Grocery Receipts, Bright Hopes, and Greek Crosses

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Don't you love it when you accomplish something with a UFO?  This poor project was languishing in a bag for nearly 3 years.  Now at least it's a flimsy!

Snicky the cat wouldn't leave me alone to finish sewing it, so I finally had to shut him out of the sewing room.  Oh, and lock the door, because he can (and will!) open doors.

Here's the top, laid out on my design floor.

The sashings are made from tiny scraps sewn to grocery receipts.  I had to make a few extra to have enough for this design.  I'm tentatively calling it Rainbow Garden.  It's neat and orderly, like I imagine my garden will be someday.

The light pieces are 6.5 in. cut.  I chose light scraps to color coordinate with the sashing strips.  The cornerstones are solid fabric squares.  If I make something similar again, I will stay stitch the edges of the sashing.  They had a tendency to stretch.

It was fun finally putting the top together.  Angela of the So Scrappy blog was making something similar, and seeing that gave me the inspiration for the design (thanks, Angela!).

The border is even green, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

 

Check out the name of the fabric:  Busy Lizzy!  Lizzy aka Queen Elizabeth III is our shy cat.  I didn't buy the fabric because of the name, but it was funny to see.  The print is from the Kaffe Fassett Collective.

I bought it at this shop, Quiltagious in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.  I was there on Thursday dropping off quilts and tops for the Children's Advocacy Center.  BTW, if you live in Wisconsin you might want to stop by.  They have LOTS of beautiful fabrics including Kaffe Fassett's, with a nice sale section.  (I got the green I used in the border for $7.99/yard!)

I'm not sure exactly what will happen to the quilt next.  I may quilt it myself, or donate it as a top.  Either way, it will be donated locally.

I know I say this all the time, but I am STILL finishing up my RSC quilts from last year.  This little quilt used 30 of the Bright Hopes blocks.  I'm afraid to count how many are left, the bag is still pretty full.

It's fun to revisit these blocks one last time.  I'm so lucky to have all these kid friendly fabrics.  The striped fabric in the border has been in the multicolored stash for so many years I've forgotten where it came from.

Check out the back!  Have you ever made a quilt just to use a certain backing?  The Amazing Colleen gave me this piece, which was given to her by a scout camp that had used it for a tablecloth.  They evidently didn't use it very much, as it was in great shape.  I loved the bug print and the colors, but it was kind of narrow, especially since it had been hemmed.  It would fit a 36 in. wide quilt, so that's what I made.  I picked the blocks to go with the colors on the back.

Simple quilting, as always, this time in a 2 in. grid.

On to the green scraps!  This was my pile of small green scraps, after I removed pieces I know I will never use.  I am not good about doing this, but I have to restrain my inner packrat.  

When I was done cutting, I had strips, squares, and rectangles ready to be used.  The triangles are saved for string quilt corners and that pile of pieces on the bottom left will go in the crumbs bag. No more green scrap guilt!

For the RSC this week, I made 5 green Greek Cross blocks.

Of course there had to be a Green Bay Packer's block!

In Progress

Sometimes I get an idea for a quilt, and then try to find fabrics to make it, either in my stash or at the store.  Other times I start with the scraps and figure out what I can make with them.

This quilt in progress come from asking "What can I do with these scraps?".  The bigger pieces, like Mrs. Cow, were donated to our quilt group.  Many of the smaller ones came from a bag given to me by my friend Joey.  After thinking about this little collection for a year or so, I started working on this farm quilt this week.  The pieces on the left have lots of different animals etc. surrounded by fabric frames in several colors.  Those are done!  

Now I'm sewing the 2.5 in. (cut) squares together for the 16 patch alternate blocks.  I'll be using these blocks for leaders and enders, so it may take a while to get all the blocks ready to join together.  (Did you notice the black and white rabbit that looks like Snicky?)

So what are you cooking up with green scraps, or anything else?  I'm looking forward to finding out at the linky parties this weekend.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, and happy quilting!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy