Radio Windmill Top and Lots of Purple

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Good morning!  I got back from vacation Sunday evening and hit the ground running, trying to catch up with laundry and groceries and just regular life.  I hadn't sewn anything for more than a week, so was glad to fit in some stitching with chores and babysitting.  

Our quilt guild has a current project making quilts for the group Sleep In Heavenly Peace.  The group makes beds for kids who don't have any, and quilt groups make quilts for the beds.  The size quilt they need is 60 in. x 80 in., which is larger than what I usually make.  I went looking in my "Some Assembly Required" bin (term borrowed from Cathy at the Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting blog) and found a set of blocks I made in 2025 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

The Radio Windmill block pattern was originally published in the 1940s in the Kansas City Star newspaper series of patterns.  I made mine from a pattern called Highland Fling in the book Dessert Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  It's an easy pattern (no, really!).  The center is a charm square, and the outside triangles are cut from rectangles, so there is NO WASTED FABRIC.  

I chose mostly light background novelty print squares for the centers and calmer prints for the outside triangles.

It was simple and quick to sew 42 of the blocks together and add a border.  A volunteer from the guild will quilt it, someone (maybe me) will bind it, and it will go to a local child with their new bed.  I still have enough blocks left to make a small quilt.

Speaking of RSC blocks, it is already the last Saturday in September aka purple month, so here are my last group of purple blocks, the Quarter Log Cabin ones.

I never had yardage of these robots, just a few scraps, so I was glad to find a place for this square.  And of course I had to add the aliens flying space ships to this block. 

More ghosts eating popcorn!  This block is reminding me to get out the Halloween decorations this weekend.  Maybe I can get the grandsons to help decorate.

More purple!  I like to knit on vacation, especially in airports.  I took the yarn along to make hats for kids, to donate to a local charity.  I hadn't done this for awhile, and cast on too many stitches for the first hat.  I finished it into an adult-sized hat just before we went up into the mountains.  As you'd expect, it was COLD there in the mornings when we were out hiking.  I ended up wearing the big hat almost every day.  It's mine now lol.

Vacation Pix Coming!  (Feel free to skip.)

Our vacation this year was in the Canadian Rockies.  Above is the view from our hotel window.  I was jaw-droppingly amazed every time I looked out.

We ate lunch beside this beautiful lake one day.

This is a wildlife overpass in Banff National Park.  Critters like moose, elk, bears, etc. can safely cross the highway on these.  There are fences to keep them from getting on the road.

On one of our last days we went on a one-hour trail ride.  That's me in front and hubby right behind.  Neither of us are equestrians lol, not having been on horseback in at least 50 years.  It was a pleasant ride, and very exciting when we came across a male elk who didn't want to move.  Our guide used a noisemaker to encourage him to move on, also for a second male elk who came to see what was going on.  After a few minutes both elk disappeared into the brush and the ride continued.

Of course I went quilt shopping in town!  We stayed in Canmore, where there is a lovely quilt shop packed with fabrics and patterns and yarn.  I found most of my treasures in the sale room (as usual).  Check out the taco truck print!

As always, it's great to go on vacation, and great to come home.  I'm ready to enjoy fall now.  Bring on the baking, the sweaters, the oven suppers, the lovely fall leaves, and best of all, the quilting.

Happy Quilting, everyone, and have a good week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these amazing quilters:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 

Frogs and Purple and Summer's End

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

There are frogs on the clothesline!  No, really!

Rainbow colored fabric frogs!  Aren't they awesome?  I love this print. These cute frogs are waving at us!

Happy blocks, made with small squares of the frog print and green borders, alternate with large squares of the frog fabric to make a cute quilt for a child.

The quilt top was designed and cut out by a friend I call Nancy Queen of Scraps.  She found the frog fabric at a sale, yards and yards of it, and bought it for a song.  Then she cut it into four quilt tops, made one herself, and gave out 3 more kits at our last guild meeting.  I got the green one.  It has been fun to stitch.

Are you having fun stitching purple scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month?  I definitely am!  Below are the last 3 blocks for my Dawn Chorus quilt.

Butterflies, swirls, birds, and (unfortunately?) a headless Tinkerbell.

More frogs!  Plus dots and flowers and gardening things.

Lastly, candy corn, stars, ghosts, and Parisian cats!

I got this fabric at the shop in Connecticut I mentioned last week.  Tres magnifique!  This cat even looks like my Snicky.

But wait, there's more!  I won't be blogging next week (out of town AGAIN), so I'm including another set of purple blocks for the RSC.

I have really enjoyed making these Whirligig blocks.  The only challenge I had was finding light prints to go with the dark ones each month.  Now I get to put them all together!

Labor Day signals the end of the summer for many of us.  I'm going through photos, looking back fondly at this busy summer.

My younger daughter took this picture of Buddy and Little Guy running out of the water when we were camping last August.  We could barely get them out of the water to eat!

This is my favorite photo of the summer, the family gathered together in our backyard.

I don't know if I'm ready for fall yet, especially since it still seems like summer.  I will have to get adjusted soon.

NO BLOG NEXT WEEK, sorry.  Hubby and I are taking a short vacation.  I promise to post photos.

Have a great week, everyone!  Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Hurray for Purple and Two Quilt Shops

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

It's purple month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I couldn't be happier about it!  I started my RSC blocks with the Greek Cross (above) in lots of different shades of purple.

Have you noticed the purple Halloween fabrics?  When I was a kid Halloween colors were orange and black.  Next they added green, and now purple.  I really appreciate having more cute purple prints to choose from.  BTW, I like that the ghost above is reading a book of ghost stories.

The candy corn fabric here has a lighter purple background.  Fun stuff!

Here's more fun:  Minions dressed as vampires! I haven't used this one yet, but I know I'll find a good place for it.  I have a yard and a half so it might end up as a border on something.

I got the purple minions fabric at this shop, Quilted Ewe in New Hartford, Connecticut.  I was in Hartford mid-August for a family reunion.

The shop is in this converted building (old factory? warehouse?) and it is AWESOME.

They have thousands of bolts of fabric, lots of space, and helpful staff.  They're even open on Sunday.  Plus, there's a decent clearance rack, and that's where I found the purple minions!  I might have bought some more cat fabric there, plus a couple of light prints, etc.

I try to shop quilt stores when I travel.  Fabric is my favorite souvenir.

This year, I planned my RSC quilts before I started so I wouldn't end up with so many orphan blocks.  Now that the purples are done, I can figure out the layout and start setting them together.  There are 42 blocks, 5 of each plus an extra of red and orange. This is going to be fun!

But wait, more shopping!  As I have mentioned before, the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts started a resale shop on the museum grounds.  They call it Shop Our Stash, and it recently moved from a small outbuilding to the downstairs of the old farmhouse.  Of course I had to check it out.

Guess what I saw when I walked in the door--a whole laundry-size basket of CAT FABRIC!  There was a lot to choose from, and they were adding more while I stood there with my mouth hanging open.  It was hard to decide, but in the end I bought these six fat quarters and the 2 yard light print in the back.

Everything in the store is well organized, labeled, and priced.  All the merchandise is donated and most if not all of the staff are volunteers.  I was so impressed.  It seemed more like a quilt shop and less like a thrift store.

Even though I talk about my cats all the time, I love dogs too.  I've been thinking about making a dog quilt like the cat quilt I just finished, and these fat quarters were so cute so I scooped them up.  The fabric in the back is four yards long and will make a great quilt back. 

As you'd imagine for a resale shop, the prices are amazing!  They average $6 to $8 per yard, and even less for bundles and scraps.  I also bought some pink fabrics, a few more fat quarters, and a solid blue.

Resale shops in general are such a good idea.  They keep fabric out of the landfills, and into the hands of quilters or sewists for good prices.  The people who donate get rid of stuff they won't use, the buyers get a good deal, and the money in this case goes to support the quilt museum.  Win, win, win!

If you're going, you should know this:  their hours are very limited.  They are only open on Friday and Saturday, from 11:00 pm to 2:00 pm.  Definitely worth the trip!

No pictures of the boys this week, sorry!  Most days I only see them for a short time after school.  But they will be here tonight to sleep over, so I'd better start getting ready.

Have a lovely week, everyone!  And happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

   

Meowsers! More Cats!

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Saturday, everyone!  For the first time in weeks, I have an actual finish, quilted and bound and everything.  It's amazing what you can do when the kids go back to school.

When I was working on last week's cat quilt top I went through my stash looking for cat prints to use as borders or backing.  It may not surprise you that I found a lot!  The sizes ranged from 2-3 yards down to squares and strips.

The squares made me think of this quilt that I saw at the Winter Quilt Show in February.  Before I could stop myself I was cutting up squares and strips to make my own version.

The squares are charm squares, 5 in. x 5 in. cut.  Of the 63 squares, 23 are different cat prints and 4 are "cat-adjacent", meaning paw prints mostly.  Two of the prints feature dogs and cats.  The strips between the squares are cut 2 in. x 5 in.  There are 63 of the strips also.  (Don't you love that cat relaxing on a pile of quilts?)

I included Hello Kitty, even though I know she's supposed to be a little girl dressed up like a cat.

This is an easy quilt to make.  The biggest challenge was keeping the one way prints right side up.  By the way, the yellow square above is another "cat-adjacent" print, with things cats like such as yarn and fish bowls.

I forgot to include the border and backing when I counted the cat prints!  So there are 25 different prints with cats in the quilt.  Check out the cat sewing!  I need to teach Snicky to sew.  Maybe he could do the bindings.

Here's the backing.  I found it at a local quilt shop on the clearance rack for 40% off!!!

I think this pattern would work well for other kinds of novelty fabrics or for I Spy quilts.  Right now I'm thinking about making one with animals (zoo animals, farm animals, all kinds!), maybe book characters if I can find enough, vehicles like cars and trucks, etc.

The finished quilt measures 42 in. x 51 in., and will be donated locally.

Wow, it's already the last Saturday in August!  Even with having extra time, I had to finish these yellow crumb blocks this morning for my last set of Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  Can you guess which one is my favorite?

The one with Elmo, of course!

September's color is purple, which is my very favorite!  I can't wait to pull out the purple scraps and get going.

School just started, and our Buddy has already been in a cross country tournament.  He's on the JV team for his school, and did very well.  Little Guy and I cheered him on at the finish line.

I hope someone is cheering you on for the amazing things you do.  Have a wonderful week, and happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

As usual, I'm linking up with these great linky parties.  Come join us!

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Home Is Where The Cats Are

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

How has your summer been?  I can't believe it's nearly over!  I've been traveling a lot this summer, and I'm glad to be home again.  I am grateful for all the time with family and will cherish the memories, but it's so good to be back into my usual routines.  Like making quilts!

The top above evolved from leftover cat blocks made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2024.  As you can see, I added borders to the blocks, and set them together with a cat print border.  There are all sorts of odd fabrics here, like the black Harry Potter symbol cat with a background of a spectacled cat next to the Eifel Tower.

Here's a block with Laurel Burch print dogs and a light cat print background.

More cute kitties in the border!  I love their rainbow accessories.

After adding the border, the blocks measure 9 in. finished, and the quilt is 42 in. x 51 in.  I might quilt it myself if I get time, or I will donate it as a top to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.

What about my real cats?  I missed these critters!

I couldn't get Snicky to pose on the quilt.  Guess he was just too comfortable on the carpet.

Lizzy was relaxing on the couch with a different quilt.  Running around the house at five o'clock in the morning wears them out.  For a little while.

Now that I'm home, I'm catching up on my yellow Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for August.  Quarter Log Cabins are quick and easy, thank goodness.  The one in the upper left was a test block, you may have seen it before.  Lots of bright yellows here, with bugs and hearts and Dr. Seuss characters.  And Elmo!

More Elmo, two different prints!  More bugs, too.  Plus Thomas the Tank Engine, and dogs.

I saved my soft yellows for the last block.  There are teddy bears, Peter Rabbit, zoo animals, and a sweet dog.

Next I made two Dawn Chorus blocks.  I only need two for the quilt I'm planning so it didn't take too long.

Here's the other one.  Now I only need to make 3 purple blocks before I can start setting them together.

I missed these guys, too!  They were really hamming it up when we went to Bookworm Gardens in Sheboygan, Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago.  It was a great day, perfect weather and so many book-related things to see.  Just the thing for a retired school librarian like me!

So was this!  I am posing with the Cat in the Hat at the Hartford, Connecticut airport last Monday.  The Dr. Seuss characters are there to promote The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts.  I wish I had had time to go there!

I hope you have time this week to do the things you love to do.  Like quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these great linky parties!  Click to see all the eye candy!

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap