Plus Two More, and Chasing Butterflies

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I had a wonderful time making quilt blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year, and now I'm putting those blocks into little quilts to donate to babies and children.  These two are the last ones using plus blocks.  [Did you participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  If not, join us, it's so much fun!  Here's the link:  RSC 2021.] 

After I finished the quilts, I realized they are kind of related to books we've been reading with the grand kids.  This book is a lift the flap book, which is Baby Buddy's favorite kind.  Kids, books and quilts are three of my favorite things!

 The un-pieced block here is an under-the-sea kind of print with some charming ocean critters.

When I finish a quilt, I feel like the minion in the center of the block above.  Happy dance!

Here's the back, with a strip of pirate fabric to make it big enough.

The second quilt is set with a solid sashing and a border from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Dr. Seuss' ABCs.

My husband and I can very nearly recite this book by heart, having read it to our children and now our grandchildren.  Above, a Lazy Lion Licks a Lollipop.

I don't normally buy a special back for these little quilts, but in this case I couldn't resist.  I hope the child who gets this quilt loves the wacky world of Dr. Seuss as much as I do.

So that's six little quilts finished so far, from the RSC blocks.  There are going to be a lot more.  And I'm very happy to be making them, but I'm afraid I've been getting a little obsessed lately.  I'm trying to remember that there are no deadlines here, and I can slow down a little and enjoy all the other great things in my life too.

Speaking of great, The Great British Baking Show is back on Netflix!  I had to try making these jammy biscuits which were last week's Technical Challenge.  I think they turned out okay, although Paul Hollywood would probably find all kinds of things wrong with them.

Little Buddy ate two of them after kindergarten today.  Check out the crumbs on his face!  No complaints here!  Baby Buddy is in the background, dancing to music.  I have no idea what the dog is doing.

On the weekend, my oldest daughter spotted this turtle (tortoise?) in the yard.  It was fun to see it up close, it had such beautiful markings.  It moved a lot faster than we expected.

 

Can you see what this is?  For some reason, after a rain we often find little toads in the window wells on our patio.  They keep jumping, but can't get back out.  Baby Buddy and I rescued two this week.  I think this one was very happy to get back into the flower bed.

Rain kept us home two days this week, but today Baby Buddy and I braved the dark clouds and went to the playground.  He was running his toy train on the park bench, which for some reason made both of us laugh.  

On our way home, we chased butterflies through the soccer field.  Don't worry, we didn't catch any.  The real fun is just running after something beautiful.

As the Cat in the Hat reminds us, "It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how."

Have fun this week, doing whatever makes you happy.

Thanks for reading this!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

You can start with these great linky parties!

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

Plus Signs, and Signs of Fall

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Fall is starting out here with beautiful weather, and we've been enjoying it all we can.  (We know a Wisconsin winter is coming!)  My grandson Baby Buddy and I go to the park nearly every day, where I took this picture.  These leaves will soon be a bright yellow, but for now they are several shades of light green, like the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

Hubby and I love big outdoor flea markets, even when we don't buy anything.  The last one is at the end of September, and is a sure sign of fall approaching.  We went last Sunday, and I was so tempted by this gorgeous fiddlebase Singer sewing machine.  The decals are one of the unusual patterns, and the serial number indicated it was made before 1900.  It had been electrified at a much later date.  I drooled over it for a while, but didn't even ask how much they wanted for it.  I'm not collecting anymore, I'm just enjoying what I have.  (Or at least that's what I keep telling myself!)

I almost passed by this battered old quilt, but then I took a look at how it was made.  It's kind of a 1930s crumb quilt.  Random scrap pieces are sewn into rectangles approximately 4 in. x 8 in., and then separated by plain strips of the same size.  Hmm.  This might be a fun technique to try.

In the end, this is what I bought at the flea market:  4 fat quarters (for $6 total), a pattern for making sewing accessories, and 4 cookie cookbooks.

Back home again, I finished two more little quilts.  These use the plus blocks I've been making since January.  The quilt above uses blocks in bright colors.

When I saw this light fabric with the mathematical symbols on it at the local quilt shop, I knew it would be fun to use with the plus blocks.  

The backing is the last big piece I had of this dinosaur fabric.  The cornerstones and binding were part of the loot I got at the quilt museum sale in June.

Here's the second plus quilt, which uses mostly pastel colored blocks, including pink.

The sashing this time has lots of colorful dots.  I got scraps of this cupcake fabric at a quilt show years ago.

The back is an Easter print (adorable bunnies!) and a strip of aqua to make it big enough.

This border fabric may look familiar.  I have been using it for literally years.  It came from a bag I bought at Goodwill.  There were 6 yards of the butterfly fabric, 10 yards of a coordinating fabric, and some blanket and sheet scraps.  I buy fabric EVERYWHERE.

The quilting I'm doing on these little donation quilts is very simple and quick.  I may branch out a little to keep it from being boring, but a 2 in. grid will help the quilts hold up to hard use and lots of washing.

Here are two more signs of fall.  Football is coming back (Go Packers), and Baby Buddy is wearing a sweatshirt.  We had a cool rainy morning last week, and his outfit was perfect for it.  Baby Buddy is of course also perfect, as all grandchildren are.

Have a lovely week, and stay safe!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

I'm linking up with these wonderful linky parties.  Come and join the fun!

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Orange Blocks and a Caterpillar

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the last Saturday of September, and the last Saturday of orange for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I'm working on sewing the blocks I've made all year into baby quilts for donation.  This little quilt uses Friendship Stars and Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric.

I'm a retired school librarian, so of course I love The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and all the other books by Eric Carle.  In this fabric, we can see his little head (before he ate all that food) and the colorful dots found on the title page (below).

The border fabric also copies those dots, but with brighter and darker colors.

I bought the caterpillar fabric in a quilt shop on our recent vacation, but I had to order the border fabric (from the Fat Quarter shop) when I decided I needed it.  Lesson learned, buy it when you see it!  (BTW, my local shop didn't have it.  I always check there first.)

The set was easy and fun to do, and one I had never done before.  Instead of sashing, I sewed a rectangle of the caterpillar fabric (cut 2.5 in. x 6.5 in.) to the top of half the blocks and the bottom of the other half.  When I sewed the rows together, I alternated the blocks, and that's what gives it the staggered look.  I chose to make a mini-rainbow with the colors.

I absolutely love orange, especially Halloween prints!

More orange blocks are done. 

The 1890s reproduction prints in Poinsettia blocks,

and of course Ice Cream blocks.  Orange sherbet, mango ice cream, maybe even pumpkin and cantaloupe!

So what's ahead for next week?  As you can imagine, I've got lots more blocks to sew into tops.  Once I've figured out which blocks go where, I use paper labels and clothespins to organize the rows at the treadle.  I usually piece in the mornings, while waiting for my Baby Buddy to be dropped off.

Once the tops are made, there's the usual backing, batting, and basting to deal with.  Then Mrs. Pfaff and I get to work doing some simple quilting.

But first Baby Buddy and I need to go to the park!  Sometimes I wonder why we buy so many toys, when his favorite things are sticks, rocks, leaves, and pine cones.  Here he's banging on the metal post, making lots of exciting noise.

Little Buddy, Baby Buddy's big brother, was Student of the Week this week at kindergarten.  He got to bring in his favorite book for storytime.  Guess what it was!  That's right, The Very Hungry Caterpillar!

I hope you have fun this week with all your favorites, whatever they may be.  Stay safe, and keep sewing!

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

Bright Hopes, and The Trouble With Pink

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This is such a fun time of year!  I'm starting to finish my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts.  Blocks I've been making since January are finally going into baby-sized quilts for donation.  I know we have another green month coming up, but I've already used up most of my green scraps, so I'm putting things together early.

The two quilts above are made from Bright Hopes blocks.  (Click HERE for a tutorial on how to make them.  BTW, they're really easy.)

Now about the trouble with pink.  Our culture is pretty specific about the color pink.  It's for girls.  Just for girls.  I don't happen to agree with assigning any one color to any one gender, but this is how it is.  So if I make a quilt with pink in it, it will be donated by the charity to a girl.

Charities often report receiving more quilts for girls than for boys.  So most of the time I make my quilts gender-neutral, with lots of bright colors and fun fabrics for everyone, girls and boys.

In January, when pink was our RSC color, I thought about this "pink problem", and decided to just make enough blocks in most of the sets to make two quilts, one with pink and one without.

Both quilts have lots of novelty prints, like cows and tractors.  And I got to use up some cute pink prints in the "girl" quilt, like pink cowgirl boots, plus a cupcake print in the border.

The orange blocks I just made this month went in the not-pink quilt.  

I quilted both of these little quilts with a 2 in. grid, the pink one with the serpentine stitch and the not-pink one with a straight stitch.

I bound the not-pink quilt with an orange plaid.  The border is a turtle print I got on our vacation in July.

The backing for the pink quilt was considered an Easter print by the local chain store, so after Easter I got it very cheaply.  

The backing of the other quilt is another novelty print, with cars and trucks and helicopters.  I put a strip of the turtle fabric in the middle to make it wide enough.

So that's two quilts made.  They will go to our local Project Linus, which has been revived with a new chair person.  Project Linus gives blankets (including quilts) to children in need.  (Click HERE to find out more about Project Linus).

Guess what's in this fat little package!

Did you guess fabric?

It's an explosion of delicious scraps!  Little Buddy was here when I opened it, and he quickly picked out his favorites--dog bones, penguins, and Thomas the Tank Engine, of course.  This was my prize package from the Positivity Plus challenge, started by Pretti of Sew Preeti Quilts.  I was one of the finishers whose name was pulled out of the hat.  It was so kind of Preeti to organize this challenge to benefit Mercy Hospital, and to curate this scrap bag from her own stash!  By the way, the challenge is on again for 2022.  The pattern is fun and easy, and it goes for such a good cause.

So this has been a great week!  I even got some orange block sewing done.

Crumb hearts, with the cut-off triangles made into Friendship Stars.

Novelty prints just keep on giving!  A Halloween cat dressed up as a pirate and an orange dinosaur peek out of this one.

Little Buddy evaded the camera this week, but Baby Buddy says hi.  He even wore an orange shirt.  It's different here now, with Little Buddy in kindergarten all day, but we still have a good time.

I wishing good times for all in the week ahead.  Take care, and stay safe.

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

 

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Happy Scrappy Orange

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Isn't this shirt a hoot?  It just shouts 1960s hippy culture, doesn't it.  It was worn by John Lennon back then, and now hangs in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

The diamond shapes in the flowers and the graceful leaves and stems make me think of antique quilts, but it was the orange color that really caught my eye.  Orange is on my mind and under my needle this month as I make blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

First, the Four Patch Stars.  To make these, I use 2.5 in. wide strips and my trusty Easy Angle and Companion Angle rulers.

I don't have a lot of novelty prints in orange, but I did find a little minion for one square.  Not sure if this is Bob or Kevin.  My grandkids tried to educate me on the minions' names, but the lesson didn't sink in. 

The log cabin blocks got done last night.  These have been lots of fun to sew.

Again, not a huge variety of orange fabrics.  I think I might need to go shopping!

Here are all the log cabin blocks I made this year.  I'm going to start putting them into small quilts soon.  I know we will have another month of green, but I've already used up most of my green scraps. 

 With all the blocks I've made this year, I will have LOTS of quilts for donations, so I need to get started piecing tops together and quilting.

Do you do this with your projects?  This year, because I had so many things going for the RSC, I started using a notebook.  Above is a chart I made for the different kinds of blocks (there are more on the back!).  I also wrote down the cutting directions for each block, etc.  It has saved me a lot of time and aggravation.  The only problem was occasionally losing the notebook under a pile of fabric.

I have a favor to ask.  Has anybody made a pillow out of a latch hook piece?  Can you steer me to good directions?  My youngest daughter made this years ago, and it was stored in a box in the basement.  My excellent hubby has been cleaning things out (hurray!) and I volunteered to finish this adorable Lion King design into a pillow.  Should I line it before finishing?  Any help will be appreciated.

Baby Buddy and I found the first orange maple leaf in the park this week.  (I took it out of his mouth as soon as I took the picture!)  Everything is still a lovely green, but fall is definitely coming.  

When I was younger, I always looked ahead, wanting the year to hurry along.  Now I drag my feet a bit, trying to just take each day as it comes.  They fly by pretty fast anyway.

Have a good week, everyone.  Let's take time to remember September 11, 2001, and all the caring people who helped others that day.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy (home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge)

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap