Strings and Whirlygigs

Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Does your guild encourage members to try new techniques?  Ours certainly does!  I try to participate when I can.  Learning new things is good for us.

This month our guild had a challenge project using a particular method of quilt-as-you-go, where the quilting and piecing are done at the same time.  Sort of.  This is my finished project.

You could use any blocks, so I chose string blocks.  I pieced the strips onto a square of scrap batting, piecing and quilting in one step.  So far, easy and fun.

It got a little tougher at the next step.  I cut solid blue backing squares 2 in. bigger than the string squares, and spray basted the string squares to them.  Then comes the joining together part.  The backing squares are sewn together with a one-inch seam right next to the string blocks, and the seam allowances are folded over the front of the blocks, pressed under, and top stitched down.  I hope this makes sense. 

It was pretty easy to DO, but for me it wasn't easy to get everything to line up right, even with the help of an iron.  I was not very happy about how uneven it looked.

The fabrics in the blocks were bright and fun, and I was glad to use them up.  On the advice of the project leader, I bound the quilt with a separate binding, but you could do the edges the same as the block joins.

Here's what the back looks like.  Each one of those squares is a separate piece of fabric.

All in all, it wasn't my favorite method, but it was good to try something new.  And maybe I'm just too critical of my quilt, since it won third place in the judging!  I got a $15.00 gift card to a quilt shop!  The quilt will be donated locally.

Do you see the snow in the picture above?  I took that photo yesterday.  Today the snow is nearly gone, and runoff water is everywhere.

This ditch in the park still has ice at the edge though.

Today it's 57 degrees F and sunny, and it feels like spring if you don't look at the piles of snow here and there.  I saw two Sandhill Cranes this morning in the park, and three robins in our front yard.  None of them consented to pose for photos, sadly.

 

More red blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  These are four of my whirlygigs.  I dug into the novelty scraps for these.  There are dogs and paw prints, teddy bears and hearts, bugs and ants, and dots and Dr. Seuss.

Two more, with Bucky Badger, ladybugs, and baseballs.  I was really supposed to make five, but got carried away.  Oops, extra!

This time I added a new step when making them, and it helped them come out straight.  It was suggested by Maggie Fellow of the Making A Lather blog.  After sewing the two pieces together for each of the four quarters of the block, Maggie squares them up.  OMG, this is the best idea!  Why didn't I think of that?  (Because I'm not a genius like her, of course.)  The original design says to square the whole block up, but honestly this works better.  Thanks, Maggie!  (Click HERE and scroll down for Maggie's directions.  Her blocks are called Rolling Windmills.)

In Progress

The Twinkle Twinkle Scrappy Star top is still in progress, and might be finished for next week's blog.  Stay tuned!

This little quilt kit is on deck after Twinkle.  Did you ever send away for a kit from Quilts for Kids back in the day?  They would send you everything you needed for a top.  Once it was done it was sent back to them to quilt and distribute to kids in hospitals.  I did several of those, both from Quilts for Kids and made up from my own fabric.  This is a similar kit I put together for myself.

In the kit are 15 Bright Hopes blocks I made for last year's RSC, plus 15 squares of a print that looks like kids' crayon drawings.  There are also four 1.5 in. strips for an inner border, and four 3.5 in. strips for the outer border of the same crayon drawing fabric.  Fun and easy to sew!  I can't wait to get started.

I'd show you the scraps for my leaders and enders project, but Lizzy is sitting in the box!  This project is going to take a while, especially since I now realize I need 36 blocks, not 30.  But, a little at a time, it will be sewn.

So what's going on in your world today?  I hope you are having time to do things you want to do.  Have a lovely week, everyone!  

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

Strings and Things

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Thanks for stopping by!

Look, it's an outside photo!  And the ground is almost snow-free!  Could this be Wisconsin in February?  We're having a nice little thaw.  The high today was 47 degrees F, and that dripping sound is ice and snow melting off everything.

I did not even wear a coat when I went outside to take these pictures.  I did zip up my sweatshirt, though.  And I wasn't out very long lol.

I love string quilts!  Even though I make a huge mess in the sewing room when I work on one.  These blocks were part a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project from 2024.  I'm slowly working my way through the RSC blocks.

Do you see those wild blocks above?  One month I made string blocks just from multicolor fabrics.  They might even be a little too wild for me.  I had a hard time deciding what to do with them.  In the future, I think I will mix the multicolor strips in with plainer strips for more of a balance in any given block.  I do love all those multis though.  There are so many fun fabrics in there.

Lizzy tested out the quilt before I got it bound.  It has her seal of approval for naps in the sunshine.

Check out this summery border!  Flip flops and swim suits, bucket hats and the summer sun.

The back is this aqua print with aqua and purple dragonflies.  The solid lavender fabric was still on the cutting table from binding last week's bright hopes quilt, so it was an easy choice for this binding as well.  The quilt is 39 in. x 45 in., and will be donated locally.

As usual, I'm digging into my scraps to make green blocks for the RSC color of the month.  First are my Dawn Chorus blocks (above and below).  The green pieces are 2.5 in. wide, which is one of the strip widths I keep on hand in my "parts department".  I did have to cut a few more strips from the big scraps to get enough variety.

The light strips are only 1.5 in. wide, and I don't keep them in stock.  It's been helpful to have my light fabrics more accessible, including the scraps so I can grab them and cut them up.  If I happen to have a full strip I can cut enough for two of the quarter sections of the block, and save the extra set for another month.

 

I got a second set of RSC blocks done ahead, which must be some kind of miracle.  These are the ones I've been calling Half Log Cabin.  It has belatedly occurred to me that this set and Dawn Chorus are both log cabin variations.  I guess I just wanted to do more log cabins this year.  Both of these are going to use up lots of 2.5 in. strips, which is a good thing.  That drawer is REALLY full.

This Wednesday I joined some of the awesome ladies from our guild to work on charity projects.  I don't know why I can't remember to take pictures at any events.  Maybe I get too wrapped up in what's going on?  Anyway, we were making book pillows, like the one above.  Last year a local group requested some of these, and our guild ended making at least 100 of them.  My friend The Amazing Colleen had a whole box of kits cut out for more, so we sewed them up.  I made this one after I got home.

When we give them away, they have a pillow form inside, and we add a book in the front pocket.  The handle is so kids can carry them around.  They are made so that the pillow form can be taken out for washing.

The book I put in the pocket is one of my grandson Buddy's favorites from when he was little.  It's the classic story of Corduroy the bear, by Don Freeman.

In Progress

I'm still working on the farm quilt as a leader/ender project (see last week's post) with 6 blocks left to go.  The small top I was working on got moved to flimsy stage (hurray!) so this set of Little Bricks blocks is next.  

The box on the left contains my Little Bricks pieces, which are rectangles 2.5 in. x 3.5 in.  I was hoping to use up a lot of these this year.  So far I have pieced 3 small tops from them, plus these blocks.  And the box is still full.  What kind of magic is this?

Valentines Day is tomorrow! Buddy and Little Guy (and their mom) came over after school yesterday and we sent them home with candy and cards and hugs.  Today their big brother stopped by after work for his.  We sent a box of treats to Kenosha for our grandkids Mr. H and Miss E.  Then we gifted each other chocolate and cupcakes.  Oh, dear, I feel a diet heading my way.

Happy Valentines Day to all who celebrate! And have a very happy weekend!  I know I will have a good day tomorrow:  I'm going to a quilt show!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Strings and Things

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Is it windy where you live today?  This was the best shot I could get of this quilt top on the clothesline.  (My hair was blown around too.  No photos of that!)

Here's what it looks like inside the house, calmly lying on the floor.  As you can see, it's a string quilt, made from blocks I sewed last year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I had so much fun making these blocks!  String quilts are addictive, at least for me.  I love sewing these skinny strips into something useful.  There are 54 blocks that finish at 6 in. each.   I set them in 9 rows of 6 each.  

This is my third quilt with last year's string blocks.  The colors chain across the quilt diagonally, which turned out to be the best way to use up the limited amount of remaining blocks.  There are still a few blocks left in the bin, but they don't go together well, and will have to wait for more string blocks to be made.

The border is the blue fabric.  The words on it are sounds cars make, like vroom and beep and honk and even ah-ooh-ga.  I bought it at a going-out-of-business sale at a quilt shop.  

The top is approximately 42 in. x 60 in., and will be donated to the Children's Advocacy Center.

Here's a quick look at the back.  I piece my string blocks on cotton fabric instead of the more usual paper.  I just hate tearing off the paper, but I'm happy to recycle ugly fabric, so this works for me.

This week's RSC blocks are the Highland Fling ones, from the book Dessert Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.  I wanted a good contrast between the center square and the outer triangles so I used white-based neutral squares, all with at least some yellow in them.  

By the way, I looked this block up in Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.  The construction is the same as #2560 which is called Windmill or The Radio Windmill.  The color placement is different.  It's also similar to Arabic Lattice, but with a square in the center instead of a 4 patch.  I'm going to start calling them my Radio Windmill blocks.

This one is my favorite!

This was a busy week!  Saturday we went to our grandson Little Guy's birthday party, and had a great time hanging out with family.

Doesn't he look grown up?  This was the only picture I managed to take.  I always get caught up in the moment and forget.

Monday my friend Joey came to visit.  We had a good time chatting and cutting up fabric.  And I still didn't take any pictures!

She also gave me a sack of ready-made binding.  Our quilt guild has a challenge to make a mile of binding for our charity quilts.  I'm getting this batch ready for this week's guild meeting.  The first one is 12 yards long!  Thanks, Joey!

Our grandson Buddy was sick for three days with a cold, low fever, and a cough, so he was here with us instead of going to school.  He was feeling well enough by the third day to get bored with watching TV, definitely on the mend. At the end of the day Thursday Little Guy was starting to come down with it too.  (Doesn't it always happen this way?)  I did all my sewing on Friday, when the kids were home with their mom.  Thank goodness those string blocks were already sewn.

Little Miss Lizzy loves sitting in the living room window, watching the birds.  

The grass is still brown, but there are buds on the big tree in the backyard.  Spring is coming!

I hope you're having a lovely week, whatever the weather.  Happy Quilting!

Thanks for reading this!

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Purple Butterflies

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Today I have two quilts to show.  

First, the small quilt for donation, which is also a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  I made DOZENS of string blocks this year, and this is only the second quilt.

Lots of skinny strips and triangles make up these blocks.  I always feel thrifty when making them.  Can you spot the purple butterfly print?

The border is a different purple butterfly print.  Years ago I bought a bag of fabric at Goodwill, and there were SIX YARDS of this fabric in it.  I have loved using it.  It goes with most of the colors of the string blocks.

I've pinned up the back here to show you.  I bought this cotton fabric at the Winter Quilt Show a few years ago.  It cost $2 for a 2 yard piece.  Great, right?  But there was a problem.

These Easter theme borders were on either side of the dots.  They might have looked a little weird sideways on the quilt, so I cut them off.  (Don't worry, I'll find a use for them.)  The resulting dot print was narrow, but I pieced it to make it wide enough.  For quilting I did diagonal lines through the blocks.  The binding is a scrap of solid lavender.

So that's quilt #1, one of my usual small quilts for kids.  The next one is different.

This is officially a UFO.  And it has kind of a long story.

My niece Jenny died in August of 2021 from a massive aneurism at the age of 39.  Butterflies were her favorite thing, and purple/lavender was her favorite color.  I started making this quilt that fall, with the plan to give it to my sister as a comfort quilt.  I found this pieced butterfly pattern/tutorial online (click HERE), and started making blocks from Kaffe Fassett fabrics and light prints from my stash.

I had all the blocks made and the border (also a Kaffe print) ordered when my sister died in May of 2022.  For a while I couldn't even look at them.  I set the project aside.  What was I going to do with it now?  I didn't think it would be a good fit for her husband or her son.

In time, I decided to finish the quilt as a comfort quilt for me.  My friend Joey Mahieu is a professional quilter, and she quilted it for me.  I picked it up the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Can you see the hearts and swirls in the quilting?  Joey did a wonderful job (as always!).

This week I bound it.  The backing is a soft flannel, and Snicky the cat loved it so much he wouldn't let me sew!  I had to wait until he left the room.

I can't wait to snuggle up under the quilt after the Christmas quilts are put away.

Speaking of Christmas, it's almost here!  This week Little Guy had his program at school.  You can probably tell he loved it!  We loved it too.

The snow this week feels very seasonally appropriate. We will probably get lots more after the holidays, this is winter in Wisconsin, after all.
 

Tomorrow I'll be baking cookies with my daughters and grandchildren.  Icing and sprinkles and sugar, oh my!  

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!  And happy quilting to everyone!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap