Blue Prints

Welcome to Treadlestitches, a blend of old and new.  Here's what's new--dark blue shoofly blocks for one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts.

I'm using 3.5 in. strips from my "parts department" to make these blocks.  The center of this one is a random square leftover from something I don't even remember.  (Does this happen to you?)  I think it kind of looks like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors.  "Feed me, Seymour!" 

This time the center is baseball.  I apologize for the light level in the photos--I just couldn't get it right this morning.

This one was my test block, to see if I liked making these Shoofly blocks with the lights and darks in this position.  (Yep, I liked it.  It also uses more dark fabric than light, which is perfect for my scraps.)

And my favorite of this bunch.  The lighter triangles are leftovers from my tablerunner, and the center is from my Obama quilt.  The word Hope is prominent on this square.  Hope is what we need right now.

So that's the blocks made from new fabric.  I'm also working on "recycling" a partially finished quilt top (click HERE for more info--scroll down past the house blocks).  I got a little bit done on that this week.

These are the blue blocks.  I wasn't working on this project when the RSC started, so I'm catching up on light blue plus medium/dark blue.  As I rip the blocks out of their previous setting, I'm sewing them together with white squares to make Double Nine Patch blocks.

Some of these old prints are a hoot.  Blue cherries?  Tied with a gingham ribbon?

I think they may have made a reproduction of this print, or something similar.

This fabric is in several of the little blocks.  What do you think it's supposed to represent?  Is it a window (but not attached to a house)?  Or maybe a phone booth?  I think it looks a bit like the Tardis in Dr. Who.  And what about the background--is it a quilt pattern?  Whatever it's supposed to be, I think it's perfectly weird and I'm glad to have it.

This block is new.  I had to make a couple more, to replace some with really bad stains.  (How does a quilt block from an unfinished quilt get stained?  Was the fabric stained before she cut the pieces?)  Not weird, but it blends in.

Production has slowed to a crawl in my sewing room this week.  I usually sew for a half hour or thereabouts in the morning, but I wasn't able to do that every day, and having the kids full time is an adjustment I'm still making.  I just have to keep reminding myself that I don't have any deadlines, and things will get done "all in good time".

We have had some good times this week!

Our oldest daughter came by with her two kids.  I'm calling them Mr. H and Miss E.  Mr. H is camera shy, so getting pictures of him is a challenge.  Miss E and Little Buddy had lots of fun on Miss E's splash pad.

Check out this band of brothers!  Big Buddy turned 15 this week (I can't even believe it!).  Their mom got them to pose like this.  Little Buddy is goofy as always, and Baby Buddy is just happy to be here.

I'm happy to be here, too!  For the week ahead, I am wishing you hope and joy, wherever you find it.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at Soscrappy

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Addendum:  The Obama Quilt

I thought I had blogged about this quilt before, but I must have finished it before I started blogging.  Anyway, here are some photos.

The center is a printed square portrait of President Obama I bought at a quilt show, not long after the election.  Doesn't he look young here?  The cornerstones are the fabric I used in the shoofly block.

Each star has a detail from the president's life or an accomplishment as president, written inelegantly in permanent ink by me.

In 2008, there were Obama prints in the local fabric shop (like the Yes We Can/Hope fabric in the cornerstones).  I used the one above for the top and bottom border.  It's kind of crudely printed, but I don't care, it's part of history.

Here's the back, a flag print.

This square celebrates the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  The bottom red fabric is a reproduction print named for Sally Hemmings, Thomas Jefferson's slave and the mother of five of his children.

The election of the first African American president is one of the most momentous historical events of my lifetime.  So of course I made a quilt about it!  By the way, we don't use this quilt.  I put it on the bed in the extra room sometimes, especially when we have an election.