1st Halloween

No sewing to show today, but I can share my granddaughter Sophia who is ready for her very 1st Halloween. It's turtle time!

Twisted Hat Door Hanging

Hanging this on my front door for Halloween was inspired by a picture I saw recently of my current house taken right before we bought it. The former owner had this huge 3D fabric Santa head and hat hanging on the door.  You could see it from the street and was so cute.

Well . . . this can be seen from the street too and should be pretty cute for future Halloweens.  It still needs quilting, binding, and a hanging sleeve added so it won't meet the deadline for this year. 

I actually had the fabric all laid out for a narrow green border and then using the hat and shoes border fabric for a wider border. I was all ready to cut this morning when the inspiration hit me for hanging this on my front door. But side borders would make it too wide. So it just got the top and bottom borders and it fits perfectly on my door.

Tankini & a Jack 'o Lantern

This cute little item is from a pattern called Tankini, possibly because it will fit on the tank of your 'commode' perfectly. But I decided to put it on the hearth of our family room fireplace.

All done with 5 fabrics from my stash. The top all came from small pieces of 3 fat quarters, the back came from another fat quarter left over, and the striped binding was cut from left overs of another fat quarter. 

Total time to make this - maybe 3 hours counting the hand stitching on the binding!!

Twisted Witch's Hat

Every single piece of this project so far was taken from my stash of Halloween fabrics. I saw this online and since I already had the ruler, I just did the math to figure out how many 5" squares I needed. And I laid them out on my design wall.

Next step was to start cutting these out using the Twister ruler. I think this will be the most time consuming part. But I'm watching Vikings football while doing this.

So far I have 4 rows of twisted blocks cut from the original background.  Can't wait to start sewing on this!  This witch's hat was one of the most creative ideas I've seen these Twisters used to make.

Pinterest fun

I must admit that I enjoy Pinterest.  Along with quilt blogs I've found that Pinterest is a wonderful way to enjoy other people's talents and to get inspiration for my own projects. But I was totally surprised to find one of my own quilts being pinned by others.  I am flattered that anyone would think one of my projects was worthy of sharing.  This is the project of mine that I've seen on Pinterest - it is a hexagon star from a free pattern by Kaye Wood.

Fat Quarter Stars top

Forgive the poor photo quality . . . I'll post a better one when it's done.

Over my lunch hour I dropped off this quilt top with Carly to quilt.  It's my Fat Quarter Stars top done with the Ellie II fabric line.  I have another set of identical blocks done in greens, blues, and purples that I still need to put together.

I picked out a beautiful red backing fabric and will leave it in her talented hands to decide how to quilt it. It's always a pleasant surprise to pick them up when she is done.

While in The Pin Cushion I lingered over a gorgeous machine embroidered wall hanging.  It made me realize that I really, really need to make use of the embroidery unit for my sewing machine. I've had it over a year now and haven't taken the time to even try it out. It's time!!!

Pinwheel Star top is done

I had to get my husband to hold this one up for me to photograph.  The colors are a bit muted in this picture. Guess we should have tried outside, but the wind is blowing so that presents a different problem.

This is a baby quilt that I'm making for a cousin to give to a friend as a gift. It is large enough for a toddler and not too "baby-ish".

Once it is quilted and bound, I'm making a label that the giver can write on before she gives it to her friend. That way she can personalize it however she would like.

Yesterday I cut all of the pieces for the remaining 11 pinwheel star blocks. I had already made 1 block as a test to make sure my math was accurate.

Today I've been working on the blocks themselves.  All of the squares, rectangles and triangles became these sections of the blocks.

And this is the result.  I have all of the rows sewn together but I needed a break. So I'm watching the Vikings  football game. Then I'll finish the blocks by putting the rows together.  And later in the week I'll work on the sashing and cornerstones. Last step will be adding the borders. I have set a deadline for myself on this quilt because it is a "commission" project for a gift being given by my cousin's wife to a friend. 

1 hour project

What can you accomplish in an hour?

A self-binding baby blanket. This is the second one I've made now and once I figured out the technique it was really fast.  Cut, sewing, top stitch, press . . . all done in just less than an hour, start to finish, last night.  I have the flannel for 2 more so now I need a couple of more free hours.

Spur of the moment

Just call me an impulse shopper!

I stopped into The Pin Cushion yesterday to buy some white thread. Just thread - honest!!

First thing, Carma took me to the back where Carly had my blue stars quilt on the frame. I just love the quilting she is doing on my quilt and can't wait to get it back. It will be beautiful.

Then, I had to chat with Cindy and see what she was working on because it looked so cute.  It was this darling little table topper called Tankini. Another great pattern from Atkinson Designs. I love their patterns - have done several - so of course I had to buy it.  And then of course I had to go dig out some Halloween fabrics from my stash and try it out last night. I really was just going to start it. But about 90 minutes later I had the top all done.  It is going to be even cuter once I quilt it and add the striped binding.