Rainbow Rail Fence, and Lots of Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!  

Surprise!  This week I didn't make a baby-sized quilt.  This top, that I'm calling Rainbow Rails, is nearly twin-sized, and used up 88 blocks from last year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge bin.

I got the idea for rail fence blocks shaded light to dark from Julie of Julie's Quilts and Costumes.  (Click HERE for another of her ideas for these blocks.)  She graciously gave me permission to copy, so I did!

Making these blocks last year was fun!  I enjoyed looking for novelty prints in all the colors, and using up scraps.

Lots of Dr. Seuss prints ended up here.  So did a variety of light prints.

I may have mentioned I plan to make some larger tops this year for a charity that helps kids who have been abused.  The organizer came to our quilt guild recently, and told us the optimal sizes of quilts and/or tops for them is either 40 in. x 60 in., or 50 in. x 70 in.  At 52 in. x 70 in., Rainbow Rails is only 2 in. wider, so I don't think she'll mind.

With all those seams ending at the edge of the top, it seemed like a good idea to add a border.  I chose this one because of all the words of love printed on it.  Plus it's blue, my favorite "neutral" lol.

 This top will go to the organizer, who quilts them on her long arm.  

There were enough blocks left over to make one of my usual baby quilts, so I'll be quilting that up soon. 

Wow, can you believe it's the last Saturday in February?  How are your RSC blocks coming along?

I added a new set (of course).  It's this block, called Thrifty in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  It's a 9 in. block, and uses up 3.5 in. squares and 2 in. squares.

Here are the light blue ones, and ...

the dark blue ones, and ...

pink ones, to catch up from last month.

These Bright Hopes blocks in blue were made mostly from scrap rectangles given to our quilt group by a gentleman who once managed a fabric store.

There were a LOT of the Chicago Cubs rectangles.  I need to find another project to use them up.

Disclaimer:  The following blocks were NOT made by me...

except for the bright blue/red plaid in the center of the top row.  This was our guild's block of the month for February.  Our leader on this project, Nancy Queen of Scraps, gives us a pattern each month.  Everybody who wants to participate makes as many blocks as they want to, all the blocks go in a pile, and a name is drawn from the makers.  This month, I won!  There were 28 blocks!  All of them are made from plaids.  

I'm looking forward to making this quilt, it's such a dramatic design.  Plus I have a whole bin of plaid fabrics.  Many thanks to Queen Nancy and our lovely guild members.

My youngest grandsons had Monday off school for Presidents Day, so we got to have them here with us.  It was too cold to go outside but they had fun indoors.  Buddy is wearing his costume, pretending to be his favorite video game character (Link from the Legend of Zelda games).  Little Guy brought his Luigi and Donkey Kong toys.

Snicky the cat and our new kitten Queen Elizabeth III (nicknamed Lizzy) are getting along well now.  They gallop through the house and play together, but they also need quiet time to rest up.  Lizzy found a comfy spot in a pile of quilts.

I'm looking forward to covering up with a quilt and checking out all the great quilt blogs.  There might be a cup of tea and cookie as well.

Have a wonderful week!  Stay warm and stay well.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Hot Wheels! Beep Beep!

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

 It's another cold and snowy morning here, so indoor photos will have to do, I'm sorry to say.  Just another little quilt this week, this time it's the Windmill block, made from Hot Wheels prints.

If you've been to this blog before, you know how I LOVE scraps.  Digging into a new-to-me scrap bag is as exciting as opening a treasure chest.  The scrap bag in question came from a man who had managed a fabric shop and was now retired.  He donated many tops to our quilt guild, plus fabrics and scraps.  

The pieces in this particular bag were cut into 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. rectangles.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as Hot Wheels fabric, but there were lots of them in the bag, in six different prints!  So of course there had to be a Hot Wheels quilt.

Orange novelty prints can be hard to find, so I was really glad to discover these rectangles.  There were also pieces cut from the same print in light blue.  The race car background fabric was one I found in an antique mall.  I didn't quite have enough of it for the whole quilt, so I filled in with other car-related prints.

This one is my favorite.  Dare to be rad! it says.  I wonder how old this fabric is.  I'm not sure kids want to be "rad" anymore lol.

Here's the back, more race cars!  Also from the antique mall.  As you can see, I quilted it in a 2 in. square grid.  The quilt will be donated locally.  I guess it qualifies as using my blue scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, which is blue.  I'm starting to realize I use blue in almost everything.  Does that make it a neutral?

Five blue Sisters Choice blocks for the RSC!  These blocks are 10 in. finished.  I'm planning to make a twin sized top with them at the end of the year.  Maybe I'll even do the math!  At least 10 is easy to work with.

New Project!  These blocks are fun to make, and use up lots of my blue scraps.  The centers are 5 in. squares and the other pieces are cut from 5 in. strips.  No waste!  You cut one way for blocks leaning left and another way for ones leaning right.

The pattern comes from this book, Dessert Roll Quilts, by Pam and Nicky Lintott, and is called Highland Fling.

Last Saturday's quilt show was wonderful!  I took lots of photos of the show quilts, but of course I can't share them here without the makers' permission.  I did have permission to show these antique quilts from the Wisconsin Quilt History Group booth.  Aren't they wonderful?   Notice how one of the small doll quilts seems to be made of orphan blocks.

I spent Saturday afternoon at our quilt guild's booth, talking to people and answering questions. When I volunteer at a booth, I like to bring some handwork to do.  This project was started before I was born.  How do I know that?

This is the template the pieces were cut from, part of a postcard mailed in 1940.  The fabrics back that date up.  This pattern has a lot of names, like Hummingbird and Periwinkle, but the original quilter wrote Snow Ball on a paper template, so that's what I'm calling it.  I think I'll make it into something small, like a table runner.  Or a doll quilt!

We are more than halfway through February!  Can you believe it?  I need to get on with the blocks I'm making for Many Hands and Many Hearts.  Just an easy Split 4 Patch, using novelty prints and solids.  Click HERE for details.

My youngest grandsons weren't here much this week, since their Mom was off work, so no kid photos.  How about one of Lizzy?

She curled up with me this week while I battled a rotten cold.  And of course we shared a quilt!

Have a lovely week, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Of Cats and Quilts and Puzzles and Books

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

If you visited Treadlestitches last year, you might remember all the cat blocks I was making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I got carried away (so not unusual for me)!  It was so much fun to see these made up in all sorts of prints.  This is my third little quilt made from those blocks.

This time the cats alternate with a pieced block, with a multicolored cat print in the center.  The block is called Puss in the Corner, which is completely appropriate.  

Lots of the fabrics in the quilt are multicolored.  Some even feature things cats might like, such as sushi.  (Isn't it amazing how many different prints there are in the world?)

Snicky the cat decided to pose next to the quilt when I was taking pictures.

The blue inner border and the binding are both from my scraps, so they're in keeping with the RSC color of the month.  (Sorry for the dark photos.  It's a dismal day here, and the flash didn't help much.)

The back is this blue plaid.  Can you see the hint of sparkle in it?  It was recycled from a little-used tablecloth from a girl scout camp.

More blue scraps!  All of these hearts were made from pieces cut from my Big Scraps basket.  I seem to have more dark than light blues.

Ice cream cones, dinosaurs, butterflies, Thomas the Tank Engine, Curious George, etc.  The hearts will go into quilts to be donated to kids.  I hope they like these fun fabrics!

A quilter's cat needs to be ready at all times to inspect quilt blocks laid out on the floor.  Lizzy, our little quilter's cat in training, just came across these blocks by accident while chasing Purple Mousie, her favorite toy.  I'm sure she'll refine her technique in time.  

She and Snicky are working out their relationship with lots of running and chasing.  He objects (rightly!) to having his tail attacked.  They still spend some time each day apart.

The quilt blocks are Rail Fence blocks from last year's RSC.  So many blocks, so little time!

Last Friday, hubby and I spent the morning book shopping.  I bought this puzzle at Barnes and Noble, and we worked it right away.  It has two of my favorite things, cats and books.  There are STILL some leftover cat blocks in the RSC bin.  Maybe I could make a quilt like this?  Only simpler?  

Our next stop was Half Price Books, where I found all of these!  Lots of great ideas for future projects.

It's been a busy week, and it's about to get busier.  Today is the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend!  I will spend the morning enjoying the show and the vendors, and the afternoon working at the guild booth.  I hope I can remember to take pictures of the action for next week's blog.

Have a lovely quilty week, everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilters:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Sesame Street and Bowties

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

One last flannel baby quilt got finished this week, and sent on its way.  As you can see, it's a very simple design, just scrappy 4 patches paired with alternate blocks.  Lots of blue in this one, so it fits with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for February.

The alternate blocks are from a Sesame Street print.  Around here we love Sesame Street.  My grandson Buddy's favorite character was "Melmo".  (He couldn't say Elmo at first.)  Later we both loved Cookie Monster and Gonger and their food truck.  I learned a lot about foods, like how cashews are grown.  If the kids were still up for it, I'd still watch!

Lots of colorful flannel scraps ended up here.  I cut the kit up a while back and had it ready to sew.

Just about all of the fabrics in the quilt came from pre-owned fabric sales, including the back (the one with stars) and the binding, which came from the most recent sale a few Saturdays ago.

The deadline for the donations to the Community Baby Shower was the end of January, so I packed all of these quilts up and delivered them on Thursday, after taking one last photo.  Bye bye, quilts!  Make somebody happy and warm!

Now on to tackling the blue scraps in the Big Scraps bushel basket.  I should say that blue has been a favorite color for me all my life, so naturally I have lots of blue fabric.  There were 3 bundles of blue in the basket:  light, medium, and dark.  I'm hoping to consolidate to one bundle by the end of the month.

I started with Bowtie blocks.  They measure 8 in. finished.  I cut 4.5 in. strips from the scraps for the big squares and 2.5 in. strips for the small ones.  I'm also using up some of the light Big Scraps, which is a bonus!

I am so happy to use all these fun prints!  It was hard to stop cutting them.  I want to make some twin sized quilts this year for a local charity that uses them, so I'm making some larger blocks like these.  And lots of them!

 I might have gotten carried away!

This is my "vintage" iron from the 1970s or 1980s.  I bought it at a tag sale last May for $1.00, and I have bragged on it on this blog repeatedly.  This is an iron that gets VERY hot immediately and stays hot, which even improved my piecing.  Sadly, she finally burned herself out this week and had to go to that great appliance dump in the sky.  She will be missed!  I have my back up iron, of course, but it's not the same.  I'll be looking for a replacement.

Little Lizzy aka Queen Elizabeth III is doing well and working on fitting in to our household.  Snicky is still not a big fan, but I think he's coming around.  She is hard to photograph as she's usually running and playing.

I love this picture my younger daughter took of her 3 sons.  The biggest brother lives on his own now, but still stays close to family.  His little brothers adore him.  I adore them all!

Have a good week, everyone!  Happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these awesome quilters and their blogs:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap