Halloween! (#'s 7 & 8)

Two more UFO/WIP projects finished a couple of weeks ago, and with plenty of time to spare since they are both for Halloween.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this Which Witches Boot (a Crabapple Hill pattern) quilt. I tried embroidering with perle cotton for the first time and I'm sold... it's so easy and is such a nice finish. It didn't take long at all to complete the embroidery panel. And, since orange peels are one of my favorite blocks to make, this border was a joy to make and it also went together pretty quickly. One of my goals with this little quilt/wall-hanging was to make it look like Halloween without using any obviously Halloween fabrics and I think I succeeded. However, for the backing I did use a great black with white Halloween print (see below) which was perfect! This is my seventh finish for the year!

The wonderful backing fabric...

The Halloween pillow that follows (number eight - yippee!!) was made from a length of fabric, purchased at Material Girl Fabrics in Redmond, Oregon, that contained two different panels. What a great little shop that is, and with a wonderful selection of fabrics! I loved spending time (and $$) there!

I started by quilting both panels - the usual way - using a lightweight cotton fabric (I use older quilting fabrics that I'm not in love with anymore since they won't show anyway) as a backing, then batting and the panel. That creates a nice, quilted texture that's not too flimsy for a pillow. The finished pillow ended up at 20" and I put a zipper on the bottom seam so it won't be visible when it's on a sofa or chair.

Since we don't have children and we don't see our niece and nephew very often (and miss them terribly), we sometimes feel that we miss out on the fun/spirit of the holidays. I'm trying to remedy that with this quilt top and pillow. Hopefully, it will feel a lot more like Halloween this year!

Take care,

Which Witch's Boot embroidery done!

I've finished this Which Witch's Boot embroidery (pattern by Crabapple Hill) and I'm extremely happy with it. I was taking a big chance on the white embroidery showing up enough on the black background, but it worked out really well, I think. I was also afraid that the black fabric might run (since I forgot to wash it first) in the soaking, but the perle cotton stayed nice and white. Yippee!

I've also got all of my orange peel blocks (I'm not following the pattern in this regard) done for the border, so it's just a matter now of assembling the whole thing and getting it quilted. And... it will be done waaaaaaay before Halloween. That's the best part! :)

My inspiration came from a finished panel I saw when I was visiting In Between Stitches in Livermore year before last. They had done the crayon-colored version on a white/light background, and I loved it the moment I saw it even though I knew I wanted it on a dark background.

Take care,