A Halloween Quilt

About 6 weeks ago I had the overwhelming urge to make a Halloween quilt. Never mind that my parents were visiting that weekend and half my family was sick including myself. It just needed to be done. So I browsed around a bit and found a few Halloween quilts that I loved, like this St. Louis 16-patch by Darcy at Modern Cozy and this Spooktacular plus quilt by Nicole at Modern Handcraft. But honestly, as simple and fun as these designs were, my stuffy head needed something even easier.

 Then I found the answer at Cluck, Cluck, Sew. I'm pretty sure Allison is one of my favorite quilters so it really isn't surprising that it was her Halloween quilt that I wanted to copy. I love the wonky strips in her design but even that was too much for me, so I made mine straight. Seriously, easiest quilt top I've ever made. I just grabbed a variety of black, white/black, and orange prints and started cutting strips. If I remember correctly, they are all 9" long by various widths. I just threw them all in a bowl and started sewing them in pairs, then in pairs of pairs, and so on. I didn't even worry about making the final columns the same length, just got within 6" of each other and sewed them together to complete the top. I did cut one column in half to add a little interest, but that's it. So quick and easy and full of fun prints. 

I knew that I wanted this to be a good quilt for snuggling, so a flannel back was obviously needed. I had actually folded the top and put it away, thinking that I would browse the sales sections for a while until I found a good deal. Believe it or not, I found a great deal on a set of queen-size flannel sheets at Sam's that matched the quilt fairly well. 

I quilted it with a random herringbone, but would have loved to quilt spiderwebs all over it. Maybe on the next one! The quilt finished at about 68" x 76", a perfect size for snuggling around a campfire. 

My Latest

Well, sort of my latest.

 Not my most recent finish, but the one I had time to finally take pictures of yesterday evening.

This quilt was purely inspired by a heap of scraps sitting on my table. I was making an attempt to work on some QAYG Log Cabin blocks that were on last quarter's FAL list and was becoming frustrated by them. It seems that when I want to make things wonky, it doesn't work, but when I really am trying for straight and accurate piecing, the wonk appears. So, I got rid of that plan and just started sewing scraps together. 

And this is what happened. It was very fun to make, one of those projects that you just keep working on, excited to see where it goes.

I'm not sure where this color scheme originated for me, either in those QAYG blocks mentioned above, or this quilt the Imagine Circle worked on earlier this year. Either way, I'm still not tired of it!

For the backing I used this cute mushroom print from Aneela Hoey's A Walk in the Woods line. I thought it was a nice contrast to the crazy front and as a bonus, I had enough that I didn't have to piece the backing. The binding is mostly the dark grey text print from Sweetwater's Hometown line with a little piece of FMF thrown in. And of course, the quilting is random wavy lines. Surprised? I'll have you know that I've finished three quilts since this one and none of them have wavy lines. Seriously.

This one is listed in the shop. 

The Results: FAL Q3

Well, looking back on my goals for this quarter it appears that I was moderately successful. 3 out of 8 isn't too bad, right? And the fourth is sooo close to being finished that I very nearly included it, too. I'm pretty sure that if one of my kids brought home a test with only 3/8 right I wouldn't be so quick to call it a success! But, I also started and finished several projects that weren't on the list so I can be too hard on myself. Here's the rundown:

1. Hometown Road to Tennessee: No progress. I really thought that this would be the first one crossed off the list since the top was already done, but no. I still haven't chosen a backing for it. I think I'll probably wait and quilt this one next time I go to my parents' house, so maybe I can check it off after the holidays!

2. Stacked Squares: No progress, and still no picture. Just imagine a shockingly yellow and pink baby quilt with highly inaccurate flying geese. 

3. Diamond Ripples: What's this? Another no progress? That's just sad.

4. Les Amis: Finally, a finish! Want to know the really fun part? This was my first (ahem, and only...) sale in my Etsy shop. Such a fun little quilt!

5. Mod D9P: Another finish! You can read all about it right here.

6. Scrappy Log Cabins: Nope, no progress here either. Though they did inspire another baby quilt that I finished at least a month ago and haven't shown here yet. That should count for something, right?

7. Modern Maples: Of course I finished this one! And it is hanging in my dining room as we speak, looking all festive. I love it!

8. Winter Wonderland Sampler: This is the one that is so, so close to being done. I worked on this one the whole trip to and from Iowa, and most evenings while we were there. I really only have probably 20 stitches left, but didn't even take it out until this morning to take the picture!

So there you go...Thank you so much to Leanne for the motivation to finish these projects! To see what everyone else finished last quarter, here's the link. I'm looking forward to a few more finished in the fourth quarter! 

Some WIPs, Some Randomness

I figured that the chances were good that I wouldn't post again tomorrow, so I thought I would combine the two and make a random WIP post. Sound good?

October is my month as quilter for the Imagine Circle of dGS. I always have the hardest time choosing a block for everyone to make! A few weeks ago, I saw Catherine's Brit Bee quilt that she had just finished and knew that I wanted our group to try that one, too.

Wow, I did not realize how blurry this pic was...Sorry!

The tutorial can be found at Quiltville, and I asked everyone to use low-volume prints for the triangles and a scrappy assortment of colors inspired by this:

Source: Color Collective

Our circle is also having it's first swap this fall. I'm excited to get to work on my partner's gift, I just have to actually decide on something! We could list three things we wanted to get, and if I remember correctly I listed a mini quilt, pillow, or a bag to hold my crochet. Here's the mosaic I made for inspiration:

Here is the list of links for each individual pic.

 The other thing that I have been working on quite a bit lately is a custom quilt. Honestly, I was a little worried at first because the customer wanted a Jersey cow and horse quilt for her little girl. For those of you not so knowledgeable on cattle breeds, the ones that are usually on fabric are Holsteins. Jerseys are hard to find! But eBay came to the rescue with Jersey cows on Kona, and my customer picked out a couple of fun quilts for inspiration. The horses will be on the back. Here's what I've got so far:

 

 I haven't done too many custom orders, but I really love the challenge of combining the customer's vision with my own style. This has been a fun one to work on! It needs to be shipped to Australia by Christmas, so I'm trying to get it done as soon as possible. 

The other things keeping me busy aren't quite as exciting...All the kids and I have been sick for almost two weeks but I think we're finally on the mend. And somehow I've gotten suckered in to being the Treasurer for the PTO at Wyatt's school. It's fun getting to spend time at his school and actually be around grown-ups, but October is a very busy month with PTO activities, not to mention that our crops are ready to be harvested! Crazy times for sure! 

So, if anyone has tips on getting babies to take breathing treatments without screaming or shipping boxes to Australia, be sure to let me know! Hope you all are doing well!