Holiday Projects...Already?

I've been putting off this project, and the fabric's been collecting dust, so it was time to do something about it. I know it's still March - though barely - but Halloween fabrics are hitting the market soon, so I'm in the mood. When this happens, I have to get to work or the feeling fades pretty quickly.

I've had this bundle of fabric for a while, Spooky Delights by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda Fabrics, and I'm finally putting it to use. I didn't even really have a real design idea when I sat down in front of the machine, but sometimes that's okay. Today it seems to have worked out, judging by block one anyway.

I decided on a cream spider print from the Happy Hauntings line by Riley Blake. Fun, right? Or creepy. I'll take fun or creepy.

I cut some 5" x 2.5" pieces from strip sets (which always feels like it takes foreeeeeeevvvveeer) and used a Dresden ruler to cut them.

Cutting is the worst part of quilting for me. I'll take ironing over it anyday, but pairing up the different fabrics for each block alleviates some of the boredom that task manifests. To lessen that monotony even more, I turned on one of my favorite Halloween films...



Halloween II. It's one of those movies I can recall seeing for the first time, and it's stuck with me all these years later. But back to the fabric!

Chain piecing the units through the machine is the fun part for me. Once I'm in the groove and let the machine do it's work by gobbling up each piece of fabric, I can feel the project coming together. A string of Dresden petals is kinda festive, like a series of pennants. Except even better, because they're Halloween pennants!

🎃  🎃  🎃  🎃  🎃

After that the Dresden plate comes together rather quickly.

It's cute enough on its own I think, but I figured I was going to be bored with just a plain circle in the center of the plate. That's when the idea clicked to add a Halloween-themed applique to the middle. It was also partially inspired by Lori Holt's Sweetie Pie sew-along. I had too many projects in the hopper or on hold (this being one of them) to participate, but I think this will fill that void. I'll to an a few different appliques to the center circle, but this is the first fella that came to mine.

Isn't he cute? My embroidery skills are really pretty basic, but I'd have to put them to use to give this fella some eyes and a mouth.

There he is in his final...resting place? I opted to applique him with black thread to give him a little more definition and make him stand out from the cream background fabric. His eyes aren't as even as I'd like them to be, but I shan't stress about it. I'll figure out some friends for him to be the center of the other blocks.

This is a quilt I'm looking forward to finishing. I just have to make sure I don't make it all up as I go along.

Boo!

So...it's August. My nieces were visiting from Philadelphia for a couple of weeks and they were taking up all of my time. I'm not complaining! I love them and they keep me on my toes. But it also kept me from sewing. Here I am. Finally. :)

It's time for Halloween decorating, right? Right?! It's never too early, I say! I'm not a summer fan, not at all. The sooner I can start daydreaming about fall (and then, inevitably, winter), the sooner I can forget about the heat and humidity of July and August. Blech!

My aunt Carol Ann is a marvelous quilter, and she sometimes sends me patterns she thinks I'll love. Most recently it was this Hexed Table Runner from Fons & Porter. She knows I love Halloween, and boy did she hit the ghoul on the head with this one! A couple of years ago, I bought two bundles of Riley Blake's Witch Hazel, and it's probably my all time favorite fabric. It's just so evocative of Halloween and all the fables and rituals associated with it (without getting too ghoulish).  I made this quilt from it...

It's a simple pattern I improvised, because I mostly wanted to showcase those gorgeous prints.

Well, I finally dug into that second bundle of fabric. Don't think I didn't try to talk myself out of it! I love it so much I didn't want to part with it. It was my first time working with hex shapes, but it came together rather quickly.

After I decided on the prints, I took a big gulp and cut them into strips!

Then onto the piecing....

It wasn't long at all before I finished my first hex shape!

Not bad at all, right? The rest was a breeze, and before I knew it I had a pieced top. It took me a bit of time to figure out how I wanted to quilt it. I chose a variegated black and grey thread and did a simple grid of wavy lines that gave the impression of a spider's web. Here's a shot of the back...

And the final product?

I love it! I'd love to keep it out year round and pretend that it's always autumn, but it'll be replaced with a Christmas runner in no time. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy it. :)

Today I'm linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.