Shades of Purple

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Purple scrap sewing is happening today!
 

I just love it when I open the sewing room door and immediately see the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  

The 2.5 in. strips are running low, I'll have to cut some more.  Does that  count as using up scraps?  Or am I making more scraps?

Purple is one of my favorite colors, but I sometimes have a little trouble putting different shades of purple together.  For example, above is our scraggly little lilac bush, whose flowers are a lighter shade.

The star points on the right are more lilac or even lavender.  The star points on the left are a deep purple (not to be confused with the British rock band of the same name).

So do all shades of purple go together?  What do you think?  Maybe I should just relax about this.

Who could relax around here with all this noise?  School is out for Little Buddy, and we're all enjoying the summer together.  These guys like to bang on pots and pans after breakfast.  I wonder why we keep buying toys.

You can tell it's summer in Wisconsin when the Farmers Markets open up.  It's early days yet, but I did get some spinach, asparagus, and a pint of honey.

Look what I found lurking around the back porch!

Maybe that's what scared off this American goldfinch, caught on camera as she was flying away.  

On the agenda for today is this little project, left over from last month.  I've even got it all organized.

I laid it out last night when I should have been getting ready for bed.  The pattern is Fun and Games, by Jo Kramer and Kelli Hanken.  Many of you probably know Jo from her excellent blog, Jo's Country Junction.

The pattern is in American Patchwork and Quilting magazine, Issue #164, and the issue is dated 6/5/2020, exactly a year ago today.  Jo's version used yellow solid where I used red.  I also changed the size a bit.

I can't wait to sew this up.  It's been on the back burner for a while.

Summer is going well here so far, and I hope it is for you, too. 

Have a lovely week!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Check out all the fabulous quilts at the link parties below!

Linking up with:

Angela at So Scrappy

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Purple Patches, Old and New

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for dropping by!

The demolition phase of remodeling this vintage quilt top is almost done.  Only 9 more blocks to go!  

Here's what it looked like when I bought it at a flea market.  The maker must have run out of the sashing fabric, and just given up.

I'm rescuing the blocks, and making Double Nine Patches with them.  This month, it's purple for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month.  These old fabrics are lots of fun.  Check out the one in the center of the lower right block, the one with the black background.  Not your usual sweet 1930s print!

Most of the fabrics in this project date to the 1930s and 1940s, but a few (like our friend on the left) are from the 1960s.  How can I tell?  The solid purple fabric in that block is a poly cotton, which didn't come into widespread use until the 1960s.  I am not a fan of poly cotton in my quilts.  It doesn't wear the same as 100% cotton, over time it "pills", and it doesn't shrink the way cotton does.  So this little 9 patch is sitting out.  I replaced it with the 9 patch in the center of this block, which I made with a feed sack print. 

On to the new stuff--more purple!

Isn't it amazing how one quilt just leads to another? 

 

 About a month ago I finished the quilt top above that used 1.5 in. strips of blue and neutral.  (Click HERE to see that post.)  There were scraps left over, of course.  Instead of just putting them away, I started making 4 patches, and then adding in other reproduction fabrics and colors, and before you know it, a new quilt was started.

Here's how much is done now.  I'm using these little 6 in. blocks for leaders and enders, except when I can't help myself and just have to make a few more.  They're as addictive as potato chips, but with way less calories.  I'm using clothespins to hold groups of ten blocks together.  This is my handy hint of the week.  You can see at a glance how many blocks you have finished, plus no more getting stuck by pins.  (Why didn't I ever think of this before?)

 Pretty quickly, I ran out of neutral 1.5 in. strips.  Cutting from yardage seemed like a hassle for such small pieces, and it would mean less variety.  Plus I was pretty sure there were some scraps around here somewhere.

What about these Accuquilt apple core pieces?  They were leftover from a quilt I made years ago.  I'm not planning to make another one, so let's cut them up!

If I cut carefully, I can get 8 squares from each apple core.

Oh, and yeah, I forgot I had this little box of small neutral scraps.

And if there's a small box of neutral scraps, there must be...

a larger box of repro print scraps.  Plus a basket of them.  Or maybe two. 

So now I'm sorting these scraps into colors.  Some of them I'll use for the new little blocks.  But I won't need all of these scraps for that project. What if I made some crumb blocks?  Oops! One thing leads to another again.

I once read a mystery novel, where one of the characters was a quilter.  Over many years, she made quilts from her scrap box.  At the end, the box was empty.  That's how I could tell the author was not a quilter.  Scrap boxes don't get empty!  Seriously?

No photos of the grandsons this week.  Baby Buddy was sick (nothing serious) and needed to be held almost all the time.  Hubby and I tag teamed with the other two kids.  By the end of the week, Baby Buddy was his happy self again.

There is such beauty all around us at this time of year.  I took this photo of wild flowers at the edge of the parking lot at Outpost Natural Foods in Mequon.  Mostly yellow and green, but there is a little purple!

Even in these hard times, there is so much to be grateful for--sunshine, gardens, baby smiles, children's laughter, and, of course, quilts.   I am very grateful to everyone who reads this blog!  Thank you, and have a good week.

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Just the Scraps, Ma'am

Do you ever feel yourself getting sidetracked?  Last week I started making these blocks, two nine patches paired with two plain squares.  This was supposed to be a leaders and enders project while I finished assembling a different quilt top.  Instead, it completely took over.
I can't regret it, I had so much fun making these blocks!  The small 9 patch blocks are made from 2 in. squares.  All of it came from scraps.  The small squares came from the 2 in. strip drawer.  The larger squares are 5 in., and are from a box of charm squares I cut from reproduction fabric scraps.

Mostly, when I make scrap quilts, about 80% of the pieces come from actual scraps.  I usually cut the rest from yardage or big scraps so I can add in colors or types of prints.  This time, I went with 100% scraps in the blocks.  Scarcity makes for some interesting (weird?) pairings.
Check out the blue block above, with the flag squares.  I only had 4 squares of the original blue print, so I had to substitute a different indigo blue with larger white circles.  (Bet you saw that before I mentioned it!)

Sometimes I just had 1 square of a print, like the blue spools print here.  In that case, I cut 4 similarly colored prints from a strip, and put the odd square in the center.

I ran low on light fabrics right away.  In this blue block, all the lights are different prints.  (I love the rooster!)

This one is my favorite.  The center row in the black block above has two squares of light fabric printed with horses and riders.  This is just how the squares turned out when I cut them.  I sewed them like this as a little joke.  Is this an extremely long horse, or is the poor thing cut in half?  (Note: No horses or riders were harmed in the making of this block.)

Now I'm working on a piano keys border, and trying to decide what color squares to put in the corners.  I don't know why I'm even considering red and yellow, I usually end up with blue anyway.

These are the original piles of 2 in. scraps/strips, separated into light and dark.

And here's what's left after a week of happy piecing.  BTW, this is a small basket, usually known as a peck, which is one fourth of a bushel.
I'm not going to put any of this back in the drawer!  I've got my eye on another scrap quilt, and I'm going to cut up these strips for it.
It might end up being a large quilt.
In other news,

purple!  It's the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I made 4 of each of the blocks for my quilts.  These are also reproduction fabric quilts, and I really don't have a lot of purple on hand.

In between piecing like mad, I'm quilting the second Pixel Heart quilt for Project Linus.  Check out the scraps under the table.  I think the operative word here is "overflowing".
Even though it's snowy outside, my sewing room is overflowing with scrappy quilty happiness.
And that's what I'm wishing for you this week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Link ups as usual with Busy Hands Quilts and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Purple and Green Rail Fence

I am not sure why I am so obsessed with purple lately.  I don't think it's got anything to do with the poem about being an old lady and wearing purple.  Although I AM an old lady, I came of age in the 1970s, and I've worn purple off and on for many years.

Maybe it's because there are so many cute purple prints now.  These are in my latest actual finish, a purple and green baby quilt to give away.

Here's a corner turned over, so you can see the heart print on the back.
Some of the scraps in this quilt were given away at our January quilt guild meeting.  I got the cute Halloween print there, with all the kids in costumes on a purple background.  I also got one of the green bug prints there.

With my cold fading into the rear view mirror, I finally got the gumption needed to do a little quilting.  This one is ready for its new home.

Now I've got to finish the next one, a chevron baby quilt also for donation.  I'll say it again, I love my Pfaff Select with the built-in walking foot.

It was a wonderful day today.  All four of my grandchildren were here, with most of their parents.  The weather was beautiful, and we were outside quite a while.  My granddaughter fell in the mud and got her pants dirty, so my daughter made her a skirt from fabric in my stash.  I wish I had taken a picture, but here is a recent one of the adorable Miss E.

I am the luckiest person in the world.
Wishing you good luck and simple joys.
Cheers,
Sylvia

I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts (at the very last minute!) and Myra at Busy Hands Quilts this week.  I can't wait to check out what everybody else is doing.

All Things Purple

Hurray!  The first color of this year in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is PURPLE!!!

It just so happens I have lots of gorgeous purple scraps.  Most of them fall into two categories:  brights and 1930s reproductions.

So what to do for my RSC 2017 quilt?

What about bright houses?

These were so easy and so much fun, I couldn't stop.

This one has birds on the roof and eggs for the door.

Of course there had to be a cat house.  And butterflies dive bombing it.

What the heck, why not a cow on the roof?
This will be a fun quilt.  I can hardly wait for the other colors. 
Plus the block will use up scraps from my 2.5 in bin and 3.5 in. bin. 
Maybe I'll get the piecing perfect before the end of the year. (Hah!)

Why stop there?
What about the 1930s fabrics?

I tried a fancier pattern first, and realized I probably wouldn't enjoy it enough to stick with it.  So in the end I chose Buckeye Beauty.

Classic patterns are great for scrap quilts, and the easy piecing means I'll enjoy making lots of blocks.  These finish at 8 in. square, and will use up my 2.5 in. and 4.5 in. strips.  I will have to buy some more white solid fabric next time I go to the fabric store.

I've even got a project box just for the Buckeye Beauty blocks and strips to make them.  For me, this is scary organized.

So I'm set for the year now, even for leaders and enders (as mentioned in my last post) to make this scrappy quilt.

I'll be using up 1.5 in. and 2.5 in. 19th Century repros, 2.5 in. and 3.5 in. brights, and 2.5 in. and 4.5 in. 1930s repros.
What do you bet I don't even make a dent in any of them.
Sweet purple dreams!
Cheers,
Sylvia