Treadlestitches: Ring Me

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Patches of Yellow

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's yellow month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and there are lovely touches of yellow in nature all around us. Like this bloom in my husband's wild flower patch.

Just a few cherry tomatoes are left in my little garden. They are really more orange than yellow.

Of course, the trees are so dramatic. I've never understood the term "leaf peeping". I don't peep at the leaves, I positively gawk at them.

These trees are in the park near my house. That path is calling me. Later today, my dog and I will take a walk and do some leaf gawking.

Now, what about the yellow inside the house?

The last blocks for the 1930s Double Nine Patch quilt are done! It's the fabrics in these little blocks that prompted me to save them from a vintage UFO.

This little kitty seems to be waving hello.

The animals in this print are cute. And a little weird. Kind of like 1930s era cartoon characters.

This print is almost modern.

And of course a leaf print. I've got leaves on the brain today.

Now that these blocks are done, I can start setting them together and planning the quilting.

But wait, there's more!

Yellow Text Me A Quilt blocks are done, too. And once again it's the fabrics that make sewing this so much fun.

Here's my favorite--two tractor prints! You just can't have too many tractor prints.

The background print here reminds me of the Japanese beetles that are trying to get in the house now that the nights are colder. Sorry, beetles, bugs are cute on fabric but NOT in real life.

Last week's little quilt is quilted and bound. It's a variation of Ring Me, from the book No Scrap Left Behind by Amanda Jean Nyberg.

I chose this hearts and paw prints fabric for the back, to go with the Clifford the Big Red Dog fabric on the border. The binding is a red print. The quilt has been washed and is ready to mail out to Jack's Basket.

Here's how I feel about finishing a quilt:

Woo hoo! Thanks, Little Buddy!

How are you doing this week? Everything is so crazy right now, and that's very stressful. We have to remember to take care of ourselves. When I need some peace, I shut off the TV, radio, etc., open the window if it's warm enough, and just quietly sew. Before long, I'm humming away.

I hope you're humming away too, enjoying all the things that matter most. Have a great week!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Know what else is a great stress-reliever? Linky parties! Come and see what everybody is making.

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Bits and Pieces

Welcome to Treadlestitches! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm adjusting to babysitting full time again, after months of part time, and not a lot of sewing is getting done. But there are bits and pieces, here and there.

These are the little "Ring Me" variation blocks I was making last week. I set them into a top with sunny yellow, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for October.

The cornerstones are cut from a cheerful red print with balloons, and ...

the border is a Clifford fire fighter print. As you can see, it's not quilted yet, but it's spray basted and ready to go, so I plan to finish it this weekend. It will go to Jack's Basket, and I hope it will be a cheerful gift for a family welcoming a baby with Down's Syndrome.

The last two blocks for my RSC house quilt are done! More cats and dogs are in this blue print, to join the others in the previous blocks.

The last purple block is mostly made from feed sacks, except for the door (a vintage print) and the roof, which is a modern solid.

You might have noticed, there are no yellow blocks. But, the windows in all the blocks are yellow, so every block has a little touch of sunshine. I can hardly wait to set these together and quilt them.

This little sweater finally got assembled. I started it back before the pandemic hit (that seems so long ago now!) and had it mostly done, but just sort of ran out of steam. The other night I sewed in the zipper by hand, and then added the hood.

It fits! Doesn't it look better with our adorable model? The weather has turned cool, so this was just the right wrap to wear to pick up big brother from school yesterday. We wait in the car and the kids come out to us for safe social distancing.

Baby Buddy is really exploring his environment now. The other day he found this quilt hanging on his crib and had to inspect it. He's not exactly crawling yet, more rolling, but he gets around quickly and we really have to watch out for him.

In other news, Nailed It! (Well, not exactly.) The Great British Baking Show is back, with a weekly episode every Friday on Netflix. Last week they made Battenberg cake. Doesn't this look like a four patch? I had to try it, and it wasn't too difficult, but in addition to leaning to one side, mine turned out kind of dry. ( I might have over-baked it. I can just hear Paul Hollywood saying that.)

The recipe makes enough for two cakes. I took the extra bits and made them into a trifle, with some homemade custard. It looks like a hot mess, but it was delicious, and would have been even better if I had had some whipped cream. Well, of course it would! Everything's better with whipped cream!

Fall is definitely happening here now, with the first frosts at night this week. We'll be putting up the Halloween decorations soon, and starting to think about Thanksgiving. This week, I wish you the joy of the season, whatever season you are in. Stay safe!