Fall/Winter Mode

 Welcome to Treadlestitches, and Happy Halloween!

One of the last surviving flowers in our wildflower garden is this yellow bloom, which we brought inside.  It's a cheerful way to end yellow month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Now it's time to move into fall/winter mode.

We had a little snow on Monday (seen here decorating the rhubarb), but it's nothing like the blizzard we had last year on Halloween, and it all melted away in a few hours.

Little Buddy is big enough now to rake leaves with Grandpa.  In other years, he used to try to eat the leaves.  (He still jumps in them.)

His hat was getting a little too small, so I knitted this one for him.  He chose the colors from my scrap yarn bin--a royal blue, gray, and a light bright green.  I finished it last night, and can't wait to try it on him on Monday.

For now, he'll probably wear it with the brim turned up for a snug fit.

I tend to knit mostly in the fall and winter, but quilting is forever!  One day this week while Baby Buddy was napping, I laid out these flannel tumbler pieces for a baby quilt.  It's amazing how much just doing something this simple can brighten the day.

The pieces were a kit I made for myself from my scraps.  I have several kits cut ahead, so I always have something ready to sew.

I finished sewing the top together this morning.  After it's quilted and trimmed, it will be approximately 36 in. square, just the right size for donating to Jack's Basket.  A blue binding will finish it off.
 

If you have an Accuquilt cutter, you probably recognize these tumblers as one of the first available dies.  I bought one many years ago, and just went nuts cutting up scraps, especially flannel.  I made the quilt above for my oldest grandson, whom I call Big Buddy, at least 10 years ago.  It's now on the bed Little Buddy sleeps in for his nap every day.

I often say I don't do random.  I need my scraps to be organized in some sort of way.  Unfortunately, I let Big Buddy pick the fabrics he wanted in this quilt, and he picked EVERYTHING--camo, cars, dinosaurs, plaids, solids, dolphins, dogs, lizard camo (it's a thing!), monkeys, checks, Spiderman..I could go on.  And anytime I would mildly object, or ask if we could leave one out, he would look up at me with big eyes and a quivering lip, and the fabric would go in.  (I really don't like the lizard camo AT ALL.  It's creepy and doesn't go with anything.  I'm not even sure where it came from.  But it's in there.)

So, with all that chaos, it's not the prettiest quilt.  But with a warm flannel backing it's really cozy, and looking at it brings up memories of when my Big Buddy wasn't so very big.

Here he is in his Halloween costume, with his wonderful mom, my youngest daughter.  He's as tall as she is now, and looks very different with his hair greased up as Danny Zuko from Grease.

Looking ahead to next week, I've got a small problem I hope you knitters can help me with.  Baby Buddy needs a new hat too, and Little Buddy chose this red and green yarn for it.  What would you do here?  I'm thinking of adding in white to mellow it out a little.  Would you use red or green for the ribbing?  I think I've got plenty of either.  Narrow or wide stripes?  Any advice would be helpful.  He'll probably just hate it anyway, most babies hate hats, but if I'm going to make it I want it to be cute.
 

Baby Buddy loves reading books (or magazines, or catalogs, or anything with pictures), which is great for Grandpa and me because it's something we love, too.  The baby also would love to chew on any of this reading material, but we're discouraging that.  

Several times this week both little ones have been cuddled up with me, looking at a book.  Lift-the-flap books are a big favorite with Baby Buddy, while Little Buddy is discovering I Spy.  These are some of my favorite moments of the day.

The long winter is stretched out ahead of us, and it will seem even longer this year with the virus keeping us away from activities we love.  There are things that will help us get through--soups and stews and homemade bread, phone calls with loved ones, playing in the snow, reading good books, knitting, snuggling in cozy quilts.  And quilting, of course!  Our best defense against boredom and despair is common sense and a sense of humor.

One hundred years ago, American women gained the right to vote, after a long, long struggle.  Every time I vote, I think of the suffragettes who were beaten and jailed to gain this right for their daughters, and for me.  Thank you, ladies!  I promise never to take this right for granted.

And thank you so much for reading this!  Have a good week!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches 

 

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cynthia at Oh Scrap