Pink Hearts and Sisters Choice

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Happy Holidays!

I'm still on my quest to use up the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks I made all this year.  This is the next-to-last heart quilt, which I'm calling Pink Valentines.

For somebody whose favorite color is NOT pink, I seem to be making a lot of pink quilts!  This one uses up the last pink hearts.  It's a little one, just 35 in. x 43 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center.

My pink stash is tiny (wonder why?).  I had a couple of strips of this heart print that I used for cornerstones to fit the heart theme.

The border is this very subtle heart print.  I also used what was left of it for the binding, along with another pink to make enough.  I'll be on the lookout this year for some bright pink prints and solids.

The backing is this same "cheater" print I've used on the two pink Bowtie quilts.  There's only a scrap of it left now.

Coming soon, one last heart quilt!

Meanwhile, I've moved on to the Sisters Choice blocks.  Even though I didn't expect to have much time to sew this week, a few hours opened up on a couple of days.  It doesn't take long to put a top together if all the blocks are already sewn!  

To set the blocks together, I used sashing strips cut from this paw print, and cornerstones and borders from the mottled blue.  I bought both of these fabrics at Sew & Sews quilt shop in Oklahoma City while I was visiting my mom.

This red block is my favorite.  The dinosaur in the center is waving at us!

The top is 54 in. x 66 in., and will also go to the CAC.

When I'm piecing I need leaders and enders, which can lead to scrambling around in the scraps and getting totally off track.  A better use of the time is participating in block drives, like the current one being run by Cynthia at Oh Scrap.  (Click HERE for the block drive post/directions.)

The blocks this time are 4 patches surrounded by either white-on-black prints or black-on-white prints.  I didn't have any of the black-on-white ones (I think they got used up in a guild challenge?) but I had a few of the white-on-black.  These quilts will be for adults, so I didn't use my usual kid prints.  It gave me a chance to use up some colorful non-kid squares.  

The quilts made from the blocks will be donated through Many Hand and Many Hearts.  Click on the link to learn about their mission.

The holidays are here!  This can be such a busy time for those of us who celebrate.  How are you doing?  Don't forget to stay hydrated!

Hubby and I went to a program this week at our youngest grandson's school.  That's him, with the vest on, next to his friends.  The program was wonderful as always, and really gets me in a holiday mood.  

More holiday merrymaking is on the schedule for today.  My daughters and their kids are coming over, and we're making Christmas cookies.  It's a family tradition that we look forward to every year.  I'm almost ready.  Three different doughs are chilling in the fridge, but I do need to make about a gallon of icing, so I'd better get going.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  And a joyful week to everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Rainbow Scrap Challenge Heart Quilts, Part Deux

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

More hearts this week!  I'm working on making quilts with the blocks I sewed all year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  These are the second and third heart quilts.

In the little quilt above, I have alternated the heart blocks with Bright Hopes blocks, which were also an RSC project this year.  I'm calling it Hearts and Bright Hopes (I am nothing if not obvious!).  I arranged them in rainbow rows.  There are fifteen Hearts and fifteen Bright Hopes.

The border is an Eric Carle print.  This one features The Very Lonely Firefly from his book of the same name.  I got several yards at a sale in Madison almost a year ago.  You can expect to see it again!

Here's the backing, red hearts on white.  This yardage came from the museum sale last summer, and was just right for this project.

The quilt is 36 in. x 42 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center.

More hearts!  I call this one Hearts and Squares.  It's a lap size/small twin at 54 in. x 62 in.

I was hoping to use up some of these 2.5 in. squares, so the rest would fit better in the drawer.  I bet you know what happened.  This is the "before" photo.

Here's a photo from today.  This quilt top used up 213 of the squares.  And the only reason the drawer looks a little emptier is that I moved the solid squares to a different drawer.  This proves it.  I will never be able to use up all my scraps.  

That's okay with me!

The sashing pieces were handy to use for leaders and enders.  When I finished the top, I realized it was a bit bright.  Even for me.

All these wild fabrics might be a bit much.  I put a calmer border on it, not sure if it helps.

It was definitely fun digging all these squares out of the drawer and adding them together.

The top will also be going to the CAC in Milwaukee.

Christmastime is here for all of us who celebrate.  We got a little help decorating the tree this week from our youngest grandsons.  Buddy was kind enough to pose for me.  He is growing so much lately, getting taller.

So is Little Guy!  He can reach farther up on the tree than ever.  You can see we still have snow on the ground.  It's been here for two weeks now, not melting any time soon.

I hope you're having a good week, in spite of or because of the holiday excitement.  I'm not expecting to get much sewing done this coming week, which is one of the reasons I don't sew gifts.  I am looking forward to all the fun social activities this week.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  And happy quilting to everyone!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Bowtie #5, and Princesses Take A Trip

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  I hope you're having a good week.

It has been fun sewing these Bowtie blocks I made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year, and even more fun making them into quilts.  Above is Bowtie #5, posing next to my Willcox and Gibbs treadle.

This is a little one, 38 in. x 46 in., made with just 20 blocks.  This time I arranged the colors in diagonal rows of aqua, purple, pink and yellow.  It will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee, for a baby or toddler.

When making the blocks this year, I tried hard to find light fabrics that were just as much fun as the dark novelty prints.  These pears are definitely a little weird.

The aqua fabric reminds me of phonograph records (remember those?).  I have had the cat fabric in the background for years, and will be very sad to finally use it up.

This block is my favorite:  unicorns and rainbows!  I have to admit, I'm not hating pink anymore.

The back is this 1990s print, which I used on the first Bowtie quilt I finished this year.

So, to sum up the Bowtie quilts:

#1 was a pink baby quilt, used 20 blocks, is a finished quilt

#2 I called You are Loved, used 48 blocks, I will donate it as a top.

#3 I called Bowtie Trip Around the world, used 48 blocks, I will donate it as a top.

#4 was the one with the cats in cups border, used 30 blocks, is a finished quilt.

#5 is today's, used 20 blocks, and is a finished quilt.

So that makes 166 blocks!  Good grief, I really did get carried away.  

These 4 blocks are all that's left.  Anybody got any good ideas for what to do with orphan blocks?

It is finally dawning on me that I might need a plan for the RSC quilts BEFORE I make the blocks.  Hmm.  

Remember this picture?  A friend at quilt guild donated these Princess Life charm squares to me.  There were 335 total.  (Amazing!  Thanks, Laurie!)  She had planned to make a quilt for her niece (I think?) but changed her mind.

Here's what I did with some of them.  Trip Around the World was on my mind (thanks to Bowtie #3) and I had enough squares of each print to go this far.  This quilt will be donated as a top to the CAC, to eventually be given to a kid in foster care.

All the squares in the quilt came from the charm packs, even the pink and blue prints.  I set them 11 across and 13 down, using 143 squares.

I like the diversity of princesses.  I especially like the one wearing glasses.  Not a princess here, but I've worn glasses since I was in second grade so I like seeing kids in prints wearing them.  I bet glasses-wearing kids like that too.

It's probably hard to see, but the purple print in the corner and the darker blue print have crowns as the design.  They are my favorites from this collection.

The blue border is from my stash.  It's a print of sewing threads and needles, with hearts and swirls.  To me it says Sewn for You With Love.  That carriage print was a little odd.  If the carriages were right side up, the frogs were usually upside down.  And blue frogs?  Maybe they were cold?

Speaking of cold...Yes, it's definitely winter, no matter what the calendar says.  Last Saturday's snow is still here, and we got another dusting last night.  The roads are clear though, as well as the parking lots, etc.  Wisconsin knows how to deal with this stuff.

This is a view from one of the sewing room windows.  Check out the icicles!  We don't need to buy icicle Christmas decorations.  They are melting in the sun today, even though it's still 20 degrees F or so.

I don't mind the cold, mostly because I'm snug and warm in my sewing room!  Here are some things I'm hoping to work on this week.  More princesses of course--I still have 192 squares!  This pattern might work, at least for some of them.  I have a plan for the pink hearts, which was really difficult because I have hardly any pink stash.  I bet I could fix that lol.

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia at Treadlestitches  

Check out these fun linky parties, hosted by these terrific quilters.

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday 

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

  

Bow Tie Rainbow/You Are Loved

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

 Somehow I got carried away making Bow Tie blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year.  Maybe it was because they are so fast and easy to make, or because I had so many cute scraps I wanted to include.  At any rate, it got out of hand, and now I'm putting the blocks together into quilts.  Last week I showed you my little pink Bow Tie quilt all finished.  This one is just a top.

Like most of the kid quilts I'm making, this one will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.  The organizer accepts tops as well as finished quilts, and they have a real need for bigger quilts.  I am happy to make the larger tops, but they are hard for me to quilt on my domestic machine, so I donate them as tops, like this one. 

The blocks finish at 8 in. square, and the quilt comes out to 54 in. x 70 in.  It's a smaller twin size.  There are 8 rows, each with one color of blocks.  So you can see why I call it a Bow Tie Rainbow.

So what about "You Are Loved"?  Take a close look at the border above.  The words "you are loved" appear over and over in the print.  I'm not sure where I got this fabric, probably from a used fabric sale, and I never knew what to do with it until now.  It seems like a good message for a quilt donated to a child in foster care.

More Bow Tie quilts are coming!  Watch this space!

In other news, I finally got around to binding this quilt.  It started as a not-quite-complete kit I picked up at a guild meeting.  I finished the top all the way back in June, and turned it in to our charity committee. 

It was quilted right away by the Fabulous Joy.  Didn't she do a great job?  She has done at least 80 donation quilts this year.  That's right, 80!!!

I agreed to do the binding, using the same blue solid as the sashing.  I have to admit I procrastinated a bit, plus I was out of town for a funeral and then to visit my wonderful Mom.  Yesterday, I finally pulled up my socks and got to work on it.  It's all done now (hurray!).  The guilt is gone, and the quilt can be given to someone who needs it.

I forgot to post this from Halloween!  The pirate captain is my youngest daughter, and her kids (that I call Buddy and Little Guy) are the Pokemon characters.  They had a wonderful time trick or treating.

Have a wonderful week, everyone! 

 

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these lovely bloggers:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Pink Bowties, and Dolls

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

It's so much fun to see all the bloggers working on putting together their Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for this year.  I'm working on mine, too, and finished this little pink bowtie quilt this week.  Unfortunately it's a gray day today, so the photos are inside. 

 These pink blocks were the first ones I made this year for the RSC, way back in January.  I don't have a lot of pink scraps (not my favorite color), but there were some cute ones in the stash.  I made 20 blocks that finish at 8 in. square, and set them 4 x 5, with a 3 in. border.

The Valentine puppies are my favorite!

Also, the llamas!  I don't think I've ever seen llama print before.  This was part of a scrap bag given to me by a friend (hi, Joey!).

The backing is this print that looks like a pieced quilt (cheater fabric?).  I was thinking it would make good doll quilt fabric.

Dolls were on my mind, I guess.  When I was visiting my mom we saw this Halloween display in a neighbor's yard.  These evil little dolls were getting up to all kinds of bad behavior.  Including hauling away a body (!).

My dolls would never do that!

  Yes, I still have 3 dolls from my childhood.  

The biggest doll with the pink dress is Heidi.  My grandad sent her to me when he was stationed in Germany in the early 1960s.  We called her The German Doll until I finally named her, but she was actually made in America.  I think he must have bought her at the PX.  Looking at her makes me think of Grandad, so far away from home at Christmas.

The soft doll with the light hair is Sally Dolly.  She came with a crib that had a wind up music box that played Brahm's lullaby.  The crib fell apart eventually when my kids were playing with it.  Sally was always a doll to snuggle with.

The little doll is a boy.  When my baby brother was born, my mom brought two of these dolls home, one for me and one for my sister, so we could be mommies too.  My own kids discovered him, and named him Baby Paul.  His outfits either disappeared or disintegrated over the years.  My oldest daughter made his current outfit one day when they were visiting, and her daughter played with him too.

I don't know if anyone will want my dolls when I'm gone.  I just hope they don't end up on a murder rampage lol.

Most of October was unseasonably warm, but Fall has finally come to Wisconsin, and winter is not far behind.  The trees have been beautiful, as has the gorgeous blue sky, but we may get a light snowfall this weekend.  It's not surprising, it is November after all.

Have a wonderful week, everyone, whether rain or shine, heat or cold.  And good luck with the RSC projects!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilt bloggers:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap