Amanda Gone Wild

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

 It's full-on summer here in Wisconsin, and we are loving it.  School is out for the kids, the gardens are growing, and we spend lots of time outside.

In the evening when the kids have gone home, you'll find me up in the sewing room with the windows open.  Yesterday I finished a little quilt.  The pattern is from Me and My Sister designs, and is named Amanda.  The Amanda in the pattern looks like this:

It's neat, colorful and attractive.

Here's my version.  I'm afraid mine looks like an explosion in a confetti factory.

I didn't use any light fabrics.  My only rule was "no two pieces of the exact same print in a block".  The centers are all different, mostly novelty fabrics. All of the rectangles came from the 1.5 in. scraps.

The back doesn't do anything to calm it down.
 

The quilting is just a simple 2.5 in. grid over the blocks, plus two lines in the borders.

The border fabric is a little calmer, just little animals and balloons on a light blue.

Looking at it now, I'm rethinking some of my color choices.  Amanda has kind of gone wild!  Then I remembered why I started making bright quilts.  It was all because of kids in need and a program called Quilts for Kids. 

Just about every quilter knows about Quilts for Kids.  This organization fueled by volunteers delivers donated quilts to kids in hospitals.  Anyone who has ever been to a hospital knows how cold and colorless they can be.  I've been donating quilts to Quilts for Kids for more than 10 years.  I might have gone overboard on Amanda, but I'm sure she'll find a loving home. 

Light blue scraps are coming together into these big bricks blocks, one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects.

Fun in the sun, and Thomas the Tank Engine's friends.

Blimey!  Here there be pirate fabric!
 

I felt like a pirate yesterday, when I brought home this loot from a garage sale!  Yards and yards of bright fabric, plus fabric markers and dish cloth yarn.  Arr!

I'm not much for flower gardening, but these roses just keep going no matter how I goof up!

Have a lovely week!  I hope you have time for the things you love to do!

Cheers 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, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge
 

Pink Starts and a Dinosaur Finish

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

 

Last week was Groundhog Day (Feb. 2), which we don't really pay much attention to here in Wisconsin.  We are guaranteed six more weeks of winter no matter what cute furry rodents may do.  But we did get an almost spring-like day on Wednesday, when the sun shone brightly and the high temperatures were in the 40s (Fahrenheit).  I took advantage of the weather to hang this quilt and quilt top outside for photos.

Back inside, my grandson aka Little Guy modeled the finished baby quilt for us.  That's a little truck on the floor behind his head.  He's really been into cars and trucks lately.

The pattern I used is a free one from Quilts for Kids called Four Patch Pattern (click HERE).  It's simple, just alternating 4 patches and plain squares, with an inner and outer border.   The first quilt I ever made for Quilts for Kids was in this pattern.  It was a kit they sent me, with strips already cut from cute fabrics.  I'm sure that was at least 10 years ago.

I used my scraps and strips for the 4 patches, and this dinosaur print for the plain squares.  I bought it recently at a thrift sale called Granny's Attic at a local quilt show.

This is from the selvedge:  The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection, copyright 1997.   Wow, 26 years ago!

The letters in the print spell out "Friendly Things".  I knew I had seen this print before.  In 1997 I was a school librarian, and I loved seeing these happy dinosaurs reading books!  I used some fabric like this for the background to a bulletin board, but I don't know what happened to it after that.  When I saw it at the sale I grabbed it!  I got it home, washed it and looked it over carefully for problems, but it was still just nice fabric in excellent shape.

I have a lot left over, so don't be surprised to see it showing up in my quilts for years!

The backing is a soft flannel, also from the thrift sale.  As you can see, I quilted it VERY simply. 
 

Before I started quilting, I did some basic sewing machine preventive maintenance.  I cleaned out the lint, and there was a LOT after quilting 4 flannel baby quilts!  I also put in the recommended oil, and wound 5 bobbins.  And I changed the needle, and it wasn't even broken!  Mrs. Pfaff deserves good treatment.  I hope she'll keep going for many more years.

Meanwhile, back at the pink scraps...

...more bricks blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I was kind of surprised to find lots of fun pink prints in the scraps and/or stash.  I'm not really a pink girl.

These cool tigers came from a scrap bag I won by participating in the Positivity Quilt Along in 2021.  (Thanks, Preeti!)

As I was cutting the pieces for the bricks blocks, I realized they were the same size as pieces in the Rail Stepper quilt from one of my favorite blogs, Alycia Quilts (click HERE for free tutorial).  So of course I started a new quilt!  It's always fun to cut two quilts at the same time.

Once the pieces were cut, I couldn't stop myself from sewing them together.  I made only 20 blocks for a baby quilt, and it was an absolute breeze.  (Thanks, Alycia!)  I don't have anything I like for a border, so I'm just going to bind it after I get it quilted. 

This happened today.  My dear old dog Bella was sleeping on her bed, when we noticed Snicklefritz the kitten curled up with her.  When she woke up and saw him there, she left for the couch.  They're not exactly friends (yet?)  I'm still holding out hope.

I have more confidence in hoping you'll have a good week ahead, with time to do the things that give you joy.  Happy Quilting!

Cheers 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

 

Kid Stuff

I'm back from a quilt retreat weekend (that's why no blog last week), and Max the bunny is helping me show what I got done.  It's all fun stuff for kids.

First, doll quilts!  You may have heard of the Spread the Love campaign, to make doll quilts for the kids who are receiving dolls from A Doll Like Me.  (If not, HERE is the post from Bernie at Needle and Foot.)  I made two little quilts from orphan blocks and squares.
After making two of these blocks a few weeks ago, one red and one blue, I just sort of fizzled out, so it was nice to put them to good use.  The center block is 12 in., and the quilts are 24 in. square.

Here's the red one.

And the blue one.  I did a better job of keeping the red one flat.  Max doesn't care, so I hope the kids won't either.

Next up--dinosaurs!  I had a pack of dinosaur charm squares I bought at a quilt show a couple of years ago (I think).  I used more bright colored 5 in. squares plus rectangles cut 5 in. x 9.5 in. to make the quilt.  There are only 3 pieces in each block--two squares and a rectangle.

Here it is, on its side.  I am having an argument with the camera today.  So far, I'm losing.

These fabrics were so much fun to sew.  The pattern is called The Long and the Short of It, and is by Barbara Esposito.  You can find it HERE for free on the Moda Bakeshop.  The pattern calls for 30 blocks, but I only made 20 for a smaller quilt.

Check out this crazy backing fabric!

The quilting is just lines across the quilt.  They are mostly straight and mostly parallel.  Well, mostly.
This quilt will be donated to Quilts for Kids.

When I got to the retreat, I already had this little flannel quilt pieced, layered, and spray basted.  It didn't take long to quilt it simply and bind it.  It will go to Project Linus.
Lastly, I finally finished and bound my second Pixel Hearts quilt.

There are so many fun fabrics in here.
Wait til you see the back.

Monsters!  or Aliens!  or both!  So strange and goofy.  I love it.  It was on the Clearance table.  Can you believe it?
It is so much fun to make kid quilts with these fabrics, and it's fast and easy to finish them.
I hope you're having fun this week, whatever you are doing.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Busy Hands Quilts.

No kidding, these are done!

I wish I knew what had got hold of me these last couple of weeks.  Maybe it's spring cleaning fever.  That usually doesn't last too long!  Before it wears off, I at least got more baby quilts finished.

I was able to hang them outside Wednesday, but the wind was fierce.  The pattern for this one is called Just Because, and comes from Fons & Porter's Scrap Quilts magazine from Spring 2015.

Here's a photo of it inside, on the floor.

I had so much fun choosing the novelty prints for these blocks.

The back is just a floral from my stash.

Next up is a flannel quilt, made from tumbler shapes cut with the Accuquilt cutter.

Not too exciting, simply pieced and simply quilted.

The back is a wild flannel print.  This quilt won't be very useful until it gets extra cold again, but flannel is great in the winter.

Here's an easy one--an I Spy quilt made from a panel.  All I did was add the blue print border, and quilt and bind it.

I think this one will be lots of fun for a child and a sibling or parent.  The inner border lists things to find.  Some of them are very tricky.  I didn't find the basket of kittens until I was laying the quilt out today to take these pictures.

The back is an alphabet print, with toys sprinkled through.

Finally, this little triangles quilt is done.  I cut the pieces with the Accuquilt cutter, and everything seemed okay until I was adding the orange border.  The bottom row was off kilter, so I set it aside.   When I decided to finish all these little quilts, I pulled it out, and just took off the messed up row.

It's a good size now, and is full of bright prints.

The back is this adorable print with ducks and frogs and horses and alligators.

All these little quilts except the flannel quilt will go to Quilts for Kids, to brighten up hospital rooms and bring a little comfort to some sick kids.  The flannel quilt will go to Project Linus.

As if that wasn't enough to celebrate, my orchid started blooming!

First one bloom...

now TWO!

I really believe I am the luckiest person in the world.  I have a happy, healthy family, and time to quilt.

What brings you joy this week?
I'm linking up with some joyful linky parties at Crazy Mom Quilts and Busy Hands Quilts.  This post is also linking to Sew Some Love, a weekly posting at Kat & Cat quilts for charity quilts.
It's more fun if you join in!