Purple Butterflies and Flannel Scraps

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's still purple month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (until Tuesday!) and I'm working on this UFO.
 

There are 20 of these butterfly blocks, made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  The free pattern comes from The Canuck Quilter (click HERE) although I changed it slightly.

I started this project after my niece died, as a comfort quilt for her mother.  My niece passed away from a massive aneurism in August 2021, just a couple months short of her fortieth birthday.  She loved butterflies and her favorite color was purple (mine too!).  It took me a long time to decide on a pattern, but by January 2022 I had fabric and pattern in hand and started sewing.

The pattern is great, and the sewing is easy, but there are a lot of pieces.  This is what was needed for each block.

Luckily, I had these alphabet pins!  The pattern gives each piece a letter, so I could pin them with the appropriate letter and keep it straight.  Some of the pieces are close in size.

I am very grateful to all the bloggers who share patterns and tutorials with us, free or not!  I could not have figured this out by myself.

The plan was to finish this quilt by August of 2022 to give to my sister.  Sadly, she died of a heart attack last May.  At that time I had all the blocks done.  I just set them aside for awhile.

The original purpose for making the quilt was to comfort my sister.  Now I'm making it as a  remembrance of both my niece and my sister.

Next will be an inner border of the same size and fabric as the sashing, then a pieced border of half square triangles.  Many of them were already made from the cut off pieces as I was making the blocks.  The others are in the box above, more Kaffe fabric plus light prints, right sides together, ready to sew.

 You'd think that would be enough to keep me busy, wouldn't you?  Especially with our two youngest grand kids staying with us for 5 nights while their folks were out of town!  I knew I wouldn't be able to get any sewing done, so I started sorting a giant garbage-bag-sized bag of flannel scraps.  I didn't take a before photo (oops!) but this is the after photo.  The diaper box holds what's left to trim down plus a couple of old projects.  The rest are strips and squares.

As I was pressing and cutting, I put together pieces for six quilt kits.  I had to dip into the flannel yardage for borders etc.

All of these kits use mainly 3.5 in. pieces.  I made two bricks kits, three Stepper kits, and one four patch kit with alternate blocks.  One more four patch kit is partially cut, but just needs alternate blocks and borders.  Next year when the Community Baby Shower rolls around in January, I'll be ready.

The post it notes will help me remember what I was doing!  It's amazing how many times I've come across a UFO and had to puzzle over what my plan had been for it.  (Anybody else have this problem?)

The plan here must have been Lego skyscrapers!  My little guys made a very colorful town.

Snicklefritz made sure the flannel was cozy for sleeping.  He's always willing to test fabrics and quilts for softness.  What a guy!

I hope you have a lovely week, with time to do the things you enjoy.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

I Spy Purple Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's purple month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I'm loving it!  Lots of my purple scraps are finding homes in blocks that will become donation quilts around the end of the year.  Above are 4 of my 16 patch blocks, each with 8 different lights and 8 different purples.

Next are my Uneven Nine Patch blocks.  Half of them have dark centers and half have light centers.  Some of the purples are more reddish and some tend toward blue.  I'm making them from 5 in. squares (click HERE for directions).

So far, this monster is my all time favorite purple novelty print.  The word it's saying is Rawrr!  Of course I had to put some of it in each set of RSC blocks.  I only had a fat quarter, so sadly it is almost used up.

I was planning on showing these happy blocks when I was interrupted by a happy cat who wanted some cuddles.  Snicklefritz is only seven months old, and still seems like a baby kitten even though he looks like a big cat.

He's gone to chase a sunbeam, so now you can see the blocks.  There's that monster, up in the top left.

This print, with science words, is fun, too.  My husband is a retired chemist, so I made sure to have the word chemistry visible.

That's all my RSC blocks done for April.  I'm only managing to be ahead of schedule this month because I chose easy blocks, but it feels good to get them done anyway.

This I Spy top got quilted and bound last weekend, and is ready for donation.

In my head I'm calling this one Fifty Novelty Prints.  

 

There are 48 squares, all different, plus the banana print border, and...

Scottie dogs on the back!  The fabric for both the back and the binding came from the Winter Quilt Show back in February.

I got all of the fabric in this photo in an unusual way.  The vendors had pieces of fabric of varying sizes laid out on tables.  If you wanted any of it, you bought a plastic zip lock bag from them, and stuffed it full of whatever you chose.  There were two sizes of bags (one gallon and two gallon, I think).  I got all the fabric above into a gallon bag, which cost $10.  What a deal, right?  

It's about time for me to get off the computer and get some rest.  My two youngest grandsons are staying with us this weekend while their parents are out of town, and I'm already wiped out.

For our after school snack today we made "dirt cups", with chocolate pudding, crushed oreos, and gummy worms.  Yummy!

Our first grade Buddy lost his first tooth Thursday, and asked me to take his picture with his new smile.

I hope you have something great to smile about this week.  Happy Quilting!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap  

 

 

 

Hands 2 Help Check In #1

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's Hands 2 Help check in day!  I look forward to H2H every year.  Almost all the quilts I make are for donation, and Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict always has a good list of places and projects that need quilts.  Baby-sized quilts are my favorite, but I plan to send a few tops for adults as well.

Here's the run down so far.

Reversible quilt made with Kaye Wood's 6 hour quilt pattern.  (Click HERE for video.)

Little Bricks quilt made with my (free) pattern.  (Click HERE.)

Pink Uneven Nine Patch made with charm squares.  (Click HERE for directions.) 

Pink Nine Patch.

Pink Stepper, from a free pattern by Alycia at alyciaquilts.  (Click HERE for tutorial.)

(Can you believe I made 3 pink quilts?  I can't either!!! Pink is just not my color.) 

I call this one Gum Wrapper Twist.  The pattern comes from the Positivity 2022 block by Sew Preeti.  (Click HERE for the tutorial.)

Dinosaur Trip Around the World, made with charm squares (mostly home cut).

Last for today is this 4 patch, with red dinosaur print.  Pattern is free from Quilts For Kids, click HERE.

Some of these will be donated to Little Lambs, but I'm looking into donating locally as well.  After all, caring for others begins at home, right?

Thanks so much to Sarah for all her hard work planning, organizing, and hosting Hands 2 Help.

Linking up to the Hands 2 Help Check In.

 

Bricks and Houses and Hands 2 Help

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This week had me searching high and low in my stash for purple novelty prints to use in my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks.  I found some!  but I did have to include star prints to make up the numbers.  And there are no less than 3 butterfly prints, plus a caterpillar one.

I love this one!  It's a Kaffe Fassett design, meant to be buttons.

I've had this cat print forever.  The background is an odd color, almost lavender but not quite.

This is one that quilt author Judy Gauthier might call a "husband" print.  She says they're like husbands--you loved them at first sight, you want to keep them, but you don't always understand them or know what to do with them. (Click HERE to go to info about Judy's books and shop.)

A few more houses got cut and sewn from the same fabrics as the bricks.  Dora the Explorer is leading the way.

Here are two little quilts for Hands2Help 2023.  These are the first quilts I've made with the new poly batting.

First, more bricks!  This is another Little Bricks quilt, made with my free (and very easy) pattern.  (Click HERE.)

The poly batting makes it "bouncier" than cotton, and will definitely make it warmer.  I'm still learning how best to baste and quilt it.
 

The back is this rainbow print.

Here's quilt #2.  This pattern is perfect for poly batting.

Long long ago in a state far away (well, not that far, it was Ohio) I took a class with the woman who developed this pattern, the amazing Kaye Wood.  Kaye was a quilting pioneer at the beginning of this current quilt revival, although many quilters now may never have heard of her.  She had one of the first television quilt programs, and traveled the country teaching.  At quilt shows, she would sell her patterns and templates and videos (of course), but she would also set up a huge area with stations for volunteers to sew this pattern for charity from donated fabric and batting.  She called it the Love quilt or the 6 Hour Quilt.  At the end of the show, the quilts made would be donated to local hospitals, etc.  (Click HERE for her video instructions.)

As a teacher, she was down to earth, helpful, and fun.  The workshop was a full day, and I finished a twin sized quilt for my daughter there.  The quilt was used for years and was warm and well loved.  I was very sad to hear of Kaye's death in July 2019. 

 One of the best things about this pattern is this--it's reversible!  Side one of my quilt uses construction/vehicle prints, and side two has a farm theme with cows and chickens, etc.

 The technique is easy, but I had to modify it a little.  Kaye Wood may not need to pin the layers, but I do!  

It has been so warm and nice here this week!  We all went for a walk in the park, and Grandpa and the boys posed on the bench.

The rhubarb is up, a sure sign of warmer days to come.

By Tuesday, it was 75 degrees out, and our little boys were wearing shorts!  Our old dog is so glad to see the this Little Guy every morning.

I hope you're having a wonderful day today and a good week ahead, with time outdoors as weather permits.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Check out all the lovely and exciting quilts at these linky parties!

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get a Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Pink and Purple

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Easter is tomorrow, and this little bunny is wishing a happy one to all who celebrate.

I'm not sure how bunnies got associated with Easter (I've read a couple of theories--something to do with spring?) but they are definitely part of the holiday, especially for kids.

Spring is here, even in Wisconsin!  The grass is getting greener, and the daylight lasts a little longer.  Still cold, though.  I had to wear my coat when taking this photo, and the wind just wouldn't quilt.

This is the last of the pink quilts I started during February, which was pink month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The blocks are Uneven Nine Patches aka Puss in the Corner, and were made from four 5 in. squares each.  (Click HERE for those directions.)

Four fabrics in the quilt are bunny prints!  So it was appropriate to finish it in time for Easter.

These bunnies are hopping all around.  This was an Easter print years ago from That Chain Fabric Store.

Here's the fabric the little bunny at the top of this post came from.  Cheeky, but a Nice Bun.

And then there's this Hoffman print, that one of my quilt group friends gave me literally yards of.

More on the back!  This little quilt measures about 40 in. x 48 in., and will be donated to a charity for kids (not sure which one yet).

So that's all the pink for at least a little while.  What about purple?

So far I haven't sewn much, but I got out this pile of Big Scraps to cut.

More bunnies, this time in purple.  And other novelty prints to make my little houses.  (Click HERE for my first post on this project.)

Isn't it amazing how many shades of purple there are?  I just love that Laurel Burch cat print.  I'm including it in the purples but in the wrong light it looks dark blue.  It won't matter in the quilt, of course.

Our cold and rainy weather lately made it a good time for some new puzzles.  Our little guy loves working them.  By the way he didn't put that whole puzzle together.  Grandpa had already finished it, and Little Guy takes apart one section and puts it back together again.  He has his own puzzles, but it's more fun to work with Grandpa.

We went antiquing recently, and I got a "new" cookbook.  It's that nice clean one on the right.  Not that new really, it was published in 1986!  But like new inside--no torn pages, and the sections still have their tabs.  My old cookbook has been with me since before I was married.  I got it with S & H green stamps in 1974 or 1975, while I was still in college.  I'm keeping the old one while I make sure my favorite recipes made it to the new edition.  If not, I'm writing them down.  I do use the internet to find recipes, but I'm old school--I prefer a book.  How about you?

I'm wishing a very happy Easter holiday to all those who celebrate, and happy quilting to everyone!

Cheers 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