Halloween Fabric Haul!

November 2, 2022 Lazy Saturday Quilts1 Comment

After an incredibly rainy start to autumn, we’ve been enjoying a bit of warm, dry weather.

Well, perhaps “enjoying” is too strong of a word. “Enjoying” would involve hiking miles and miles every weekend. And, while it’s true that we did spend several days hiking in Pennsylvania and walking along beaches in Georgia and Florida in early October, all we’ve been doing outdoors lately is working, working, working. The list of fall chores seems endless. We’ve cut down trees. (No “we” here, actually. I’m not really trusted to handle things that can cut off fingers or other important body parts after a rotary cutter incident several years ago.) We’ve hauled wood, stacked wood, raked leaves, blown leaves–burnt up a leaf blower and bought a new one–turned over the dirt in the garden, and painted the trim around two front doors. We’ve got more wood being delivered this weekend, so guess what will be going on next week? Yup. More wood stacking.

On the plus side, I’ve not had to “exercise” for a week and I’ve lost 3 pounds despite eating my way through half a dozen Oreo cupcakes. (What can I say? Fresh air makes me hungry!) On the negative side, I’ve not really had any time to sew.

I did take a day last week, though, to go to Inspiration Day at Interquilten in Traverse City with my mom, where I was excited to find Halloween fabric on clearance! I’ve wanted to make a Halloween lap quilt for a long time, but with fabric prices edging over $14 a yard and a stash that I probably shouldn’t be adding to taking up space in the closet, I’ve been resistant to purchasing any new fabric.

But that Halloween fabric was on sale for less than $9 a yard. Yea! I had no pattern in mind when I made my purchase and still don’t (mainly because I haven’t had the time or energy to devote to any projects). I ended up buying a couple fat quarters, 1-1/2 yards of most of the fabrics, and 4 yards of what I plan to use for backing. What’s really thrilling is that the images printed on the fabrics glow in the dark. I can’t wait to see those creepy skeletons glowing at night!

I also found some rolled 1-yard cuts of fabric in the “Last Chance” bin. So much for not adding to my stash. Ha! I couldn’t resist them at just over $6 a yard and hope I can find something to pair them with that’s already in my stash.

I noted to Hubby that, while we have some cute turkeys to hang on the wall for Thanksgiving (Doesn’t the one on the left remind you of Flo from Progressive?), we don’t have a Thanksgiving runner for our kitchen table, which is an oversight I think I should rectify this year.

What a conundrum I find myself in now. Do I finish one of my bazillion unfinished objects? Do I start on my Halloween quilt? Do I find a cute turkey table runner pattern and get sewing so it’s ready to display for Thanksgiving dinner?

I guess we’ll find out what I’m going to choose when I finally get all the fall work finished and get back in the sewing room.

Quilting · Quilts · sewing · Uncategorized

Let’s Talk Turkey #2

November 20, 2021November 10, 2021 Lazy Saturday Quilts1 Comment

I’m in trouble now!

Here’s what happened.

It’s been several years since I completed this turkey wall hanging:

As I searched Pinterest and Googled, using all manner of search terms (“incognito turkey with sunglasses,” “turkey with sunglasses,” “Thanksgiving quilts,” etc.) I found all sorts of fabulous turkey patterns and projects that I now desperately want to make. Who knew I had such an affinity for funky-looking turkeys? What I didn’t find was that lovely lady in the above project. Therefore…no link. Sorry. I also want to apologize to the original artist for not being able to give credit where credit is due.

What I can tell you is that years ago I found a photo of this gal somewhere online. Hubby worked some magic with the printer to get her the size I wanted and we printed her off. I then made patterns for each different part, adding a bit of extra around sections that would be underneath so I didn’t have any gaps. (Here’s where you can learn from my mistakes. See that dark splotch on her yellow belly? That’s the extra bit I added to the black feather fabric. Obviously, I added too much. I didn’t realize my error until I ironed everything down, at which point it was too late to correct the problem.) After ironing all the bits in place (using Wonder-Under), I satin stitched around the edges and added a couple beaded necklaces.

Does she remind anyone else of Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials?

Now…I need to scrub those funky turkey images from my brain and get back to the baby quilt I’m making for a gift that needs to be finished ASAP. Maybe I’ll revisit those turkeys another day.

Quilting · Quilts · sewing · Uncategorized

Let’s Talk Turkey #1

November 13, 2021November 10, 2021 Lazy Saturday Quilts1 Comment

Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. It seems like the poor turkey and pilgrim decorations get barely any time on the shelves and walls between the jack ‘o lanterns, ghosts, and witches of Halloween and the Santas, reindeer, snowmen, and nativity scenes of Christmas.

(I actually keep my nativity scenes out all year. And my snowmen. In northern Michigan, we sometimes have snow from October to May so snowmen seem appropriate decor all year long. This year has been an aberration, though. We’ve had a few dustings of snow, with about an inch one day, but none of the white stuff has stuck around. The temperature has been bouncing around between freezing and the low sixties, but there’s talk of a whole heap of snow on the horizon. I have a feeling we’ll soon be trading out our hiking shoes for our snowshoes. I must admit, though it’s a hassle to shovel around, I much prefer snow to all the rain we’ve had this season.)

Today I thought I’d share one of my turkey wall hangings. I’ve shared in the past how coloring pages make excellent patterns for embroidery. They also make good patterns for applique projects. I found a turkey coloring page for kids here: https://www.iamstyle-ish.com/2021/09/free-color-by-number-thanksgiving-printables.html and used it as my pattern for cutting out applique pieces. I wonder-undered the pieces onto my base fabric, satin stitched around all the edges, added a couple borders, and voilá.

I made it sound like the project was finished so quickly, didn’t I? It wasn’t. Getting all the pieces lined up just right before ironing everything in place and satin stitching around the fabric edges took a lot of time. I think he turned out pretty cute, though.

(I’ve gotten a lot of use out of the two brown border fabrics. I purchased a grab bag of brown fabric scraps during a Shop Hop and was thrilled to find a lot of larger pieces inside. Actually, that cream I used for the background was also in the bag.)