Halloween Postcards Finish

Halloween Postcards

It's a finish!

45 x 60

I finished the top back in May 2021.   That year  I  made three different tops with big prints using the Double Sawtooth pattern from Quilter's Cache. It's a good pattern for big prints because the center of the block is 9.5 inches. 

With this quilt I also used up almost all of my Halloween fabrics. Some went into the pieced backing I made at the same time I made the top. 

I quilted it on my DSM (Brother PQ1500SL) with swirls in black thread. I really wanted to use orange thread but didn't have any and had plenty of black. I usually use lime green thread to quilt on black but decided to see how black thread would look since I have a few other quilt tops with black backgrounds that need quilting. 

I said I was going to try to get bigger quilts finished the rest of the year; however, this one in the to-be-quilted pile I'm trying to reduce already had a pieced backing made and since it 'tis the season it went under the needle. 

This one will go to my granddaughter Isabelle who was born on Halloween. She will be 20 this year! 

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Oct. 28 -- A roll of batting magically appeared at my door. I did manage to track down the sender. Thanks, Teresa! Now there is now excuse for moving forward on getting some twin sized quilts finished!

Oct. 29 - I early voted!   That triggered a few memories... I remember the first time I voted was 1972. At age 20 I was able and very excited to vote that year because the 26th ammendment (1971) lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. McGovern and Nixon were the candidates for president.  At around the same time in 1972 Iowa lowered the legal drinking age to 19 so I was able to sit in a bar and order a drink. So, lucky me...I didn't have to wait for my 21st birthday in order to vote or drink.   I also remember reading The Making of the President 1960 by Theodore White in my American Government class in high school and was rather surprised to read that a lot more than votes went into the making of a president. 

 

BIG Prints #1 - Halloween Postcards Flimsy

Halloween Postcards

It's a flimsy!

45 x 60

In our online Stasbusters group a challenge was issued to work in a series - pick a block and make several quilts using that block (or variations) and scraps and/or stash. 

I chose to use scraps as well as BIG prints that have been lingering in my stash for many years and the block I'm using is a fifteen inch (finished) block called Double Sawtooth found at Quilter's Cache. 

The center is a 9.5 inch square perfect (I think) for BIG prints. And the HSTs finish at 3 inches so they are perfect for using up some scraps.   I used a cute old Halloween fabric that I've never been able to cut into to use for the centers. I chose to use black and orange HSTs in all of the blocks and used up a lot of small scraps of Halloween fabrics. I also had to add in a few polka dots and solids when I ran out of Halloween fabrics. 

My small drawer of Halloween prints has been greatly reduced. I tried to use up all my Holiday fabrics several years ago but was a failure. Maybe this year that will happen. It looks like I may have the makings for a small Happy Block quilt as well as a black and white Medallion quilt left in the drawer. I reclassified a couple of the prints with pumpkins and scarecrows, etc.  and added them to a small box of Autumn themed scraps and orphan blocks. 

And this rarely happens...I pieced a backing right after I finished the flimsy. I hope to make that a habit because I have a giant pile of quilts that need quilting and when I actually do feel like quilting something I never feel like hunting for fabrics to piece a back. 

I used the rest of the Halloween Postcard fabric and this vintage looking fabric for the back but I also had to add in a few other scraps for length and width. 

I'm not much for decorating for or really even celebrating holidays so I'll probably pass this one on when finished to my oldest granddaughter who was born on Halloween in 2004. For some reason Halloween is her favorite holiday! 

So...on to the next BIG print! 

 

It's a Flimsy! - Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat

60 x 72

It's a flimsy! 

Again today it's too cold to go out and hang it on my clothesline to take pics so you will just have to believe me when I say it's a full fledged flimsy. 

I want this year to be a year of holiday cheer. I'm going to try to clear out all the holiday themed fabrics I have in boxes and drawers.  I'm calling it my Holiday Cheer Challenge.  I started this easy 16 patch in Halloween fabrics in December.  I cut pieces to have on hand so that I could sew something easy and mindless while my brother was here visiting from Florida and between visiting with family and friends. I sneaked in a few minutes of sewing here and there and completed all my blocks before year end. 

 And I followed through and pieced a backing too.  I made a giant four patch from the monster and creepy jar fabrics. 

This made a big dent in my Halloween fabrics - especially all the small bits and pieces that were leftover from making the grand kids pillowcases, trick or treat bags and quilts.   

My daughter made off with my Halloween quilt - Black Widow's Wedding Party - a creepy wedding ring quilt with glow in the dark fabrics  and quilting - so I guess this will be my quilt when I get it finished.  

 I still have Halloween fabrics to use for my Holiday Cheer challenge.  So I made up four Halloween placemats for my daughter.  She brought me that orange feedsack fabric with the black cats on it. It was a small piece I think she found at a garage sale. So I used it in placemats for her family of four.  

I made these 12 x 18

I was going to make reversible placemats with the same design on the back as the front but I have some small pieces of Halloween fabrics with a large print so I think I'll use these fabrics on the back of her placemats. 

 In an effort to clear out the Halloween drawer I "refiled" some pieces. The two in the top left are now in the fall themed box, the pile of purples in the top right are going into the purple fabric milk crate, the orange with pumpkins is going into the orange/yellow milk crate and the bugs, spiders and bats are going into the critter basket.  I could have put those purple spiders and cats in the critter basket but I'm low on purples so that's how I decided. I put a piece of Dios de los Muertos fabric in the travel fabric box. 

I store my fabrics (greater than a FQ) by theme and then by color. I store my scraps by size with all colors mixed- normally 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 and 4.5, chunks (less than FQ) , light strings, bright strings, selvages, waste triangles).  

But I still have quite a few Halloween fabrics in the drawer. I'll probably make myself a table runner and set of 8 placemats since I also have lots of little pieces of batting to use that are too small to piece together for a quilt.  I might make a pillow or two for my Halloween loving daughter since I also have lots of tiny batting pieces I can use for stuffing.   I might even have enough fabrics for another quilt.  Who knows what will come out of my Holiday Cheer challenge.  (I also have Valentine's Day, Patriotic (Fourth of July), Christmas and St. Patrick's Day fabrics to use). 

And leftover from making all those 16 patches are some 3.5 inch scraps for the 3.5 inch scrap box. You will see those later in Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects. This year they will turn into bow ties, rail fences and snowballs - all on-going and carry over from 2017 RSC projects that use 3.5 inch scraps. 

Jacob's Halloween Quilt

I used charms from a Fall/Halloween swap on Quilt-N-Friends Yahoo Group and bordered them with fabric from my stash. This is for Jacob, my 3 year old grandson. The granddaughters already have a Halloween quilt.

 I also used some monster fabric I've had in my stash for several years. I think I may have enough left for the back of another small quilt.

I quilted pumpkins on my plain old sewing machine. I was looking for a pumpkin idea for quilting it and found one at Free Motion Quilting Project.  that I tried to imitate.

And I'm getting better at remembering to label the quilts before I give them away!

I just found a new blog with a Sunday linky party. - Sew Many Ways, Sew Darn Crafty and am linking up for the first time this week. It's fun to see what other people are doing and get ideas for what I want to do!