center is a Lewis and Clark print I've been saving for a long time.

Lastly, I actually finished something--these 3 potholders, made from the last of my wild house blocks.  They are made just like a very small quilt, down to the all machine-sewn binding.

I did do something wacky here.  Instead of using batting scraps as per usual, I cut up an old cotton terry cloth towel and used that instead.  It worked great!
Here are the backs.

These were fun!  And now I can throw out my rattiest potholders, you know, the ones with the stains and rips, that have seen me through dinners and baking and pots boiling over.  It's a fresh start for the kitchen drawer.

Later today, we get to go to a dinosaur-themed birthday party.  Little Buddy is turning three! (Already?)  The weather today is gloomy, but we'll have fun today with family and friends.

I'm wishing all of us the joy of fresh starts and milestones on our journeys.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up today with
Angela at Soscrappy
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Orange Scraps and a Splot

Welcome to the blog!  Isn't orange a gorgeous color?  It's the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, one of my favorite internet quilt-alongs.  I'm making some crumb blocks here...

and trying them out as centers for Sawtooth Square blocks.  What do you think?  I got this idea from Victoria Findlay Wolfe's book 15 Minutes of Play.

Speaking of great books, have you seen this one?  It's Quilting With a Modern Slant, by Rachel May.  It's not exactly new (2014), but it is absolutely packed with ideas, photos, and stuff to actually read!  I don't really consider myself a modern quilter (hello, tubs of reproduction fabric in my basement!) but I am loving this book.

When not reading this week, I made this.  It's homemade play dough!  It was fast and easy to make, very colorful, and nice and soft.  Plus cheap!  Click HERE for the recipe.

Here's my Little Buddy, playing with it for the first time.  It's been raining nearly all week, so we enjoyed having something different to do.

My finish for the week is my wild house quilt, quilted and bound and ready to mail away for the Hands 2 Help Challenge 2019.  It will go to Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo.  It started as a Rainbow Scrap quilt.

It's definitely a happy quilt!

My inspiration was this book:  The Big Orange Splot, by Daniel Pinkwater.  I'm a retired children's librarian, and I've always loved Pinkwater's wackiness.

The story starts with a neat street of houses that all look the same.  Then a seagull drops a jar of paint on Mr. Plumbean's house and makes a big orange splot.

Mr. Plumbean's answer to the problem--more paint!  He leaves the splot, and adds all sorts of wild colors and drawings.  As he says in the story, "My house is me, and I am it.  My house is where I like to be, and it looks like all my dreams."
One by one, his neighbors come over to ask him to put his house back the way it was.  And one by one, the neighbors go home and paint their own houses...

until the whole street looks like this.

I think of this quilt like Mr. Plumbean's neighborhood, with all the houses bright and different.

I hope the quilt will provide some comfort and distraction for someone enduring chemo.  Maybe it's kind of childlike, but I think a free spirited adult would enjoy it as well.

I'm wishing a childlike joy for us all this week.  Now I'm going to go scarf down the last chocolate cupcake!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at Soscrappy
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Cynthia at Oh Scrap