Works in Progress

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Nothing is finished this week, but lots of quilts are "in progress".  

It's the first Saturday of Purple Month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  I already had pieces cut for these switch plate blocks, so I got these purple ones sewn up quick.  An idea occurred to me for the setting that requires about twice as many blocks as I have now, so back to cutting later today.

Here's the fabric pull for my usual RSC blocks.  I've got big scraps, small scraps, strips, and yardage.  Don't you just LOVE purple month?

Check out the little purple block in the center!  These are my 8 patch blocks, an idea I "stole" from Cathy at Sane Crazy Crumby Quilting.  The blocks are made with 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles, which I happen to have a ton of, and the 8 patches measure 6 in. x 8 in. finished.

Now that I've got 30 blocks, I'm going to put them together this weekend into a baby quilt.  (Are you surprised?  I can't go very long without making a baby quilt!)

We went to another flea market last weekend, where I bought someone else's work in progress.  The lady who sold them used to make pillows to sell, and had all these 2.5 in. squares cut.  She had them laid out by color and print, in two layers in a big box.  I proposed dumping them into a bag, and the poor woman was horrified after all her work of sorting.  So I took them in the box, and when I was out of her sight I put them in this bag so I could carry them more easily. (That bag was heavy!)

I see what she meant about the sorting!  It took me a while, but it was just the sort of mindless job to do when watching TV.  I divided them into blues, greens, pinks, and lights, and put the greens and pinks in the same box.  These are mostly prints from the 1990s, but good quality cotton, and they will make nice charity quilts.  People who aren't quilters won't worry that the fabrics are out of fashion.  It will be easy to use these squares as leader and ender projects.

Hey, who's that running through my laundry and giggling?  Could it be Bigfoot?

We did a little Bigfoot hunting this week, sponsored by our local library.  Signs like this were posted all over town, with letters on them.  Players were to collect the letters and unscramble the message.  We didn't get very far, but this sign was in our neighborhood park so my goofy guys posed with it.  Little Brother is trying to get away!

This is the back of a quilt in progress that I hope to finish this weekend.  For backing, I'm using several different pieces of Toile de Jouy reproduction fabric with patriotic and/or historical themes.  This one says "Constitution and Laws".  It seems appropriate to work on this July 4th weekend, and sums up how I feel about my country.

The United States of America is not just a place.  It exists through and because of our ideals of liberty and justice and faithfulness to our laws and our founding documents.  I am very concerned when people, especially those in power, believe they can set aside laws and use violence to attain their ends if elections don't go their way.  No person, no faction, no political party is more important than our democracy.

Our country is and always has been a work in progress, and so is our Constitution.  As times change, we amend it and adjust our laws to modern expectations of equality and fairness.  We expect our courts to take these changes into consideration as they interpret laws, and to make all decisions based in law and reason rather than ideology.  When this doesn't happen, our country is in grave danger.

Stepping off the soapbox now, I wish all Americans a very happy and safe Independence Day, and everyone a weekend doing what you love to do.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy 

Cynthia at Oh Scrap