Happy About Yellow

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

August is yellow month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and that means it's time to make yellow Happy Blocks.  My light novelty fabrics were going begging, so I've been using them for the centers, with the yellow strips surrounding them.

Yellow always makes me happy, but it can be hard to find nice yellow prints, so I was glad to uncover these in the Endless Stash.  I used any light prints for the middle that had something yellow in them.

Here's my favorite, a sewing themed print, with a nice yellow iron.  After lots of problems with irons in the past, I never take mine for granted any more!  I give her a little pat before plugging in and encourage her to hang in there, especially during a long cutting session.  Irons are quilters' friends!

The Happy Blocks are making me happy!  Here's more happy stuff.

Our Little Guy got his cast off!  He's so glad to be able to play in water again, especially since it's been so hot here.  He and Buddy were making pretend "coral reefs" and shark habitats.  And sometimes dunking their feet in the water.

The pickle relish is done for the year.  I always love to see the jars lined up on the shelf, ready for mixing into potato salad, tuna salad, egg salad, etc.

I almost forgot what a pain it is to pit cherries!  It took all weekend, off and on.  But now the cherry jam is done, there are two quarts of cherries in the freezer for pies, and I even got a pie baked.  (No picture, we ate it right away!)

All these fruits and vegetables came from the big Farmer's Market in West Bend last Saturday.  I also got peaches there from Michigan, that started out kind of hard but softened up in a paper bag on the kitchen counter. 

 I made them into what I call Peach Cobbler, pictured above.  There are lots of different yummy desserts called cobbler, of course.  To those of us from Indiana, a cobbler is a square or rectangular version of a pie, with a fruit filling, in which the crust can be patched and has no need to be pretty.  (Martha Stewart might need smelling salts if she saw it, sorry, Martha.)  Buddy liked it as much as we do, but Little Guy was not a fan.

What's making you happy this week?  I hope life is going well for you, and our quilting hobby is adding an extra spark of fun.

Here's another happy thought--we can check out all the quilty links below!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Math Genius???

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  

Guess what's in this box--that's right, it's a quilt!

 

 Sometimes, when I'm cleaning up scraps, I cut up pieces for a baby quilt and stash them away in a box, waiting for when I have time to sew.  It's like a little present for myself.

 

The pattern for the quilt in the box came from this book:  Quilts for Scrap Lovers, by Judy Gauthier.  There are LOTS of good patterns in this book.  The one I chose is called Mathematical Genius.  If you've read my blog before, that might strike you as ironic.  My struggles with math are not a secret!

One recent Sunday, I just couldn't wait to start this any longer.  I shooed away the dog and cat, turned on All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, and started laying the quilt out on the floor.  The pattern is kind of like a Plus quilt, but all the pluses have to fit together.

Without the book, I would have been lost.  It doesn't seem complicated until you start actually placing the squares.  (Did you notice the yellow parrot fabric?  I keep using it everywhere this year!)  I must admit, I lost track of the TV show, and had to rewind and watch it later.

This quilt pattern turned out to be a good place to use multi-colored fabric, like the Pete the Cat and Snoopy/Joe Cool prints above.

Keeping everything straight when moving from the "design floor" to the sewing room required a little thinking.  First, I took a photo of the layout on my phone.  Then I pinned the squares into rows and stacked them back in the box.  As I sewed, I would take a pinned row out of the box, sew all the squares together (checking the photo on my phone as needed), and then drape that row over the ironing board as shown above.  If any squares were in the wrong place, it would be easy to tell.

Now it's a top!  Adding the bright red border made it a slightly large baby quilt at 40 in. x 48 in.  Today's job will be basting and quilting it, to get it ready to be donated.

In other news, more yellow!

Four patch stars, and log cabins.

 

 More half square triangles, that I still have no specific plan for.

My favorite blocks this week are the Happy Blocks.  I used a yellow square in the center of each one, and surrounded it with a color picked up from the square.

So, lots of piecing but not much actual quilting.  Piecing for 20-30 minutes a day gives me a good start to the weekday morning, before my Baby Buddy gets here.

Speaking of Baby Buddy, here he is, in the middle of getting into everything.  He is so fast!  We have to batten down the hatches when he arrives.

This was the only picture I got of my Little Buddy this week where he WASN'T growling like a T. Rex.  Here he's watching a video on my phone about (of course) dinosaurs.

 My heart goes out to all the people in Texas and Oklahoma (including my family members) who have been hit by the disastrous weather.  It's so easy to take infrastructure like water and electricity for granted, and so tough to manage without it.  I'm hoping warmer weather will help start getting things back on track.

My guess is when things get a little more settled, there will be a need for quilts to help people who have lost so much.  The quilting community always responds to disasters, and I know we will do so again.  In the meantime, click HERE for a list from CNN of places to donate money to help people in Texas.  If I find a similar list for Oklahoma, I will post it.

Good luck to everyone in the week ahead.  Stay warm, stay safe, and let's keep sewing!

Thanks for reading,

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

 

 

 

 

Hello, Yellow!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  What's going on in your world today?

February's color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge has really been brightening up my sewing room.  I've been sewing mostly in the morning before my baby grandson gets here, and the treadle wheel has been flying.

Every month I'm making 3 hearts from strings and the little scraps we quilters call crumbs.  These are so much fun to make.  These just happen to be timed right for Valentine's Day tomorrow.

Friendship stars are next.  I'm using up all sorts of yellow bits and pieces.

All four little yellow triangles in this block are made from the crumb triangles cut off when making the hearts.  Waste not, want not!

I have to admit, the ice cream cone blocks are my favorite.  I've gone so far as imagining what flavors these would be.  Left to right, cherry/French vanilla, lemon-citrus swirl, banana, and vanilla custard with sprinkles.  Yum!

Last week's Bright Hopes baby quilt is bound and washed, ready to be donated.

I wanted to use a different color on the binding, but I didn't have enough of it.

So I chose this crazy print.  Isn't it a hoot?  I just love these chickens.  The print isn't really visible in the small slice of a binding, but the colors are good.  I like all the little pops of yellow.

Okay, who ordered the snow every weekend?  No wonder I'm surrounding myself with bright fabrics.

And bright faces!  Baby Buddy likes sweet potatoes, can you tell?

We made chocolate cupcakes (with sprinkles!) on Thursday, and Little Buddy got to lick the beaters.

Here he is with a clean face, pretending to be a fierce dinosaur.

My lovely little orchid is blooming again.  It's a sign of hope.  Spring is coming.  Well, eventually.

In the meantime, let's get some sewing done!

Have a great week, and stay safe!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Quilts

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Bright Yellow Sunshine

This was a good week for family times, but not so great for sewing.  My only finishes this week are my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
Yellow--what a good color for April!  It may not be warm here yet (high of 36 F today) but the sun is shining and my yellow/gold blocks are done for the month.
Above, Mr. Biddy checks out my piecing on my Wagon Trail blocks, which are using up the 1800s reproduction scraps.

I had some pretty good yellow fabrics this time, but it was hard to decide on the second print.  It needs to contrast with the yellow and the plain background, but seem harmonious.  Hmm.  I'll keep trying.

When it came to making the Mary's Basket blocks, I decided the yellows needed another color to play with.  Red and blue were naturals, and the golden brown worked out, too.

I admit it, I have a favorite!  The yellow center in the blue block above has been in my stash forever.  It can finally find a good home.

Now for the bright scraps!  I made 6 of the easy blocks and 5 of the flying geese ones for my Fly Away Home quilt.  Biddy is checking out the bug print block in case any of the bugs try to run away.

Nope, all the spiders and beetles are accounted for.
I have had a couple of quilts to lay out, but my usual space in my husband's office was taken.

Hubby set up all the train sets in there!  It was so much fun for the grand kids this week.  Big brother was home from school for spring break, and the cousins came on Tuesday.  Little brother (above) starts every day wanting to go see the choo choos.  I don't know if Grandpa is going to be able to take the trains down any time soon.
In the meantime, I'll lay out quilts on the bed or in the family room and count myself lucky to have such a wonderful family.
I hope it's warm and happy wherever you are.
Have a great week!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts, So Scrappy,  and Crazy Mom Quilts.