Treadlestitches: plus quilts

Friday, October 8, 2021

Plus Two More, and Chasing Butterflies

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

I had a wonderful time making quilt blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year, and now I'm putting those blocks into little quilts to donate to babies and children. These two are the last ones using plus blocks. [Did you participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge? If not, join us, it's so much fun! Here's the link: RSC 2021.]

After I finished the quilts, I realized they are kind of related to books we've been reading with the grand kids. This book is a lift the flap book, which is Baby Buddy's favorite kind. Kids, books and quilts are three of my favorite things!

The un-pieced block here is an under-the-sea kind of print with some charming ocean critters.

When I finish a quilt, I feel like the minion in the center of the block above. Happy dance!

Here's the back, with a strip of pirate fabric to make it big enough.

The second quilt is set with a solid sashing and a border from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, Dr. Seuss' ABCs.

My husband and I can very nearly recite this book by heart, having read it to our children and now our grandchildren. Above, a Lazy Lion Licks a Lollipop.

I don't normally buy a special back for these little quilts, but in this case I couldn't resist. I hope the child who gets this quilt loves the wacky world of Dr. Seuss as much as I do.

So that's six little quilts finished so far, from the RSC blocks. There are going to be a lot more. And I'm very happy to be making them, but I'm afraid I've been getting a little obsessed lately. I'm trying to remember that there are no deadlines here, and I can slow down a little and enjoy all the other great things in my life too.

Speaking of great, The Great British Baking Show is back on Netflix! I had to try making these jammy biscuits which were last week's Technical Challenge. I think they turned out okay, although Paul Hollywood would probably find all kinds of things wrong with them.

Little Buddy ate two of them after kindergarten today. Check out the crumbs on his face! No complaints here! Baby Buddy is in the background, dancing to music. I have no idea what the dog is doing.

On the weekend, my oldest daughter spotted this turtle (tortoise?) in the yard. It was fun to see it up close, it had such beautiful markings. It moved a lot faster than we expected.

Can you see what this is? For some reason, after a rain we often find little toads in the window wells on our patio. They keep jumping, but can't get back out. Baby Buddy and I rescued two this week. I think this one was very happy to get back into the flower bed.

Rain kept us home two days this week, but today Baby Buddy and I braved the dark clouds and went to the playground. He was running his toy train on the park bench, which for some reason made both of us laugh.

On our way home, we chased butterflies through the soccer field. Don't worry, we didn't catch any. The real fun is just running after something beautiful.

As the Cat in the Hat reminds us, "It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how."

Have fun this week, doing whatever makes you happy.

Thanks for reading this!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

You can start with these great linky parties!

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

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Plus Signs, and Signs of Fall

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Fall is starting out here with beautiful weather, and we've been enjoying it all we can. (We know a Wisconsin winter is coming!) My grandson Baby Buddy and I go to the park nearly every day, where I took this picture. These leaves will soon be a bright yellow, but for now they are several shades of light green, like the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.

Hubby and I love big outdoor flea markets, even when we don't buy anything. The last one is at the end of September, and is a sure sign of fall approaching. We went last Sunday, and I was so tempted by this gorgeous fiddlebase Singer sewing machine. The decals are one of the unusual patterns, and the serial number indicated it was made before 1900. It had been electrified at a much later date. I drooled over it for a while, but didn't even ask how much they wanted for it. I'm not collecting anymore, I'm just enjoying what I have. (Or at least that's what I keep telling myself!)

I almost passed by this battered old quilt, but then I took a look at how it was made. It's kind of a 1930s crumb quilt. Random scrap pieces are sewn into rectangles approximately 4 in. x 8 in., and then separated by plain strips of the same size. Hmm. This might be a fun technique to try.

In the end, this is what I bought at the flea market: 4 fat quarters (for $6 total), a pattern for making sewing accessories, and 4 cookie cookbooks.

Back home again, I finished two more little quilts. These use the plus blocks I've been making since January. The quilt above uses blocks in bright colors.

When I saw this light fabric with the mathematical symbols on it at the local quilt shop, I knew it would be fun to use with the plus blocks.

The backing is the last big piece I had of this dinosaur fabric. The cornerstones and binding were part of the loot I got at the quilt museum sale in June.

Here's the second plus quilt, which uses mostly pastel colored blocks, including pink.

The sashing this time has lots of colorful dots. I got scraps of this cupcake fabric at a quilt show years ago.

The back is an Easter print (adorable bunnies!) and a strip of aqua to make it big enough.

This border fabric may look familiar. I have been using it for literally years. It came from a bag I bought at Goodwill. There were 6 yards of the butterfly fabric, 10 yards of a coordinating fabric, and some blanket and sheet scraps. I buy fabric EVERYWHERE.

The quilting I'm doing on these little donation quilts is very simple and quick. I may branch out a little to keep it from being boring, but a 2 in. grid will help the quilts hold up to hard use and lots of washing.

Here are two more signs of fall. Football is coming back (Go Packers), and Baby Buddy is wearing a sweatshirt. We had a cool rainy morning last week, and his outfit was perfect for it. Baby Buddy is of course also perfect, as all grandchildren are.