Halloween Treats

I have been working away in the evenings on a set of Halloween ornaments from the Bucilla kit, “Vintage Halloween.” Here’s a look at my spooky finishes.

A new technique with the pumpkin ornament was adding "strings," of beads.

 Once I got the hang of it,

 it is was easy and looks great!

It was pretty challenging to work with felt and pointy ends that have a bead. 

Yipes...not easy.

The skeleton was pretty simple.

Okay...the spider was labor intensive. Chenille sticks are the foundation of the legs but have to be trimmed and then stitched inside a folded strip of felt. 

A nice challenge and it came out great.

The ghost was nice and easy. I have one ornament left to make, an owl. 

After I finish the owl ornament I will start my granddaughter's stocking.

This Christmas Llama stocking looks pretty simple. 

I think it will take a week of evenings. 

I spent days making design boards...mostly to use with my Bucilla felt projects. 

I got a bit obsessed with getting one of my retreat projects to the next stage.

Blocks and sashing all put together. 

Loving it!

 I have a set of Bali pops that match the layer cake and am planning to make a piano key border.

I did a quick mock-up on EQ.

Thumbs up!

October Material Girls Quilt Retreat Projects

 Last weekend was my first quilt outing since last February's, Material Girls retreat.

 It was so much fun. 

Here’s a look at the projects I worked on this last weekend.

At our last retreat in February, I made these butterfly blocks so I started this retreat by finishing the top!

 This was a charm pattern, "Madame Butterfly," from the book, "Charm School," by Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique. My scrappy border was the only change I made to the quilt pattern. I used layer cakes so there were enough scraps to make the 3 1/2-inch long strips for the border.

I started two new quilts from patterns and fabrics that have been aging in my stash.

 I had a Hoffman Bali layer cake, Parrot, and the pattern, "Birthday Cake," from the book, "Perfect 10 Quilts," by It's Sew Emma. 

I am adding another row to the pattern so I added some layer cakes from my stash.

The additional row will add 12 more blocks for a total of 48. I finished 23 blocks....just one shy of the  halfway point.

And on the third day I started a third project.

I finished all the center blocks for the pattern, "Royal Gardens," from Cozy Quilt Designs. This pattern was designed as a block-of-the-month. It comes with instructions for two sizes based on 2-inch or 2 1/2-inch strips. I am doing the smaller version with 2-inch strips.

And at every retreat there is a bit of retail therapy.

I picked up a few more fabrics for my stash...

and a panel I just couldn't resist.

I even continued with my weekend productivity when I got home by completing the last Santa on Sunday night from the Antarctica Santa series, Albatross Santa.

Monthly Update - October 2020

 Looks like I am monthly blogger!

Lots of fun stuff to share since my last post. 

Hot off the quilting frame and promptly bound, "Fall Frolic."

This pattern is from Quilter's World magazine, Autumn 2016. It was a Breakfast Club project. I didn't change anything with this design which is pretty unusual for me...loved as it was originally designed. 

I probably say this all the time...but this is one of my favorites. I used only batiks in my stash and most of the batiks were ones I purchased when I first discovered how much I loved them. I remember buying the border batik at the Houston quilt show...at least 20 years ago...WOW! Finally found the perfect pattern for it!

Not enough sunlight to show the quilting design...the sun is teasing my as I write...just hanging below the mountain tops of our valley.

A little slice of the quilting before it was pulled off the frame.

I started another Halloween ornament kit from Bucilla.

I'm so proud of myself to think of using design boards when working with Bucilla kits. It was fabulous to have all the tiny pieces stick to the quilt batting...and I even had some black batting leftovers just right for the size of design boards.

I finished a stocking for my daughter-in-law. It was so cute when I tried to get her to pick a stocking kit for me to make...she was completely overwhelmed by my stash.  I have hundreds of kits and then I showed her the catalogue with the new designs...too much information! So finally I suggested this one and she approved. She likes to bake so it works. 

This is, "Snack Time," Bucilla kit # 86655, from 2015

I had finished my son's stocking over a year ago but he still needed his name tag.

And another quilting technique was tried this month on a Bucilla felt project...using a Frixion pen to write the names on felt for personalizing. Perfection! I tapped the felt with a hot iron when done stitching and the marking line disappeared...though most of the ink wasn't visible after stitching. I guess I was most surprised at how well the marker worked on the felt. Several years ago I tried the purple marker that disappears with time and it never worked on the rough felt surface.

A little more detailed look...

I still have baby Kate's stocking to make but I don't have that kit in my stash. It's on backorder and I'm hoping it will be ship in November. It is a Christmas llama stocking. Looks like a pretty simple design so I am confident it will get made in time for Christmas. I definitely have one or two in my stash as a backup plan.

Two more Santa ornaments finished.

 

A vintage design from Sandra Cozzolino, Sante Klaas.

And Seal Leopard Santa from the 2020 series, Antarctic Santas.

And I finally found a Christmas fabric to line this tree skirt/table topper.

A vintage Bucilla kit that I cannot find a date anywhere in the packaging so a pre-1990s kit. 

Looks like this snow family has found it's home. 

It's funny to see the green leaves outside in this picture since all the leaves changed colors and have fallen to the ground. Ready for winter to arrive.