Old Quilts, Cheddar, and Orange Sherbet

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the end of August, and that means the end of orange month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It seems like I always leave my Razzle Dazzle project til last, but that might be because it takes the most time.  I like sewing it, and I really love picking out the light and dark prints for the triangular blocks.

I've been noticing all the orange in our house this month, especially the grandkids' toys.

On the last Saturday of the month this year, I'm featuring some of my antique quilts.  This month I dug out the ones with prominent orange fabrics.

First is this very unusual quilt.  I could not find the exact pattern in any of my reference books.  (If you recognize it, please tell me!)

The block is a hexagon, and is made up of six string pieced hexagons with a plain yellow one in the center.  The green triangles on the ends of the hexagons make the block into a star, and the white background triangles finish off the block.  In between the blocks are bright orange triangles.

The fabrics range from 1930s-1940s prints, possibly feed sacks, to the orange itself, which is probably from the 1950s or 1960s.  Our unknown quilter apparently ran out of the green for the star tips, but she still had plenty of orange, so several of the blocks have some orange star tips.  The quilting is done by machine, in a hanging diamonds grid (one set of lines is parallel to the edge, the other set of lines is on the diagonal).

My quilt collecting philosophy is showing in this quilt.  The condition of the quilt, vitally important to most collectors, is not a big issue for me.  I bought it, even though there are two holes in it, one of them large enough to put your hand through!  My purpose in buying these quilts was to enjoy them, of course, and to learn something from them.  And it always helped if the price was good!

Here's our second antique orange quilt, which probably dates to around 1900.

 This particular orange color is properly called chrome orange by quilt historians, but is known usually as cheddar from its resemblance to the color of the cheese.  The blocks are set on point.

The pattern for this block is called The Letter X.  It was one of many blocks in the Ladies Art Company Catalog (as shown below, No. 279).  Quilters back in the day could order a pattern for 15 cents, and would receive a small cardboard card with a diagram of the block, plus a set of paper templates, one for each shape.  They could even order completed quilts for any design. 

I made my own block, just to try it out.  I used blues instead of pinks, and my "cheddar" is much lighter than the antique quilt.  The unknown quilter changed the placement of the hour glass squares from the pattern, so I followed her lead.  It looks very different when not set on point.

This quilter also appears to have run out of a fabric.  Three of the blocks have pink replacing the cheddar.  It's a good reminder not to stress out when we run short.

Orange may not be as common in antique quilts as blue or red, but it adds a lot of punch!

Our Buddy started first grade this week!  My Little Guy missed his brother, but we spent more time at the playground, where lots of the equipment is orange.  Below he's trying to sell me "ice cream" disguised as wood chips.

 We made real orange sherbet this week (with NO wood chips), following this recipe.  It calls for simple ingredients like orange juice and milk.  If I don't have fresh oranges, I just skip the orange zest.

You don't need to use a blender, I just mix it up in a bowl and process it in my ice cream maker (below).  Then I freeze it in small containers, and it's ready when we need a cool refreshing snack.

If you got to the bottom of this long post, congratulations!  Can you tell I love orange month?  I do tend to ramble on about it, sorry.

Have a lovely week!  

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap