Old and New

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

For many years, I actively collected antique quilts.  My favorites were scrap quilts (of course!) and tops or block sets.  I didn't mind if they weren't perfectly made or in perfect condition.  I learned so much from studying those old quilts.  I love to share them, in person, on the blog, and as home decoration.  This year, I plan to show you a few on the last Saturday of the month.

This month's quilts are small and red.  Check out the date on this square--January 29, 1916!  Exactly one hundred and six years ago today, someone embroidered this.  It's amazing to think how much has changed since then, and how much remains the same.

This one is not exactly an antique.  I bought these old redwork blocks for 50 cents each at a flea market many years ago, and in 2019 I finished them into a small hand-quilted quilt.  (You can read about it HERE, in February 2019's posts.)  It makes me happy to see all the farm animals, plus the jack-o-lantern, a witch on a broomstick, and a cat playing a fiddle.  If you click on the picture, you can see them a little better.

The second antique is a doll-sized tied quilt.  It's a little wonky, as doll quilts frequently are.  Many of them were the first quilting efforts made by a child.  From the fabrics, this quilt probably dates to the 1890s.

Do you see the horseshoe print?  There's also a riding crop (a whip) with it.  Mothers often dressed their little ones in these "conversation prints", as they were known.  I found this treasure in an antique mall in Oklahoma, when I was visiting my mom.  It's a reminder of a nice day together.

In other news, I just had to add one more red project for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Crayons!  I've wanted to make a crayon quilt for a long time.  I didn't need a pattern, just sewed 18 rectangles (2.5 in. x 4.5 in.) into a strip. I added a 4 in. finished point at the top made with the Tri Recs tools, the same way I  made ice cream cone blocks.  All the rectangles are different red prints.  Easy and fun.  Can't wait to make crayons in the rest of the colors!

The red string quilt is layered and basted, and getting quilted.  It takes a little longer than a baby quilt of course.  I'm working on this while I wait for the backing I ordered for my cross stitch quilt (you know, the one I've been working on since 1967!  It's not getting set aside ever again!).

This one is done.  Someone in my wonderful quilt group made the six center blocks and added the tan sashing.  I sewed on the two outer borders, and quilted and bound it.  

The back is this cozy black and green flannel.  It's not very big, less than twin sized, but it might work for a cot at the homeless shelter.  I will leave it to the charity committee at my group to decide where it ends up.

Speaking of our amazing quilt group, look at this!  Because I was the moderator for about half of last year (meaning I led the meetings), they gave me this wonderful gift--a handmade basket full of fabric!

Since they know how much I love making quilts for babies and children, they packed the basket full of fun novelty prints and even yardage for backing!  It was so kind of the ladies to do this.  I appreciate it very much.

I've started cutting up some of the pieces.  Fussy cutting these little squares is so much fun.

Here's some big fun--our little buddies working puzzles on a cold winter's day.  Baby Buddy has magnetic dinosaurs, and Little Buddy is putting together a U.S. map.  They work well together when they have separate projects!

I hope your projects are all coming together nicely, whether you work alone or in a group, or both!  Have a great week.

I'm looking forward to sitting down with a cup of tea and seeing what all the bloggers have been up to, thanks to the hostesses of these weekly linky parties.  Come join us!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap