Cats and Dogs and Elephants, Oh My

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

Hey!  Who's under this quilt?  I just finished it this morning!

Oh yeah, I forgot, Snicky has a side job as a quilt quality control inspector.  That is of course in addition to his regular jobs of holding down our laps and waking us up at 5:00 a.m.  He's a busy guy.
 

I got carried away making these Uneven Nine Patch blocks last year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This is the second small quilt from these, and it uses 30 blocks.  The first quilt used 20.  There are still 51 more blocks!  What on earth was I thinking?

All of the blocks I chose for this quilt have animal prints in the center square.  There are pets, like cats and dogs and rabbits, zoo animals, farm animals, insects, birds, fish, dinosaurs, and sea mammals.  The blocks alternate dark and light centers. 

There are even animals on the back!  You might recognize this as "country look" fabric from the 1980s/1990s.  It's good cotton fabric, and I'm happy to have found a use for it.

Now I'll get the quilt washed and donated to a children's charity.  And then figure out what to do with the rest of the blocks.

The RSC color for June is blue (any blue!) which is great for me because I have so many blue scraps.  I'm just getting started making June's blocks, but these 3-D flying geese are easy and fast so I did them first.

Catch up is still happening with pink blocks.  I didn't have very many pink crumbs, so I only made two of these strips sewn on grocery receipts.

I may not be a big fan of regular pink fabric (yet?), but I have always loved double pink reproduction prints.  These hexies and triangles are cut with the Accuquilt cutter and are fast to sew.  I'm starting to get anxious to see all the colors together in the quilt, with those white stars peeking out.

A couple of months ago, a lovely lady (who used to be my son's English teacher) contacted our quilt guild about a local charity called Ebony Vision.  They have mentoring programs and a free lending library, with special activities for children. (Click HERE for an article about the organization.) Of course that caught my attention as I'm a retired school librarian.  We made a couple of quilts for them to use as a fund raiser, and now we're making book pillows.  The pillow covers (as seen above) have a deep pocket for books, lapped back flaps for easy insert and removal of the pillow, and a handle for carrying.

Our goal is 40 pillow covers done by our next meeting.  The pillows to go inside have already been purchased.  I couldn't attend the sewing day at the guild, but the amazing Colleen dropped off two kits plus instructions.  Those are the blue and green ones.  I also made the other two from guild fabric plus my fabric.

I had to include this red fabric with dinos and books!

There was some non-sewing activity here this week.  Little Guy "graduated" from preschool!  With all the excitement we couldn't get him to hold up the certificate for the photo, but it was such fun seeing the program the kids put on, with lots of happy singing. 

All the kids told the teachers what they wanted to be when they grew up.  

Here's what Little Guy said:

Those big trucks are really exciting.  Plus the man who collects the garbage in our neighborhood is very friendly, so maybe that's what influenced his choice.  I just want him to be happy in his work, whatever it is.

Have a happy start to a new month, with time for things you love to do.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

Butterflies, Strings, Flying Geese, and Four Patches

 Welcome to Treadlestitches, and welcome to summer!

 The butterfly quilt top is finished at last!  I couldn't resist displaying it in our lilac bush.  All the rain we've had lately has made everything outside happy and lush.  The lilac smell is heavenly.

Here's a clothesline photo that shows the quilt a little better.  There was a breeze this morning when I was taking pictures, can you tell?  I tried to snap one during a lull.

This quilt was started years ago by a quilter associated with the church where our quilt guild meets.  The church ladies had several unfinished projects they asked us to complete and give to charity.  Here's what I started with:

There were also several yards of unbleached muslin.  I cut the big butterflies up to make the pieced butterfly's large wings, plus triangles for the pieced border.

The cotton gingham and the blue print border came from my vintage stash.  I enjoyed putting this together.  I'm not sure if I'll quilt it myself, or hand it off to the lovely long-arm quilters in the guild.  I'm thinking it could go to a local hospice or some other appropriate charity.

Meanwhile, I'm working on pink scraps for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, aiming to finish up by the end of the month.

I didn't have a lot of pink strings, so there's not a lot of variety, but a lot of scraps were tidied up.

Then there were the 3D flying geese.  With only one seam they're quick to sew.  Several of these appear to be cupcake prints.  Wonder why those always catch my eye lol.

I love this happy little frog!

We went to a flea market last Sunday, and it was just a perfect day.  I saw this vintage quilt, and thought it was interesting.  I always like patterns that chain.  A closer look revealed that it was a double 4 patch, with the same white fabric in the 4 patches and the larger squares within the pieced blocks.  Hmm.  Wonder how many variations on 4 patches there are?

Here's another one, with 4 patches on point like square in a square.  This quilt was 100% polyester.  I grew up with polyester, I wasn't tempted to buy it, but collectors and museums are including them now.  Definitely part of quilt history.

 Little Guy wants to show you his mean face.  Try not to be scared!

He is ferocious!

It's Memorial Day on Monday here in the US, a time to remember family and friends who have passed away.  Today I'm thinking about my maternal grandmother.

This is Gran, holding my oldest daughter, her first great-grandchild.  She never liked having her picture taken (me either!), so we have fewer photos of her than we'd like.  I'm glad we have this one where she looks very happy.  I am so lucky and thankful to have had her in my life.

Happy Memorial Day, and have a wonderful week ahead.

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

In Which Orphan Blocks Find a Home

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

As I write this, it's a beautiful morning, warm and clear and sunny, the kind of weather that always makes me cheerful.  Also making me happy, I finally have a finished quilt!  Our guild had an "orphan block" challenge contest and I was happy to participate.

All of the blocks in this quilt were in my orphan block drawer.  The big stars in the corners plus a yellow one in the second row were a failed start for a larger quilt.  I thought I knew a better way to make them than the magazine pattern.  (Spoiler--I didn't.)  

Some blocks were leftovers from Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilts, and a couple were just random stars I made when trying out a pattern.  I added blocks together and framed a couple to bring each block up to 12 in. finished.

Four of the orphans were extra special to me.  They were made by a founding member of our quilt group, and I bought them at our silent auction last year.  These stars were hers.  I added the squares to make the block the right size.

These little wonky stars were also hers.

This one is my favorite.  Check out the tomato (?) in the center!  

I was honored to include Laverne's blocks in my quilt, and had the top finished before I learned she had passed away.  She will be long remembered for her many years of teaching quilting and gently encouraging all of us, as well as her kind, sharing, and fun personality.

You'll never guess what happened at the quilt group meeting.  My little orphan quilt won first prize!

There was even a ribbon!  Since it's the first blue ribbon ever for me, I had to take a closeup.  So exciting!

Life is still very busy around here.  Last week I had 2 quilt group meetings, Mothers Day with the family at my house, our wedding anniversary, and all the usual.  I did get a little pink sewing done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Pink stretched stars are easy and fun.  I love that llama fabric!  (Thanks, Joey!)

Still trying to catch up!  These are the last of the yellow blocks for April's RSC.  It is hard to stop making these string blocks.

Here's something interesting that came in the mail.  It was a tote bag, and an announcement for this year's GSAFE auction, which will be held Nov. 26-Dec. 3, 2024. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 31, and the theme this year is "Together".  

GSAFE is an organization working to make more resources available to LGBTQ+ youth in Wisconsin schools.  They are looking for new, handmade, fiber-based donations in all price points.  I donated 3 quilts to them last year, but besides quilts there were knitted, crocheted, embroidered, woven etc. items.  For more information, click HERE.  I've already got an idea or two for a quilt to make!

These guys were "helping" me take pictures of the orphan quilt.  It's a joy to have them around.

I hope you can find time to do what gives you joy this week.  We're going to a birthday party today for our Buddy, and to the first big flea market of the year tomorrow.  Maybe there will even be sewing time.  Who could ask for anything more?

Have a great week, and thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these amazing people:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, Home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

 

This Pieceful Life

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!

How are your projects coming along?  For me, I have nothing finished this week, but some progress has been made.  Sometimes that's the best you can say!

Pink rail fence blocks will be handy when making up Rainbow Scrap Challenge baby quilts at the end of the year.  The pink 2.5 in. strips are almost gone.  (Is that a good thing?)

The butterfly quilt I'm making from an unknown quilter's UFO is almost a top!  I need to add the pieced border of half square triangles and the outer border from the vintage blue print.

Rainbow Rails is coming along as my leader and ender project.  For my version, I need nearly 100 of these little blocks.  I'm up to 62.
 

I was gone for a week to visit my mom, and we had out of town company this week, so I'm behind on everything, but it was totally worth it seeing people we love.

Maybe I'd get something finished if these pesky squirrels didn't keep popping up!

Now you see it, now you don't!  Watch out, this nine patch block is going to disappear. 

Ta da!  Now it's four blocks, complete with sashing and cornerstones.  I'm following the Self Sashing Nine Patch Quilt Tutorial from Jo Kramer at Jo's Country Junction blog. 

It's a good pattern for using up some random charm squares and other pink scraps.  I wish I had more of this cute puppy print.
 

Oops!  I did discover a problem that can happen if you use novelty prints, which are often one-way designs.  Upside down unicorns look kind of weird.  I fixed this with the seam ripper, but it can be avoided by placing the novelty square in the upper left corner of the nine patch block.

There has been a lot of traffic through our backyard in the early morning.  One day this week we saw a mother mallard with 13 baby ducks (we counted!) walk right across our patio.  Today there was a hen turkey, just sauntering along.  Two robins are fighting (or mating?) almost every day.  And I have no photos of any of it sadly.  Spring is wild around here.

I was so glad to see this Little Guy and his big brother when I got back.  We've had some thunder storms and cooler days, but also warm days just right for playing outside and popsicle parties on the porch.

So how are your projects coming along?  I look forward to seeing all the wonderful quilting at the linky parties below.  Have a wonderful week, and Happy Mothers Day to all the American moms.

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap

 

I May Like Pink!

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's the beautiful month of May, and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color is pink.  I saw this amazing tree on my walk yesterday, just exploding with pink blossoms.  Breathtaking!

I wanted to get started on the pink scraps, but didn't have a lot of sewing time. Sew, I made just 6 of these little cats.

Isn't this print terrific?  I got it in a scrap bag as a prize for making a Positivity quilt.  The scrap bag came from Preeti Harris of sewpreetiquilts.  (Thanks, Preeti!)  This little kitty is a tiger inside!

More pink!  I spent last week in Oklahoma visiting with my Mom and my sister and my sister's family.  One day Mom and I took a walk in a lovely park.  I used to say I didn't like the color pink, but nature is trying to  change my mind.  (The wind was blowing hard here, can you tell?)

There were several of these funny little elf houses in the park.  They're not for birds or animals, they're just for fun.

The Canada geese had fluffy little babies running around.  Sorry the goslings are blurry, they wouldn't stop moving!

When I travel I don't usually take any sewing with me, but I like to have some mindless knitting to do in the evenings.  I made these dishcloths at Mom's, and then gave them to her.  The colorful yarn came from the free table at Quilt Guild.  (Thanks, Joy!)

After I got home I worked on the rest of the yellow RSC projects from April.  I'm calling these Grocery Chains because I'm sewing the little scraps onto the paper grocery receipts .

It's fun to revisit all these yellow scraps, ranging from bright as day to nearly white.  It's like an I Spy game.  Can you find a blue hippo, a slice of watermelon, upside down red shoes, and a tiny pink bird?

This is my sister's cat, Velcro.  Does he remind you of anybody?  My sister and I adopted Tuxedo kittens at about the same time.  My Snicky has a look-alike cousin!

I had a wonderful visit with family and I'm so glad I went.  Safe travels to anyone going places this summer.  Have a great week, and happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with these wonderful quilt blogs:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy, home of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge

Cynthia at Oh Scrap