Yes Another Post!

I finished up my mini Halloween quilt last night. Full disclosure, the binding is glued down and not yet stitched, maybe tonight.

I got some email questions about how the hexies are sewed down. I first glue down the hexies with just a smidge of glue, next I machine quilt them going from top to bottom, rotating each turn from point to point.

I don't always hit each point even though I try.

As you can see in this picture the edges that are not sewn down are open.

I love this fabric on the back and you can see the quilting design which is very cool! Even with all my misses you don't really see them.

I have been in a major clean up and out mode the past week. I came across a few leftover toys from my children. This Raggedy Andy that was my daugher Cait's was made by a family friend, Mrs. Hargraves who is no longer with us. So I gave him a good wash and now need to do some minor repairs. She wants to give him to her new son Finn. It's hard to believe this doll is 33 years old!

Kelly

Mid Summer Catch Up

I don't know about you but it feels like summer is flying by!
I have been super busy and am anxious to get back to "normal" life which includes blogging. Between my family, gardening and cleaning up my home (and computer issues)I have squeezed in some sewing and will show you what I have been up to later this month.
Some bee friends asked me to show them how to make hexagons the other day. After they left I got to thinking how cool one would look with Halloween themed fabrics. Well great minds think alike because one of my friends is making one too. I will get a picture of it and show it to you.

As you can see they are not all quilted down yet.

These are some of my favorites. I realized right away you need some not so crazy ones along with the fussy cut ones or none of them stand out.

My gardens are doing well and my pots are doing great! I love this color combination. I think that is part of the fun doing plants in pots, experimenting with different ideas. Tip.....as I break of my coleus to keep it in check, I stripped the leaves off  4" down from the bottom and just stuck it into a pot. All the coleus you see above came from those cuttings.

I love the purple oxalis, it adds a lot to all the green.

The lime green in the shade is awesome. These all get morning sun and a little late day sun.

I have fallen for geraniums as well, the had fallen off the "I want these for my garden" list for the past few years.

I completely replanted my front garden and put in some interesting shrubs and plants. This hibiscus is huge! The color is a dark purple which looks a little washed out here.

I have been adding more red into the garden and love these coneflowers.

I don't think I ever noticed before that the little buds in the center were a blueish gray. Mother nature gets her combinations just perfect every time.
That concludes our garden tour!

I will be back soon. I was sent some goodies to do a giveaway. Stay tuned.

I have also joined the masses and am on Instagram. It really is easy and way more fun than Facebook. I am under Pinkadotquilts. You have to download the app to your smart phone or you can do it on the computer but the phone is the way to go.
See you soon!
Kelly

Fallish Feeling Friday

This is one of the things I worked on at the get away a couple weeks ago. I enjoy making a Halloween quilt almost every year. For now this is going on the back burner and will most likely wait until next year....

Sometimes I wonder if I have an attention disorder, fast forward to a Christmas quilt! Every year the town I live in has a Christmas parade. We have talked about participating in it every year and never do, that is about to change.  We will decorate my husband's truck and flat bed trailer, come up with a theme and the hope is to have quilts for the grandkids to be wrapped up in to keep warm......I better get back to sewing. Thanks goodness they are still small!

Okay can anyone tell me how you do this and where in the world you would get yarn this thick and needles this big? I know it is called extreme knitting. How cool is this? It is almost as good as a quilt............almost!

Kelly

Finished

The ghastiles is finished! The machine quilting took no time at all and I even machine stitched the binding down. Maddy took it to bed last night fresh out of the drier.

Kelly

Miscellaneous

I have had some very positive emails about the Halloween quilt. I dug these out to decorate this weekend. I made this a long time ago. The border fabric is a Debbie Mumm, I haven't heard much about her in a while, anyone know what she is doing? This is my own pattern that I did as a block of the month for my guild, Penn Oaks.

This one was a pattern that I don't remember the name of because it too was made a long time ago. We are missing an eye....

This kind of goes along with the color scheme. It was very good. I have started the last one, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest. I resisted this trilogy for so long but am glad I jumped on the wagon. If you are a reader there is nothing better than a trilogy awaiting you!

Our neighbor and his wife have chickens and brought us some of these beautiful eggs. The top two are the most wonderful shade of turquoisey blue, they tasted pretty good too.

This is just for fun. When all of my 4 children were in junior high they had a class called "consumer science" also known as "Home Ec" back in the day. They all learned how to sew and made some pillows. Before they could use the sewing machine they had to take a test, probably for safety reasons. When they passed they got a license. When I saw this I made my daughter, Caitlin get one for me from her teacher. She was happy to oblige my whim!

Kelly

The Ghastlies

I finished the top today and it was a lot of fun to make. This was totally free form with no real thought or plan.

First I randomly cut out the fabric to get each center. The only "precision" cutting I did was to make sure the edge was straight, but as you can see it is very free form.

Next I randomly cut out strips again I did not use a ruler just eye balled it. I used around 10 or so fabrics. The strips were various widths.

It's not worth organizing them because you will be picking through them for that perfect strip. I just made little piles.

Take your center and sew a strip to one side, any side it doesn't matter.

Press them all towards the strip. Be sure to press or you will be sorry when it all is bunched up.

Continue adding on side by side. Once I started I went around the same way you do a log cabin. Pressing and trimming the ends as you go.

You should end up with something like this, the size is up to you. Just make sure you press and when you are finished adding your strips use a little spray starch, I like Mary Ellen's Best Press. I think it helps stabilize all those crazy edges.

You will also have a lot of this!




Terrible picture

Lay them out and admire them. Now you have to decide how you want to lay them out.

For right now I like this, though it may change as I go along. That is the best part of this quilt nothing is perfect.

Next I took all those leftover strips and sewed them together and will now use them as filler strips to sew all the blocks together. It is a little like putting a puzzle together and changes as you go along. Be sure to square up your blocks when you are done adding the strips.

The left side is complete and sewn together.

The center is done and part of the right side, almost there!

This is one of my favorite blocks and I love how mish mash the fabrics look. I hope to get this quilted over the weekend.

Kelly

Scrappy Halloween!

haunted house block

I bought this very cool fabric last summer and did not know what I would do with it but knew it would be something I would regret if I did not buy it! It is called "the ghastlies" by Alexander Henry.
 I decided to turn them into log cabins using my large stash of Halloween fabrics. It is very haphazard and there was no plan.....this could be a problem as I try to sew them together. More to come.

To see another really cool Halloween quilt check this out http://quispamsisquilter.blogspot.com/

Kelly

Fooling Around

I should be quilting the Halloween quilt. Today instead I am watching my grandaughter, Maddy and we decided to work on some arts and crafts. First she wanted to do some stamping, then she wanted to write with a pen that clicks. While she was doing that I was drawing up some quilts I want to do in my sketch book. As soon as she saw that I had some colored pencils she just had to write in it too.



Can you tell which one is Maddy's?



Well one page was not enough and I do want to encourage her.....I have put the date on the pages so I can show it to her when she is older. She likes to use every color even if it is just a little bit.

This is what I am using on the next project but not until the other one is quilted. I think I am really going to like this one! For a change I know exactly what I am going to do.

Kelly

Halloween Quilt

It is finally basted and ready to be quilted. I am hoping to start it tonight. I still can't decide what binding to use.

I also picked these up today. I just love the colors, especially the variegated ones and now need a project for them. I am not a hand quilter but these just might tempt me.....

Kelly