Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: By the Light of the Moon Quilt

 

I've never been a cat person (no, not even for Halloween) but I DID fall in love with the candy corn border. This quilt is brought to you by Elizabeth Cecchettini for Baby Lock. I like the quilt's retro flavor, and it's a manageable size, so that if you wanted it done and ready for the wall or table in time for Halloween, it's definitely doable!

CLICK HERE for the free pattern

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Witch Shoe Treat Bags

Sharon at Dances With Fabric has put out a tutorial for a really cute witch shoe shaped treat bag.  Sure, you could use it for a treat bag, but as she also points out it would make a great silverware holder too.  I think it would look great hanging on the fireplace like a Halloween stocking! 

CLICK HERE for the free pattern.  Thanks for sharing this with us Sharon!

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Ghoul's Night Out Table Runner

 

This spooky table runner by Grace Wilson for Maywood Studios is fun and versatile.  How great would this look on your buffet for a Halloween potluck?  This is shown using Maywood fabrics (which look great) but you could take it into creepy territory or make it bright and whimsical.

If Halloween isn't quite your thing, this would convert beautifully to a fall or harvest themed table runner perfect for your Thanksgiving table.

CLICK HERE to get the free pattern

'Tis the Season to get Spooky!

Well, it's almost the end of September. 

And, lately, as with most of this year.....my total posts equal right around zero.  In my defense...most of the things I've been working on lately can't be put on here, because they're gifts and those people read this thing.  Talk about a spoiler alert!

But instead of going out with Isabelle tonight like planned, instead I'm at home with the sinus headache from hell.  My head feels about 5 feet wide and hey, who knew teeth could feel?  Mine do and they feel awful.  So I'm home in the bedroom hoping that after a double dose of my usual headache meds a few hours ago (that did just about nothing)  maybe some nice generic Benedryl Sinus will do the trick.  Just when everyone else's allergy season finishes, my allergy season begins.  Awesome! 

So being laid up with a painful noggin, I have no excuses left not to update the ol' bloggy blog. 

That being said...it's almost October, which means it's almost time for Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween.  'Tis the season to be spooky...and it starts Monday.

Dorm Quilt

Whipped up another store sample...this time, a quilt made for the dorm.

Finally a Reason to Learn to use the 45 Degree Line on my Ruler!

I've been at this quilting thing for 4ish years now, and all this time I've stared at my 6.5"x24.5" ruler at the 45º mark on it and wonder what on earth I'm supposed to do with it. I know I'm not the only one, I've heard time and time again about people getting intimidated or confused by how or why to use that line. Well, I found a reason to use it and you know? It wasn't difficult. Like, at all. Once you get the hang of the first cut or two, it's cake!

So I decided to do the Spirals Tabletopper by Designs to Share with You. It's looks way more complicated than it is, and it doesn't require a ton of fabric to make...so, perfect!

Here in Oregon, Summer has been an elusive beast this year. And even though it's just barely starting to feel summerish, the tree in my front yard is already donning it's fall colors. Yes, in July, and no, the tree isn't sick. And at the shop, fall fabrics are starting to arrive and people are gearing up for their fall projects, so I decided to (even though all of me wanted a bright, summery tabletopper) go for a more fallish theme. These are the fabrics I chose:

 

The turkeys are a lot more vibrant than they appear here, and that dark fabric is actually a very deep black-green, with a hunter green speckle. It doesn't photograph well, but it matches up with the turkey's feathers very well (in real life). 

So until after I got my basic pieces cut, I didn't realize I'd need a little bit of 45º know how. I don't know what I was thinking I'd be doing method-wise to put it together, but I guess it just didn't occur to me that a 45º cut would be a possibility. Siiiiiilly me. 

 See? When it's broken down (the above is the first round) you see the definite need for a 45º cut. So, how on earth did that work out using that line? Because, I mean, I'll be honest, my method was to just eyeball it until I read through the instructions. Imagine that. But all you have to do to guarantee your cut is on that 45º and correct for the next round is get that 45º mark on your ruler lined up with your seam, and then line up the corner of the rule with the edge of the fabric the cut will need to equal. Then all that's left to do is hunker down and take the cut. Easy peasy. See?:

 So here's Round 2. Maybe I'm one of those "looking for faces in clouds" people, but uh, is it just me, or at this stage does it look like a swastika? The pattern stops here with a note that says if you want it bigger cut a few more strips. ....I went out into the living room after I got to this part and asked JOhn what he thought of it. He said he liked the colors, and I asked if it reminded him of anything else, perhaps...and he immediately said, "Swastika." Soooooo....there you have it:

So I went ahead and added the third round. I like it MUCH better. I wish the colors photographed better, but I assure you, it's very fallish and it really does match.

The pattern itself leaves a little to be desired in terms of instruction, it's not always clear as to how to put it together, but on the other hand, it wasn't difficult to figure out. Once I got my fabrics cut, piecing the whole thing too all of maybe an hour, hour and a half. So it's a quick and reasonably simple pattern to make, so if you need a quick bit of decor to freshen up your seasonal home or a quick gift for someone...this is a good bet!

Hand-Me-Down UFOs

Lately a very common statement I hear at the shop and with quilting friends is that either A) they need to use up their stash, or B) they want to finish UFOs before getting anything new. I've even tried to commit to those ideas too, with medium style success.

But even with a lot of determination, we look at our old projects with mixed emotions. Sometimes we see them with renewed vigor and get back on track ...but then other times... we look at those unfinished projects and just groan and shove it back to the back of the bin. And if we reeeeeeally never want to see the project again, we "donate" it to family or friends who sew and who we hope will finish them so we don't have to!

Well, in the past few months lots in my life and in the lives of my family and friends has changed - people have moved, gotten ill, had surgery...all that great life event stuff. So as folks cleaned out their sewing rooms and revisited those UFOs, I ended up taking a handful of them and I'm glad I did! They may have hated them, but I sure don't. Some of them are sets of completed blocks, and others are close to finished.

Here are a few of them. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!

This one is an old project of Mom's that she started when I was...a toddler? It's definitely from the early 90s and it was one she utterly detested. So instead of her scrapping the blocks, she gave them to me to do whatever with...so I made it. All I added were the borders:

   
 This one is another from Mom. She just decided she was never going to get to again and again, instead of roundcanning it, she gave it to me to finish. Really all that needs done is stitching the applique down:

And this one a customer brought in for me. She just wasn't happy with where it was going, had run out of fabric and was just not inspired to ever work on it ever again. As luck would have it, another customer completely unrelated to the one that gave me the quilt to finish, gave me the very same fabric the other quilter had run out of - 6 1/2 yards to boot!

So if you really hate one of your UFOs, you might just find it a home with someone else! Not me though...looks like I've got plenty to keep me out of trouble :)