Four Patch Round and Round

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Can you believe November is almost over?  This year is really flying by.  Today is the last Saturday of the month, so that means it's time for an antique quilt from my collection.

I don't have a pattern name for this one, as I couldn't find it in any of my books.  I just call it Four Patch Round and Round.  Technically it would be called a Medallion or Frame quilt.

It was made by an unknown quilter in the 1930s/1940s, and I bought it in an antique mall.  I love the scrappiness of it.  The center is made of 3 identical four patches, surrounded by a round of solid white, then a round of light blue 4 patches.  This was the only row she/he fully color coordinated.

The four patch blocks are 3 in. square finished, and the white rows are the same, except for the last white row, which is 4 in. finished.

All 4 corners on the last 4 patch row are pieced with black polka dot print, which adds a sort of framing effect.

The final border is made up of the same size squares alternating with red and white gingham.  Instead of a binding, the back has been brought over the front and stitched down neatly by machine.

There is a lot of quilting in this quilt!  Every little square has an X quilted through it.  The stitches are neat and average about 7-8 stitches per inch.

The quilting designs in the white rounds are pretty, but they are too sparse to completely keep the cotton batting from shifting where there are no stitches.  It's really not very noticeable, though.

Most of the prints are the usual florals, plaids, stripes, and dots.  This is the weirdest one.  I wonder if this kid is from the comics section in the newspaper??

I've often thought I'd like to make a similar quilt, maybe with bright fabrics.  It would even work for a Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt, with a different color in each round.  I might actually try this!

Not much sewing got done this week, but I am finally starting to set the 16 patch blocks into rows. 

It's been fun using up these multicolored prints.

I hope all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a good one.  One minor thing I'm thankful for is a freezer!  On Wednesday I thawed out all of this:  bread for stuffing, chicken broth for basting the turkey, and pumpkin and cherries for pies.  We are still eating pumpkin pie.  I might have had a piece for breakfast yesterday.  The joys of the season.

The thing I'm most thankful for, of course, is our wonderful silly family.  Little Buddy took this photo of his mom and aunt, my amazing daughters.

And here's Little Buddy himself, cuddled up with Snicklefritz, our new kitten.

The holiday craziness has started for real now.  We're going to try to take it slow, and enjoy it. 

I hope you have time for all the things you enjoy this week.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

I'm also thankful for Linky parties!  Check these out!

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap