Two Tops and Three Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Hello, fellow quilters!  How was your week?  Mine was a bit crazy.  I'm reorganizing all my quilt stuff and IT'S A LOT!  The top above was in the Quilt Tops in Pieces bin.  Instead of sighing and putting it away (AGAIN) I spent about an hour sewing the final five seams.  Progress!

The pattern is called Beachside Bungalow, and is from the book Scrap Basket Beauties by Kim Brackett.  It's been in the UFO pile for at least 10 years.

Here's the quilt from the book.  I made my background pieces light instead of dark.  Most of the scraps in the quilt came from a bag of batik scraps I bought at a quilt show.

The sewing was easy, but on-point settings sometimes make me feel off-kilter.  I'm so glad I finished the top even if it did take years.  My version is the same size as the one in the book:  57 in. x 68 in. It will be quilted by a volunteer, and donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.

But Wait, There's More!

The pieces for this top were in the same bin as the one above.  This is my Jane Austen quilt.  Back in 2014, quilt historian Barbara Brackman ran a block of the week called Austen Family Album on her blog.  Every week for 39 weeks she featured a 12 in. block to make, and told us more about Ms. Austen's life with family and friends.

I got to use my collection of early 1800s reproduction fabrics to make the blocks.  It was great fun opening the blog on Sunday mornings to read the article and start on the new block.  I wrote about it on Treadlestitches in May of 2014 when I made the first five blocks.  (Click HERE to view that post.)

Good news!  The Austen Family Album posts are still up!  All you have to do is click HERE for the first block post.  To get to the other posts:  Scroll all the way to the bottom of the first post (it's a long post) until you see the Blog Archive list on the left.  Starting with April, click on each month to find the blocks. 

I had originally planned to machine quilt this top myself. (What was I thinking?  Far beyond my talents!)  I was doing a lot of quilt as you go then, and had assembled the blocks in three sections, including the borders.  When I pulled it out of the bin this week I realized it only needed two seams to become a complete top.  So I sat right down in the messy room and sewed them!

While it's bigger than I usually make anymore, it's really just a twin size at 75 in. x 90 in.  One of the wonderful long-arm volunteers will quilt it, and it will be donated locally.

Whew!  Two UFOs off my list!

I am loving all the orange blocks on Angela's blog!  So many people are finding such cute orange prints.

This week my orange blocks are the Dawn Chorus pattern from Pam and Nicky Lintott.  I only make 3 of them, so I'm showing them all.  This one has a Kaffe scrap and some funky happy flowers.

Halloween cat print in this one, plus dog bones.

And lastly, bats, eyeballs, and batik.

In Progress

The center of the little Friendship Star quilt is sewn, but the borders still need to be attached before I can quilt it.  Maybe I'll have more time this week to work on it.

Look, it's Benjamin Franklin!  He's being portrayed here by Buddy.  He and his classmates learned all about someone in history, created a display board will facts and illustrations, and gave a speech to the class.  Yesterday the school gym was set up as a "wax museum", and the students told us about "themselves".  

Adults were welcome to come, so my daughter (Buddy's mom) and I went.  Buddy did a great job.  I also enjoyed learning some new facts about people like Milton Hershey, Amelia Earhart, Rachel Carson, and Isaac Newton.  Although the student portraying Isaac Newton thought perhaps Newton's father died in a car wreck.  In 1642.

Today is a special day for Hubby and me.  Fifty years ago today, on May 15, 1972, we were married.  He is everything I ever wanted in a husband, and we are so lucky to still be here together.  (OMG we are so impossibly young in this photo!)

The weather is beautiful today, sunny and 70s, my favorite.  I hope it's nice where you live, too.  Have a lovely week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday