Pink and Purple Trip

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

No outside pictures today, as we're having a gentle spring rain.  Birds are venturing out, however, and I can hear their songs and calls.  I saw our first robin this week, just one so far, but they'll soon be here in flocks.

I made this little Trip Around the World quilt on International Quilting Day last week, and it will be sent to Little Lambs Foundation as part of this year's Hands2Help Challenge.  (Click HERE for more information on how you can help!)  The donated quilts will go to babies entering foster care.

I have not been a lifelong fan of pink (understatement!).  Yet somehow I have lots of pink scraps.  In January, when it was pink month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I sorted some of the scraps, added in purple, and cut out the squares for this quilt.

The back is a soft flannel.  Simple quilting with a serpentine stitch and a purple print binding finish it up.

Plus, bunnies!  Just in time for Easter.  Want to make one?  It's super easy.  Recipe below.

Trip Around the World Baby Quilt

Here's the recipe for this 36 in. x 36 in. quilt.

I used six fabrics in the Trip Around the World part, which I labeled A through F.  All squares were cut 4.5 in.  Here's how many to cut.

A:  5 (center and four corners)

B:  4

C:  8 

D:  12

E:  12

F:  8

Instructions:

Lay out the squares in rows, 7 squares across and 7 squares down, following the layout from the photo.  An A square goes in the center, B squares surround it, etc.  Sew the squares into rows, and the rows together.

Borders: 

Inner border:  Cut 4 strips of a light fabric, 1.5 in. x width of fabric.  Measure the center and add the borders.

Outer border:  Cut 4 strips 3.5 in. x width of fabric.  Measure the quilt and add the borders.

 

In other news, it's the last Saturday in March, which means the end of green month for the RSC.  I thought I had all my blocks finished last week, but I forgot about the Happy Blocks.  Oops!

These don't look very green, do they?  The center squares are green, but the frames are just whatever color I had that goes with the novelty prints in the middle.  For some reason a lot of them looked good with orange.

 

Paddington Bear, tractors, cows, and those cheeky monkeys!  I love novelty prints!

Guess what else I love!

Sorry about the blurry picture.  Baby Buddy doesn't hold still much.  He got a new tooth this week!

Little Buddy was excited to show us the little Easter basket/box he made at preschool.  He's wearing one of his favorite dinosaur shirts.  I should apologize for this photo, too.   I didn't notice all the reflections in the glass of the bookcase.

A Trip Around the World quilt is as close as we're getting to traveling for spring break, but we don't mind at all.  Until we're fully vaccinated, we'll stay close to home and enjoy spending time with the family.

Have a good week, and Happy Passover and/or Palm Sunday to all who celebrate.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Here's a great way to travel the quilt world--just click on a linky party!

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop, home of the Hands2Help Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

Springtime in Wisconsin

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Happy International Quilting Day!

We are feeling the joy of early spring here.  Our winters are typically long and cold, but it's all worth it when the trees start budding out...

the rhubarb breaks through the ground ...

and lovely green tulip leaves appear.  

Speaking of green, I finished my green blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I love making these green hearts from tiny leftover pieces.  I wonder if someone (like me?) who loves plants and gardens but can't quite be said to have a green thumb could instead have a green heart?  I hereby apologize to all the houseplants I have neglected.

I tried to think of flavors for this month's ice cream cone blocks. I've got lime sherbet (with bits of lemon and raspberry), mint/blueberry, and pistachio, but the fourth one has me stumped.  I have read that there is actually a green tea flavored ice cream, but I'm not sure that sounds delicious.

Last are the half square triangles, four of each fabric.  I still don't know exactly what blocks I'm making, so they'll stay loose until I figure it out.

How are you coming along on your RSC blocks?  It's always great and inspiring to see everyone's projects.

This is the March block for Barbara Brackman's Hands All Around block of the month quilt, which is based on Louisa May Alcott and her family.  The block is called Anna's Choice, and Ms. Brackman chose this one for Louisa's sister Anna.  (Click HERE for the block.)  Meg in the book Little Women is based on Anna Alcott.  For my quilt, I'm using the same blue print and light background in all the blocks, and the RSC colors in the center.

New project alert!  It's called the Lemonade Challenge.  My quilt guild has literally tons of donated fabric, which we use to make charity quilts.  The intrepid ladies on the charity committee have made up packets of fabrics, mostly half yards and fat quarters, and challenged us to make a quilt top.

 

 

These fabrics are good quality quilting cotton, just not currently fashionable.  We have to use at least a small piece of 2/3 of the fabrics, but can add in our own.  I love scrap quilts (of course!) and I have lots of older fabric, so this should be fun.  Any ideas?  It's not due til October.

Sadly, no photos of Baby Buddy this week.  He was recovering from a cold and needed lots of cuddling.  I did get a not-very-good photo of Little Buddy, seen here with his usual fierce dinosaur face on.   Little Buddy and Grandpa set up pirate ships and forts in the living room, and Little Buddy added the dinosaurs to the mix.  We always have to have dinosaurs, of course!

One more sign of spring--the Sandhill cranes are back!  I wasn't fast enough to get a picture when they walked by a few moments ago, but here's one from last year so you know what I'm talking about.

The cranes are migratory birds that were once rare in Wisconsin, but have rebounded in great numbers.  For the past couple of years we have seen a nesting pair in the small wetland in the park behind our house.  They are about 4 feet tall, with a wingspan of 6-7 feet.  I am always overjoyed to catch a glimpse of them flying overhead, or just strolling past the window.

Spring is always a joyful time, and more so now as we begin to emerge from this terrible pandemic.  Have a good week, and stay safe!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

 

 

Wild and Crazy

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  It's wild around here this week.

For the last month or so, I have been working on a new naptime quilt for my four year old grandson, my Little Buddy.  I made the mistake (?) of letting him pick out the fabrics.  He picked EVERYTHING.

Lots of my fabrics are novelty prints, as you can see.  In this picture alone there are so many animals (cats, dogs, birds, cows, a monkey, sharks, turtles, bugs, and lots of dinosaurs).  There are book characters like Clifford and cartoons like Minions and an M&M.  There are also party hats, fire fighter hats, jelly beans, anchors, bandaids, and cupcakes.  To keep from having too many squares of any one print, I only used two of each fabric.  There are nearly 100 different fabrics in this twin sized top.  It's definitely wild.

Now for the crazy part.  I'm following a pattern called Chock Full O' Charms.  (Click HERE for my recent post with information on the pattern.)  First, you do the easy part--sew all the squares together.  Next, you cut the top into 3 pieces.  Yes, really.  Cue the music from the Psycho shower scene.  

Hey, look!  I followed the directions, and it came out okay!  I cut the quilt, and sewed it back together, and now the squares are magically on point.

I could never have done this right without the directions, even though I made a baby quilt from this pattern a couple of years ago.

Here's what the edge looks like.  Because the squares are cut in half, all the edges are bias, so I'm handling the top gently until I can get borders on it.  

For borders, I'm thinking a simple print to try to calm everything down.  And I'm NOT going to ask Little Buddy to pick a fabric.

In between sewing the nap quilt,  some green blocks got done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I hope you are having as much fun as I am playing with green scraps.

Of course there had to be Green Bay Packer fabric somewhere!

The log cabins are fun to piece, as always.

I admit to doing a little fussy cutting.  Isn't this little girl cute in her bug costume?  She reminds me of my adorable granddaughter.

I don't have enough green scraps for two months, so I'm using whatever I have this month, and when light green is called I'll do something else.  That's what I like about the RSC--fun and flexible.

Wednesday is St. Patrick's Day, so I had to include the very last two squares of this Irish bird fabric.  I'm looking forward to homemade Irish stew and soda bread.  No green beer for me, thanks.

I'm wishing you a Happy St. Patrick's Day a little early, and a safe week ahead doing the things you love to do.  Sláinte mhaith!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

P.S.  I almost forgot the Buddy pictures!

Little Buddy is learning about the solar system in preschool.  He and Grandpa set up a series of sports balls plus a globe as an illustration.  He's balancing on the "sun" here.  Little Buddy is still sad that Pluto isn't a planet anymore.

And here are two more of my favorite guys.  Grandpa is wearing overalls to match Baby Buddy.

Have a great week!

Pieces and Patches in Green

 

Welcome to Treadlestitches, and welcome to green month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

I'm a quilt collector as well as a quilt maker, so I thought I'd share one of my favorite antique green quilts for March.

Today we might call this a granny square block.  In the mid to late 19th century, when this top was pieced, the maker might have named it Album or Chimney Sweep.

It's sort of unusual for all the blocks in an Album quilt to have the same main color.  (Note to self:  It might be fun to try that!)  The maker apparently ran out of the original green, and used a different print in the four corner blocks.  The greens are very similar, but the main one has yellow dots and the other has a white shape outlined in black.  I didn't notice the difference until I got up close.

The outside corners have this shape appliqued to them.  All the work in the quilt is by hand, including the borders.  That doesn't mean the quilter didn't have a sewing machine, just that she didn't use one for this quilt.  My own great grandmother made all her quilts completely by hand up through the 1960s.

Several of the blocks have this kind of damage:  a discoloration in the prints.  It could have been caused by some kind of mild bleaching agent.  When I bought this top at a flea market, the seller thought mouse urine might have been the cause (yuck!), although there are no holes from chewing.  The quilt had been washed before I bought it, so no smell of course.

My antique quilts and tops are stored all over the house.  I'm going to start bringing them out more so I can enjoy them.

Nothing is finished this week, but I did make a start on some scrappy green blocks.

This cheeky monkey print kept showing up in everything.

This one is even waving!

But here's the real story of this week.  Baby Buddy had his first birthday!

He loved the cake, of course.  Vanilla for him (less messy) ...

and chocolate for Little Buddy, who got to lick the icing off the beater.

Little Buddy did his best to interest his baby brother in his presents...

But Baby Buddy loved the tissue paper best!  (I may have felt like that about fabric.  How about you?)

The snow is still here, but it's retreating.  We can see more grass every day.  Spring is coming, however slowly.  There are lots of good reasons to be hopeful.

Stay safe, and have a happy hopeful week!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these marvelous ladies:

Angela at So Scrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap