Lightning Streak, Purple Scraps, and Signs of Spring

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Lightning struck last week!  I saw a quilt in this design (with a free pattern!) at alyciaquilts.blogspot.com, and loved it.  I had to drop everything and make it.  (Turns out there's an acronym for that:  DrEAMi!)

It's called Lightning Streak.  Alycia has made several, all of them terrific.  The quilt was easy, fast, and fun to make, and used lots of my 5 in. squares plus a cute blue space print. (Click HERE for the link to the free pattern.) 

I chose the squares based on the colors of the rockets, spaceships, etc. in the dark blue print.  There were six main colors:  red, orange, yellow, green, aqua, and light blue.  I used six each of those colors, and added 4 multicolor prints to make 40 squares.  I have a lot of multicolor fabrics, and I'm trying to remember to use them wherever they'll fit in.

 I love designs that zigzag!  For quilting, I just followed the seams about an inch out.  (Alycia's quilts are much more beautifully quilted!)

The backing is a flannel print of lady bugs and flowers, and the binding is a strong red.  My quilt has 20 blocks that finish at 9 in. square, and the quilt itself measures 36 in. x 45 in.  It will be donated, not sure where yet.

Thanks so much to Alycia for sharing the pattern, and for hosting Finished or Not Finished Friday every week! 

In other news, purple!

Are you participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  March is purple month, which is great for me since I love purple.  These are my potato chip blocks, made from 2 x 3.5 in scraps (unfinished measurement).  The blocks themselves are 9 in. finished.  I'm always amazed at the variety of purple colors, everything from lavender to eggplant.

These stretched stars are so easy and fun, with just two seams.  The purple squares are 5 in. cut, and the white ones are 2.5 in. cut and sewn "flippy corners" style.

 Did you guess this one was my favorite?  I love weird stuff lol. Ghosts on a purple background, eating popcorn and drinking hot cocoa?  So much fun.

I have purples that are more "reddish" or "pinkish", and others that are more "blueish".  And then there's the ones that look blue next to other purples (like the two on the ends above) but look purple next to blues.  It won't matter when I'm putting them into scrap quilts.

Math is of course not fun for me (I complain about it all the time, sorry), but I was doing some this week thinking about how many of these blocks I'll need for even a small quilt, and it was appalling!  For a quilt 36 in. x 45 in. like Lightning Streak I would need 80 of these squares!  Guess I need to make more every month.  Thank goodness for calculators on cell phones.

It was a crazy week here, which is beginning to seem normal.  The furnace quit AGAIN, and this time it had to be replaced.  I spent some of my sewing time baking to keep the oven going to warm up the kitchen.  Thankfully it wasn't too cold here, just down to freezing at night, and 30s to 40s F in the daytime.  We had two space heaters, and I had my wool quilt, so we slept warm and cozy even without the heat.  They put the new furnace in over one long day, and now I'm thrilled every time the heat comes on.  I didn't full appreciate the conveniences of modern life like refrigeration and central heat until they stopped working.  Wonder what will go wrong next? (Oh, please not the plumbing!)

Little Guy was toasty warm under the family favorite flannel quilt, with Snicky curled up on his feet.  At 4 years old he hardly ever takes a nap, but he was worn out that day.  I couldn't resist taking a photo.  I know how fast little ones grow up.

There are some signs of spring here!

Tulips are coming up.  And something is nibbling on them.  Looking at you, naughty squirrels.

Do you see the pink thing in the middle of this ugly picture?  It's rhubarb, coming to life after the long winter.  It always looks so weird, but I'm very glad to see it.

Have a wonderful weekend, and a good week ahead, filled with what you love to do.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

Bits and Pieces

Welcome to the blog!  Do you have one of these?  This is my "bits" basket, a place for scraps too small to go in my strip drawers or boxes of cut squares.

These are some of the bits I pulled out to make aqua blocks, for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  I make them like slab blocks or crumb blocks.  (The cute monsters scrap didn't make the cut.  Sorry, monsters, just not enough aqua.)

I already had two projects going for the RSC, but this just sort of happened, as things do, so I'm rolling with it.  I will need to go back and make a few more blocks in the colors for January, February, and March.  Not a problem, there are lots of bits and pieces.

I didn't realize until I took this picture, but this block features a lion's butt, complete with tail.  Just a little secret to find in the eventual finished quilt.

Flowers may not be blooming outside yet, but the orchid in the windowsill is going crazy.  Little Buddy and I have been enjoying watching the buds open.  He thinks they should hurry up.

The color reminds me of the fabrics in this little quilt I finished this week for Jack's Basket, as part of the Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge.
It's a Trip Around the World quilt, made in pink and green.  The squares are charm square size, 5 in. x 5 in.  I used up some of my 5 in. squares and strips, which I was saving just for this purpose. 
The charity requests quilts made 36 in. square, which has been kind of a fun challenge for me.

I always think of these quilt patterns sort of like recipes.
Here's the recipe for this one.

Trip Around the World Baby Quilt
finished size:  36 in. x 36 in.
All squares are cut 5 in. x 5 in.
When I make this pattern, I lay the squares out as I go, and then sew them into rows.  As you can see from the photo, the colors go in rounds.
Round one: the center.  1 square
Round 2: 4 squares.  (I used a lighter fabric to contrast with the surrounding squares.)
Round 3:  8 squares
Round 4:  12 squares
Round 5:  12 squares
Round 6:  8 squares
Round 7:  the corners.  4 squares.  I cut mine from the same cupcake fabric I used for the center.

This is a total of 49 squares, set 7 x 7.  These squares finish at 4.5 in.
7 x 4.5=31.5 in. square
To make the quilt finish at 36 in. square, we need to add borders cut at 2.75 in. (two and three-quarters).  After sewing, they will measure 2.25 in.
Here's the math on the total.
31.5 + 2.25 +2.25=36  (or, 8 x 4.5=36)

Can you see the cute cupcake fabric in the center?  I only had a few squares of this, bought second hand on a sale table.

Simple quilting goes very fast on these little quilts, and then they're ready to mail off.  I hope this one will be cheerful and sweet for a new baby.
More Jack's Basket quilts are in the works!  I'm going to fill up a box before I send them.

At long, long last, the redwork quilt is finished!  I had the hand quilting done as my February OMG, and just this week finished hand sewing down the binding.  I don't know why I just never wanted to pick it up and put in those last stitches, but I finally got up the gumption and did it.  I'm keeping this one.  It's sort of a "new" antique, made from old blocks.

My life tends to be really busy.  Little bits and pieces of sewing time make me happy, and make everything run more smoothly.

This week, I'm wishing you joy in all you do.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Angela at Soscrappy
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Cynthia at Oh Scrap
Hands 2 Help Check In