Marmalade and Dinosaurs, OMG

This is marmalade--orange on the right, grapefruit on the left.  I am a BIG fan of it, especially on homemade whole wheat toast.  It's sweet, but with a citrus kick.

This is my OMG, one monthly goal, for April--a quilt called Marmalade Cake, from the book Dessert Roll Quilts, by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  I finished the top this morning, before my grandson arrived for the day.

The original quilt used lots of orange prints, hence the name.  My quilt top uses 1930s prints with solid blue and white for a very different look.

All the prints are 5 in. squares.  The half square triangles are cut from 5 in. strips with the Easy Angle ruler.

I tried to take a photo outside (fail).  This is the best I could do today, with the wind.  At least we had sunshine.  It's supposed to snow tomorrow.  (Not kidding.)

Here's some fun we had this week.  We took our Little Buddy to visit his cousins in Kenosha, and we all went to the dinosaur museum.  The older kids were on spring break this week.

It's a small museum, located in the old post office, but they make very good use of the space.  This is our granddaughter dressed up as a dinosaur with a fluffy tail.
Little Buddy is wild about dinosaurs.  He had a wonderful time, as we all did.

In other news, I did a little downsizing.

This is the first treadle sewing machine I ever owned.  I was swayed by the beauty and the age of it.  The name on the irons and nearly gone from the decals is "Superba".

Check out this animal on the pillar--is it a wolf?
An online friend told me it was made in Germany in 1905.
I loved this machine, but I never did get it to sew reliably.  I passed it on to a gentleman who will probably succeed where I failed.  Giving it away feels very good.  I got my money's worth out of it, just in the joy of having it for many years.
Goodbye, Superba!
Finding a good new home for this treadle was made possible by my friend Joey M., who took photos and posted it to several Facebook groups for me, as I'm not on Facebook anymore.  Thanks, Joey!

Here's a fun thing I bought--a new water bottle.  Could this be my aqua for the week?  I think it must be meant for quilters.  Isn't it pretty?  I bought my husband a plainer one, and he's jealous, but this one is just for me.

For the coming week, I'm wishing fun for you, however you define it.  Just good old-fashioned fun.
Cheers for reading this,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Patty at Elm Street Quilts--April OMG 
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Sunshine, Aqua, and Baby Quilts

Welcome to Treadlestitches, where spring has finally arrived!  After all the rain and snow and cold, we are so thankful for sunshine, blue skies, and warmer weather.
These 3 little quilts for Jack's Basket (one of the charities sponsored by the Hands 2 Help Challenge) are my finishes this week.

I love making baby quilts!  It was such fun to use my scrappy stash of brights and novelty prints.  This first quilt is made with charm squares, some purchased and some I cut.  They measure 5 in. square when CUT, and 4.5 in. square when FINISHED.
So the recipe for this quilt is simple:
Make 9 4-patch blocks from 5 in. (cut) squares.
Set them together, checkerboard style.
Cut borders 5 in. wide, and add.
Since 4.5 x 8=36 in., this is a 36 in. x 36 in. quilt.
Which is just what Jack's Basket asked for.
Just one problem...

Can you see the blue dinosaur (it's next to Scooby Doo).  I inadvertently cut off his head!  Oops!

Here's the second quilt, also made with charm squares.  This time I added 1 in. finished white sashing to set the blocks apart, with 1 in. finished squares as cornerstones. The borders are cut 3 in. wide, so this one also finishes at 36 in. square.

The back of this quilt is a flannel butterfly print.  The Jack's Basket charity specifically mentioned making quilts from flannel.  It does make them soft and warm.

And the last little quilt is all flannel.  I cut these pieces with my Accuquilt cutter a long time ago, so they were ready to go.  There are 35 total tumblers--18 dark and 17 light.  I set them 7 across and 5 down.

This is how I add the borders on tumbler quilts, or any other quilt whose edges are not straight.  I sew the border on, and then trim the excess.
I think this is the last of the quilts I'll be making for Jack's basket this year.  It has been fun and rewarding to sew them for such a worthwhile charity.

In other news, aqua!  It's the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for April.

I finally started cutting and sewing my aqua zigzag blocks.

I thought I was using a lot of different fabrics for the sake of variety, but when I lay them out I see maybe too many of some of them.  I have six more to make, so I'll try to mix it up a little with those.

Yesterday was such a wonderful day.  Both our daughters were here with their children, and we had a good time playing outside and inside.  We even made some erasers from a kit.
Then after they were gone a good friend came by from out of town.  We had a great visit, and she generously helped me find a new home for an old treadle.

Today is better weather than yesterday, and the dog and I are going out for a walk.
I'm wishing all who celebrate a Happy Easter or a blessed Passover, and the joy of good friends for everyone.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at Soscrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

Bits and Pieces

Welcome to the blog!  Do you have one of these?  This is my "bits" basket, a place for scraps too small to go in my strip drawers or boxes of cut squares.

These are some of the bits I pulled out to make aqua blocks, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  I make them like slab blocks or crumb blocks.  (The cute monsters scrap didn't make the cut.  Sorry, monsters, just not enough aqua.)

I already had two projects going for the RSC, but this just sort of happened, as things do, so I'm rolling with it.  I will need to go back and make a few more blocks in the colors for January, February, and March.  Not a problem, there are lots of bits and pieces.

I didn't realize until I took this picture, but this block features a lion's butt, complete with tail.  Just a little secret to find in the eventual finished quilt.

Flowers may not be blooming outside yet, but the orchid in the windowsill is going crazy.  Little Buddy and I have been enjoying watching the buds open.  He thinks they should hurry up.

The color reminds me of the fabrics in this little quilt I finished this week for Jack's Basket, as part of the Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge.
It's a Trip Around the World quilt, made in pink and green.  The squares are charm square size, 5 in. x 5 in.  I used up some of my 5 in. squares and strips, which I was saving just for this purpose. 
The charity requests quilts made 36 in. square, which has been kind of a fun challenge for me.

I always think of these quilt patterns sort of like recipes.
Here's the recipe for this one.

Trip Around the World Baby Quilt
finished size:  36 in. x 36 in.
All squares are cut 5 in. x 5 in.
When I make this pattern, I lay the squares out as I go, and then sew them into rows.  As you can see from the photo, the colors go in rounds.
Round one: the center.  1 square
Round 2: 4 squares.  (I used a lighter fabric to contrast with the surrounding squares.)
Round 3:  8 squares
Round 4:  12 squares
Round 5:  12 squares
Round 6:  8 squares
Round 7:  the corners.  4 squares.  I cut mine from the same cupcake fabric I used for the center.

This is a total of 49 squares, set 7 x 7.  These squares finish at 4.5 in.
7 x 4.5=31.5 in. square
To make the quilt finish at 36 in. square, we need to add borders cut at 2.75 in. (two and three-quarters).  After sewing, they will measure 2.25 in.
Here's the math on the total.
31.5 + 2.25 +2.25=36  (or, 8 x 4.5=36)

Can you see the cute cupcake fabric in the center?  I only had a few squares of this, bought second hand on a sale table.

Simple quilting goes very fast on these little quilts, and then they're ready to mail off.  I hope this one will be cheerful and sweet for a new baby.
More Jack's Basket quilts are in the works!  I'm going to fill up a box before I send them.

At long, long last, the redwork quilt is finished!  I had the hand quilting done as my February OMG, and just this week finished hand sewing down the binding.  I don't know why I just never wanted to pick it up and put in those last stitches, but I finally got up the gumption and did it.  I'm keeping this one.  It's sort of a "new" antique, made from old blocks.

My life tends to be really busy.  Little bits and pieces of sewing time make me happy, and make everything run more smoothly.

This week, I'm wishing you joy in all you do.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at Soscrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Cynthia at Oh Scrap
Hands 2 Help Check In 

It's April, No Fooling

Happy April, everyone!  My little buddy is helping model my April goal for the OMG.  He actually asked to have his picture taken, which is rare with him.

The quilt is called Marmalade Cake, and comes from this book:  Dessert Roll Quilts, by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  Their version is the quilt on the cover.

All but 4 of the blocks are just like this one.  Now that all the blocks are done, my goal for April is to sew them into a top.   It will be 80 in. square, but the blocks are big, so probably doable.  Right?  Well, we'll see what kind of time I have this month.  It's been a fun quilt to piece so far.

In other news, the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is aqua.  So far, all I've done is pull some fabrics.

There is quite a wide range of colors here.  I'm not sure if all of them will end up in the zigzag rows I'm making.  It will be fun picking and choosing.

Speaking of fun, I spent a weekend recently with these characters, more of my fabulous grandchildren.  We went to the Natural History Museum in Chicago on the Saturday, and I stayed with them for two nights while their parents were away.

Look, my granddaughter painted my fingernails!  Pretty good for a second grader.  The purple was fantastic.  I haven't had painted nails in at least 20 years.

Even more fun!  On my little trip away from home, I stopped at Serenity Quilt Shop in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  It was a little hard to find--not visible from the street, back in an office complex, but worth the search.  Above is the loot I got there.

The shop had lots of these Moda Scrap Bags.  Have you seen these?  I haven't noticed them in other quilt shops near me, so I took a chance and bought one.

Here's what was inside--a roll of gorgeous colorful strips, all of them over 2.5 in. wide.  I could not roll them up tight enough to get them back in the little bag! 

I laid them out on the floor at my daughter's house.  They are not full strips (scraps, remember).  I absolutely love the colors and patterns.

I can definitely use more light scraps too.

I also got a dinosaur panel...

and a yard of dino fabric to go with it.  Check out these pins--they have alphabet letters!  I'm planning to use them to mark the rows when sewing tops together (like the Marmalade Cake top for my April OMG.)  I'm not sure if I'll ever need 26 rows of blocks, but you never know.  And they're just so darn cute.

While I did the wash on Monday, my little buddy was busy with his buttons.  I've pulled out a few unusual ones from my button jars, and he loves lining them up and naming the colors.  He's never been one to put things in his mouth, but you can bet I keep a sharp eye on him just in case.
We have several sets of "real" things around for him to play with--rocks, and shells, and a bag of yarn and fabric scraps.  He also collects pine cones and sticks outside.

Today we were able to be out on the porch without our coats!  I'm beginning to believe in Spring.

I'm wishing sunshine and quilting time for you this week.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I Get A Whoop Whoop)
Patty at One Monthly Goal April Goal Setting (Elm Street Quilts)
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Angela at So Scrappy (Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge)
Cynthia at Oh Scrap