Twin Tops and More Green Blocks

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I'm back after technical difficulties last week.  A big storm here knocked out our internet and cable last Friday night, and we didn't get it back until Sunday.  Years ago that wouldn't have seemed like such a big deal, but we are so used to all these modern conveniences now that we really missed them.  It paid to have books to read from our wonderful local library.

We still had electricity, thank goodness, for light and heat and so I could use the iron while I pieced on the treadle.  Some of the leftover Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks from 2023 finally got made into tops.  The first one is the one above.

Twenty-four Puss in the Corner blocks went into this top, which is destined for a young person through the Child Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.  Sometimes I set these blocks side by side, which can look kind of chaotic.  This time I opted to separate them with light print sashing, which makes a calmer quilt.  Life right now seems chaotic enough all by itself.

The border and cornerstones are the same fabric.  It's a print from author Eric Carle's book The Very Lonely Firefly.  (Don't worry, the firefly finds friends in the end.)  The block in this corner is made from a Minecraft fabric scrap leftover from making a pillowcase for one of my grandsons.

Each block is made from 4 charm squares:  two each of the novelty print and two each of the light print.  (Click HERE for some quick instructions).

There were STILL more Puss in the Corner blocks, so I put 24 more of them into a second top with the same layout as the first one.  I had less of the light sashing print and the border, so both had to be cut a little narrower.

The cornerstones and border are green in this one, which goes along with our RSC color for May.  It will also be donated to the Child Advocacy Center, to be given to a young person.

The green border is a novelty print (of course!) of Dr. Seuss characters.  As a retired elementary school librarian I love prints from children's books.  (I have been known to squeal when I see them, which can be a bit embarrassing.)

Two of the blocks are also made from Dr. Seuss inspired fabric.  Like this one, with Thing One and Thing Two.  Sometimes my youngest grandsons remind me of these guys.

I only had a scrap of this Seuss fabric but I loved including it.  Lots of us old folks enjoy seeing the names of these books that livened up our childhood.

The very kind quilter who organizes these quilts will do the long arm quilting on my tops.  When Mrs. Pfaff is back from the shop I'll start sending finished quilts again.

Oops, May is almost over!  I've got to push on and get my green RSC blocks done.

Last week I had these Radio Windmill blocks ready to go.  These 5 lean to the right, ...

and these 5 lean to the left.  Can you believe that 3 out of the 10 have giraffes in the print?

I'm not sure which imaginary land has green and pink giraffes.

Alligator or crocodile?  This guy is more realistic.  But not very scary.

The hearts are this week's effort.  Of course there had to be a Green Bay Packers block.

Isn't it amazing how many shades of green there are?  The numbers print is another an Eric Carle fabric.

My favorite heart block!  Great color, fun print, a scrap from my friend Joey.  (Note to self:  Press it again!)

Only one more Saturday in May!  I hope I made some progress with the green scraps.  How did you do?

We had beautiful weather on Mothers Day.  After lunch we took a walk in the park.  The kids call this bench "the picture bench", so we posed for a group photo.  Not pictured:  our son, who was working, a son-in-law who wasn't feeling well, and Mr. H the camera shy teenager who took the picture.

Here's a scary sight:  Little Guy driving around on a four wheeler!  He's a good driver so far.

I hope you're enjoying the merry month of May where you are, whatever the weather brings.

Happy Stitching!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Check out these great linky parties, hosted by wonderful quilters.

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Of Cats and Quilts and Puzzles and Books

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

If you visited Treadlestitches last year, you might remember all the cat blocks I was making for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I got carried away (so not unusual for me)!  It was so much fun to see these made up in all sorts of prints.  This is my third little quilt made from those blocks.

This time the cats alternate with a pieced block, with a multicolored cat print in the center.  The block is called Puss in the Corner, which is completely appropriate.  

Lots of the fabrics in the quilt are multicolored.  Some even feature things cats might like, such as sushi.  (Isn't it amazing how many different prints there are in the world?)

Snicky the cat decided to pose next to the quilt when I was taking pictures.

The blue inner border and the binding are both from my scraps, so they're in keeping with the RSC color of the month.  (Sorry for the dark photos.  It's a dismal day here, and the flash didn't help much.)

The back is this blue plaid.  Can you see the hint of sparkle in it?  It was recycled from a little-used tablecloth from a girl scout camp.

More blue scraps!  All of these hearts were made from pieces cut from my Big Scraps basket.  I seem to have more dark than light blues.

Ice cream cones, dinosaurs, butterflies, Thomas the Tank Engine, Curious George, etc.  The hearts will go into quilts to be donated to kids.  I hope they like these fun fabrics!

A quilter's cat needs to be ready at all times to inspect quilt blocks laid out on the floor.  Lizzy, our little quilter's cat in training, just came across these blocks by accident while chasing Purple Mousie, her favorite toy.  I'm sure she'll refine her technique in time.  

She and Snicky are working out their relationship with lots of running and chasing.  He objects (rightly!) to having his tail attacked.  They still spend some time each day apart.

The quilt blocks are Rail Fence blocks from last year's RSC.  So many blocks, so little time!

Last Friday, hubby and I spent the morning book shopping.  I bought this puzzle at Barnes and Noble, and we worked it right away.  It has two of my favorite things, cats and books.  There are STILL some leftover cat blocks in the RSC bin.  Maybe I could make a quilt like this?  Only simpler?  

Our next stop was Half Price Books, where I found all of these!  Lots of great ideas for future projects.

It's been a busy week, and it's about to get busier.  Today is the Winter Quilt Show in West Bend!  I will spend the morning enjoying the show and the vendors, and the afternoon working at the guild booth.  I hope I can remember to take pictures of the action for next week's blog.

Have a lovely quilty week, everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilters:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

How Is It March Already?

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's not spring here yet, and the grass is still brown, but the sun is shining and the temperature is above freezing, so that counts as great weather for early March in Wisconsin.  

Now why would I have all these green scraps out on my cutting desk?  It must be green month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  Not sure why I haven't always had lots of green scraps, but I've been looking for them at sales the last couple of years, and this is the result.  It will be fun to cut them up for my RSC blocks this month.

These little house blocks are made from charm squares, and are lightning fast to sew--just one seam!  It's hard to wait til the end of the year to start putting them into small quilts.

I'm still working on the pink Uneven Nine Patch blocks, but I made time for one green one.  Each block is made from 4 charm squares, so no waste, and I'm using up some of my squares.  (Click HERE for the brief instructions I posted last week.)

Speaking of pink, I still have pink projects to finish!  This little flannel quilt just needs to be bound.  It will go to Jack's Basket, an organization celebrating babies with Down's syndrome.  Don't you just love that cat print?

Does this happen to anybody else?  I can't seem to decide on all my RSC blocks for the year in January.  So if I add a new project and want all the colors represented, I have to make blocks in the colors from the previous month(s).  This time it was only February when I added the Uneven Nine Patches, so only one month to play catch up.  Now that the dark blue blocks are done, I'm back on track.  At least for now.

I had a lovely visit with my friend Joey this week.  She has a shop in Mineral Point, Wisconsin called Against the Grain (Click HERE for some info about the shop.)  We enjoyed the antique quilt exhibit at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts, ate lunch out, talked for hours, and even got some fabric cut.  While she was here, she did a BIG favor for me.

I've been wanting to let go of some of my vintage fabrics, etc.  Since she sells these in her shop, she was interested in them, so I pulled out stuff I had already sorted before she came.  Then I went through my printed feed sacks.  I pared them down by HALF.  Now all of them fit in my old metal trunk.

I can actually see and enjoy what I have!  I kept plenty of pieces to use in quilts, and all of this makes me happy.  You might even say it sparks joy.

And Joey, bless her, took ALL the stuff I had out to get rid of.  She'll sort it out, and donate anything she doesn't want.  We filled up her trunk and most of her back seat with boxes and bags.  I feel so much lighter with this stuff gone.  Hurray!

But wait, there's more!  Joey is also a fabulous long arm quilter.  She custom quilted THREE quilts for me, and they are WONDERFUL.  You'll have to wait til next week to see them unfolded.  BTW, Snicklefritz the cat was quickly shooed away after this photo!

It's been a busy week with my little boys, although I didn't manage to get any decent pictures.  My first grade Buddy was laughing when I picked him up at school on Friday.  He told me his teacher had read a book to the class called Weird But True Gross Things.  I won't repeat the disgusting things he remembered from the book and shared with us.  His poor mother was covering her ears and begging him to stop.  Why do boys love this stuff?

I hope you have a lovely week, and time to spend with family and friends.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Rainbow Blocks and Three Baby Quilts

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

February, which is pink month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, is winding down.  Are you still thinking pink?  I am, which is odd since pink has never been my favorite color.  I'm really enjoying it, and it could be because it contrasts so well with the white winter wonderland I live in.

I've added yet another project to my Rainbow Scrap Challenge list.  These blocks, sometimes called Puss in the Corner, are fun to make from 5 in. squares.  One of my guild members (who shall always be known here as Nancy, Queen of Scraps) showed a quilt she made from this pattern last month, and that was it, I was hooked.  I especially liked it since this year I'm trying to use up boxes of 5 in. squares and strips.

I don't know what rock I was hiding under not to have seen this pattern done from charm squares before!  If anybody knows where it originated, let me know and I'll give credit where it's due.  Just in case you might have missed it like me, here are some brief instructions.

For each block, you need 4 charm squares, two matching light ones and two matching dark ones.  If you want a dark center, you cut them like this:  leave one dark 5 in. square whole, and cut the other one into four 2.5 in. squares.  Then cut both light squares in half lengthwise to make 4 rectangles 2.5 in. x 5 in.  From there, just sew them into an elongated nine patch.

For a light center, reverse it.  They go together best in a quilt if there are equal numbers of light and dark centered blocks.  (Did you see my goof up?  I made more light centered blocks than dark, so now I have to sew more blocks.  Oh, well, guess I have to spend the afternoon in my happy place, sewing quilt blocks on my treadle! Horrors! <wink>)

More pink!  I quilted and bound my pink Rail Stepper baby quilt last night.  Many thanks to Alycia for her free tutorial (click HERE).

I had a hard time deciding how to quilt this one.  In the end I went for a 3 in. grid with serpentine stitch.  Not very imaginative, I know, but I do like how subtle it is.

Lots of dots in this one, including the backing and binding. 

It was a weird week.  Monday and Tuesday there was no school for Buddy due to teacher inservice.  I was hoping to take them to the library, which they love, but both of them were sick.  They're huddled up under quilts here, watching Peppa Pig.

Due to the frightful weather on Wednesday and Thursday, with snow and sleet etc., the boys' parents looked after them at home, so we had no babysitting duties.  There were lots of things to do here, as always, but I did have more time to quilt.

Remember this top?  I called it Dinosaurs Around the World.  It was layered and basted already, so it was quick to quilt.

Look what I found for the back!  I got a yard of this world map fabric on sale at our local quilt shop.  I had to add strips of the sea turtle print at the top and bottom to make it long enough.

There are some really fun things being printed on selvedges!  The map fabric had these old timey ships.  Way more fun that just the usual dots of color!

This little quilt was also ready to go.  I started making the blocks last year in July using the tutorial provided by Preeti for the Positivity Quilt Along 2022  (click HERE).  I made a large blue and green version for the quilt along, but loved the idea of multi-colored scraps (of course!).  

I call mine The Gum Wrapper Quilt, because it looks like the chains we made with gum wrappers when I was a child.

The quilting is a 2 in. grid, sewn in the ditch.

Here's the back, more of the sale fabric from the quilt shop.  The binding is a red pin dot, probably from the 1990s, that I got second hand.

The backing had another great selvedge!  This one says Play All Day Be Joyful.  Well, you don't have to tell me twice!  

Snicklefritz the cat takes the Play All Day advice to heart every day.  I couldn't get him to pose at all.

Bonus--Preeti's method makes two identical blocks.  I only used one of each in this quilt.  So there is a stack of 25 more blocks waiting for me to put them together.

To be honest, there are LOTS of block sets waiting for me.  Does that mean I'm ahead, or behind?

Either way, I'm having a good time.  I hope you are, too.  Stay warm and safe!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap