Oh, Happy Day!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Here are some things I'm happy about this week.

 

Snicklefritz is learning to pose!  He's laying on a quilt top I just finished.  (Thanks, Snicky!  He always makes me happy.)

I won these blocks at my local quilt group in October last year.  My little guy, who was only 2 then, was helping me arrange them and looking at all the pretty colors.

Here's the "aerial" view of the finished top.  I sewed the blocks together right away, and then procrastinated on the pieced border.  That was silly of me, this was an easy border, but sometimes things get sent to the bottom of the pile for silly reasons.

Bright prints were specified in the guild directions for the blocks, with either light or dark strips.  I made most of the ones with the darker strips, and guild members made most of the light ones.    This project was a good use of my non-novelty bright squares.  The top will be donated when finished, and it can go a teenager or an adult.  The lovely long-arm ladies at the guild will quilt it, and they can return it to me for binding.

So that's one out of the UFO pile!  

Next, Happy Blocks! 

My little Buddy wants to make another quilt, this time to go on his own bed.  I suggested Happy Blocks, and he loved the idea.  He picked out 5 in. (cut) squares for the center, and I chose coordinating (2 in. cut) solid colored frames.  We've got 56 blocks done, which should work for the size he wants, but we haven't had time to lay them out in rows yet.

This is the fabric he likes best.  I knew he would, with his current obsession with fishing, which is why I bought a fat quarter of it.  Now I might have to look for more.  We do need a border.  And a backing!

Lately, I've not had a lot of computer time, even for my favorite quilt blogs.  I finally noticed the current Compassion Quilts block drive is for none other than Happy Blocks!  The measurements are NOT the same as the ones I've been making lately, but they're very easy of course, and I have all the needed parts in my Parts Department (aka closet).  I even found a few left over blocks from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2 years ago that were made with these measurements and tossed them in.  The centers are 4.5 in. cut and the frames are 2.5 in. cut.

So these are the new blocks going to Cynthia (click HERE for directions and information). 

And these... 

And a few more

I got a little carried away.  They are fun to make, it's for a good cause, and I get to use my novelty prints!

Speaking of novelty prints, check out this amazing hexie quilt I saw at a the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show last Saturday.

Now for the closeup: 

All the prints are cow prints!  Isn't this amazing?  Who knew there were this many cow prints in the whole world?  It's giving me ideas for my own version.  (But not with just cows.) 

 There was lots of other inspiration at the show.  As usual, it was overwhelming.  But in a good way!

Here's what I bought at the show:  clearance fabric!  My mom taught me early to always shop the clearance rack first for clothes etc., and it's a good idea for just about anything.  All of this fabric was on sale, some well below the now-usual $12 or $13 per yard.  It will be put to good use!
 

What else is making me happy?  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge, of course!  It's aqua month, and I've finished the Uneven Nine Patch blocks.  Each month I have made six with dark centers and six with light.

Now I can have all the fun of putting the blocks into donation quilts.

I only had a scrap of this print, but I really like these dolphins.

I really like this guy, too!  Little Guy made a necklace from cereal at preschool this week.  He wanted to show it to his parents, but he also really wanted to eat it!  So I took a picture of him with it to show them, and then he could have it for a snack.

Have a good week!  I hope you get to do things that make you happy.  Like quilting!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap