Christmas Oklahoma Star

We interrupt our regularly scheduled quilting for this special report--Christmas is coming!  In honor of the season, I turned one of my oldest UFOs into an FO--finished object.

The pattern is Oklahoma Star, from the book A Dozen Variables, by Marsha McCloskey.   It was published way back in 1987.
(Note:  If you've never read Marsha McCloskey's books, you might want to give them a try.  Her directions are always clear, and she does a lot with scraps.)
I'm pretty sure I made this top in the early 90s.  I had the center done, and just never put a border on.  It was one of those things I was going to do when I got around to it.  (Anybody else got stuff like that?)  In the meantime, I used the top as a Christmas tablecloth a time or two, just for decoration.

Last year at Christmastime, I sewed on a light print border, and discovered how much the top had stretched!  The edges are all bias, and somehow it never occurred to me that stretch happens, especially when you use the top for a tablecloth!  The light border went up and down like a wave on the ocean.  It was discouraging, and the top went back in the bin.
This year, enough was enough.  Time to get it done.  I took off the light border, and added a red one. 

The edges were still stretched, and I had to deal with it severely, but at least it lays mostly flat.  It measures 53 in. x 76 in.

The back is a holly print, which I cobbled together out of leftover yardage.

I quilted a 2 in. grid in the center, and diagonal lines in the borders.

There are fads and trends in quilt fabric, as I'm sure you know.  This even holds true with Christmas fabric.  Back in the day, Christmas green prints were dark.  Today's are lighter.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to get a near-matching dark green for the binding from modern Christmas fabric.  So I used a scrap of forest green probably from the 90s that was in my stash.  It's not a Christmas print, but it will do.  (Plus it used up a scrap, and didn't cost anything extra!)

Bella and Little Buddy were kind enough to pose for me.

Here's a detail of the top, before it was quilted.

I wish I could say this was my only UFO from more than 25 years ago!

In other news, vinegar.

My homemade vinegar is smelling great, and in bottles.  The color is lighter this year because I used just apple cores and no apple peels to make it.  Click HERE if you'd like to read last year's post about how it's done.

We got the holiday decorating done this week, with Little Buddy's enthusiastic help.

Yesterday we put up the tree.  Above you can see an ornament I bought at the Patched Works quilt shop soon after we moved here 28 years ago.  The owner then was Trudy Hughes.  I still have all her books, and refer to them now and again.  The design on the ornament is her "around the twist" pattern.  I used it to make my son's Christmas quilt (back in the late 80s), seen below on Little Buddy's nap bed.

I've never had one of those neatly organized Christmas trees you see in magazines or on TV, the ones where all the ornaments are the same, silver balls or red ribbons, etc.  We have a really messy looking tree, covered with homemade ornaments and things we've gathered up over 43 years of marriage.

The ornaments with the photographs are my favorite ones.  Many of them were made in school or preschool by our children or grandchildren, and all of them bring back fond memories.

This week, I'm wishing you fond memories of times past, and good new memories to make.
Thanks for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy 
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Time to Sew

Bella, our dog, says hi.  She's worn out today, but she has had an amazing week.  She loves Christmas, for several reasons.  There are children's faces to lick, food scraps to snarf up off the floor, more kind hands to pet her, a present or two, and maybe even some Christmas ham in her bowl.  She even loves the mailman who brings packages to the door.  January might seem kind of flat to her.

But not to me!  It's all done--the shopping, wrapping, cleaning, baking, hugs and laughter and merrymaking.  Time to reveal the secret sewing, and to get back to making the needles fly.

Here's the little wall hanging I made for the Brown Bag Challenge at our quilt group.  Each participant puts a fat quarter and a slip of paper with their name on it in a brown bag, and we exchange bags.  We make something (pretty much anything goes) using the fat quarter for the person who brought it, which we give as a gift at Christmas.

The fat quarter in the brown bag I got was the white-on-white fabric I used for the background.  On the slip of paper with the person's name was a request for a Christmas table runner or a wall hanging, with cardinals if possible.  I delivered the cardinals, courtesy of Connecting Threads.com, seen here in the border.  I also made a matching pot holder, but didn't get a photo of that.

I added these corners on the back, to assist in hanging.  Have you done this?  Was it useful, or not very?  I've never done this before, and I'm not sure.

I don't make a lot of sewing projects for Christmas gifts.  It increases the stress, which I can do without.  I did make each grandchild a new pillowcase.  It was fun choosing the fabrics for them.  My granddaughter got vintage kittens, Little Buddy's has tractors (of course), my second-oldest grandson got a Minecraft print, a video game he loves, but I was stumped on the oldest grandson, Big Buddy.  My husband reminded me that Big Buddy will be in high school next year (!!!), so we chose a manly plaid.

I love my family, and I feel like I'm the luckiest person on earth, but I don't mind that the holidays are just about over and I have some time off babysitting.  I have so many UFOs to finish, and I'm hoping to make a dent in them during this long weekend.
The top above was inspired by a lady in my quilt group (the amazing Laverne) who brought a similar top to show and tell some months ago.

It's very simple, just charm squares with 1.5 in. rectangles sewn to two adjacent sides.  Mine is a lot smaller than Laverne's was, because I ran out of the fabric I was using for the narrow pieces.
Everything for this charity quilt comes from the stash.
I'm not sure if I'm going to quilt it myself, or give it to the long armers in the group so they can do a more professional job.

My Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts from this year are STILL in progress.  I'm adding brown print borders to the Wagon Trail quilt sections.  This is the big "half".  Once the borders are done, it's on to the quilting!

I hope to get this one done soon, but we'll see.   My 2017 RSC quilts are still waiting to be finished.

But that's not stopping me from thinking about RSC quilts for 2019!  This is my current idea--8 pointed stars made from two fabrics in the designated color, plus a white background.  I love all the rainbow star quilts Angela and others have made for the RSC.

This was the view out our back door on Christmas morning.  It's a White Christmas!  Never mind that it all melted by the next day.
Little Buddy is really hoping for more snow so he can build another snowman.  Eventually I'm sure he's going to get his wish.  This is a Wisconsin winter, after all.

With snow, or without, may your days be merry and bright.  Happy New Year!
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with
Angela at soscrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Tis the Season

I must confess, this used to be me.  I was a Grinch at Christmas.  Mainly, this was because I was a working mom with a job I obsessed over (school librarian, K-8, at two schools), living with a family that still wasn't used to me being back at work and not home all the time.
My life was already maxed out.  Christmas just made everything ten times worse.  Every one of my three kids needed a present and/or cookies for everything they belonged to--scouts, sports, clubs, etc., and nobody seemed to be able to tell me these things until the night before they were due.  And then there was the decorating, the shopping, the wrapping, Christmas cards, and all the crazy pressure to make the holidays "perfect".
Well, I'm not perfect.  I cracked.  I complained.  I even said I hated Christmas.  Definitely a grinch.  Maybe my heart shrunk, I don't know.
Eventually,  I learned to slow it down a little, and to skip some things and delegate others.  My kids grew up, and instead of everybody stressing out and spending a fortune, we decided to draw names among the adults and limit the amount of money spent on the present (we're up to $25 as of this year).  Our focus is on spending time celebrating together.  Oh, and eating.  Lots of eating. 
Things are better, and I'm enjoying the holidays again.  I now think of Christmastime as a season, not just one day, and we do little fun things as we go along from Thanksgiving to New Years Day.

This week, we finally put up the tree.  Little Buddy loved helping.  (A few ornaments may have been slightly harmed in the process, but we're okay with that.)  The first thing he does when he gets here in the morning is flip the switch to turn on the tree lights, even if it's bright and sunny outside.

Can you guess what this is?

It's a tea wallet!  I made it as one of several little gifts for my Mom (I drew her name this year), and put in some of her favorite decaf teas.  I got the free tutorial online from Fanny Lu Designs HERE.  It was very fast and easy.  Now I need to make one for me!

On Monday, I decided my apple core vinegar was ready.  It has been smelling very vinegar-y for several weeks, tucked away in a dark cupboard.

I got these three bottles of vinegar from it.  They will be useful in cooking and baking this winter, and they cost practically nothing, being made from apple cores, water, and a little sugar to get the fermentation started.

Good news!  I finished the Christmas quilt this afternoon, after Little Buddy went home.  It feels so good to have this one done before Christmas this year, since the top was left over from last year.

It's a big quilt, 83 in. x 93 in., which is just gigantic for me.  I did the quilting with Mrs. Pfaff, she of the built in walking foot, and made all the markings with soap slivers.

On the left you can see the backing, a wide back I ordered from Connecting Threads last year. I quilted a gentle cable in the outer border, an easy one I've done several times.  The binding is completely by machine, which is now my go-to method.
Everything isn't done yet for our holiday celebrations, but we're making progress.
Better still, we're enjoying the journey.
I'm wishing you the joy of the season (and none of the stress!)
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at Soscrappy

Christmas Red and Ice Blue

Scrappy Christmas stars was finally finished this morning.  Hurray, I've got a Christmas quilt ready for 2018, eleven months early!

Here's a photo of the quilting in progress.  I did this quilt-as-you-go style.  The center 16 stars and the inner border were set together first.  I quilted all but the inner border, and then added the outer borders of stars and red strips.  In this photo, I have just added the top and bottom borders.  Once joined together, I quilted the rest of it.  I'm using my electric Pfaff with the built-in walking foot.

It's a small quilt, only 64 in. x 64 in., shown here on a twin bed.

I quilted the red borders with a leaf stencil I've had for years and never used til now.

Instead of a label, I wrote on the back with permanent red ink.  The binding is sewn on by machine.  It's in the dryer now, and I hope it will be all crinkly when it comes out.
So that's Christmas red.

Here's ice blue--blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2018.  Our color for January is light blue.  The pattern is called Mary's Baskets, and comes from this book:

Classic & Heirloom Quilts, by Betsy Chutchian.  I'm also making a variation of the quilt on the cover.

Five blocks done so far.  I'm changing things around a little, I always do.
I've been collecting, studying, documenting, and drooling over antique quilts for many, many years, but I've never seen a quilt just like this one.   Until...

this one!  Weirdly, it's in a book I bought on the same day as the Chutchian book.

Pioneer Quilts, by Lori Lee Triplett.  It's a nice easy block, and should use up tons of reproduction fabric scraps from the 2.5 in. bin.
I'm happy to have finished a quilt this week, but I realize I just started two more.  Is that even legal?  At any rate, it makes me happy.
Stay warm and happy this week, if you can.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Myra at Busy Hands Quilts, Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts, and Angela at Soscrappy.

Piece and Joy to All

It's almost Christmas Eve!  Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and joy to everyone. 
As you can see above, I'm not finished quilting the Christmas scrap quilts I started this year.  No worries, there are only 368 more days til NEXT Christmas, and I'm sure at least this one will be done by then.

Here is my scrappy Christmas stars quilt laid out on the floor, before layering and quilting.  This quilt is another two-parter.  I'm currently quilting the center section.  When I've got that done, I'll add the borders with their backing and batting and quilt them.  Please pardon the dark photo, I just can't take pictures on these dark evenings.

The cobblestones top aka disappearing nine patch is done.  I'm actually going to have to buy a back for it.  With all the fabric I have here you'd think I could find something acceptable, but no.  It will be used in a fundraiser basket at my grandkids' school, so I want it to look really nice.  This will mean a trip to the store after Christmas.  (Hurray!  They might have other stuff I "need"!)

It is definitely easier for me to piece than quilt during my grandson's naps.  The electric Pfaff is noisier than the treadle, and I'm right down the hall from his room.  So I'm usually looking for something to piece in the afternoons.  That's where this box comes in handy.  This is my kit box.  In here are kits I have cut during the year for donation quilts.

I pieced this baby quilt top this week from a kit made from the large Accuquilt tumblers.  I laid it out on my design floor on Wednesday (in spite of the help of Mr. Biddy the cat), and pieced it together on Thursday.  I'll get it quilted next, after the scrappy Christmas stars.

I can't believe all the cute flannel prints there are in the stores.  Most of these have been in my stash for literally years.  It's nice to move them along in a warm quilt for a child.
This is the season for sewing with flannel, at least here in Wisconsin.  There are 4 more flannel baby quilts cut out and ready to sew in the kit box.  I might get a couple more of them done before spring.

In other years, I have enjoyed making Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery quilt during the holidays, but I haven't really found the time this year.  This year's mystery quilt is called On Ringo Lake, and you can find all the parts HERE.  Reading her posts has made me remember that I although I have started several, I have NEVER finished one of these mystery quilts. 

Thinking of this made me dig out my Celtic Solstice quilt pieces from the bottom of the closet, and finally sew these indigo blue borders on.

Bonnie's designs are always amazing, but sometimes they're just a little too complicated for me.  I calmed this one down by leaving out the yellow and green chevrons which I just couldn't make come out right no matter what I did.  (The directions were fine.  My sewing was NOT.)  I added a row of blocks at the top and the bottom to make it longer and simplified the border.

And I love it!  It's also in two sections, ready for my kind of quilting.  I have no idea when that will happen.
This week I'm wishing you the joy of the season, and the joy of making quilts.
Feliz Navidad!
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Usual link ups at Crazy Mom Quilts and Busy Hands Quilts.