Halloween Quilt Finish

She finished, washed and ready to ship to my daughter.  It took a bit longer than expected but there's still plenty of time for them to enjoy the quilt before Halloween.  

I love how it looks like I took the time to do some fussy cutting on some of the fabrics, like in the cornerstones.  It was just pure luck.

This quilt is for cuddling and warmth so the quilting was kept to the bare minimum.  A simple stitch in the ditch around the stars, blocks and borders.  Free motion in the star blocks.

For the final border a large crosshatching.  It took a little extra time to pre-mark each line but it was worth the extra time.  The big black and white polka dot border topped off with the black gingham binding is my favorite part of the entire quilt.

But I learned a valuable lesson with the cheap Joann Fabric black gingham.  It's a little stiffer than quilt shop quality gingham.  Not a problem, if I had pieced the binding with a 45 degree seam instead of a straight seam.  Lesson learned when I hit the first bulky seam.  I think this is the first time I've seen a needle break into three pieces.  After this I sewed the remaining seams by hand cranking the needle through the seams and squinting to protect my eyes from any sharp flying objects.

The backing plan was supposed to be scrappy Halloween prints.  As you can see plans change when your wanting a quick finish.  A quick dig in the stash and I found a wide white backing perfect for knocking a couple hours off the finish time. 

Now to get her and the others boxed up and on their way to Kentucky.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Almost a Quilt Top

 Hello Quilty Friends!  This week has flown by faster than a witch on Halloween.  My plan was to have this quilt finished and shipped by today.

Yesterday evening I managed to piece the bottom two rows together before calling it a day.  As I stood back and looked at the layout before putting them together I realized I really didn't care for the sashing or cornerstones.  Word of warning...striped sashing is hard on the eyes and makes me a little dizzy.

I think the cornerstones would have looked better had I used the colorful prints instead of the black prints.  But this granny is running behind and doesn't feel like bending over or squatting in order to test my theory.  What if I don't like it?  More bending and squatting.  And seriously, would the grandkids really care about the color of the cornerstones?  Probably not. 

The new plan "Quilt till you wilt" and have this girl on the quilting frame by this evening and finished by Sunday evening so it can be shipped next week.  That means three full days in the studio, maybe some scary Halloween-ish movies to set the mood.

I also need to decide if I want to ship on Monday or make a few small items with the scraps. Maybe a pillow, table runner, or pot holders.  Or should I just wait and use these scraps up next year?  There's still plenty of time before Halloween.  We'll see how I feel after the quilt is finished.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Another Halloween Quilt From Scraps

Hey Quilty Friends!  What do quilters do when they don't want to store or save scrap fabrics?  The answer is simple, make another quilt from the scraps.  In order to make another quilt from the Halloween prints I needed to pull more Halloween-ish fabrics for the borders and binding.

I can see how this could become a scrap quilt rabbit hole because there will be more scraps produced from the fabrics I pulled for the borders and binding in the picture above.  On my cutting table is a basket of white background fabric scraps, they will be worked it into the new scrap quilt.

And let's not forget the mountain of black scraps from the background of the five Lone Star Quilts made over the last year.  A little of  the solid black will be used in this quilt.  

The cutting for this quilt is finished and there's still scraps!  

They may be used to make a scrappy quilt backing or table runner.

The last three Halloween quilts and pillows were bound with this black striped fabric.  I'll be using it for the sashing in the current quilt. The black squares will be the cornerstones.

Here's the plan but things can change, especially the sashing.  I may turn the stripes vertical, it all depends on how hard it is to cut them horizontal.  I love the look of them horizontal but we all know how fabrics can get wonky when printed and ironed.

Right now it's pedal to the metal time!  I'd like to have this girl finished in a week or less.  

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

 

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Three Quick Halloween Quilts Finished

 These simple Halloween quilts are sure to make the grandkids happy.  Ages 10, 7 and 4.  They love the holidays, what kid doesn't?  Especially the ones where candy is the main dish.

For some crazy reason I've been collecting Halloween prints for over a year.  It all started with a Halloween fabric clearance sale.  Not too much you can do with a handful of FQ's.  So what's a gal to do but buy more when you can find them cheap.

Each quilt has the same prints but not in the same amount or order. 

Each quilt has a different border so the grandkids will know which one is their quilt.  I opted not to add labels and names to the quilts.  My daughter can help them decided who gets what color.  As sure as I choose the colors they will be unhappy with my selection.

Most of the fabrics are Halloween prints.  This white cat print is just too cute.  It would have been nice to have it in yardage for the backing but Walmart doesn't carry Halloween prints in yardage.

I had to add some non novelty prints in order to make the quilts bigger.  Of course after I did this Walmart put out a few Halloween FQ's.,,, and I bought them anyway.

The leftover border fabric for each quilt was added to the backing.

Each quilt has the same Joann's black stripe binding.  100% machine bound with black serger thread.  I also used the serger thread for the quilting.

A good portion of yesterday afternoon was spent designing a Halloween pillow pattern to use up some of the scraps.  It has been so long since I actually designed and made anything besides large squares.  It felt good, so I designed a few more quilts to help use up some of the solid black scraps accumulated over the last year.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Halloween Quilt Binding

Hi Quilty Friends!  Today's plan: Machine bind 3 quilts.

All three quilts will be bound with the same black striped fabric so I pieced all the binding needed for the three quilts in one long strip.

 

I've tried every trick or tool out there to help keep the binding off the floor.  But it just seems to go quicker and smoother with the original way of just tossing it on floor between my legs.  Most quilters will press the binding in half on the long edge.  Not me, I fold as I go.  For me it's quicker and I really don't see any benefit to pressing it half.

After the quilts are bound I think I'll use these scraps to make pillows.  I could just sew them together as is or make a simple charm pillow.  Any suggestions for Halloween pillow patterns? 

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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It's A Little Spooky

 Hello Quilty Friends!  Things are getting a little scary out here in Podunk.  Over the last year my quilting world has been turned upside down by breaking all my self imposed quilting rules.

As many of you know I don't typically like novelty fabrics.  And most certainly do not like orange or black. 

But I've been collecting Halloween prints.  For some reason I'm being drawn to darker colors and not just Halloween prints.  These are just some of them I've collected and using in my current project.

And would you look at the purple prints.  I actually went out shopping just to find PURPLE because I felt like purple was needed to complete my Halloween fabric collection.  What's has happened to me?  

Halloween prints are just the beginning.  Over the last few weeks, many hours have been spent searching for fabrics more in the civil war color pallet.  You know those warm and cozy colors of tans, cheddar, navy, rust and the deepest of red.  

Right now I'm swooning over this bundle.  It's taking every ounce of will power to not click the buy button.  I don't have a quilt pattern in mind but I think I could whip one up in no time.  Could it be this recent love of a darker pallet is due to the coming season change?  Or maybe I'm being influenced by the pumpkin spice advertising plastered everywhere.   Subliminal messaging!  Whatever is going on, I'm doing my best to resist.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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