Razzle Dazzle Red

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  I hope your new year is starting out great.

Mickey Mouse says welcome to my new Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  Red is the perfect color for January here in the frozen north.   Outside, the world is cold and snow-covered, but inside it's warm and bright.

As of last week, I still didn't have any firm plans for this year's RSC quilts.  While cleaning the sewing room (yes, I did it!), I came across this Razzle Dazzle pattern.  It's from the November 1997 issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, and was made by Willa Dean Reynolds.  It's based on a traditional pattern called Thousand Pyramids, and all the pieces are equilateral triangles.

My quilt will be much simpler than Ms. Reynold's.  I cut the triangles from 3.5 in. strips, and sew 4 of them together to make a triangular block.  I put the ruler on it like this (with the tip of the ruler above the strip) so I have a blunt tip on one point.  This helps me know where the straight of grain is.

It actually worked!  I was so excited about making these that I forgot to take pictures of the red ones before they were sewn together...

 Like this!  I made 12 red blocks and 12 light blocks, set them together in two rows, and sliced the ends off evenly, leaving a seam allowance.  It's about 38 in. wide.  My plan is to make two baby quilts.  Each will have four of these double rows in different RSC colors.  At least, that's what I'm thinking right now.

Maybe this will make a dent in the 3.5 in. strips?  And I can use lots of novelty prints.

In other red news, I finished this string top.

The string blocks came from our guild's silent auction, and were originally made by the wonderful Laverne D.  I cut them into rectangles and added the red.  (Click HERE for my post about these blocks.)  I sewed them into groups of 4, and then into the top.  The border used the few remaining string segments plus new ones I made from my vast collection of older fabric scraps.

The fabrics in the blocks were mostly older prints from the 90s, with newer ones thrown in.  (The sock monkey print is one of my favorites.)  In keeping with the make-do spirit there are 3 different red solids.  I think I might have enough of one of them for the binding. 

My favorite block in the quilt is the one with Lady Liberty.  This is the only piece of this print in the whole quilt.  There she is, lifting her lamp, reminding us what American values are and should be.

I think some simple quilting is in order.  But there are several other quilts in line first.

More red!  A little embroidery to finish, and then I'll have another red top done.  That's a story for next week.

Our Baby Buddy loves toy trains!  This week, Grandpa set up a nice long track, for hours of fun.  That's Bella the dog in the background, curled up in her bed.  She's not a train fan at all.  She keeps walking on the track and messing everything up.

Have a good week, everyone, and stay safe.

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap