Halloween Decor: Bunting

Since my last post was of a more serious nature, I thought it was time for some lighter fare.

I've been seeing tons of cute Halloween decorations popping up in preparation for October (tomorrow - eek!) and thought I'd make some of my own. I bought this Sheri Berry Trick or Treat Street panel a little while ago at my LQS and wanted to make a simple quilt out of it for Halloween. But, after taking a look at my to-do list for the rest of the year, I knew that a quilt that would only be used for one month out of the year was not something I could afford to spend time on, so that idea quickly fell by the wayside.


However, I was persuaded to at least make something Halloweeny after browsing around online yesterday.

I pulled out the panel and started brainstorming. Ding (enter lightbulb)! I could cut up this panel and make not one project (a quilt), but four!


My image is a bit messy, but you get the idea. Today I'm going to show you the bunting I made out of the "Trick or Treat" letters on the panel and the outer "Trick or Treat" border.


On the panel, there are dotted borders around each item, which made for easier cutting. I paired the letters with 5" orange squares of fabric from my stash. (It's actually a really cheap cotton that worked great for a project like this that doesn't necessarily require the best materials.)


I put the two sets of fabric right sides together, sewed 1/4" seam all the way around, but left a 2" section unsewn for turning. Then I clipped the corners, turned the units inside out, and topstitched all the way around them.


Then I pieced the "Trick or Treat" border into one long strip and laid it face down on the squares after I spaced them how I wanted them. I folded the strip back up and topstitched the side I just sewed and then made a finished seam on the opposite side.

I really like how it turned out, but it took much longer than I anticipated. I thought I'd be able to whip this up in a jiffy and it ended up taking my entire night's worth of sewing time.


Oh, gotta run. The mister is taking the kids to the park and I want to join him.

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Patching Up Quilt Top

Back in August, I posted about this straight-edge whirligig/tessellation cross quilt that I was in the process of making. I pulled the blocks out a couple weeks ago and pieced them together into a baby quilt top. I needed some comfort.


Making this quilt top was so therapeutic for me. I know this is a tad personal, but since I know many of you understand how sewing and quilt making can have healing effects on you, I think it's okay to share here. A couple weeks ago I was thrilled to find out that my husband and I were expecting our third child. Sadly, I experienced a miscarriage shortly thereafter. While I was dealing with the grief that comes with a lost pregnancy, I finished this quilt top. I'm calling it Patching Up, an appropriate name for a quilt top that came together under these circumstances.


I may add an outer border to encase those blocks and give an edge for the binding so it doesn't cut off any of the blocks themselves. The back will have a strip of five blocks between two pieces of the same fabric. I figure I have plenty of time to finish this one, so it will likely be something I work on here and there for a while. I'll continue to post my progress as I work on it.

Finished Rocket Me to the Moon

During my time off work last week, I finished the quilt for my son's bed, Rocket Me to the Moon.

I knew I wanted to quilt this one with something other than all-over loops, but it took a little while to decide exactly what I wanted to do. I started by outlining each square with a stitch about 1/4" inside the square on all sides. Then I was going to quilt the blue sashing only. But, then I thought it would be more fun to free-hand stars, planets, moon rocks, and an alien robot within each square instead.

Here are some moon rocks (free-motion pebbles).


Here are some stars.


The planet Saturn on the front.


And how it looks on the back.


And finally, a little alien robot on the front.


And back.


When I finished quilting all the squares, I almost left it at that, but then felt like the sashing was missing something. So, I quilted some wiggly lines vertically and horizontally along every sashing line. I like how it gives each square its own frame.


I bound the quilt in the same rocket wave fabric as the large squares on the quilt top and the waves make nice wavy stripes on the binding.


While the quilt was washing and drying, I made a matching pillowcase with the last of the rocket waves fabric. It was lacking a little something on the end so I appliquéd the same rockets that are on the back of the quilt and on the curtains in my son's room.


I wanted to get a picture of the entire quilt, but the grass was wet this morning and I don't have any helpers today to help me hold the quilt up. Oh well. You get the idea.


Be sure to check out Fabric Tuesdays today.

The auction was a success!

I've been busy the last few days spending time with my family as the mister and I both had time off work. I finished my Rocket Me to the Moon quilt and I will post pictures of that soon. I just wanted to let you all know why I've been MIA for a while.

The kids spent Friday night at my in-laws' and imagine my surprise when we arrive Friday afternoon to drop the kids off and my mother-in-law tells me that she won the charity quilt at the silent auction the night before! What a small world. The funny thing is that I made her a simple quilt out of the same fabric (Frolic) over the summer as a house-warming gift. Hopefully she doesn't get Frolic-overload, but at least the quilts will match.

Finished Charity Quilt

First off, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have left comments about this quilt (through its many phases), and the Rocket Me to the Moon quilt. I've meant to reply to all your comments, but life has been pretty hectic for me and I won't be able to respond. But I do want all of you to know that I appreciate your kind words...they are great motivation for me.

I finished the charity quilt last week in time for the auction, but they ended up pushing the auction back a week. That was nice because then I had something to take to show and tell at our monthly quilt guild meeting.


I did all-over swirls for the quilting. I'm trying to work on moving the quilt at a consistent speed and I think I'm improving a bit. At least my stitch-length is starting to look more even.



I cut 3" strips for the binding this time. I also took greater care to make sure my lines were as straight as possible. I do my bindings backwards than most of you, I'm sure, but I think this works for me. The mitered corners turned out quite nicely.


This was a fun project to work on, but I'm glad it's done. The other day I made a list of everything I'd like to quilt and the list was over 30 items long. I prioritized the top ten that I'd like to have done before Christmas. As this quilt was on the list, I'm happy to cross it off and move on to the next one.


I have a few days off work this week so I'll be attaching the binding to my Rocket Me to the Moon quilt and it will be ready for my son's bed. That'll shorten my list to eight to-dos by December.