Strings and Whirlygigs

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Does your guild encourage members to try new techniques?  Ours certainly does!  I try to participate when I can.  Learning new things is good for us.

This month our guild had a challenge project using a particular method of quilt-as-you-go, where the quilting and piecing are done at the same time.  Sort of.  This is my finished project.

You could use any blocks, so I chose string blocks.  I pieced the strips onto a square of scrap batting, piecing and quilting in one step.  So far, easy and fun.

It got a little tougher at the next step.  I cut solid blue backing squares 2 in. bigger than the string squares, and spray basted the string squares to them.  Then comes the joining together part.  The backing squares are sewn together with a one-inch seam right next to the string blocks, and the seam allowances are folded over the front of the blocks, pressed under, and top stitched down.  I hope this makes sense. 

It was pretty easy to DO, but for me it wasn't easy to get everything to line up right, even with the help of an iron.  I was not very happy about how uneven it looked.

The fabrics in the blocks were bright and fun, and I was glad to use them up.  On the advice of the project leader, I bound the quilt with a separate binding, but you could do the edges the same as the block joins.

Here's what the back looks like.  Each one of those squares is a separate piece of fabric.

All in all, it wasn't my favorite method, but it was good to try something new.  And maybe I'm just too critical of my quilt, since it won third place in the judging!  I got a $15.00 gift card to a quilt shop!  The quilt will be donated locally.

Do you see the snow in the picture above?  I took that photo yesterday.  Today the snow is nearly gone, and runoff water is everywhere.

This ditch in the park still has ice at the edge though.

Today it's 57 degrees F and sunny, and it feels like spring if you don't look at the piles of snow here and there.  I saw two Sandhill Cranes this morning in the park, and three robins in our front yard.  None of them consented to pose for photos, sadly.

 

More red blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  These are four of my whirlygigs.  I dug into the novelty scraps for these.  There are dogs and paw prints, teddy bears and hearts, bugs and ants, and dots and Dr. Seuss.

Two more, with Bucky Badger, ladybugs, and baseballs.  I was really supposed to make five, but got carried away.  Oops, extra!

This time I added a new step when making them, and it helped them come out straight.  It was suggested by Maggie Fellow of the Making A Lather blog.  After sewing the two pieces together for each of the four quarters of the block, Maggie squares them up.  OMG, this is the best idea!  Why didn't I think of that?  (Because I'm not a genius like her, of course.)  The original design says to square the whole block up, but honestly this works better.  Thanks, Maggie!  (Click HERE and scroll down for Maggie's directions.  Her blocks are called Rolling Windmills.)

In Progress

The Twinkle Twinkle Scrappy Star top is still in progress, and might be finished for next week's blog.  Stay tuned!

This little quilt kit is on deck after Twinkle.  Did you ever send away for a kit from Quilts for Kids back in the day?  They would send you everything you needed for a top.  Once it was done it was sent back to them to quilt and distribute to kids in hospitals.  I did several of those, both from Quilts for Kids and made up from my own fabric.  This is a similar kit I put together for myself.

In the kit are 15 Bright Hopes blocks I made for last year's RSC, plus 15 squares of a print that looks like kids' crayon drawings.  There are also four 1.5 in. strips for an inner border, and four 3.5 in. strips for the outer border of the same crayon drawing fabric.  Fun and easy to sew!  I can't wait to get started.

I'd show you the scraps for my leaders and enders project, but Lizzy is sitting in the box!  This project is going to take a while, especially since I now realize I need 36 blocks, not 30.  But, a little at a time, it will be sewn.

So what's going on in your world today?  I hope you are having time to do things you want to do.  Have a lovely week, everyone!  

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

 

Pastel Kitties and More Red Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

One of my favorite quilt testers is at it again!  While I was out of the room Lizzy made herself at home on this little cat quilt.

Once she lost interest, I finished the quilting and bound it, and hurried to hang it outside.  It was one of those beautiful days that happen here occasionally in spring, 69 degrees F and lots of sunshine.

There was a little more light on the front porch.

I made MANY cat blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2024, and am still putting them together into quilts.  This one used up the pink, purple, and aqua cats.  (Doesn't Aquacat sound like a cartoon superhero? lol).

The vertical rows of cats are offset from each other, a set I really like that I believe I first saw on a quilt made by Diann of the Little Penguin Quilts blog.  The cats are separated by sashing made from a cat print (of course!), which I bought while visiting my mom in Oklahoma.

Simple grid quilting, as usual, with Mrs. Pfaff's serpentine stitch.

The back is this dotted print from our guild's stash.  The quilt will go to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.

I don't know if I will ever catch up with previous years RSC blocks, but that isn't stopping me from making more!  This year I am doing lots more planning of the eventual quilts, so maybe I won't be adding to the backlog.  Greek Crosses are this week's set.  These two have ninjas, Mickey Mouse, dots and a dinosaur.

Two more, one with numbers and one with alphabet letters.  Also dots, and hedgehogs.

Last one, dog themed but no dogs!  I need to get more red novelty prints STAT.

Here's where I can get more second hand fabric!  The new Shop Our Stash resale shop at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts is now open in the restored blacksmith shop.  I made my first trip to it last week.  Rain was pouring down so I couldn't take pictures, so I borrowed these from the museum's web site.

It's small, but very well organized.  Prices are good, and the volunteers are friendly and helpful.  I donated two big bags of fabric, good quality pieces that I know I'll never use, and brought home a small bag of stash enhancement.

Here's what I bought, mostly fat quarters in lights or colors I needed.  Some of the light ones are already cut and pieced into quilt blocks!

Shop hours are Friday and Saturday only, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  It's a win for everybody:  inexpensive fabric, yarn, etc. for makers, income for the museum, and a good place to donate craft/sewing/quilting supplies.  Click HERE for information on items accepted for donation, etc.

In Progress

The string blocks are almost finished into a quilt, which I hope to complete today.  I also have only two more blocks to make for the Lori Holt Twinkle Twinkle Scrappy Star quilt, and then I can start putting them together.  When I do that, I like to have something simple to piece as leaders and enders, so I chose this pattern. 

 The original is called Cabin Steps, and was a free handout at a local quilt show in 2016.  When I made a quilt inspired by this pattern a few years ago, I changed it from a 12 in. block to a 9 in. one by making it a 9 patch instead of a 16 patch.  I like that size for the quilts I make, so I'm doing it again.

The blocks will use the rectangles in the plastic shoebox.  I need 420 dark and 210 light--think I have enough?  Seriously, I may have to cut some light ones, but there might be enough dark ones for two quilts.

In other news, we had fun last Saturday with our youngest grandsons at the Kettle Moraine Geological Society Show, held at the fairgrounds.  The boys were very excited, especially since we gave them some spending money.  Little Guy wanted to buy everything.  His biggest purchase was an abalone shell. Buddy was more selective.  Each of them went home with rock, fossil and mineral treasures.  They also bought a small quartz heart for their mom.

There was a Native people's display area with a teepee the boys loved.  A man there was making small leather shoes by hand.  Another man gave the boys each a turkey feather, and tried to teach us to say thank you in his language.  All in all, a very good day.

I hope you have very good days this week too, doing things you love to do.  Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Check out all the quilts and quilters at these linky parties!

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Big Bright Hopes

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Big Bright Hopes is a flimsy!  You may remember me starting this one after our last guild meeting, when I was inspired by a block like this in the scrap pile on the free table.  The blocks were easy to sew as leader and enders while working on other projects.  (Sorry about the inside photos.  It's been raining all day today.)

I chose novelty print squares for the 5 in. (cut) centers, and bright colored strips in calmer prints to surround the centers.  The strips were cut 2.5 in. x 7 in.

When it comes to math, I like to keep it simple.  I needed 140 strips to make 35 blocks.  So if I chose 7 colors, I only needed 20 strips in each color.  Perfect!  

Big Bright Hopes will be approx. 50 in. x 67 in. when finished, and will be donated locally.

Speaking of big bright hopes, it was Little Guy's 6th birthday this week!

He posed for us, wearing the stickers he got at school for being the birthday boy and his classroom's Star of the Week.

After opening presents, the boys had fun with a musical birthday card.  

Too much excitement!  After they went home, I went back to the sewing room.

In honor of red week for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I made the red Dawn Chorus blocks.  Each big block is 4 small blocks put together.  This one has Bucky Badger and cows, appropriate for Wisconsin.

The novelty prints in this block are dogs and dog bones.

This one is my favorite.  The bird fabric came from the scrap tsunami (see last week's blog), there are lots of rabbits, and some dinosaurs and friends from the 1990s.  I don't think I'll ever run out of that dino fabric.

It's always fun to get out a new color of scraps at the beginning of the month.  I can't wait to see what everyone else is making.

In Progress

Remember the string blocks?  All 30 of them are done.  And because the strings were sewn directly onto a batting square, they are quilted as well.  I'm going to try a new-to-me technique with them, wish me luck!

These are the blocks I'm sewing in the photo with the string blocks.  It's a Lori Holt pattern she calls Twinkle Twinkle Scrappy Star.  I found a tutorial for it on her You Tube channel.  (Click HERE.)  All the print pieces for 30 blocks were in my box of 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. rectangles.  I had to cut most of the background pieces from strips and scraps.  It's a fun block to piece.

Good luck this week with all your projects.  Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestiches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

And now, just a few words about quilts and politics.  Feel free to skip, I won't mind.

Today I spent some time watching the funeral of the Reverend Jesse Jackson on television.  It was sad to see the passing of such an important Civil Rights leader, but heartening to see and hear how many people were inspired by him to continue his work, including three presidents and a vice president.

He was familiar with quilts in his own background.  In two of his most famous speeches, he spoke about quilts as a metaphor for our country.  

In 1984, in his speech at the Democratic Convention, he said:

"America is not like a blanket - one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size.  America is more like a quilt - many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled make up the American quilt."

Four year later, he again referenced quilting, with an example from his own life, as he emphasized finding common ground with each other. 

"America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth. When I was a child growing up in Greenville, South Carolina my grandmama could not afford a blanket, she didn't complain and we did not freeze. Instead she took pieces of old cloth - patches, wool, silk, gabardine, crockersack - only patches, barely good enough to wipe off your shoes with. But they didn't stay that way very long. With sturdy hands and a strong cord, she sewed them together into a quilt, a thing of beauty and power and culture."

[By the way, crockersack refers to a burlap bag.]

Later in the speech he said:

"Be as wise as my grandmama.  Pull the patches and the pieces together, bound by a common thread.  When we form a great quilt of unity and common ground, we'll have the power to bring about health care and housing and jobs and education and hope to our Nation."

I remember these uplifting speeches, and of course I loved the mention of quilts.  I also love the hope that we can find common ground with each other.  

We are more alike than we are unalike.

Farm Quilt and Green Crumbs

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

The Farm Quilt is a top!  The wind died down enough yesterday afternoon to take a photo outside.

Isn't this farm print fun?  I knew when I picked it up at a quilt guild meeting that it could be a good border.  It came from our guild stash, which is donated to us.  Check out the date:  1999!  With proper storage, good quality cottons can last a long time.

The blue fabric with chickens was also from the guild stash.  I originally wanted to have a narrow border of the blue between the main part of the quilt and the red border.  Unfortunately, when I did the math I didn't have enough of the red for that option, especially if I wanted to show most of the repeat of the farm print.  I will make the binding from the blue.

Here's what I meant about the border repeat.  These borders were cut at 4.5 in. and you still can't see the whole scene.

The framed blocks were cut from several different farm and/animals prints.  I have a bag of farm themed fabrics and scraps that I used to make the 16 patch blocks.  And to no one's surprise, even after all these blocks the bag is STILL not close to being empty. 

 I counted 8 different tractor prints in the bag, both scraps and yardage.  They were mostly John Deere but also International Harvester, and some generic ones like the block above framed in dark green.

The blocks are 8 in. finished, and the top measures 49 in. x 65 in.  It will be donated locally.  I don't plan to quilt it myself as I know others can do a better job.  It will either be quilted by someone in my quilt guild, or by Lynn with the Children's Advocacy Center.

Tomorrow is the last day of February, and that means the last day of green month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I finished these crumb type blocks just in time!  I'm making them from leftover small pieces and strips.  After making a Duckworth quilt as a guild challenge, I've changed how I make this kind of block.  Now I'm working from the center, kind of like a log cabin, instead of a less organized approach.  It's fun to learn new things!

While I had the green crumbs and strips out I made a few more things for an eventual village type wall hanging.  There's a big green house with a Green Bay Packers strip, some green grass for the little blue house, and a couple of trees made from scrap triangles.  I'm not really happy with the big tree, I think it looks less like a tree and more like a big green tent, but it might be better when I add a trunk.

In Progress

New Project Alert!  Multicolored string blocks are under my treadle's needle today.  I went through my bags of strings and pulled out bright strips of all the colors.  I'm sewing them to batting scraps.  This will end up being a quilt for another guild challenge.

Check out this orange strip!  It's from a scrap of Halloween fabric I got from the free table at guild a while back.  The whole verse on the fabric says: 

Trick or Treat

Smell my feet

Give me something good to eat.

Rude, right?  I'm glad the manufacturer didn't include the rest of that rhyme that the kids at school used to say!

Here's a little more green for the last day of green month.  That's me, standing outside our hotel in Arizona in January next to the tallest cactus I have ever seen.

Time to go cut up more batting squares and do something about the scrap pile on the cutting board.

Have a good week, everyone, and happy quilting!

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap