Hot Wheels! Dare to Be Rad!

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Yahoo, the grandkids are back in school, and I have more time for sewing!  I actually got a quilt finished this week.

Does this blue block explain the title?  It says Dare to be Rad! with the Hot Wheels symbol underneath.  Our quilt guild was given LOTS of Hot Wheels fabric scraps by a gentleman who once ran a fabric shop.  My friend The Amazing Colleen thought I would enjoy doing something with them, and of course she was right!

There are five different Hot Wheels prints, and two colorways of most.  To add more color and variety, I mixed in whatever car theme fabric I had, including wheels and tools, plus other vehicle prints.

The blocks are Bricks, with a center cut 3.5 in. x 6.5 in., and two outside pieces (in this case, dark blue) cut 2 in. x 6.5 in.  Easy and fun to make, and a good way to use the novelty prints I love.  The borders are a light blue Hot Wheels print.  They were already cut by the original owner.  All I had to do was trim them down and cut the right lengths.

The quilt is 46 in. x 52 in., so of course I had to piece the back.  Luckily I had another race car print, and some Tonka Truck print also donated by the same person.

Tiny little race cars print!  I have been looking for a home for this fabric for a long time.

Most of the quilting is my usual serpentine stitch grid, courtesy of Mrs. Pfaff, but I quilted parallel lines in the border to make a road for Hot Wheels type cars.  Vroom vroom!

These remind me of my brother.  He loved Hot Wheels cars, and used to always have one he was playing with, running it on the carpet or the couch or even on me while I was trying to read!

The blue fabric came from the sale at the museum last June.  There was one "regular" half yard or so piece, and 15 pieces cut into these weird triangles.  Long before I got to the binding, the triangles were all I had left, so I cut the binding from them.  For the binding I sewed together 13 short pieces.  Miraculously only one of the seams ended up in a corner.

I do have one question.  When did people stop saying things were "rad"?  1990s?  1980s?  Just how old is this fabric anyway?  It is in very good condition, so no worries there.

In other news, Colleen also gave me a scrap bag at our August guild meeting.   All the pieces were novelty prints!!!  This is the gallon bag dumped out on a table.

And this is all the pieces from the bag cut into either strips, squares or rectangles.  I just couldn't wait to start sewing some of these up.

Lots of the pieces were 6.5 in. long, and 4 or so inches wide.  I trimmed them to 3.5 x 6.5, just like the Hot Wheels fabrics, and made bricks with white sides.  I made 22 of these blocks from the new scrap bag pieces.  I'm adding in leftover bricks from the Hot Wheels quilt plus a few other stray rectangles to make the 42 I need for a new bricks quilt.

It is dangerous to give me new-to-me scraps and more time to sew.  I will definitely start new projects! I was watching a YouTube video from Merry Mabel Market about making half log cabin blocks from random scraps.  (By the way, I'm loving her videos!) I can't do random, but it did start me thinking about how cute half log cabin blocks would be made from these new scraps.  I drew up this block to use 2.5 in. strips.  

My blocks start with a 3.5 in. square, and each "round" is two strips 2.5 in. wide, in the same color.   I mixed the new scraps with my strips on hand.  The blocks are 9 in. finished, and I love them!  If I can stand to wait until January (iffy) I will make these for next year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

This year's RSC is almost over!  I finished the August aqua blocks, and it will soon be time to start setting this year's blocks together.  These are the Thrifty ones.

This is my favorite block this week!  The cat in the middle looks properly smug, crazy minions are popping up in the corner, and that yellow fish has a cheeky grin!

I'm going to go find my own properly smug cats for a cuddle or two, and then get some lunch.  Have a happy quilty week, everyone!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these fabulous link party hostesses:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

 

DrEAMi Bordered Square, a Heart, and Purple Blocks

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Do you keep a list of quilts you plan to make?  I do.  I even have it written on a whiteboard in my sewing room.  Somehow I never keep to that schedule, because something always comes along to make me drop everything and make it (a condition called DrEAMi that often afflicts quilters). Bordered Square, above, is one of those DrEAMi projects. This top was so much fun to make, it didn't even seem like patch-work.  

The inspiration came from this book, Quilts from the Heart, by Karin Renaud.  I bought it at the Humane Society rummage sale at the end of May.  The book is filled with great ideas, but the Bordered Square pattern sent me straight to my boxes of cut squares to start making blocks.

The blocks are simple to make.  The center is a 4.5 in. cut square, surrounded by 12 squares cut 2.5 in.  All the centers are novelty prints.  The blocks in the book used novelty prints with darker backgrounds.  I used lighter ones instead for more contrast.

I liked the author's use of random bright squares as cornerstones.  Instead of solid white, I used a print for the sashing because it was more fun.  It's a heart print, and I always like to include hearts in the donation quilts I make for kids.

I love having a good pattern and inspiration for a quilt, but also making some small changes to do it my way.  My quilt has 30 blocks instead of 20, and I also skipped the inner border.  I will be donating the top to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee.  The organizer will quilt it, and it will be given to a child.

Check out the border!  I got this colorful kitty fabric at the museum sale last month and just loved it.  It seemed perfect for this quilt, but I only had just over half a yard, and I was afraid it wouldn't be enough.  I did the math several times but didn't really trust myself (not a math person sadly).  

It worked!  All I have left of the kitty fabric is one 2.5 in. strip, two 3.5 in. squares, and this heart block I made with the last of it.

Purple blocks were happening here for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I can't wait to see everybody else's blocks in the linky parties.  Here are mine!

Bright Hopes:

And Thrifty:

And my favorite block of the week:

There's a flying girl frog in the center square!  Of course it's my favorite!

The stacks of RSC blocks are getting taller!  I'm looking forward to making them into tops.

In other news, I've been spending lots of time with my youngest grandsons this summer.

They're "helping" me pick black raspberries.  Not much help since they eat all they pick, but it's a great snack for them and something they look forward to.

Buddy and I have been going to the park every morning while Little Guy is at a playground program.  In the photo above, he's testing his American Ninja Warrior skills.

This morning, I'm going to a meeting at the Quilt Museum, so I'd better get going.  Have a lovely week, everyone.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Back in Action, and Orange Blocks

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  I'm glad you stopped by.

At last I have a finish!  Mrs. Pfaff, my electric sewing machine, is back from the repair shop (Hurray!!), and we went straight into action this week.  The quilt above is the one we were quilting when she stopped working.  The shop lady said it was a timing issue.  I'm so glad she's working again, and we were able to finish this donation quilt.

Snicky the cat insisted on posing for you.  We were gone all morning, and I think he felt lonely.  The quilt is kind of narrow and long, measuring 40 in. x 65 in.  It will be going to the Children's Advocacy Center in Milwaukee, and will be given to a child.

Disappearing Nine Patch is the name of the pattern.  I finished one like this last September.  Most of the blocks for that one were donated to our group.  All of the blocks for this quilt were made from my stash. 

I would call this quilt a variation on a Disappearing Nine Patch.  This block starts with 9 squares that measure 3.5 in. x 3.5 in. (instead of the more usual 5 in. squares).  Four of them are the main print (like the popsicles above), four of the squares are a light print, and one square is a solid color, in this case yellow.  They are sewn, cut, and reassembled to make an 8.5 in. finished block.

The back is a soft blue print with stars.

I do all my piecing using my treadle sewing machine, so I was able to keep piecing while Mrs. Pfaff was being "hospitalized".  Now we have a whole list of tops to finish.  It may take me a while to catch up, especially with doing more babysitting now that school is out.

We've been spending a lot of time outside, in the yard and in the park near our house.  Little Guy likes playing on the unused volleyball court with his cars and trucks.  His big brother Buddy was racing around the park on a scooter when I took this photo.

I can't believe we are nearly halfway through June!  Orange month for the RSC has been especially fun for me this year, since I've been concentrating on collecting orange scraps to use.  They're hard to find, especially novelty prints, but I've had a little help from my friends.

It's always dangerous to use one way prints in the background.  I got a couple (well, maybe 3) of these Bow Ties turned differently than the others.  No worries, I can do an alternating set similar to this with them.  I might actually like it better!

This summer I'm making a new schedule for myself so I can have more time for sewing.  I already get up early, so I make sure to have the basics done by 7:00, and sew from 7:00 to 8:00.  During the day its kids and chores.  After supper I can get things set up for the next day.  I'm mostly too tired in the evening to sew.  We all know how easy it is to make mistakes when we're tired.  Ripping out bad seams is no fun at all. 😒

These wild orange Thrifty blocks were easy to sew.  They're a little extra scrappy.  As always, I'm amazed at all the different shades of orange there are in the world.

Favorite block!  I love that alphabet print.  And that orange crab!

Here's something else I love:  the generosity of quilters.  This pile was collected at our last guild meeting.  Just a note, I didn't make ANY of these, they were done by fellow quilters especially for the Children's Advocacy Center.  There are 9 gorgeous finished quilts, and three quilt tops, complete with binding!  Best of all, these quilts are made with prints and patterns kids will love.  I have offered to deliver them to the drop off point at a quilt shop, and just had to take a closer look first.

Can you see what's on the edge of the galvanized planter?  It's a toad!  The boys noticed it and called me over to take a photo.  We were afraid it would fall in the tub and be unable to get out, but it went on its way after a while.   There's lots of quiet wildlife all around us.

What's ahead for your week?  More orange?  Definitely more for me.  I'm wishing sunshine and quilting time for us all.  And Happy Fathers Day to the dads!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches 

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Planning the Piece, Piecing the Plan

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  I hope there's sunshine in your life today.

We are having lots of beautiful weather here in Wisconsin.  I was able to hang this little top outside yesterday just minutes after I finished it.  Don't worry about the line across the middle.  It's just a shadow I didn't notice at the time.  

I blogged about these log cabin blocks when I was making them.  (Click HERE for that post, and scroll down.)  The centers were made from a 2 in. red square, and the shortest "logs" were either crumbs or strings.  The width of the logs varies, depending on the scraps I used.  

 

The center square of the quilt is cut from a fabric printed with two of the founding documents of the United States:  the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution.  I've had this fabric for a while, and it seemed important to include it in these troubled times.  This layout used exactly the number of blocks I had already pieced, so it was simple to set together.  I don't think I'll add a border, just a red binding.

This top was one of the items on my Piece Plan, a list of projects to work on while Mrs. Pfaff is in the repair shop.

BAD NEWS.  I won't be quilting this top or anything else for a while.  When I took Mrs. Pfaff to the shop, they said it could be WEEKS before I get her back!!!  ACK!!

So I guess I'll just get way ahead on my Piece Plan.

First on the Piece Plan list was the Churn Dash kit from my guild.  As of right now I have 25 out of 30 blocks done.  Shown here are the green ones.  Top row is a standard 30s green, bottom row is more mint.

I like this cute veggie print.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks are one the list as well.  The Thrifty blocks in green for the RSC are done.  I'm only making 5 each month.

The center football square inspired me to made a total Green Bay Packers block.  Go Pack Go!

Look out!  Squirrel!  I started a new project.  The squirrel made me do it!  This is Sheldon the squirrel, beloved toy of my cats.  They left him on the sewing room floor, and this is what happened.

The quilt is called Charming Stars, and comes from a Youtube video by Quilted Forest.  (Click HERE.)  It's simple to cut and sew and uses two matching charm squares plus a background fabric for the star blocks.  I'm making mine from novelty prints, of course.

I will miss Mrs. Pfaff SO MUCH, but I guess I have enough to keep me busy lol.

My grandsons are a big help!  Little Guy and I walked around the park on Thursday while his brother was at wrestling practice.  He asked me to take his picture at least 20 times.  This was the best one.

Yesterday evening I went to Buddy's soccer game.  They won!  

The rhubarb is up, and looks great!  Just one more joy of May in Wisconsin.

This week, I'm wishing you the joys of the season, wherever you live.  And the joys of quilting, of course!  Happy Mothers Day to all who celebrate it tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap