What A Week

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for visiting!

Last week started out great.  On Sunday I went to Madison to visit with my friend Debbie C.  We had a lovely lunch and lots of conversation, and then went to Blue Bar Quilt Shop, where I bought these fat quarters.  Aren't they fun? Check it out, there's even pickleball fabric!  It's a full service shop with a modern vibe,  and even has an area displaying modern/art quilts.  We had a wonderful afternoon.

Debbie even gave me novelty fabric!  Astronauts in space will make a great border or back or alternate fabric.  Mustaches are so much fun.  Buddy laughed when he saw them.  The white on white piece has tiny dinosaurs. 
 

But wait, there's more!  Debbie also had a box of books she was planning to donate, and she generously invited me to choose any that I wanted!  I chose a spinning book, a knitting book, and this quilt book, A Practical Guide to Patchwork, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, published in 1987.

I was lucky enough to visit the Victoria and Albert several years ago, when there was an amazing exhibit of palampores, like the photo above.  They were embroidered covers, usually with no quilting or lining originally, made in the 1700s typically in India for export to Europe.  

The V&A has many (most?) of their quilts online for viewing at an excellent web site.  The quilt above has a total of 14 images.  (Click HERE to go to the Collections web page.To see the palampores, just type palampore into the search box.)

Here's my favorite from the book.  This is the center of the quilt.  The commemorative printed panel celebrates the Duke of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Vittoria in 1813.  Underneath it is a hand embroidered verse and the names John and Elizabeth Chapman, September 19, 1829.  It was the date of their wedding.  (If you'd like to read the text of the inscription or see the other photos, click HERE to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum collections page.  The museum number for this quilt is T.428-1985.)

This is the back.  The top was never finished, and still contains remnants of the papers from the 1790s on used to hand piece it.  In America we might call the pattern Drunkard's Path or Solomon's Puzzle, but in England it is known as Steeplechase or Jockey's Cap.

I got a little sewing done this week.  Two of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects got some new red additions.

I finished the last 3 green grocery-receipt strips, and got two red ones done.  I make sure to save the receipts every week so I can sew these little scraps on them.  Weirdly it's kind of a reward for getting the groceries.

I'm still working on red string blocks, and will probably make a bunch more.

These little squares will be part of a pieced border.  Hope I did the math right!

As you can see, no quilting happened this week.  There were days when I didn't sew at all.

It was a Murphy's Law kind of week.  Our Buddy was sick on Monday, so he was here with us.  Nothing serious, he was better by the time he went home, so we're thankful for that.  On Tuesday morning, we woke up to a cold house.  The furnace was out, and had to be repaired.  Luckily, the repair person came the same day, and we had heat by lunchtime.  Also on Tuesday, I took my sick old dog to the vet, and she has been needing extra care.  Thursday morning I went to the doctor for a routine blood test.  Easy and quick (and not serious), but my morning sewing time evaporated.  

Finally on Friday morning I got into the sewing room and got things organized again.  I'm really hoping for a peaceful (and pieceful!) weekend!

Did you have a good Valentine's Day?  For me it was the brightest spot in the weekday chaos.  Little Guy and I made cookies, Hubby bought chocolates, and my little boys gave me these:

The happy lady bug was made by Buddy during his party at school.  He gave it to me in the car on the way home.  Little Guy made the picture with stickers, also at school.

No matter what happens, I never lose sight of how lucky I am.

What's going on in your world?  I hope you had time for the things you love to do.  Like quilting!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap