Bright and Sunny

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  And welcome to March!

It's also the first week of yellow month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

I "accidentally" featured yellow this week in a top I made for a local charity, not knowing it would be March's color.

 

Little Lizzy, the Quilter's Cat Trainee at my house, is examining the top.  Her skills are still a work in progress, but she is very willing to learn.  And play, of course!

This is the third time I have made a quilt in this pattern. It comes from the book above, S is for Scraps by Gayle Bong.  The example in the book has a bright yellow solid in the same places I do, plus the border.  

This is the block:  6 scrap squares, plus a yellow rectangle.  The popsicle fabric is the border.  The blocks are turned back and forth, the same way as a Rail Fence quilt. 

 I just love a design that chains across the quilt!  As you can see, most of the squares are my faves, bright novelty prints.

I made 35 blocks, so I needed 210 squares. All the squares came from this drawer, with the exception of a few purples and yellows for variety.  This is the photo AFTER I made the blocks.  Maybe I need to find another project for these?

When I found out what the new color for March would be, I started cutting pieces from my yellow Big Scraps for my RSC blocks.  I don't have much yellow sadly, although I like it, and it really brightens up a scrap quilt.  I still need to cut background pieces for most of the blocks.

The Bright Hopes blocks only need a light center square and four rectangles, so I started them first.  The light centers came from the 2.5 in. square drawer.  Some of the rectangles came from the Big Scraps, others from my box of 2.5 in. x 4.5 in. pieces.

With far less variety than I had with blue, I'm just mixing everything in together.

If you're making blocks for the Many Hands and Many Hearts block drive, don't forget to mail them in!  The drive ended yesterday, which is when I finally made it to the post office.  I sent a small batch, just ran out of time to make more.  I especially like to participate when the drive asks for novelty prints, since I have lots.  Many Hands and Many Hearts is organized by Cynthia of the Quilting is More Fun Than Housework blog.

The dragon block is my favorite!  Thanks to my friend Joey for sending me this awesome scrap!

Our cats are getting along better every day.  Both of them are excited by the birds outside.  I couldn't believe they posed like this, I had to run and get my phone/camera.

Temps in the 40s and even low 50s this week are almost making me believe in spring, even though I know we are usually in for more snow in March and April.  But spring is definitely coming sooner or later, and that's something to look forward to.

Have a lovely week, whatever the weather!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

By the Book

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

This little quilt is my latest attempt to use up a box of 3.5 in. squares.  The pattern is called Joy in the Morning, and comes from this book:

S is for Scraps:  18 great quilts, by Gayle Bong.  It's definitely a good pattern--this is the 4th quilt I've made from it, starting back in 2013.  Simple piecing, simple quilting and squares that chain across the quilt get it put on my go-to list.  As you can see, I got the book used.  It has been more than worth the price.

There are only 16 blocks in this version.  With the border, it measures 42 in. square.  It should be a good size for donating to Little Lambs, a Hands2Help 2021 charity.

I'm always looking for places to use my multi-colored fabrics, which work well here.

I officially nominate this square as the strangest fabric I have ever seen.  It came to me from a friend in Pennsylvania, and appears to be a frog dressed in either a baby outfit or a French maid's costume.  Either way, completely weird.  (Got weird fabric?  We all want to see it!)

For a backing, the Scooby-Doo fabric came in handy.  There's still more of it, the fabric that keeps on giving.  The binding is a polka dot, just for fun.

Meanwhile, red scraps are getting sorted and pieced into blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Please excuse the bad lighting, it was getting dark outside when I snapped this photo.

Send in the clowns!  Years ago I bought a scrap bag with this clown fabric in it.  (Yes, I even buy other people's scraps!)  I only had a few squares left.

I know it's fashionable to be creeped out by clowns after all the horror movies, but I think these are the harmless kind.  I hope the kids who get these quilts will be okay with them.

I'm writing this early this week, because these characters and their big brother are going to be staying with us over the weekend, and I'm not expecting to have much time on the computer.  This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago, before Little Buddy's extreme hair cut.

The weather has been up and down, as usual for early May.  Baby Buddy and I saw this old apple tree on our walk today.  It's just blooming its heart out.

Happy Mothers Day on Sunday to all who celebrate, but especially to my own mother, the Best Mom in the World.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Two Times Three Equals Five

I'm not exactly a math whiz.  I'm the kind of person who used to read novels tucked inside the textbook in Algebra class.  Most of the math I use in daily life is just simple adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing.
The book above, Cut the Scraps! by Joan Ford, appealed to me because I'm always curious about how other people cut and use their scraps.  My own scraps are sorted into 1.5 in., 2 in., 2.5 in., 3.5 in., 4.5 in. and 5 in. strips and squares.  The real orphans are the 2 in. pieces.  They get passed over time after time for the easier math of the 2.5 in. strips.
Ms. Ford cuts her scraps into squares in three sizes:  2 in., 3.5 in., and 5 in., and she explains in the book that she does this because they play well together.  Four patch blocks made of 2 in. squares finish at 3 in., so they can pair with the 3.5 in. squares.  And nine patch blocks made from 2 in. squares finish at 4.5 in., just like 5 in. squares.  (Two inches times 3 across equals five!  Right?)
Why did I never think of this?  And why did it suddenly go off in my head like a light bulb in a dark refrigerator?
Here's why.  Scraps!

Some people are inspired by nature, or sunrises, or songs.  I'm inspired by crumpled piles of fabric strips.  I definitely need to use these up. This mess is less than half the strips from my 2 in. drawer.  I've pulled out the 1800s reproductions, more or less, and from there sorted them into lights and darks.

I'm cutting the 2 in. strips into squares and making classic nine patch blocks.  Then I'm sewing them to pairs of 5 in. squares which are already cut and waiting.

This is so much fun I can hardly stop myself.  I was sewing in my pajamas this morning, before I'd even had my first cup of tea.

I've also had fun this week making string blocks for Covered in Love.  These aren't sewn together, just set snugly side by side.  When I get a couple more sewn I'll send them off.

The Joy in the Morning baby quilt is quilted and bound, ready for a new home.

More no-mark quilting.  The long lines in the solid blue pieces were done using the edge of the presser foot, and I cross hatched the squares by eye.  It turned out better than I was expecting, although of course not perfect.  Totally fun fabrics.

The border is this cute boot print.  My little grandson is so excited to go out in the snow wearing his boots.  He yells "Boot!  Boot!  Boot!" until I put them on him.  The snow melted away this week, but it's pouring down now, and we're expecting 4 to 6 inches of cold white stuff.  My little buddy will be thrilled.

Snow doesn't really thrill me anymore, but getting fabric and a new Kaffe Fassett book in the mail never fails.  Hurray!
Lentil soup, a cup of tea, and scraps to sew make this a perfect day to be snowed in.
Stay warm this week, and keep quilting!
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up as always to Crazy Mom Quilts  and Busy Hands Quilts.

Small Things

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, an annual day of community service and giving back.  Because I'm a full-time babysitter for the sweetest toddler in the world, I couldn't really do justice to the day on Monday, so I dedicated the whole week to donation quilts.  I finished this one above, a flannel tumbler baby quilt, shown on my grandson's portable crib.

The back is a darling animal print.  You can see the quilting here, which I did using the edge of the presser foot.  No marking needed!

We're having a lovely sunny day here, with temps in the 40s(!).  The snow is going to melt, and the furnace won't have to work as hard for a few days.  The sunshine does interfere with good photos, but oh well.
For my piecing this week, I worked on using up strips from my 3.5 in. bin, and finished two tops.

I'm calling this one Pixel Hearts.  The prints are mostly novelties, and the block only has 3 pieces--a 3.5 in. square of white, a 3.5 in. square of novelty print, and a rectangle 3.5 x 6.5 of matching novelty print.  Easy peasy.  The blocks are set on point to look sort of like hearts.

The alternate blocks are cut from Project Linus fabric.  You probably can't see it, but there is a drawing of Linus with his security blanket and the words "Project Linus" scattered about on the print.

I used what I had left of the Project Linus fabric for the pieced back.  It will be trimmed down after quilting.

Through the middle of the back I've sewn 4 patches made from 5 in. squares, to make the back big enough.  I think my favorite fabric here is the frog print.
I'm hoping to layer, baste, and start quilting it later today.

The second top is a pattern I've made twice before, called Joy in the Morning, by Gail Bong.  I first wrote about it HERE.  It's another easy block, made from six 3.5 in. squares and one solid colored 9.5 in. rectangle.  I like how it chains across the quilt.

I still have to make the backing for this one.
Even with all this piecing, the 3.5 in. bin is still full.  How is that possible?

I hope that I have succeeded this week in honoring Dr. King's memory. 
I take comfort from this quote:
“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”.
I'm not sure about the "great way" part, but I have made these small things with love and joy for the children who will receive them.

Wishing love and joy for you this week,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.