Summertime Blues (and Aqua)

Welcome to Treadlestitches! 

Is it summer where you live?  Here in Wisconsin, you can't get much more "summer" than yesterday, the 4th of July.  Happy Independence Day, America!

Hanging on the clothesline today is a child's quilt, 36 in. x 42 in., freshly finished and ready to give away.

All sorts of bugs and other creepy crawlies are enjoying the good here weather too. Even on the border of the quilt!  The bug print came from a rummage sale last summer.  The colorful scraps all came from the box of 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles.  I used 90 of them in the blocks, and probably still have enough to make 2 more quilts.  Scraps are forever lol.

I don't know an official name for this block.  (If you do, please tell me!)  I call the 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles Little Bricks, so I named this block Little Bricks Ladder.  I'm hoping there's a cooler name somewhere in quilt blog land.  The three bricks are sewn together, and then 2 in. x 6.5 in. white strips are sewn on each long side.  Easy peasy.

Here's the back, made of two different light prints.  I'm trying not to be so fussy about the backs, I just need to use up what I've already got, and both these prints are cute.  Kids are probably not going to care about this anyway.  The quilting is a 3 in. grid in serpentine stitch.
 

Now that it's July, I have finally caught up with June's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  These are my 1800s repro hexagons.  I absolutely adore indigo blue, and it's getting harder to find it in stores.
 

What if I added in the red ones for a patriotic look?  Hey, this would make a great quilt!  But I've already got mine planned to include ALL the colors.  I didn't start this project at the beginning of the year, so I'm catching up on the RSC colors I missed.  I don't think I'll have many hexagons in aqua for July, it's an unusual color for reproduction fabrics, but I'll hunt out what I have.

Aqua kid prints aren't hard to find!  Some of these are old favorites, and a few of them came as ready-cut charm squares from the big museum sale last month.  I'm going to need a lot of these stretched star blocks per quilt since they're small, only 4.5 in. finished.

Speaking of aqua, check out this vintage quilt I saw at a flea market last Sunday.  Star blocks with a pink background alternate with aqua blocks with pink centers.  I always love looking at antique quilts.  Frequently you see things you've never seen before.

It's been fun having the grand kids around more this summer.  Here's Buddy, just hanging around.  Hang on, Buddy!  He had to hold the pose while waiting for me to take the photo, and I was kind of slow.  He's not angry, just straining to hold on.  Sorry, Buddy.
 

Our black raspberries are ripe, and the little boys love picking and eating them, which is what Little Guy is doing here.  We have also had lots for eating on cereal, etc., and a few pints for the freezer.  Snicky the cat wants to go out whenever we do, so he's learning to walk on a leash.  Or maybe I'm learning to go wherever he wants to go.  But we will not be chasing any birds or rabbits!

And you know where I want to go--the sewing room!  I'm getting some sewing time in this long weekend, but there are errands and other jobs to do, too.  

I hope you have a happy peaceful week ahead, and some time to do the things you love to do.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap