Criss Cross Stars and Yellow Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

In spite of getting distracted by my Kid Stuff quilt, I did finally finish the Criss Cross Stars top!  Must be because we stayed home all week.  I had to hang it sideways on the clothesline so it wouldn't drag on the ground.

Criss Cross Stars is a pattern by Lori Holt.  I started watching her YouTube videos last winter/spring and really loved them.  (Click HERE for Criss Cross Stars.)  Ms. Holt uses fabric she designs herself, but of course I used my bright kid-friendly prints.  For the centers, I chose either multicolored prints or multicolors on black.  This one is a Laurel Burch print of horses.

This is one of the black ones.  My backgrounds are scrappy.  With as much fabric as I have, I wasn't going to buy any more just to have enough for all the squares to be the same! (I probably will at some point, of course lol.)  The star points are made from 2.5 in. squares from my parts department.

I love this center square!  I bought a small scrap bundle at a quilt shop in Edinburgh last September and a tiny bit of this fabric was in it.  Happy, colorful elephants!  What's not to love?

 

Here's the border.   It looks blue in the photos, but it's actually a bluish purple.

The quilt measures 52 in. x 70 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center to be quilted and given to a child in foster care.

It's yellow month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I love yellow.  It adds so much spark to a quilt, and goes with almost anything.  First up are my Greek Cross blocks.

I have all sorts of yellow scraps.  Some a bright as day, like the ones in this block.

Others are quieter.  Don't wake the sleepy little bear!

I didn't get any yellow blocks done for the first yellow Saturday, so I'm doing double time this week to catch up with these Whirligig blocks.  They are probably the quickest to cut and sew of any of my RSC blocks.

This soft print has characters from the Little Golden books.  I remember my Mom reading them to my brother and sister and me, especially the Poky Little Puppy and the Saggy Baggy Elephant.

In Progress

Now that I'm all caught up I can get to work on a UFO.  Back in 2024 I made STACKS of cat blocks.  After finishing several small quilts, I still had 21 blocks left over.  This project will use up 20 of those blocks in a small quilt, which I will quilt and donate to the GSAFE auction at the end of October.  I'm adding frames to bring them up to 9 in. finished.  All the frames were cut yesterday, so I'm ready to go.

For leaders and enders I'm sewing 2.5 in. squares into "twosies" and will then sew the twosies into four patches.  I need 96 four patches so it will be a while before they're done.  This basket had over 200 squares in it when I started.  Looks like I need to load it up again from the parts department.

No pictures of the grandkids this week.  Their dad was off work so they went fishing, etc., and I didn't babysit much.  (Could that be another reason I got some things done?)

Both boys would like to recommend this book that we borrowed from the library.  It is tough to find anything a 6 year old and a 10 year agree on, so I thought I'd pass it on.  Steve (the rubber ducky) and his friend Hank (a plastic dinosaur) are hiding in the puzzles on the pages.  Hank is VERY easy to find.  Steve just gets harder and harder to spot as the book goes along.  More of a puzzle book than a reading book, but challenging (even for adults!) and fun.

No blog next week!  I will be out of town, but I'm NOT going to another funeral (thank goodness!), just a big family reunion.  I may even visit a quilt shop.

Have a great week!  Or two!  Happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these kind ladies:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Kid Stuff and Bright Blocks on a Rainy Morning

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

This quilt was supposed to be the leaders and enders project while I worked on Criss Cross Stars.  It just took over.  Does this ever happen to you?  (If it looks like I shaded the blocks from dark to light it's just because it's a dark day and the light in this room is uneven.)

The pattern is simple.  It comes from the book Scrap Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett.  She calls it "Feedsacks" because she used 1930s reproduction fabrics to make hers.  I call my version Kid Stuff because so many of the fabrics are kid-friendly prints.

It might have a random look, but I can't do random (and I have tried!).  Each block has 8 long rectangles around a jelly bean print square.  I used 8 colors, one for each long rectangle (red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, light blue, dark blue, and purple).  There are also 4 short rectangles.  I chose them after I laid out the rest of the block.

The border is this triangles print.  It looks a little wild on its own, but calm next to the blocks!

Kid Stuff finishes at 54 in. x 68 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center to be quilted and given to a child in foster care.

My blocks for Many Hands Many Hearts are done, and will go in the mail this week.  Above are the red/green ones...

then the orange and blue ones (love this combination!)...

and lastly the purple and yellow ones.  I definitely need more (and better!) yellows.  I'll dig around in the scraps and see what I can find this month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Speaking of purple, I guessed wrong on August's RSC color and made these crumb blocks as leaders and enders while setting the Kid Stuff top together.  Oops!  Never mind, I'll just save them for September and get started on yellow ones.

We are having an amazing summer!  We spent two days at a campground in central Wisconsin, and I just finally got all the laundry done!  Some of my favorite guys rode around on this golf cart.

Our two teenaged grand kids (Mr. H and Miss E) had fun on this crazy see saw at the playground.

When we got back home, Little Guy posed for me on the slide in the park near our house.  This summer will soon be over!  But we will try to make every minute count until then. 

I hope you're enjoying the season, whatever it is.  Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Lots of Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

After a lovely week, my company has gone home.  I miss them, but the memories of this visit are great.  Meanwhile, I'm back to piecing.  Those are my Criss Cross Stars (a pattern from Lori Holt) laid out on the floor so I can put them into rows.  Maybe I'll have a top done by next week!

It's the last Saturday of July, aqua month of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   Above are the Dawn Chorus blocks.  I made these ahead so I would be caught up when we get a new color for August. 

I made these aqua crumb blocks really far ahead, like last year.  Is that cheating?  I started them with no real plan, just using up little scraps.  Now I have twelve of them, which is twice as many as the other color crumbs I've made this year.  Will they all end up in the same quilt?  Stay tuned lol.

I just love this robot fabric!  The scraps are from a pillow case I made for my oldest grandson.  He turned 21 last week!  How did that happen???

In Progress

So of course, while I was trying to catch up on current projects I had to start a new one!  (Does this happen to anybody else?)  My friend Joey gave me this book, Scrap-Basket Surprises by Kim Brackett, and right away I found a quilt I wanted to try.

This is it!  It's called Feed Sacks, and Ms. Brackett made it with 1930s reproduction fabrics, but I wanted to try it in my usual kid-friendly brights.

The sewing is simple, with a partial seam to start so there are no set in seams.  I chose a jelly bean print for the center.  One reason I really like books by Kim Brackett are the clear instructions.  I always appreciate having pressing directions that help the pieces line up.

I made banana bread this morning in these small loaf pans, and it occurred to me I had arranged them on the cooling rack very much like the blocks I was making earlier.  Weird.

Last Saturday we had a big birthday party for four family members.  We celebrated with a drum circle organized by my husband.  All 13 of us made music/noise together.  It was so much fun.

All of us who were around/not working on Monday went to a local lake for a picnic.  Buddy and Little Guy took turns learning to kayak, supervised closely by their aunt.  

It's been a busy summer, and about to get busier!  We're going camping tomorrow, so I've got to get to work on packing our gear.  But before I do I'll take some time to look at all the great eye candy in the linky parties.

Have a good week, everyone!  And Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

 

 

Pastel Baby Quilt Top, Aqua Blocks, and Criss Cross Stars

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Hello, quilters!  It's a beautiful summer morning here, and I'm hanging out my pastel baby quilt top for a photo.

The blocks were made in June, which was pastel month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Pastel colors didn't really fit with my usual bright-as-the-sun RSC blocks, but no worries, I could just make a pastel  quilt.  I chose the fabric above for the alternate blocks, and made the pieced blocks from my small stash of baby-friendly prints.

This one literally says "Baby"!

So does this one, plus "cutie pie" and "little sweet pea".

I had a few light prints with baby toys to add in.

Two of the prints had diaper pins on them!  The one is a vintage fabric.

These are the kind of diaper pins I used with my kids, way back in the 1980s.  Hey, moms, did you use cloth diapers too?  It was certainly cheaper than buying disposables.  But definitely messier lol.

The quilt will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.  I'm not sure if I'll donate it as a top or quilt it myself.  The center serves foster children as young as 3 months.  Absolutely heartbreaking, but I'm glad the kids are getting help.

In other news, aqua blocks are getting made for July's RSC color.  This set is my Greek Cross blocks.

The cat fabric in the center of this block came from a quilt shop in Edinburgh, Scotland.  I call them my British kitties.  I only had a fat quarter of it, and I will be very sorry when it's used up.  But that's what's it's for, after all.

Equal time for dogs!  Good old American Scooby Doo is sniffing out crime in this print.  Or maybe just looking for Scooby Snacks?

More aqua RSC blocks!  These are my Whirlygigs, some in blue-ish aqua and some in greenish.  I'm showing two sets of RSC blocks this week, because I won't be posting next week.  My mom and nephew are coming to visit!  Mom hasn't been here in a while due to health issues, but she's doing great now and the family can't wait to see her.  My nephew is taking the ferry across the lake from Michigan.  It's going to be a good time, but no time for quilting and blogging.

In Progress

I'm still making Criss Cross Stars, a Lori Holt pattern.  (To see her YouTube tutorial, click HERE.)  For the squares in the center of the blocks, I'm using either multicolor prints or black background prints.  I have a lot of each of these, and I tend to forget about them.  My biggest problem was finding "calmer" backgrounds in my stash, but I finally got all the blocks cut at least.

About two weeks ago, Hubby and I went to the big flea market in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  I didn't buy much (mostly fruits and vegetables at the produce stand) but I took a few quilt pictures.  I always love to see the old quilts...

...and the new ones!  Great scrap quilt, love the red!  Those skinny flying geese (do they have a special name?) as sashings are amazing.  Very dramatic!

This Little Guy can also be dramatic!  I got to spend more time with just him the last two weeks while his brother was at wrestling camp.  The new Toy Story movie came out, and he wanted to make this version of Forkie after he found a red pipe cleaner.  We improvised with what we had here.  True to the movie, Forkie jumped in the trash a couple of times, but was rescued.  A happy ending.

I hope you're having a happy ending or beginning to this week!  Happy Quilting!

See you on July 25th!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these terrific ladies:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap