Sailing On Into the Blue

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Up, up, and away!  This cute panel was on the free table at my quilt guild's meeting a few months ago.  I finished the top, but it was lingering in the closet until I finally got it quilted this week.

Nothing too complicated here, just borders around the center.  Lots of panels are not printed straight on the fabric, and this one was no exception.  I liked that it had plenty of white around the design so I could cut it straight before adding the borders without wrecking the design.

As it turns out, I had some hot air balloon fabric on hand to add to the panel.  The inner border is a very light blue with smaller balloons, and the corners of the outer border are cut from a slightly darker blue with larger balloons.  I'm really hitting the theme hard.

Even on the back!  A kind person in my quilt group put literally yards of this adorable Hoffman fabric in the basket the group gave me.

In a nod to last month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color, I bound the little quilt with an orange print.  It will be donated to Jack's Basket.

Since it's light blue, I'm counting it as a start to the RSC color for September.

Here are 4 light blue split nine patch blocks to join the rest I've been making all year.  Now for the hard part--I have to do some math to figure out how many more blocks I need, and if I'm making two baby quilts or one twin quilt.  Size will of course dictate where the quilt or quilts are donated.  What would you do?

All the blue squares in these blocks came from my 3.5 in. box, they were already cut and waiting for a project.  Here we have sharks, caterpillars, and the Bat Mobile.

These fabrics are VERY light blue.  There are trucks, lighthouses, and a scrap of one of the balloon fabrics from the baby quilt.

The blue squares in this block have kites, fire trucks, and flowers (with a bug peeking in).

It's fun to look at the fabrics and remember the quilts these scraps came from.  The prints this time are bunnies, butterflies, and Fischer Price toys.  The bunny fabric was left over from my littlest grandson's quilt, made before he was born.

Here he is now, at two and a half.  His brother had a day off school yesterday, and we went to the library for new books.  Our library is wonderful, with so many fun things for kids to do, including this puppet theater.

Did you notice the boys' weird hair?  Their Daddy gives them haircuts, and for a joke he only cut half of each of their hair the other night.  The kids loved it, but we got some strange looks at the library.

Our Buddy didn't have school yesterday, so their Dad left their hair like this, and fixed it after work.  (He would not have sent Buddy to school like this.)  Sorry about the tongue hanging out, he was being a goofy kid.

The weather here has been beautiful.  My Little Guy and I go to the park as much as we can.  In this photo, he is studying a leaf he picked up.

Here in the U.S. it's Labor Day Weekend, which traditionally marks the end of summer.  We should have a few more warm weeks here before fall and winter arrive.  I plan to make the most of them.

Have a lovely weekend, and a happy week ahead.  Quilting makes a good day even better!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Frederique at Patchwork and Quilts 

Old Quilts, Cheddar, and Orange Sherbet

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the end of August, and that means the end of orange month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It seems like I always leave my Razzle Dazzle project til last, but that might be because it takes the most time.  I like sewing it, and I really love picking out the light and dark prints for the triangular blocks.

I've been noticing all the orange in our house this month, especially the grandkids' toys.

On the last Saturday of the month this year, I'm featuring some of my antique quilts.  This month I dug out the ones with prominent orange fabrics.

First is this very unusual quilt.  I could not find the exact pattern in any of my reference books.  (If you recognize it, please tell me!)

The block is a hexagon, and is made up of six string pieced hexagons with a plain yellow one in the center.  The green triangles on the ends of the hexagons make the block into a star, and the white background triangles finish off the block.  In between the blocks are bright orange triangles.

The fabrics range from 1930s-1940s prints, possibly feed sacks, to the orange itself, which is probably from the 1950s or 1960s.  Our unknown quilter apparently ran out of the green for the star tips, but she still had plenty of orange, so several of the blocks have some orange star tips.  The quilting is done by machine, in a hanging diamonds grid (one set of lines is parallel to the edge, the other set of lines is on the diagonal).

My quilt collecting philosophy is showing in this quilt.  The condition of the quilt, vitally important to most collectors, is not a big issue for me.  I bought it, even though there are two holes in it, one of them large enough to put your hand through!  My purpose in buying these quilts was to enjoy them, of course, and to learn something from them.  And it always helped if the price was good!

Here's our second antique orange quilt, which probably dates to around 1900.

 This particular orange color is properly called chrome orange by quilt historians, but is known usually as cheddar from its resemblance to the color of the cheese.  The blocks are set on point.

The pattern for this block is called The Letter X.  It was one of many blocks in the Ladies Art Company Catalog (as shown below, No. 279).  Quilters back in the day could order a pattern for 15 cents, and would receive a small cardboard card with a diagram of the block, plus a set of paper templates, one for each shape.  They could even order completed quilts for any design. 

I made my own block, just to try it out.  I used blues instead of pinks, and my "cheddar" is much lighter than the antique quilt.  The unknown quilter changed the placement of the hour glass squares from the pattern, so I followed her lead.  It looks very different when not set on point.

This quilter also appears to have run out of a fabric.  Three of the blocks have pink replacing the cheddar.  It's a good reminder not to stress out when we run short.

Orange may not be as common in antique quilts as blue or red, but it adds a lot of punch!

Our Buddy started first grade this week!  My Little Guy missed his brother, but we spent more time at the playground, where lots of the equipment is orange.  Below he's trying to sell me "ice cream" disguised as wood chips.

 We made real orange sherbet this week (with NO wood chips), following this recipe.  It calls for simple ingredients like orange juice and milk.  If I don't have fresh oranges, I just skip the orange zest.

You don't need to use a blender, I just mix it up in a bowl and process it in my ice cream maker (below).  Then I freeze it in small containers, and it's ready when we need a cool refreshing snack.

If you got to the bottom of this long post, congratulations!  Can you tell I love orange month?  I do tend to ramble on about it, sorry.

Have a lovely week!  

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

Positivity 2022: California Bound

 Welcome to Treadlestitches, Positivity 2022 edition!

It's Sunday morning, around 10:35, and I just put the last stitches in 20 minutes ago!  (Good thing you couldn't see me dancing and jumping up and down!)

Normally, I like having deadlines, because it means I get things done.  And waiting til the last minute is stressful.  But lately, I've just run out of both time and energy.  

I'm a "granny nanny".  I babysit my two youngest grandsons every weekday from 8 to 4 or 4:30, while their parents work.  I volunteered for this job, and I love being with them.  Before they come in the morning, I get a few chores done and piece quilt blocks.  The actual quilting gets done on the weekend.

But we have been out of town for the last four weekends.  And I have just been too tired to quilt in the evenings.

So yesterday morning, I decided I would do as much as I could now that I have time again.  If I didn't get finished in time for the deadline, I would at least make a good start, and finish up later on.

I quilted a 2 in. grid with the serpentine stitch, and it went much more quickly than I had thought.  I got it all done by the time I went to bed last night.

I used a stencil to mark the border for quilting, just a simple 2-line swag I've used many times before, and quilted that this morning when the light was better so I could see the markings.

Then I trimmed the edges, made the binding, and sewed it on.  The binding is a blue scrap I bought at the quilt museum rummage sale last June.

What do you think about the backing?  I stayed away from my beloved novelty prints for the front, opting instead for calm blue, green, and aqua prints, but I could not resist the sea turtles for the back.  They seem calm to me, too, swimming peacefully.

Now all that remains to do is to pack it up and mail it, which I will do this week.  Hurray!

Hurray for all the Positivity 2022 quilts, finished or not yet finished.  And a huge thank you to Preeti and Bernie for helping bring more positivity into the world.  We all need it!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Bernie at Needle and Foot.
 

 

Little Bits of Orange

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Are you sewing with orange this week for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge?  I'm getting a few blocks done.  Thank goodness I picked easy projects this year.  This is the first weekend we've been home in a month.

These sixteen patch blocks are so fast and easy (with Cynthia's quick method!) and I'm finally using strips I've always liked but had trouble finding a spot for.  A friend gave me this candy corn fabric at a retreat back before the pandemic.

The print in this block came from a Moda scrap bag.  Do they still sell those?  It was so much fun to lay out all the strips after I got home.  I'm definitely a sucker for scraps.

The fabric for this block and the next came from scraps I bought or was given.  I just love the rainbow affect.

When I first started quilting, I would never have put orange and pink in the same block, let alone the same fabric!  I'm just amazed at how well they go together.  Orange really does play well with lots of other colors, like blue, aqua, purple, yellow, and even red!

The orange crayon is done now, too.  I'm starting to think (worry?) about how I'm going to set the crayons together.  It's a good problem to have.

Are you a Lori Holt fan?  I've often admired her designs, and when I saw this book while we were on vacation I decided to take the plunge and try some of her patterns. 

All the designs for the rows on the cover quilt are also made into individual quilts, table runners, etc.   My favorite block is the mitten.  Can't you just see that in novelty prints?  

Here's a little more orange!  Our Buddy's shirt says "Live to Fish", and that describes him perfectly.  His dad has been taking him fishing and teaching him all about it.  Buddy assures me this is the proper way to hold a fish with sharp teeth after you catch it.  I'm just glad this fish is plastic.

It's been cool here lately, and really too cold for swimming, so we set up the wading pool as a fish pond.  Our little Guy is very proud of catching a tiny toy shark.

Our oldest daughter and her two kids were here Friday, and we had a nice visit.  Our granddaughter, Miss E, is taking a popsicle break.  I wish I had been fast enough to take a photo of her hula-hooping (is that a word?).  She is phenomenal!

Not pictured is her brother Mr. H, who literally runs from the camera. 

The end of summer is coming up fast.  Buddy starts first grade this coming week, and the older kids go back shortly after that.   We'll still have good weather for a couple of months or so, and I might have time to can tomatoes and freeze corn in September.

And now that we're back from all our travels, maybe I can spend more time sewing!  That's the plan!

I hope your plans work out for you this week, whether sewing or not.

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap 

Home and Away, and Orange

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

We're back from visiting the natural wonders of northern California.  It was a foggy morning when we stood on the bank above the Pacific ocean, inhaling the sea air and listening to the waves.

The tiny person at the base of these redwood trees is me!  Everything was so amazing and overwhelming.  I ran out of adjectives by the second day.

But don't worry, I never plan to run out of fabric!  There was more than just fabulous scenery, there was also a friendly quilt shop in Redding, California, called Sew Simple.  My hubby understands the importance of balancing hiking/sightseeing and fabric shopping on a vacation. 

 BTW, did you notice the ORANGE fabric?  August is orange month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and I couldn't be happier.

When I got home, I picked my easiest RSC project, and made these blocks in the mornings, while waiting for my grand kids to arrive. 

I can't believe I still have a scrap of this cheeky dinosaur fabric.

Orange aliens got to come out and play.

And I just love these joyful minions.

This little squirrel in Mariposa Grove in Yosemite reminds me of my recent take off on Sew Preeti's Positivity 2022 quilt tutorial.

I'm using Preeti's method, which is great fun, but making the blocks with scraps.

I start with two matching dark and two matching light charm squares.  I also cut 2 strips 2.5 x 9 in. of a different dark (orange here) and two strips 2.5 x 9 in. of a different light.  Then I make these two blocks:

Once they're sliced into fours, I put them together just like the directions say,

 and end up with two identical blocks.

I'm not totally happy with these two, and I think I know why.

Take a look at the rest of my orange blocks.  Which of these blocks is not like the others?  Three of these look good to me, and the one in the upper right looks a little weird.  

 I'm going for a kind of twist look, and I think for that I need less contrast between the dark fabrics.  So, lesson learned.  I'll still use all the blocks of course.

Because the blocks remind me of the chewing gum wrapper paper chains we made as children, I'm calling the quilt I'm making Gum Wrapper Twist.  The weird ones can represent all the chains I folded wrong. 

Our busy level around here has ramped up to 11, but we're still having fun with our little boys.  

This week we've been watching American Ninja Warrior on TV.  If you haven't seen it, amateur athletes try to complete a series of difficult obstacles.  I'm not a big sports fan, but I like how all the fans and competitors root and cheer for every contestant. Our Buddy wanted to try out his moves on the playground.  He's not bad!

Our Little Guy is pretending the slide is the warped wall the athletes run up.  He loved when we cheered and yelled "Beat that wall!"

Summer is going to come to a close soon, and most of the grand kids will be going back to school.  Until then, we're going to just enjoy the weather and being together.

Have a lovely week!

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with

 Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

 Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge