Saturday, March 18, 2023

Happy Greens, and Back From the Quilter Part Deux

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I hope everyone had a happy (and safe) St. Patrick's Day yesterday.  I made Happy Blocks as one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge sets for the year.  The centers are light novelty prints, bordered in green.

One of my goals this year is using up some of my vast collection of 5 in. squares and strips.  The centers of the Happy Blocks use the light pieces, and these Uneven Nine Patches use two light and two dark squares each.  (Click HERE to find out how.)  So, progress, right?

It's fun to use all these prints I've been collecting:  bugs, school stuff, race cars, cows, tractors, animals...

Minecraft, sports, more bugs, and of course Green Bay Packers.

How are your green blocks coming along?  I love seeing all the blocks people are making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  So many scraps are turning into useful, beautiful quilts!

Apparently I'm not sewing fast enough!  These are just 3 of the 10 (I counted!) scrap baskets in my sewing room.

Do you recognize this?  Well, of course you do, it's a die for an Accuquilt Cutter.  More than 10 years ago I bought a cutter to help with getting all these scraps under control.  This particular die makes 2 in. finished half square triangles.

Take a close look at these.  The points are nubbed off on both sides!  It makes them so easy to work with.  The die cuts 12 of these at a time from each layer.  I usually cut 4 layers at a time (although the directions say you can cut more).  One quick pass through the machine, and I have 48 hsts ready to go.

Maybe I got a little carried away with the cutting.  I cut hundreds of triangles from my reproduction fabrics, and made several quilt tops.

I started this blog in 2013, and in January that year I posted this photo of the not quite finished quilt top.

It's a top no more!  After all these years, my Scrap Basket quilt is beautifully quilted, thanks to the talents of my friend Joey Mahieu.

Back From the Quilter, Part Deux
 

Originally, I was undecided about the borders.  I didn't have enough of anything to do all four sides, so I set it aside for a few years (!).  I could have bought something, but I wanted to use up what I had.  Eventually I just used two different indigo blue fabrics, one for the side borders and one for the top and bottom.

Joey quilted gorgeous feathers in the borders, and a graceful flower in the corner.  (Sorry it's hard to see.)  The pink is a Mary Koval print I bought on sale at a quilt show.

Each block in the quilt takes 10 small triangle-squares (so 20 triangles) plus 3 more triangles in the top and two more at the base, for a grand total of 25 small triangles.  Much easier with the Accuquilt cutter!  (BTW, just a happy customer, no affiliation.)
 

Some of my favorite conversation prints are in here, like the little sewing machines and the books.  I love how the curvy quilting contrasts with the piecing.

The quilting shows up even better on the back.

It's a wide backing from Connecting Threads.

There are just two more jobs for me to do to finish this quilt:  Bind it, with these strips I've saved, and add a label.  I am so thrilled to have this very old UFO nearly done, and done so well!  Thank you, Joey!

If you'd like your quilt top quilted by the Marvelous Mrs. Mahieu, click HERE for her Facebook page, and HERE for information about the shop.  [No affiliation, just a friend and a satisfied customer.]

In other news, my Little Guy has really gotten into puzzles lately.  These wooden ones from Melissa and Doug are his favorites.

And when I have time in the sewing room I usually have the company of a curious young cat.

It's hard to sew when he's stretched out on the treadle!  But I persist.

What are you persisting with this week?   Hope it's something fun!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap







 


 





18 comments:

  1. the basket quilt is beautiful,I sort my scraps out too down to a bag of crumbs😄

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love your happy blocks, they sure are very happy.
    Your basket quilt is gorgeous! Congrats on this beauty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Obrigada, Ivani! Quilting makes me happy. And a finished UFO sends me into orbit!

      Delete
  3. It's always fun to see what fun blocks you pull out of your scrap bins each week, Sylvia! Your Accuquilt cutter looks very handy - I haven't taken the plunge on one of those yet, but I do admire them. The basket quilt is gorgeous, and hooray for a finish! I even saw a print in one of your triangles that I have had in my stash - the yellow with little dots that look like flowers. Fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Diann! I love that yellow print. Most of my basket blocks have a triangle of it.

      Delete
  4. Just love your beautiful basket quilt. It looks amazing. Building puzzles is something we still enjoy, so the little guy is set for life to enjoy a wonderful pastime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! We all love puzzles here. And it might even be good for our brains. We can use all the help we can get!

      Delete
  5. Wow, 10 baskets full of scraps! That's a lot! Your pretty basket quilt turned out great, using two similar fabrics on the borders worked very well. I did that with my Aussie fabric quilt and I'm pleased with the result too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jenny! Sometimes I just need to get on with it! I love your stitcheries.

      Delete
  6. Sylvia, It is fun to quilt your quilts. Your sewing room/scrap baskets are great! Hoping we can do a bit of thrifting next visit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen, Joey! You never know what you can find when thrifting. And it keeps stuff out of the landfill. Or at least that's my excuse!

      Delete
  7. Oh those baskets turned into a beautiful quilt. Great job by you and Joey. Love how you were able to use the cutter and then turn the pieces into a pretty quilt. Silly kitties always have to be in the midst of things, especially our quilting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Susie H! I think I need to rig up something so Snicklefritz can look out the window and keep his tail away from the needle!

      Delete
  8. Congrats on some great GREEN scrappy fun and a spectacularly quilted UFO, Sylvia!! Looking forward to seeing it bound.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Joyful! Ten years of procrastinating is finally over!

      Delete
  9. Ten baskets of scraps. . .I'd say you have a lot of possibilities in the making! Your basket quilt is beautiful. What a joy to be so close to a final finish!--TerryK@OnGoingQuilts

    ReplyDelete
  10. Love your greens
    That scrap basket quilt - Oh la la - it is just gorgeous!! I bet you are so glad to have it all finished!!!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading! Post a comment--I want to know what you think!