All Wrapped Up

Look who's getting wrapped up in my work!  My little buddy is helping me show my "finish" for this week, the first of four Christmas quilts.  It's only a flimsy so far.

Here it is on the bed, complete with baby model.
I started this quilt just before the Ties that Bind retreat two weeks ago, and made the rest of the blocks at the retreat.  I set the blocks together and added borders during my grandson's naps this week.

Now for a closeup.  The pattern is Sticks and Stones, by Bonnie Hunter, available HERE for free.  I made a total of 56 blocks, half with red squares, the other half with green.  My version is slightly bigger than Bonnie's.
I'll take better pictures when it's quilted.

This is the box of cut pieces I took to the retreat.  Three future quilts are hiding in here.

This was my station at the retreat.  I used the Jones hand crank to make the 4 pointed star blocks.  I got all 42 done at the retreat, and am working on setting them together.
I'm excited to have at least this much done, especially since things have really changed in my life.  My daughter got a full time job, so now I have a full time babysitting gig with a 17 month old.  Going from part time to full time is a challenge, but very much worth it.  We're finding new fun things to do, like taking pictures of grandma's quilt and rearranging the blocks in the star quilt.  He has an absolutely maniacal laugh, and I can't help laughing too, even when he's taking off down the hall with a row of quilt blocks.

Guess what else happened--I WON a lovely stack of fat quarters from Brooke at Silly Mama Quilts!  The Fed Ex man brought them just as I was packing up the car for the retreat.  Here they are, laid out by my featherweight.
Now what am I going to make out of these lovelies?
Can't wait to find out.
Have a fun filled week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
I'm linking up as usual with Crazy Mom Quilts and Busy Hands Quilts.

Around My Kitchen Table

I had a wonderful weekend.  It started on Friday, with a visit from a friend.  She brought a lovely old hand crank sewing machine, which had been cleaned and oiled beautifully by her husband.  In short order we got it sewing and winding bobbins.  It made a wonderful stitch.  Not bad for something over a hundred years old.
I sewed along with my Jones handcrank (made in the 1920s, I think), making 4 patches from feedsack squares.

I started out using up scraps from my last feedsack project, the flying squares quilt.  In that quilt, all four squares were different.  In this quilt, I'm using two each of two prints.  It was fun figuring out the combinations.  Some are pretty and some are, well, not.

Here's the block the 4 patches will be part of.  It's a pinwheel block, #1121 in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  I changed it a little, to make fewer seams.  Doing so made it another block that needs a partial seam.  If you'd like the pattern, leave a comment, and I'll write it up.

The most fun was just spending the day sewing together, catching up and chatting.  We worked in the kitchen, because I'm not really set up to work in the basement with anybody else.  I need to change that, I think.  Although it was very convenient being near the food and beverages.

That evening we ate supper at the kitchen table and visited together.  Then my husband and grandson watched a movie and my friend and I just talked.  And laughed.

On Saturday we had a family birthday party for my youngest daughter.  We brought in lots of chairs and packed around the table, and I bet they heard the laughing in Milwaukee.  We did this at lunch and again at dinner, with a changing cast of characters.  After dinner we played a charades game.  More laughing, more fun, more sharing, around the kitchen table.

Sunday was a quieter day.  Since I already had everything I needed for sewing handy, I set up again on the kitchen table, and finished the 4 patches.  Then I started working on a charity quilt.  My friend had given me a huge batch of 2.5 in. strips, cut from pillow panels.  She had sewn lots of the strips into sets of 3, so it was easy for me to press, cut, and assemble 9 patch blocks.  I'm wondering how many quilts I can make out of these strips.

I learned so much this weekend.  My friend's insight into how to solve some of my quilting problems has made me think.  I learned more about her life and the place quilting has in it.  I learned that I can happily let go of stuff I've kept for years if it goes to a good place.  And I'm trying not to worry so much about having the house "perfect" before I invite anyone over.  Getting older is teaching me that life is NOW.

So thanks for coming over this weekend, family and friends.  You are more than welcome here.  I love to see you around my kitchen table.

Isn't this a great quilt top?  Thanks, Joey!

Cranking Out A Flannel Quilt

At our last quilt guild meeting, our fearless leader handed out a couple of flannel quilt kits that were donated to a local charity.  The charity hoped we could make them up.  The kits were home-cut from cotton flannel.
The one I got was mostly pink.  The squares were cut 4.5 in.  There were also some red squares, that didn't really go with the pinks.
I laid them out on the kitchen table to figure out what to do with them.  Trip around the world just started happening. 

I added in the flowered fabric from my not-to-be-believed flannel stash.  I also added in the pink with small dots.  The hearts with the chocolate background were part of the original kit, and I think they really make the quilt.  (Good job, anonymous donor!)
My treadle sewing machines are all over the house (of course!) but my main sewing areas are upstairs in the extra bedroom and in the basement where I do my machine quilting.  So I really goofed laying this out in the kitchen.  Now I was going to have to move it to sew it, if I wanted to treadle.  This was a job for a hand crank!  I got my trusty Jones and got to work.

It was easy to keep the squares and rows in the right order with them right in front of me.  This is such a nice machine.  The bobbin is small, but it holds a lot.
A word or two about sewing with flannel: 
I have made flannel quilts for my three children, my husband, and my oldest grandson.  It's not hard to sew with flannel, but it's not a great fabric for precision cutting and piecing.  I use a 1/4 in. seam allowance, as usual, but I use a shorter stitch length, since flannel wants to ravel out.  Simple shapes are best.  I also wash my flannel before using it, because it shrinks quite a lot, more than regular cotton.
So what did I do with the extra red squares?

These are such fun prints.  I love the ladybugs and the dolphins.

Trip Around the World
About the pattern:  These quilts finish 36 in. square.  There are 9 rows of 9 squares each, for a total of 81 squares.  I didn't add a border on either, but it would look nice.
Here's the breakdown on the number of squares:
1 center square (solid red)
4 next round (ladybugs)
8 next round (solid red)
12 next round (daisies)
16 next round (dolphins)
16 next round (yellow bugs and butterflies)
12 next round (ladybugs again)
8 next round (solid red)
4 outside corners (daisies again)

If you wanted to make it bigger, you could keep adding rows.  Or just add a border, of course.
I quilted both of these on my Davis VF (no problems, knock on wood!).  The quilting is just a 4 in. grid in the ditch of the seams.  Both are soft and cuddly after washing.

The red quilt is finished with a red flannel binding, sewn by machine.  The pink flannel quilt was sewn to the backing like a pillow case and flipped right sides out with the batting inside.  I top stitched around the edge after I finished the quilting.

Here it is, finished.

What are you cranking out today?