Lightning Streak, Purple Scraps, and Signs of Spring

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Lightning struck last week!  I saw a quilt in this design (with a free pattern!) at alyciaquilts.blogspot.com, and loved it.  I had to drop everything and make it.  (Turns out there's an acronym for that:  DrEAMi!)

It's called Lightning Streak.  Alycia has made several, all of them terrific.  The quilt was easy, fast, and fun to make, and used lots of my 5 in. squares plus a cute blue space print. (Click HERE for the link to the free pattern.) 

I chose the squares based on the colors of the rockets, spaceships, etc. in the dark blue print.  There were six main colors:  red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, and light blue.  I used six each of those colors, and added 4 multicolor prints to make 40 squares.  I have a lot of multicolor fabrics, and I'm trying to remember to use them wherever they'll fit in.

 I love designs that zigzag!  For quilting, I just followed the seams about an inch out.  (Alycia's quilts are much more beautifully quilted!)

The backing is a flannel print of lady bugs and flowers, and the binding is a strong red.  My quilt has 20 blocks that finish at 9 in. square, and the quilt itself measures 36 in. x 45 in.  It will be donated, not sure where yet.

Thanks so much to Alycia for sharing the pattern, and for hosting Finished or Not Finished Friday every week! 

In other news, purple!

Are you participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  March is purple month, which is great for me since I love purple.  These are my potato chip blocks, made from 2 x 3.5 in scraps (unfinished measurement).  The blocks themselves are 9 in. finished.  I'm always amazed at the variety of purple colors, everything from lavender to eggplant.

These stretched stars are so easy and fun, with just two seams.  The purple squares are 5 in. cut, and the white ones are 2.5 in. cut and sewn "flippy corners" style.

 Did you guess this one was my favorite?  I love weird stuff lol. Ghosts on a purple background, eating popcorn and drinking hot cocoa?  So much fun.

I have purples that are more "reddish" or "pinkish", and others that are more "blueish".  And then there's the ones that look blue next to other purples (like the two on the ends above) but look purple next to blues.  It won't matter when I'm putting them into scrap quilts.

Math is of course not fun for me (I complain about it all the time, sorry), but I was doing some this week thinking about how many of these blocks I'll need for even a small quilt, and it was appalling!  For a quilt 36 in. x 45 in. like Lightning Streak I would need 80 of these squares!  Guess I need to make more every month.  Thank goodness for calculators on cell phones.

It was a crazy week here, which is beginning to seem normal.  The furnace quit AGAIN, and this time it had to be replaced.  I spent some of my sewing time baking to keep the oven going to warm up the kitchen.  Thankfully it wasn't too cold here, just down to freezing at night, and 30s to 40s F in the daytime.  We had two space heaters, and I had my wool quilt, so we slept warm and cozy even without the heat.  They put the new furnace in over one long day, and now I'm thrilled every time the heat comes on.  I didn't full appreciate the conveniences of modern life like refrigeration and central heat until they stopped working.  Wonder what will go wrong next? (Oh, please not the plumbing!)

Little Guy was toasty warm under the family favorite flannel quilt, with Snicky curled up on his feet.  At 4 years old he hardly ever takes a nap, but he was worn out that day.  I couldn't resist taking a photo.  I know how fast little ones grow up.

There are some signs of spring here!

Tulips are coming up.  And something is nibbling on them.  Looking at you, naughty squirrels.

Do you see the pink thing in the middle of this ugly picture?  It's rhubarb, coming to life after the long winter.  It always looks so weird, but I'm very glad to see it.

Have a wonderful weekend, and a good week ahead, filled with what you love to do.

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