Another Gum Wrapper Twist Quilt, Aqua, and Fall

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Preschool is a wonderful thing.  Kids learn and grow so much, and full-time babysitting grandmas like me get some mornings free.  Guess what I do with my free time?  Quilting, of course!  I finally got this little quilt done this week. 

This is the second quilt I've made in this pattern.  The block was designed by the very creative and generous Preeti Harris of sewpreetiquilts.blogspot.com, and was the pattern for the 2022 Positivity Quilt. I believe it was called the Twist quilt.

Using Preeti's directions, two identical blocks are made at the same time.  To me, the blocks look like the gum wrapper paper chains kids made back in the olden days when I was young.  So I call the block Gum Wrapper Twist.

(I've created a monster!  I can't lay a quilt down without Mr. Snicklefritz lying on it!)

 Here's the first quilt, finished in February for the Hands 2 Help quilt drive.

Back in February, I made 50 of these blocks.  Half went into the quilt above, and half went into the "some assembly required" box.   I got the second set out and finished them this week, setting the colors differently this time.

Preeti's directions are no longer available.  Click HERE for my very brief summary of the directions.  (You will have to scroll way down the page, sorry.)  There are other ways to make the block, of course, but they don't make two at a time. 

 Edit:  Click HERE for Preeti's quilt and a visual overview of how she made her blocks (not exactly a tutorial, but experienced quilters will get the idea).

 The multicolored border came from the museum sale last June, and the blue binding came from the loot I brought home from the Great Wisconsin Quilt show.  (And yes, that's Snicky's tail, he didn't want to get off the quilt.)

The back of the new quilt is this colorful arrows print.  It also came from the museum sale.  I really do use the fabric I buy, it just takes a while.  It's fun to figure out what I can use from what I already have.

The quilting is a 2 in. grid, with two rows of serpentine stitch in the border.

Time for a new project, don't you think?  These are my pieces for a Crossroads quilt, designed by Judy Gauthier and featured in her first book Quilts for Scrap Lovers.

These two Crossroads blocks are made of bluish aqua prints, in honor of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month for September.  It's an easy block to cut and sew, but harder to make it come out perfectly.  (I'm not really there yet.)

I've been making Happy Blocks all year for the RSC, and today I got them out and divided them into 3 baby-sized quilts.  I needed 7 more blocks to come out right, so I cut them out and they're ready to sew.  Three of the blocks I need are aqua, so on theme for the RSC. This year's blocks have light novelty print centers. 
 

Fall is definitely happening here.  Last Sunday hubby and I went to one of the last local flea markets of the year.  I was tempted buy the quilt on top, which has some very old fabrics in it, but only bought a few fabric scraps and some yummy produce.  We enjoy just walking and looking.

Our wonderful library is getting ready for Halloween.  My Little Guy looks like he's ready, too, but that's not his costume, just his dinosaur raincoat.  He needed it most of this week.  Some days it really bucketed down.

Yesterday Little Guy and I took a short walk into the park, even though it was lightly sprinkling.  Lots of the maple trees are changing from green to red and yellow and orange.  Fall is beautiful here.  The weather folks are predicting a warm dry weekend.

I hope the weather is good where you are, and that you have time to do the things you love.  Like quilting!

Thanks 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

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

 

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

Home and Away, and Orange

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

We're back from visiting the natural wonders of northern California.  It was a foggy morning when we stood on the bank above the Pacific ocean, inhaling the sea air and listening to the waves.

The tiny person at the base of these redwood trees is me!  Everything was so amazing and overwhelming.  I ran out of adjectives by the second day.

But don't worry, I never plan to run out of fabric!  There was more than just fabulous scenery, there was also a friendly quilt shop in Redding, California, called Sew Simple.  My hubby understands the importance of balancing hiking/sightseeing and fabric shopping on a vacation. 

 BTW, did you notice the ORANGE fabric?  August is orange month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I couldn't be happier.

When I got home, I picked my easiest RSC project, and made these blocks in the mornings, while waiting for my grand kids to arrive. 

I can't believe I still have a scrap of this cheeky dinosaur fabric.

Orange aliens got to come out and play.

And I just love these joyful minions.

This little squirrel in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite reminds me of my recent take off on Sew Preeti's Positivity 2022 quilt tutorial.

I'm using Preeti's method, which is great fun, but making the blocks with scraps.

I start with two matching dark and two matching light charm squares.  I also cut 2 strips 2.5 x 9 in. of a different dark (orange here) and two strips 2.5 x 9 in. of a different light.  Then I make these two blocks:

Once they're sliced into fours, I put them together just like the directions say,

 and end up with two identical blocks.

I'm not totally happy with these two, and I think I know why.

Take a look at the rest of my orange blocks.  Which of these blocks is not like the others?  Three of these look good to me, and the one in the upper right looks a little weird.  

 I'm going for a kind of twist look, and I think for that I need less contrast between the dark fabrics.  So, lesson learned.  I'll still use all the blocks of course.

Because the blocks remind me of the chewing gum wrapper paper chains we made as children, I'm calling the quilt I'm making Gum Wrapper Twist.  The weird ones can represent all the chains I folded wrong. 

Our busy level around here has ramped up to 11, but we're still having fun with our little boys.  

This week we've been watching American Ninja Warrior on TV.  If you haven't seen it, amateur athletes try to complete a series of difficult obstacles.  I'm not a big sports fan, but I like how all the fans and competitors root and cheer for every contestant. Our Buddy wanted to try out his moves on the playground.  He's not bad!

Our Little Guy is pretending the slide is the warped wall the athletes run up.  He loved when we cheered and yelled "Beat that wall!"

Summer is going to come to a close soon, and most of the grand kids will be going back to school.  Until then, we're going to just enjoy the weather and being together.

Have a lovely week!

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

Positivity 2022 Progress #2

 It's a top!  I got my Positivity homework done by the deadline!  It was a near run thing.

This week, before the kids got here in the morning, I was setting the blocks into rows, and then putting the rows together.  I sewed the border on yesterday evening.  It needs a good press before quilting, though.

The border wasn't part of the original directions, I just wanted one.  So for my quilt, I used 63 blocks, set in 9 rows of 7 each, and added 4 in. finished borders.  This made the size come out the same as if I had made 80 blocks and no border.  The math actually worked out!  The quilt will be 64 in. x 80 in. when finished (or pretty close).

The colors I chose were blue, green, and aqua.  And no novelty prints!  I really had to search through all the bins and boxes to find enough variety.  There are batiks, Kaffe Fassett prints, vintage fabrics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and even a light reproduction print or two.  The handiest fabric I had for the backgrounds was a roll of light 5 in. strips I bought on vacation last summer.  In the end, I used what I had on hand except for the border, which was purchased just for this quilt.

I'm thinking of quilting a grid across the top, following the seams, with something curvy in the border.  I'm hoping this will be a calming quilt, for people facing a difficult time.  

Thanks so much to Preeti for coming up with such a fun and easy way to make a block, and such very clear instructions.  Making the blocks has been a breeze.

What if I made it as one of my donation quilts for kids?  What if it was even scrappier?

Sew much fun!  I used 2 matching light charm squares, 2 matching red charm squares, a light 2.5 in. strip and a red 2.5 in. strip, all from the parts department.  These blocks remind me of the folded paper chains we made with gum wrappers in elementary school.  (Click HERE to go to a web page with examples, and even instructions.)  I was never able to really grasp how to fold them right so the chain didn't fall apart, but the guy on the web page holds the Guinness World Record for the longest chain, so he really knows his stuff.

So I just added another project to the long list of projects.  I will never be bored.  I might have to go buy some more thread, though.

Congratulations to everybody for getting this far on the Positivity quilt.    

Linking up with Bernie at Needle and Foot.

Pickle relish and Positivity blocks!