Happy Halloween!

For Halloween, I thought I'd share our 2010 Jack O'Lantern display. (You can click on any photo to enlarge if you 'd like.) At our house we have a tradition called the Nason Family Pumpkin Glow. We've done it for four years now. We carve up a whole pile of pumpkins (27 this year). We light them the night before Halloween and have a party for several families we know. Then, tonight, we will of course light them again for our Trick-or-Treaters. We will likely have 150+ kids.
My husband is the pumpkin scooper-outer and I am the carver. Like my quilts, I just do them freehand with no pattern. It goes more quickly if I just make it up as I go along. For the ones that have letters on them I do draw the letters in marker first to be sure they are spaced out okay. The kids are the design consultants and help pick the seeds out of the pumpkin glop so we can roast them. At five-years-old and three-years-old, they can't help carve yet, but will definitely be involved as they get older.
-
We have them lit with LED lights. Some change colours and some just flicker amber.

People often ask what I use for carving. I use a paring knife, a steak knife and a tablespoon. Nothing fancy at all, and it works well.
I grouped the pumpkins together last night to get good pictures in the dark, but the photo above shows how they are actually stretched out along our front step to make a nice display for the Trick-or-Treaters.
So Happy Halloween! Hope everyone has a great night!!!!

Selvage O'Lantern

So this is my Selvage O'Lantern Quilt, which is my exhibit in the Bloggers Quilt Festival. I love Halloween and I love selvages, so this is the result.

-

I got totally hooked on selvage quilting after making my 2010 Selvage Sampler Quilt earlier this year. I love using the scraps and selvages from other quilts to make a personalised fun memory quilt to keep for myself. This year I made three other Halloween quilts and a Halloween table runner. The idea of the Selvage O'Lantern just struck me one day as I was bagging up my leftover Halloween scraps and selvages ......

I think of selvage and scrap quilts as an epilogue to other quilting projects ... they wrap it all up, summarize all the quilts that went before them, and in the process tell their own story. Plus of course they're fun! No rules to follow. At all. I love a busy quilt with lots going on and I think this quilt qualifies.

So, it is my own design, free-pieced without a pattern. My seam ripper and I became quite well-acquainted during the making of this. Selvages are essentially stripes. And stripes accidentally sewn on crooked look like crooked lines. Also, groups of lines create optical illusions. You know how wearing horizontal stripes makes you look fatter and vertical stripes make you look thinner? Well, the same applies here. Creating one big design, using internal triangle shapes as well as both horizontal and vertical lines was tricky. To add to it, I had selvages from a lot of Halloween fabric with a black background. You have to be super careful with the placement of black as it can put such a strong emphasis on one thing rather than another. I spent lots of time staring at this quilt during different points of the making saying "That looks weird."
-
And it's still weird, I know that. I won't be offended if anyone is thinking, or comments, that it is one odd quilt. But I'm sure no one else anywhere has one exactly like it, which is fun to think about, and I do love it myself.

I signed it, my first time signing a quilt. I kind of made my own selvages by writing on these ones right in the border. I mention the kids of course on the label as it's really a quilt for the family, but if we all dive for it on the couch at once, it's mine! ;-)

I really spread out my selvages along the border, by inserting pieces of Halloween fabric after every four or five selvage pieces. It also made it look more seasonable.

Since this was my first attempt, I just worked with what I had -- which meant selvages of all colours. But, if I made this again, I think it would be really cool with just orange and yellow fabric selvages.

The quilt is 58 by 64 inches. It was quilted in an overall stipple design, by my go-to quilter -- Tina Hanson of Town and Country Quilts in Rothesay, NB. I chose a peach coloured thread which was nice on the orange area and not too dark on the white of the selvages. Tina did a great job as always. I should add though, that I have been practicing my machine quilting, as doing my quilts 100% myself is my next goal.
-
Thanks to my Mom for helping me take the pictures yesterday. It was a grey, foggy day and I wasn't optimistic about getting anything usable, but I think they turned out really nice considering.
-
So Happy Halloween from me and the Selvage O'Lantern! And I'll say now, I drew a sketch the other night for a selvage Christmas quilt (I am soooo addicted). I'll just have to see what Christmas scraps and selvages I have left after making Christmas gifts.
-
Thanks so much for stopping by! Feel free to stay a while and browse. Then, when you're ready, if you click here, you can head on over to a list of other quilters participating in the Bloggers Quilt Festival. I know I'll definitely be surfing around looking at all the fabulous submissions. Happy Quilting!

Five Minute Halloween Curtains and a Sneak Peek

I obviously like to sew and quilt, or I wouldn't have this blog ;-) , but I am also a big fan of things you can do super quick with little or no sewing. Exhibit number one: my Halloween "curtains". The photos show my dining room. The curtain in the corner is a Halloween panel I bought thinking I would just use it as fabric and chop it all up (you can get some really cool fussy cuts that way) but I had lots of other neat fabric so I didn't use it. Instead I hemmed the sides and sewed the hangers on the top to make it into a curtain. I didn't even hem the bottom as the selvage is there and it says "Witching Hour." After Halloween it will go back in my fabric drawer and probably get cut up next year.

The other two curtains are actually more like five-second curtains. The last time I was at my favourite place to buy fabric, they had this cool Halloween kind of sheer stuff for $1.99 a yard. I think it is meant to be sewn into fancy Halloween costumes -- like as the skirt of a pretty witch or a pumpkin princess dress. Anyway, to me it screamed curtains. I bought 5 yards and cut it in two sections of 2.5 yards each. I clipped the corners of the fabric up on the very edges of my curtain rod, over top of my usual white curtains. Rather than trimming the fabric down to a better size, I let the extra drape to look fancier (or could it be I was too lazy to cut it again?) Plus, with the extra draping you really don't notice the unhemmed cut edge. So, anyway, I'm pretty happy with it, both when the curtains underneath are open or closed. And once Halloween is over I can pack it away too and do whatever with it next year.

The orange pumpkins have a little shine which isn't translating in the photos.

And finally a little sneak peek. Above is my quilt that I will be posting tomorrow for the Bloggers Quilt Festival. It is my fourth and final Halloween Quilt of 2010. It has Halloween scraps and lots and lots of selvages.

Local Quilt Display

Over the weekend I went to a lovely small quilt show in Saint John, NB. In the upstairs of the church, the quilts were on display. Downstairs, after having a browse, there were treats to be had. (My daughter and I shared a piece of chocolate chip cheesecake. Yum!)

The quilts were displayed on the pews.

Quilts were both new and vintage.

A nice variety ... and a nice way to spend a little bit of a fall afternoon.

Scrappy Scarecrow Halloween Costume

My five-year-old son Eli decided to be a scarecrow for Halloween this year. He also dressed as one back in 2006, so I was happy to get another chance to make this costume! (I think he wanted to be a scarecrow as we feed the crows at our house, and they are always around, so it is a fun connection for him.)

-

Anyway, this is such an easy and fun costume to make -- plus very inexpensive. It consists of a second-hand pair of jean overalls, a plaid shirt and a hat (sitting on the pumpkin in the picture). Then I used Halloween fabric quilting scraps (even leftover binding strips for the ties) and I spent a whopping ;-) $3.00 at the dollar store --- a dollar each for a package of fabric leaves, a bag of raffia for straw, and a little bag of plastic mice. I did splurge $2.99 for a crow for his hat, which I thought was a must-have.

-

It is a no-sew costume, except I did put some haphazard embroidery thread stitches over the glued-on scraps to make them look a little fancier. The scarf I simply cut out with pinking shears. Other than that, it was glue gun all the way.

My son's favourite part is the mice in the straw in his pocket. There are also two mice peeking out of a pocket on one pant leg.

This should be comfy to wear at school all day and easy for bathroom breaks (important consideration for kindergarten kids) as once the straps are off, it is very loose, and drops easily ;-). Also, the raffia won't actually touch his skin anywhere, so there is no itchiness. The only place it really sticks out beyond the costume is at the ankles, and good socks underneath will take care of that.
-
Anyway, if you need a last minute idea, I highly recommend this -- easy, inexpensive and super cute!

Halloween Quilt Finish #3 -- Halloween Spidey String Quilt

So, the kids each have a Halloween quilt for their bed, and now I have one we can leave out on the couch. I showed this Halloween Spidey String Quilt a while back when it was just a top, but now it has been quilted (Thanks Tina!) and I put the binding on.

-

It is no secret around here that I love Halloween, so yes, I also love this quilt. It is about 56 inches square. (I can never find my measuring tape.) I love the bright fabric in this. It shows a more festive fun side of Halloween I guess, rather than a spooky, scary one.

For the binding I used these little pumpkins. The binding strips are actually scraps left from the backing of my son's Halloween quilt.

When I posted about this quilt previously, I showed the template I made for the center spiderweb section. If you're interested in seeing it, just click here.
I always have these aspirations of taking home-decorating-magazine-type photos with perfectly arranged quilts that look like they were ever-so-casually tossed yet landed perfectly ... oh well, I tried ...

Just for fun, some Halloween hexies. I have no plan for these other than they go into my hexie bag with all the others for a "someday" project.

-

Happy Weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

The Selvage Blog

Many thanks to Karen over at The Selvage Blog for featuring my 2010 Selvage Sampler quilt today. It's a really fun blog with lots of great inspiration and I'm happy to be a part of it.

-

So, another little note, on the topic of selvages ... guess what my fourth Halloween quilt of 2010 has in it? Hint: Lots of Halloween fabric means lots of Halloween selvages. Plus, ever since I made the selvage sampler, a friend and my Mom (who I recently successfully enticed into the world of quilting) have been saving selvages for me too ...

-

It is being quilted now.

-

Thanks for stopping by!

Mile-Long Halloween Table Runner

Okay, so it's not a mile long, but it sure seemed like that when I was binding it. Keeping it real, it's only 7 feet long. It goes the whole length of our dining room table. Also, keeping it real, you can see my "helpers" don't know too much about photo styling. ;-) They were very happy to get in on the quilty photo action though, as I had finally made something small enough for them to hold for pictures rather than Daddy ... but "Daddy" responds better to my directions ... about where to turn to get the right background, how high or straight to hold it ...
I so love their effort, but there were coordination issues ... this is about the best of the indoor shots ...

Anyway, I am really pleased with this table runner. It went together really fast. You can see it is just simple random-width strips. I had leftover Halloween fabric from the quilts I made this year. In some cases, the very last scraps of the fabric are in this runner.
-
Over Thanksgiving, we visited my parents for a day and I used my Mom's new sewing machine. So fun! I used the decorative stitch that looks like a baseball stitch to quilt the runner. I just used straight lines. I went over each seam and then added in a few extra lines here and there where needed. It was sooooooo nice to use a machine that didn't tangle thread, randomly change its own tension, get stuck, etc. ...

I used this Woodgrain by Joel Dewberry for binding.

On the table waiting for the first spill ;-)

Giveaway Reminder, Another Sign, and I'm an Official KVQG Member

First off, I am honestly cracking up at so many of the comments on my Fall Into Fall Giveaway post. I asked for a memory to do with halloween costumes and WOW you guys did not disappoint. If you haven't entered my giveaway yet (for some Flea Market Fancy fabric) just click here to go directly to the post where you can comment. The comments close tomorrow at 7:00 AST. As my own contribution on the topic of Halloween costumes, the photo above shows my son and husband back in 2007. My son was two. I made him that letter A costume. I didn't sew then, so I used a glue gun. It has foam inside (like for chair pads) and is covered in felt. I didn't have a pattern, I just kind of freestyled it, but I was really happy with how it turned out. He looked sooooo cute. There are nice big arm holes in the sides, although you can't tell in the photo. He was nice and cosy and warm in there too.

I also made another sign to decorate our yard. I got some great feedback on my Ghoul Bus sign so I wanted to try a second one. I believe I have mentioned before that we feed the crows at our house. I just throw them the toast crusts that the kids don't eat. Anyway, the power lines are right above where I placed this sign, and that is where the crows sit and wait for their breakfast. My neighbours know I feed the crows, so hopefully they appreciate this sign :-)
-
Finally, last night a friend and I joined our local quilt guild -- so I guess I'm legit now. They have some interesting charity projects and other initiatives spread out over the course of the year so I am hoping to be able to participate in something. I think it will be nice to occasionally hang out with some quilty sorts.

Autumn Splendor Quilt Show Virtual Tour

I recently attended the Autumn Splendor Quilt Show and Sale hosted by the Sussex Vale Quilters' Guild in Sussex, New Brunswick. It was a small show, but the building was filled to the brim with quilty goodness. I took a few photos. Let's have a little browse ...

Daisies for Amanda by Joan West

Star of the Orient by Gail Fearon. Gail blogs at Love to Quilt.

Bella Roma by V. Leigh Smith

Fractured Crystal by Sandra Carter

Album Quilt by Irene Humphrey

Whole Cloth Anniversary Quilt by Cynthia Vail

Potted Plant by Ellen Henderson

Tulip Applique by Jean Thompson

Trip Around the World by Carol Davis

A seasonal wallhanging on display in the entry to the show. It was made by Cynthia Vail.

Potholder Display

-
Thanks for letting me lead you through the show. Happy Quilting!

Halloween Quilt Finish #2

This is my second Halloween quilt of the season (one more to go). It is for my three-year-old daughter Tess. I love this little quilt, but I must say that I'm disappointed with how the colours are showing on my computer screen -- the crazy vibrancy that the quilt has "in person" just isn't translating well.
It is a very simple design, straight ahead patchwork squares. They are 4 inch squares finished.
(Click to enlarge any photo if you want)
I used both Halloween fabrics and some other non-seasonal ones I had that just seemed to mix in well.
One material that turned out to be perfect is that bright green and purple giraffe print. I had bought a fat quarter of it when we were out of town one day in a nice little quilt shop and I wanted to buy at least something. I had NO IDEA what I would use it for at the time, but I was pretty amused when I realised it could go in this quilt.
The binding is Woodgrain by Joel Dewberry. I have this print in two other colours as well. I really like it for a binding.

This is the back. So it's kind of reversible. The lines with letters on them are witches' cauldrons spelling out 'Halloween.' It is a toddler-bed-sized quilt and is now waiting on my daughter's bed for tonight.

I admit readily that I LOVE Halloween, and a lot of that lovin' comes from the joy of being able to decorate. I also love the challenge and unique fun of making something that you can't buy in a store (I know all you fellow creative quilters completely understand that). So anyway, I made this sign for our lawn. I sometimes paint, so I just whipped out my acrylic paints. The elementary school bus stop for our neighbourhood is at the corner in front of our house. My son started kindergarten this year. I sneaked down in the dark the other night and hammered it in the lawn. (My neighbours were probably wondering what on earth I was doing, as the banging sound seemed to echo down the whole river valley.)

It was so great to see the kids noticing it the next morning. All the kids including my son were pointing at the little ghosts and saying who was who. When the real school bus arrived I heard a little guy say "Here comes the ghoul bus!" It was totally worth making the sign just for that. ;-)

-

So I'm signing off for our extra-long Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. There is no school in our district tomorrow or Friday so the children have five days off!

-

On the note of Thanksgiving, I really want to say thanks so much to everyone who stops by the blog. I see I have gathered up some new Followers lately which I really appreciate, and reading everyone's comments definitely makes my day.

-

See you next week!