Dinosaurs and Little Lambs

This was the view out my sewing room window last Sunday.  It's an April snowstorm.  We got yet ANOTHER one on Wednesday, and even had to cancel our quilt guild meeting.  What the heck, Winter?  Why won't you go away?
In between bouts of railing about the weather, I finished this little quilt.

It's a dinosaur quilt!   I borrowed my grandson's dinosaurs for illustration purposes.

Here's the quilt laid out on the table.  It's small, only 38 in. square.  This one will be donated to the Little Lambs Foundation, for kids going into foster care, emergency shelters, or hospitals.  It's part of my participation in Hands 2 Help.  I'm actually ahead of schedule, they're not due until the end of May.

The inspiration was the fabulous fabric, Jurassic Jamboree by Abi Hall.  I think it's out of print now, but I bought a charm pack at a recent quilt show.

I used an old favorite pattern, Highland Fling from the book Dessert Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.

The squares "lean" left and right, depending on how the triangles are cut.  I've seen this design done a different way, set straight and then cut, which wastes a lot of fabric.  Not with this pattern!

This is all the waste left from 5 blocks.  The blocks are sliver-trimmed after they are sewn.

I paired each light square with dark fabric, and each dark square with light fabric.  But I was one short on the light squares.  What to do?

This happy T-Rex was cut from the backing fabric.  I think he fits right in.

The quilting is mindlessly simple, just straight vertical lines.  It should fold fairly flat and stand up to lots of washing.
Still waiting for spring here.  But I'm sewing while I'm waiting, so that's okay.

What's under the needle at your house?
Have a lovely week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Busy Hands Quilts, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Recipe for A Sports Quilt

Here's my finish for this week, a sports quilt for a teen boy.  Our quilt group's contacts in social work have told us there is a lot of need for quilts for teens, especially boys, so I put this one together with a familiar pattern.
When I first started quilting, I had the crazy idea of making a quilt in every existing pattern.  This was before the current quilt revival, but even then this was an impossible dream.  There are literally thousands of traditional quilt patterns, let alone all the wonderful new ones shared with us on the internet.
Now that I'm making quilts for charities, I think of good quilt patterns like recipes.  There are some you go to again and again, like menus for week night suppers.  They need to be simple, relatively quick to make, and use materials on hand.  Most importantly, they need to be comforting for the recipient.

This quilt pattern falls into that category.  It's called Scrappy Bricks, and I found it on the website of the Linus Connection based in Austin, Texas.  Click HERE for the PDF.  They give several different sizes, all based on rectangles 4.5 in. x 8.5 in. and 4.5 in. squares.  (They have links to lots of other good patterns, too.)

I made this one three rows longer than the teen size, and added 4 in. borders.  The finished quilt is approximately 48 in. x 72 in.  Long and narrow.  I quilted it closely with 100% cotton batting, to make it flatter and easy to fold up in a back pack.  Above you can see the backing.
Many of the fabrics have sports prints--baseball, hockey, soccer, etc.  I chose the fabrics of the other bricks from the colors of the sports prints, so I have red, black, green, and blue.

I decided not to take any outdoor pictures of the quilt.  Weather wise, it is an absolutely dismal day today, with driving rain and wind.  But I believe in spring because

the robins are back!  These two are sheltering against the wind in our wood pile.
I'm wishing sunshine and good weather for all (including the robins!) this week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Link ups at Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, Busy Hands Quilts, and Crazy Mom Quilts.
 I love seeing what everyone else is making!

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.