Little Bricks, Skinny Little Bricks, and Crayons

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

How is everything in your quilty world?

I am feeling like this little minion today!  I have finishes and an almost-finish to share!

First is this little 8 patch quilt I started back in the summer.  It's an idea I stole from Cathy at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting.  (I get a lot of good ideas that way!  She's a scrap genius!  Thanks, Cathy!) 

The blocks are made of 8 rectangles that measure 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. cut.  These are the pieces I call Little Bricks, and I have a whole box of them.   I often cut them from the last bits of a 2.5 in. strip.

The block itself is 6 in. x 8 in. finished, which makes for some interesting math when figuring out the layout.  I set my 30 blocks 6 across and 5 down, which made the little quilt 36 in. x 40 in. before the border.

Here's the back, a kid print from the stash.  I honestly don't remember where it came from.  It might have been in the amazing basket my quilt group gave me.  It can be hard to use prints like this that have straight lines in them, but may not be printed exactly straight, and can look wonky.  However, they are perfect for backing.  All of these adorable kids are saying, "Let's play!"

On to Finish #2.

This is a Bright Hopes variation.  I started making these blocks to use up my stack of 2 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles (I call them Skinny Little Bricks.)

Each of the big blocks is made up of 4 smaller ones.  Each of the small blocks has a light 2 in. (cut) square center and 4 rectangles surrounding it, and finishes at 4.5 in.  After I had a lot of them made I started arranging them like this, putting pieces with the same color together to make a sort of pinwheel in the middle.  Sometimes the pinwheel is easy to see, sometimes there's not enough contrast.

The blocks are set with a narrow sashing and green print cornerstones.  I did very simple quilting (as usual) with the serpentine stitch on my machine.

The border is this odd print.  It looks like illustrations from a 1930s children's book.  I loved that it said "Sweet Dreams".  I said that to my kids when tucking them in at night, and back in the day my mother said it to me.

Simple quilting again.  For binding, I chose a blue/green from my solids stash.  The backing is this cozy flannel.  I love flannel on the back of a quilt.

When I go to sales or flea markets, etc., flannel is always something I look for.  This pile came from the sale room at a recent quilt show.  I piled it all in a grocery bag for $10.

I got this box of flannel at our guild's silent auction last month.  Solid colors are always useful, but the ducky prints are the best!

So on to the almost-finish.  Back in October, I was trying to put my Rainbow Scrap Challenge crayon quilt top together.  I had gotten this far, but it didn't look finished, and I really didn't know what to do.  

Some readers had really good suggestions.  I also asked a couple of other quilters at the retreat two weeks ago.  I ended up making a row of small crayons for the top (thanks, Bonnie Jensen!).  I also cut down the original borders so I'd have enough to use that colorful print on the sides as well.  And I had just barely enough of the print left for the top border.

Here's what it looks like now.  It's definitely unusual, but it feels more balanced to me.  And bonus, it's now a rectangle, measuring 53 in. x 55 in.   I'll bind with a solid color after I quilt it.

The small crayon row is very similar to the big crayons.  I used the Tri-Recs tools to make the points and rectangles to make up the rest of the crayon.

I might make a whole quilt from these little crayons someday.  They're easy and fun to make.

We like to have fun around here!  My Little Guy is in charge of licking the beaters when I make icing.  He takes his job very seriously.

When we get our chores done, we can play with toy dinosaurs stomping in play dough.  

I hope you're having fun this week.  Treat yourself to a good time!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Works in Progress

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Nothing is finished this week, but lots of quilts are "in progress".  

It's the first Saturday of Purple Month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I already had pieces cut for these switch plate blocks, so I got these purple ones sewn up quick.  An idea occurred to me for the setting that requires about twice as many blocks as I have now, so back to cutting later today.

Here's the fabric pull for my usual RSC blocks.  I've got big scraps, small scraps, strips, and yardage.  Don't you just LOVE purple month?

Check out the little purple block in the center!  These are my 8 patch blocks, an idea I "stole" from Cathy at Sane Crazy Crumby Quilting.  The blocks are made with 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles, which I happen to have a ton of, and the 8 patches measure 6 in. x 8 in. finished.

Now that I've got 30 blocks, I'm going to put them together this weekend into a baby quilt.  (Are you surprised?  I can't go very long without making a baby quilt!)

We went to another flea market last weekend, where I bought someone else's work in progress.  The lady who sold them used to make pillows to sell, and had all these 2.5 in. squares cut.  She had them laid out by color and print, in two layers in a big box.  I proposed dumping them into a bag, and the poor woman was horrified after all her work of sorting.  So I took them in the box, and when I was out of her sight I put them in this bag so I could carry them more easily. (That bag was heavy!)

I see what she meant about the sorting!  It took me a while, but it was just the sort of mindless job to do when watching TV.  I divided them into blues, greens, pinks, and lights, and put the greens and pinks in the same box.  These are mostly prints from the 1990s, but good quality cotton, and they will make nice charity quilts.  People who aren't quilters won't worry that the fabrics are out of fashion.  It will be easy to use these squares as leader and ender projects.

Hey, who's that running through my laundry and giggling?  Could it be Bigfoot?

We did a little Bigfoot hunting this week, sponsored by our local library.  Signs like this were posted all over town, with letters on them.  Players were to collect the letters and unscramble the message.  We didn't get very far, but this sign was in our neighborhood park so my goofy guys posed with it.  Little Brother is trying to get away!

This is the back of a quilt in progress that I hope to finish this weekend.  For backing, I'm using several different pieces of Toile de Jouy reproduction fabric with patriotic and/or historical themes.  This one says "Constitution and Laws".  It seems appropriate to work on this July 4th weekend, and sums up how I feel about my country.

The United States of America is not just a place.  It exists through and because of our ideals of liberty and justice and faithfulness to our laws and our founding documents.  I am very concerned when people, especially those in power, believe they can set aside laws and use violence to attain their ends if elections don't go their way.  No person, no faction, no political party is more important than our democracy.

Our country is and always has been a work in progress, and so is our Constitution.  As times change, we amend it and adjust our laws to modern expectations of equality and fairness.  We expect our courts to take these changes into consideration as they interpret laws, and to make all decisions based in law and reason rather than ideology.  When this doesn't happen, our country is in grave danger.

Stepping off the soapbox now, I wish all Americans a very happy and safe Independence Day, and everyone a weekend doing what 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

 

 

Antique Quilts Week: Red and Green Applique

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  It's the last week of the month, so that means time for antique quilts from my collection.  This month's theme is red and green applique.

Both of these quilts date from 1850-1875.  They are hand pieced and hand quilted, with no evidence of machine sewing on them anywhere.  These are the only two quilts I have ever had documented, and some of the photos I'm using came from the documentations, which is why they have a number pinned to them.  To be clear, I took the photos myself.

Here's the first quilt, a Peony variation.  That word, variation, is very useful when identifying (or trying to identify) antique quilts, especially appliqued ones.  Quilters then were like quilters now, changing patterns to suit themselves.

By the way, the photo above shows the entire quilt.  It's not folded, this is just all there is.  Blocks at the top and on the sides are simply cut off.

There are borders on two sides only, and an unusual small wreath in one corner.  I bought this quilt from an Ebay seller many years ago.

 

Sometimes when a quilt has only two borders, it may have been meant to cover a bed in a corner, as above.  (Why add two borders that no one will see?)  The vine in the borders is a sort of blue, rather than green which we would expect, and there is staining all around the vine.  I believe this vine fabric might have originally been dyed a shade of green, and faded and/or bled.  But I can't tell for sure.

The flower and leaf shapes are simple and graceful, and there is lots of lovely hand quilting, at 8 to 9 stitches per inch.

There are feathered wreaths in the alternate blocks, and hearts quilted in the corners.  I know it's hard to see here, sorry.

The seller had no information about the maker of the quilt, but knew it was made in Kentucky.  This embroidered letter "L" might be from the maker's or the owner's name.  I'm sure the family that originally had the quilt knew who L was, but now no one does.  Just a reminder to us all to label our quilts!

The second quilt is a Cherry Wreath.  There are 9 large wreath blocks (13.5-14 inches square) and vine borders on all four sides.  Quilt teachers encourage us now to make our borders turn the corners, but this quiltmaker had apparently never heard of them.  Her borders were obviously made separately.  They might not win prizes at a quilt show, but I like the less formal look of it.

The sheer amount of work in these blocks is astounding.  There are 52 tiny appliqued cherries in each wreath.  Plus 18 leaves, and the wreath circle itself! 

Here's a dime next to the cherries, for comparison.  Also, you can see the embroidery better here.  Each cherry has an embroidered stem connecting it to the wreath or the border vines.  Most of the embroidery thread in the blocks has faded from green to white.

In addition to feathered circles quilted in the alternate blocks, there are lots of other motifs.  The quilting here is 9-10 stitches per inch.  

The border is quilted with a double hanging diamonds pattern.  Green solid fabric with this characteristic yellowish hue usually indicates a date prior to the Civil War.  

Both of these quilts are around 150 years old.    Neither one is in perfect condition, which is why they were affordable. I have loved studying them, and it is an honor to own them. 

Back in this century, I have discovered I am a bandwagon jumper.  (Who knew?)  I have jumped on the Switch Plate block bandwagon, and am happily cutting and sewing these little 3" x 5" finished blocks.   Of course I'm doing the green ones first, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  Click HERE for Cynthia B.'s first post on them, from back in April.

Plus, this!  When cutting pieces from 3.5 in. strips, it was easy to cut these Little Bricks also, and sew up 8 patch blocks.  This time I'm copying Cathy from Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting.  Click HERE for a recent post with the 8 patch blocks, plus lots of other scrappy goodness.

And now here's a happy first for today.

My Little Guy went to the library for the very first time.  He loved it!  Except for the part where you have to let go of the book you've chosen so the lady can check it out for you and hand it back. 

He was born in March of 2020, and Covid kept us away until now.  I always took his brothers to story time and other library events, and I've felt bad that he missed those activities, which were cancelled because of the pandemic.  The virus may not be over, but we are cautiously venturing out, and doing these very important things.

Let's do important things this week.  Things like getting together with family and friends, either in person or virtually or by phone.  Things like remembering our loved ones who have died, and passing their stories on.  Things like helping others, sharing hugs, smiling at strangers, looking after our animal friends.  And sewing, as donations, gifts, or kindness to ourselves.  This stuff is important!

Have a safe and meaningful Memorial Day weekend, and a wonderful week ahead.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap