If I ever have children, by the way, they will go trick-or-treating in a neighborhood, NOT in a dang mall. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of getting dressed up and going trick-or-treating around our neighborhoods with my Dad. And, mark my words, one day I will be the house that at Halloween with cause a city brownout with all of my awesome lights and animatronic lawn decor. Yes, that will be a reality. And...I will certainly be the proud owner of the best haunted house EVER. Just you wait. lol.
But with Halloween comes my favorite projects. At the shop, Debi and I designed an embellishment contest for Halloween - everyone started with the same design and fabric and they had to embellish it as they saw fit. Just for shiggles, she and I did our own quilt. By the way, if you like this pattern please ask before copying or emulating. It is under copyright!
I love these kinds of projects because they force you to push your envelope and to think about non-quilting items in terms of quilting embellishments. Looking at things in a new way...that's one of the very best things about quilting, and quilting embellishing!
The black/gray damask border is blinged out with Hot-Fix crystals - I had to hand quilt the spots where the crsytals would sit down so they had a flat place to be fixed to.The spider web is a textured cord couched down with Superior Mono-Poly thread. That spider, I sh!t you not, is one of those gummy spiders for kids that people give out as party favors...you know, the onces that feel all boogery that no one over the age of 10 (oh, okay, well, and me because I'm a freakin' 8 year old in a 23 year old body apparently). The fence is a cut up black wire hanger that's been couched down with blakc thread. The UFO has been fussy-cut from some outer space fabric, and it's little abducting-people-beam was drawn in with chalk pastels. The moon was painted in with a silver paint pen. The cloud is made from Angelina Fibers.
Okay, so here, the alien head in the window is fussy-cut from some alien fabric (I know, "Duh," right?) The curtains have been hand folded and sewn into the windows and are made of silk. The fog is Angelina Fibers. The ghost popping out of the chimney is first an appliqued shape, then with Angelina Fibers layed over the top to make it look all...ghosty. I'll get to the rest in the next photo...
From the top, the cauldron was drawn in with a black Pigma pen. The contents of the cauldron is -wait for it, because this'll make you go "Lauren, you have too much time on your hands, and while you're at it you might consider cutting down your caffeine intake" - is hot freaking glue with scrapbooking glitter poked into it while it was still hot. The grass was thread-painted to look like actual grass. The knocker on the door is one of those hook-and-eye closures for clothing. I just used the hook side, because hey, it looked like a door knocker. Also, the stone around the door wa originall just a plain textured grey. I quilted it and shaded individual stones in with a very specialized and expensive tool - a yellow No. 2 pencil. Yep. Just a plain pencil.
Another close up of the web with a squishy spider.
Right, so the boards are fussy cut from a grandfather clock piece of fabric, the coffin was fussy cut from coffin fabric ("Duhr," I can hear it through the screen!). Now get ready to go "what the..." - those bones that the (squishy-like-the-spiders) skeleton is climbing down from are SPRINKLES. Yes, they are sprinkles, as in cupcake sprinkles from Michael's. It's not that weird, I mean, I sprayed them with varnish to keep thaose rat-bastard ants away.
But there you have it. For this quilt we really had to think about how to use non-quilting items with a mind to embellish in order to get the effects we wanted. All in all, it was an absolute blast and I can't wait to do another one for spring!
And, just to show y'all...we do Halloween up at the shop right. Yes, we dress up! Debi and I were dressed to the nines, and Mom decided the fake moustache route was more her speed....she doesn't love Halloween like we do! But I spent the day creeping around people...I was the Creeper of The Cotton Patch! Can you guess which movie monster is my absolute favorite? ...lol.
I looooooooooooooooooove it!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean you already knew that was my favorite quilt... It was so awesome to get to read about how you did all those cool things I've always admires so much! God we need more time together, so I can learn half the cool things you're able to do!?!
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