OMG, I'm coming in under the wire

It's the very last evening of the very last day of June.  It's hard to believe (especially for me!), but I actually DID make my One Monthly Goal for June.

This is the actual goal, and I quote:
So here's my one monthly goal for June.  I'm going to make a twin-sized dinosaur quilt for Little Buddy, my youngest grandson.  The quilt will be designed, cut, and pieced before the end of June.

And here's the quilt!

The colors are a little off here.  I had to take the photos inside because of a thunder storm.  What looks black is actually dark blue, and the colors are bright prints, not pastels.

This is not actually a quilt top, per se.  I quilted the center panel and the first two borders as though it was a baby quilt.  Then I added the borders (for the top) and wide strips for the backing.  Once that was done, I laid the batting strips in and spray basted them.
So it's actually a partially finished quilt.  Only the last 3 rows remain to be quilted.

All four corners have one of these squares from the panel.  This one is Little Buddy's favorite.  It's a very stylized T. Rex.

I've got my work cut out for me this week, to finish the quilting, bind the quilt, and make a label.
But--my OMG for June is complete.
If it wasn't for the last minute, I'd never get anything done.

Cheers for reading, and thanks to Patty for the OMG.
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal--June Finish Link Up

Winding Up Dark Blue

As always, I love the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  It's so much fun to pull out the scraps and make blocks in the color of the month.  With June ending tomorrow, it's time to finish the dark blue Sawtooth Square blocks.

Sometimes, it's easy to see why quilt blocks got certain names.  This is an antique circular saw blade, with lots of those sawteeth (is that a word?) just ready to cut into a board in an old time saw mill.

The block itself is a LOT simpler, giving the barest impression of all those teeth on the blade.

I'm not sure which part I like best--making the crumb centers or finishing the blocks.  Either way, these scrappy dark blues are ready to add to a Sawtooth Square quilt.

So I'm caught up on the RSC quilts.  Hurray!

In other news, this "squirrel" I started last week is nesting in and making itself at home.

I wrote about this block last month.  I'm calling it Roscoe Star.  My only problem is deciding which blues to include and which to leave out.  Making these blocks is like a treat.  And no calories!

OMG, June ends tomorrow!  So how's that dinosaur quilt coming along?

This will be my Little Buddy's quilt for his big bed at our house.  My OMG (one monthly goal) for June was to make the top.  But once I got into it, I decided to do things differently.  (It's a thing I do.)
When I had the center pieced with the first two borders, I layered it up and quilted it as if it was a baby quilt.  Then I added the next border, the backing (cut large) and the batting (also large).
As of this writing, I'm still working on the last border, and hope to add it on later today.  Then the 3 outer borders will be ready to quilt.

This book, Machine Quilting in Sections by Marti Michell, gives directions for making quilts this way, plus several other ways.  It's handy to have.

It's finally getting hot here!  This week, Little Buddy and I went to the grocery store as usual.  This time I asked him what flavor of ice cream he wanted.
"Chocolate!" he said without hesitation, "I like chocolate every day."
Me too!

This Thursday is the 243rd birthday of the United States of America.   
I am grateful for the courage of the founders of our country, and for all the people who have stood up in times of trouble to point us in the right direction.
May the better angels of our nature guide us in the coming years.

 Happy 4th of July to all who celebrate.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
(There appears to be some sort of technical glitch with photos at Sarah's link up this week.)
Angela at So Scrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Mood Indigo

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's a beautiful morning, and I'm thinking about one of my favorite colors, indigo blue.

One of the first things that drew me to quilting was my love of antique quilts, like the top above.  And of all the amazing colors in these old quilts, indigo blue was/is my favorite.

Just look at the way this unknown quilter used many different blue and white prints as setting squares for these scrap blocks.  She may have done that because she didn't have enough of any one print.  I'm glad she didn't--it gives us so much more to look at.

Dark blue is this month's color for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so I've been pulling out my reproduction indigo scraps to make my spiky stars.

Here they are, ready to be quilted by the block.  I'm hoping to finish the spiky star quilt before the end of the year.

Having recently organized my "big scraps" (pieces ranging in size from a fat quarter to nearly a yard), I have a whole box of repro blues.  Hmm, wonder what I could do with these?  Isn't there a blue and white quilt in the back of my mind somewhere?

Oh, yes, this one.  I saw it hanging in the Roscoe Antique Mall in Beloit last December, and took this photo. 

Of course I had to make a test block. The pattern is a variation of Double T or Capital T (Brackman #1662b).  Because the corners are turned so the dark fabric is to the outside of the block, it doesn't look like a T at all.
So I'm calling it Roscoe Star.
And off we go, on another squirrel chase.
Just as soon as I get over this cold.

I'm wishing good health for you this week, and happy stitching.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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

Celebrate the Stash

Yesterday, I had a terrific Stash Enhancing eXperience.  The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts has their annual fabric and fiber rummage sale this weekend, and in a phrase I learned from my dad, I "made out like a bandit".  I took my cart, the one I use at the Farmers Market, and filled it to the brim.

Like all Stash Enhancing eXperiences, it was so much fun.  I tossed gallon bags of fabric into my cart with gleeful abandon.  As you can see, I was focusing on bright colors and novelty fabrics.  A small amount of wool and cotton yarn also came home with me.

The photo above shows the fabrics after they have been washed and folded.  Not pictured are a seven yard piece for backing and a four yard piece of heavier cloth for grocery bags, which are still churning through the laundry.  That cart was FULL.

Lucky me!  More fabric!  Through the Hands 2 Help Challenge, I won a gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop.  I added a little money of my own, and bought all these great fabrics on Clearance.  (Check out the hedgehogs!)

I do not feel guilty about either of these buying sprees!  When I wash and fold these fabrics, I feel joy.  When I add them to the rest of my stash, and eventually press and cut and sew them, the joy continues.  And when I make a quilt for someone else, I pass that joy on.

I do not feel any need to destash just for the sake of destashing.  I do plan on doing more of what librarians call "weeding".  Any fabrics I know I won't use or can't use will be passed on to someone else.  And that also goes for UFOs that no longer lift my heart to look at them.

When am I going to stop buying fabric?  Never!

Climbing down from the soap box now, sorry.

Here's what I did with some of my dark blue stash this week.

Zigzag rows for my Project 1, Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
Each of these rows is 64 in. long, which is tough to photograph.  (Do you see the hedgehog fabric?  I'm already using it.)
Weirdly, it just occurred to me this week to do the math on this quilt.  Oops!  I already have more rows than I would need for a twin sized quilt, which was my goal.  And we haven't even done all the colors yet!  I think there are going to be two zigzag quilts instead of one.

In other news, I finished this donation quilt.

The four patches are made from bright fabrics and squares cut from a Laurel Burch jungle print.

Here it is outside, with Little Buddy's lawnmower.

Don't you just love these cats?  And the zebra, of course!

Here's the back, a butterfly print with an orange strip to make it wide enough.

The fabrics for this quilt were selected and cut by Colleen, a friend on the Charity Quilt Committee of my local guild.  I decided on the arrangement and did the sewing and quilting.  I added the orange fabric for cornerstones and the orange binding and the strip on the back.
Orange, I just can't quit you!
But I love working with dark blue, too.

This week, I'm wishing you the joy of fabric.  Celebrate the stash!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

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

The Joy of Squirrels

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  

Sometimes, my quilting is planned out carefully.  I might have deadlines to meet, quilts to make for an occasion or a quilt along or a project like Hands 2 Help.  There could be other reasons to finish a quilt, like actually getting a holiday quilt done before the holiday, or completing a quilt for our group's donations.

And then there are the squirrels.

They come along without warning.  They seem harmless, but they are irresistible.    Something catches your eye in a book, online, in a magazine, at a quilt show.  Your brain keeps working on it, picturing it in your colors, thinking of slight changes you might make, imagining what scraps might go with it.
When this happens to me, resistance is futile.  The squirrels will win.  I know I'm going to set everything aside, and make that quilt.

It started here, with this book I checked out of the library:  City Quilts, by Cherri House.  I wasn't really looking for a new project, just for something interesting to read.  (I am a bit sick of reading about T. Rex dinosaurs, which are Little Buddy's favorites.)  I had no intention of starting a new quilt (especially since I have no lack of UFOs to finish), but as I turned the pages of the book, I saw this:

The quilt is called City Play, and was inspired by a colorful playground.  Before I knew it, I was pulling fabrics and sewing.

It starts like this...

And then you add sashing like this...

Wow, what happened?  Cherri House had a terrific idea that completely transforms a nine patch.  I am happy to say I used her pattern.

Here's the top, all done.
I changed the size of the squares, and made my quilt smaller.  I also changed the placement of some of the colors to better fit the scraps I had.

And here it is, after quilting and washing, hanging on the clothesline to dry.

There are even some dark blue sections, as a nod to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

I'm back to working on quilts on my To Do list now, like my OMG for June, a dinosaur quilt (what else?) for my Little Buddy (this is the center).

I'll stick to my list for the time being, but sure as the sun rises in the east, another squirrel will come along.  And I know I'll run off after it like a crazed hound, leaving all the other projects behind.

That's the joy of squirrels.

This week, I'm wishing you the joy of something you just can't wait to work on.
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at So Scrappy
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts  (My Fly Away Home is featured there!)
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

June OMG--Dinosaurs, Of Course

Around here, we love dinosaurs.   (Can you tell?)

My Little Buddy, who comes to me every day for childcare, is an absolute fanatic.  Whatever we are doing seems better to him if dinosaurs are involved.  

This week we played with play dough a lot.  And what did he want to play?  He wanted me to make dinosaurs.  Which is not easy, at least for me.  The misshapen things kept falling over.  And then we got his toy dinos and made footprints in the play dough.  And tail prints.  And then he pretended the dinosaurs got stuck in the clay, and his toy wrecker had to pull them out.

Little Buddy is 3 years old now, and is outgrowing the Pack N Play for taking naps.  Soon he'll move to the twin bed.  Right now I've got some of my 1930s style quilts on that bed, but I don't think that will do for him.  He needs a dinosaur quilt.

 

So here's my one monthly goal for June.  I'm going to make a twin-sized dinosaur quilt for Little Buddy, my youngest grandson.  The quilt will be designed, cut, and pieced before the end of June.

So far, all I've done is choose/buy some fabric.

I'm starting with this panel.  The large center rectangle will be center of the quilt if all goes well.

These side squares will be in the quilt somewhere.  I have to include this one--T. Rex is his favorite.

This is the stack of dino fabric I have to start with.  I also plan to include other colorful fabrics that are not necessarily prehistoric.

I think the process will be fun, if I can make the math turn out right.

Sometimes, I wonder why Little Buddy likes these scary creatures so much.

But really, I'm just glad he's not into Barney.

Good luck this month, everyone!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Patty at Elm Street Quilts for the June One Monthly Goal

Suddenly, It's Summer

Hello, and welcome to Treadlestitches!
Those of us who love the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are saying goodbye to the color orange today, and it just worked out that I finished this little quilt in time for the blog.  It's not totally orange, but orange is a color that just leaps out at you.  In a good way.

One of my friends on the Charity Quilt Committee gave me the squares of construction vehicle print from the charity stash to make a small quilt.  I used scraps of yellow and orange from my scrap user bins to sew the 4 patches for a very simple design.

Check out the back!  I didn't know this fabric was readily available at the local chain store until I went looking for something else.
I hardly ever use black in children's quilts (just a hang up I have) but this time it really went with the print.  The inner border is cobbled together from a fat quarter, and the binding is something I've had forever.
The quilt will go to a child who needs it.

I mailed off the quilts for the Hands 2 Help project on Thursday.  There are six baby quilts in this box!  I couldn't figure out how to get them all in there, until I remembered Marie Kondo's way of folding shirts.  It worked!  And it saved me having to scrounge up another box or two.  This lady is a genius.  I should send her a thank you note.

In other news, we got the garden in finally.  My very dear hubby made the frame for the raised bed and hauled bag after bag of raised bed soil in the wheel barrow.  Since it's so late in the season, we bought plants instead of seed.

Here's our garden helper.  (Or maybe our garden elf?)

This is the view at the local greenhouse.  We took Little Buddy on a "field trip" here to get the plants. 

The rhubarb grew very well this year, with all the rain we've had.  Little Buddy "helped" me cut it, and  it's still sitting here on the table, waiting for me to deal with it this morning.  There is a small canning job in my future.  And maybe a pie, if Hubby is willing to set aside his diet for a bit.

Yesterday's weather was what I think of as perfect, 82 degrees and sunny, with a slight breeze.  I hung the sheets on the line, worked outside a bit, went to the playground with Little Buddy, and after lunch we went out on the porch barefoot and had a popsicle.  Today's weather is not so perfect, but it's a reminder to enjoy what we have when we have it.

This week, I'm hoping you have time to smell the roses.  Or the rhubarb.

Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at So scrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Cynthia at Oh Scrap