Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!  While I'm sitting here waiting for the (maybe) three trick-or-treaters we usually get I thought I'd show this pumpkin wallhanging I recently made...

I actually made two.  One for me and one for my daughter-in-law's office (she says she's been getting compliments all week on it at work!)  I forgot to take a picture of hers, but her borders all match. 

Edited to add a photo of Raqhel's quilt (with the matching borders) that she kindly sent to me...

How lazy was I when I realized I didn't have enough to finish the top and bottom border for the second one and instead of taking off the two sides and going with a different fabric all around, I just used a different print on the top and bottom.  Oh well, it's going in the window and you won't be able to see it from the street (you know, that "galloping horse" thing - I  use it alot)

I did a buttonhole stitch in black around the applique and a meander in the background.  I think they came out really cute!

I found this fabric to back them with.  Must have been a Kenny's Flea Market Find, because I know I didn't buy this! 

I didn't get a chance to finish this guy before Halloween though...

He still needs to have the applique stitched and his borders put on.

I saw these cute patterns when I was desperately looking for the backing fabric for the red & white wedding quilt.  I couldn't resist buying it.  The pattern is from a line called "Seasonal Skinnies" from Ribbon Candy Quilt Company.

Not only were they quick and easy to make, but I made them all from stash!  I love that!

And, exciting news - Lilly won the prize for the "prettiest costume" at her camp Halloween party today.   She was Minnie Mouse ....this is from another Halloween, but it's the same costume and she doesn't really change much from year to year - LOLOL!

Don't eat too much candy!!

ALSO EDITED to add that we got NO trick-or-treaters this Halloween (guess who will be eating too much candy)!!

October?

Ha ha ha , very funny.  You can stop now...

Good thing it's not Halloween tonight!  There's at least two inches of slushy snow out there and it's still going strong!  Unbelievable.  Hopefully, this is not an indication of how the rest of winter is going to be.

Luckily, I had nowhere to go today and have been sewing for most of it. I thought I'd be able to get The Ghastlies top finished.  It's not to be.  This is as far as I got...

As has been par for the course for me lately, I ran out of fbric.  This is all I could eke out of the bramble fabric to surround the four cornerstone blocks ...

So, the two remaining borders will have to wait.  Luckily, I was able to find some more online (it's becoming a little hard to find, so good thing I found out I need more now!)

And, just for the record (and maybe this will make it feel a little  bit warmer), here's Going Beachin' all finished...

Going Beachin'

62"x74"

Started: 8/28/2011 Finished: 9/28/2011

Fabric: "Going Coastal" by Emily Herrick;  Pattern: "Beachin'" by Crazy Old Ladies

 

Now, I'm off to make some Brunswick Stew for dinner this cold, snowy October night!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

For this Blogger's Quilt Festival (hosted by Amy's Creative Side - thanks Amy!), may I present...

Gray Rosegarden

This is one my favorite quilts, made back in 2007.  I was whizzing past some booths at the NJ Quilt Festival that year and saw these fabrics and did a double take and turned back.  Then I saw the quilt that went with the fabric - the man who ran the booth with his wife had designed the quilt (I was very impressed with him!).  (Unfortunately, I don't remember now what the name of their business is)  But, I scooped up the fabric and pattern immediately. 

So simple - just alternating snowball blocks and nine patches and two different fabrics, but in person the quilt almost glows.  I display this quilt in my living room during the winter months.

When it came to quilting it, I didn't want to ruin the effect of the fabrics by choosing the wrong color thread, so decided to go with a monofilment in smoke for the front and gray cotton for the back. Good thing you can see the quilting on the back because you certainly can't see it from the front! After all the custom work I did on this it doesn't even look like it's quilted until you turn it over!

As you can see, I did some feather medallions with a stipple in the middle and for the smaller medallions, I used a flower ruler to stitch around and then filled it with more stippling.

For the borders, I just did this scroll-type quilting.

It's almost time to put this one out again!

There are lots of links to some greats quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's place - click here!

Kenny's Flea Market Finds

Ken was on the hunt for Halloweeny-things last weekend and found this spooky fabric at one of the yard sales he stopped at - skulls, googly eyeballs and skeletons - our daughter loves it!  (When do they grow out of that - she's 22???)

He also found these 70s-inspired fabrics....

Just adding these to the stash - have absolutely no clue what to do with them.  Although the blue and pink tiny medallion fabric is kind of cute.

 Today, I'm furiously trying to finish up a couple of pumpkin wall hangings - one for me and one for my daughter-in-law.  I'd like to give it to her tomorrow so she has a week or so to enjoy it!

I'm also in the midst of making a butternut squash and apple soup.  I've never had butternut squash soup, but people rave over it and I found a recipe for it last week so thought I'd give it a try.  If it's a hit, I'll share!

PMQG Sewing Night

I missed our Philly Modern Quilt Guild kick-off meeting for this season because we were on vacation.  I was bummed to have missed member Jessica Levitt's trunk show showcasing the quilts from her new book, Modern Mix (and her new fabric line, Kingdom, is awesome)!

But, I was glad to attend the guild's sew night the Friday after we got back.  It was held at Sew Smart in Doylestown.  I  hadn't been to Sew Smart since the new owner took over.  Wow, wow, wow!  She's got great stuff coming in!

What a fun night we had.  Of course, I had to do some shopping (after all, Kathleen was kind enough to keep the shop open just for us on  a Friday night!)

It was hard to choose without going overboard and I tried to be good.

Because I had gotten some Circa 1934 charm packs earlier, I figured getting some yardage was a good move.  I love this typewriter key fabric - will make a great quilt back (and besides I type like 120 WPM!  It's one of my "gifts" LOLOLOL)  And I thought the other fabric would make a nice border.  Now, to figure out what quilt to make with it all!

 

And these Halloween fabrics screamed "take me home" as soon as I walked in the shop...

 

This was a splurge.  I saw a quilt, called Baby Log Cabin, hanging up and fell in love.  I asked about it and Kathleen said there was a class.  So, of course, I signed up for the class and bought the fabric right away.  I don't think this stuff is going to be around for long.  The bird print is  Joel Dewberry.

 Then, after all the shopping (and giving Becky my two cents when she was shopping too - LOLOL), we decided we were hungry and all trooped out to the local pizza shop to get some food.  We all got soaked bringing our pizza back to shop when it decided to rain on our parade!  Between shopping, chatting and eating, this was all the sewing I got done...

Really, that was all I had to show for 3 hours! But, it was all good. It was more about hanging out with quilting friends than how much sewing I got done. I had a great time and can't wait until we do it again!

Back to reality!

Vacation's over...it's just a distant memory now.   It's amazing how quickly you get right back into the swing of things.  It was a great trip, but we were gone 12 days and I was ready to come home (it was too hot and my feet hurt - LOL!)

But, it was a GREAT trip.  Vacation's always fun, but we said this was one of the best.  Everything went very   smoothly and there were definitely "magical" moments (how can there not be at Disney!). Even when we presented ourselves at the Philly airport hotel the night before our flight and were told they didn't have a reservation for us, but were able to find us a room anyway even though there was a convention in town and every hotel was "full" (I'm still not sure whose fault that was - mine or the hotels')  Or, when we got to Disney World and I realized I'd forgotten to bring the park tickets I bought earlier in the summer.  Everything was taken care of with no problem.  Whew!  We also met some great folks!

We started off on a cruise...on the new Disney ship, the Dream....

A bit bigger than the other two Disney ship, but just as lovely.  Our first afternoon on board we spotted a young lady - must have been in her early 20s - she had a short, dark bob and was wearing a very early 1900s looking dress.  Like something you would have seen lady passengers on the Titanic wearing.  Then I looked down at her shoes - same thing and I realized she was GOING for that look. It was so neat.  We saw her a couple other times on the cruise and she was similarly costumed.  I was dying to ask her about it, but, of course, didn't.  One of my favorite nights on cruises is formal night.  I love to see everyone milling around in their finery.

The main lobby

We had a couple of stops at one of my favorite places....Castaway Cay.  A true island paradise.  Every time we're there, I really know I'm on vacation!

We then spent 5 days in the World.  But I didn't take any photos because they would look the same as the photos from the last umpteen trips..  Although I could have scanned the photo of my husband in a tu-tu when he was picked to the "the star" at the Hoop de Doo Revue, but that wouldn't be nice - he he he he.  (He saw me writing this and said if there was enough demand, he'd consider letting me post it - LOLOL!  He is such a ham - that's how he got in that predicament in the first place!)

But alas, all good things must come to an end (and besides, I was having withdrawal and couldn't wait to get back to my sewing machine - really!)

So, since we've been back, I've been frantically working on the Ghastlies...

Got the star blocks mostly done.  Of course, I ran out of the Tree fabric before I got the last borders on and had to order more today.  That's been par for the course with this quilt.  It's the 3rd time I've had to order fabric.

The scene blocks are all done...here are a few...

And I expect to have the quilting on Going Beachin' done this weekend.  I'm just doing a meander in white, but I think it suits the quilt.  Sometimes simple is best!

It's so good to be sewing again!