Costume Maker’s Ball Wall Quilt

This was another gifted panel.  The designs by J. Wecker Frisch are quite unique and whimsical and they all make me smile.  This is the panel as it can be purchased.

I cut apart the images.  I dug into my stash to see what I had in the way of black and white checks.  There were more than I thought and I decided they didn’t all need to be white.  There is even a harlequin print in the mix.  

And then the evils of a panel came to life.  One reason I am not a big fan of panels is that they never seem to be printed or woven straight.  Or maybe that’s just my luck.  Then I added insult to injury choosing to frame each image with the checks.  I liked them...even without sashing.

But sashing won out.  It bothered me all during the making that the quilt might turn wonky and prove to be undisguiseable or unforgiving.  I kept along with it anyway...hoping...

This panel was really fun to work on despite its challenges.

Binding choice was easy.  No surprise here, right?!

I had to include the words that ran alongside the panel.  

I can’t believe that I forgot to work the selvedge into the quilt design!  How fun is that selvedge!

This wall quilt is quite large, measuring 51” X 30”.

Ta-Da!  All done.  If you don’t look too close, the wonk isn’t too noticeable.

(At the time of the photo, I hadn’t yet gotten a dowel for hanging)

Did you notice the panel has a sewing theme?

On to the next project...........

Long Tall Skeleton Tag

Another 3D sticker out of the stash ready to help celebrate Fall and Halloween.

I cut 2 pieces of Mixed Media paper 12” X 3.25” for a tag front and a back.  I sprayed both sides with various Distress Spray Stains and Distress Oxide Stains.  I liked the muted colors that the Oxide created.  But when I used transparent texture paste through a bricks stencil the colors brightened in intensity.

  

I then used a black Stabilo All Pencil to mark between the bricks then went over the pencil marks with a water brush then wiped over it with a wet wipe.  It took a little while but I love how the look turned out.

  

Using a piece of brown scrapbook paper, I sprayed it with three brown Distress Spray Stains.  I die cut branches from the paper.  The variations of the brown colors is not very noticeable after the branches are cut out.

  

Next it was time to add the long tall 3D skeleton sticker.  I had a few other leftover 3D stickers that I added to the scene.

I die cut his hat using a snowman hat die.

The tag front and back.

The spider web is a die cut and the bats are stickers.

  

I’ve never made such a long tag before.  It was a fun experience.

I’m a little behind in sharing my calendar journal.  This was August 2021.

Cute Ghosts Tag

On the challenge blog, Tag Tuesday , the challenge for this fortnight is to use the color combination of orange and blue.  I like this color combo.  I didn’t plan to go in the direction of Halloween, but that’s the direction it went in anyway.

I did the smooshing technique where you smear some ink from your ink pad on a non-stick surface, spritz it with water then drag or tap the tag into the inks.  Drying between drags and taps so that the colors layer.  I used these ink pad colors.  I then stamped the web with Pumice Stone Oxide.

I stamped the tree limb with Walnut Stain Oxide going over that color with Black Soot Oxide for a deep brown color result.

I then stamped stars with Chipped Sapphire Oxide as well as inking along the outside edges of the tag.

The word letters are die cut from blue card stock.

When the two tag sides were finished I glued them together back to back.  I like a sturdy tag finish.

I inked a length of white seam binding in Chipped Sapphire Oxide ink on half the length and Orange Marmalade Oxide ink on the other half.

I used posca pens to make white dots throughout the background.

This tag was specifically created to use a couple of 3D ghost stickers that have been in my stash for a several years.  As well as some bat stickers and of course Washi Tape.

I put a ghost on each side of the tag.

Because my tag went in the direction of Halloween, I kind of struggled with using blue ink instead of a brown or black.  But I like that this challenge took me a bit away from the standard.  I’m happy to have these guys out of storage and ready for October.

Halloween Hauntings

Some Halloween sewing has been happening.

In the stash was a Halloween panel that I bought because I liked “parts” of the designs.  I took a couple of years to get to it.  I don’t always know what I’m going to do with a piece of fabric when I buy it.  Since I’ve been trying to use what I have, it was time for this piece to come out into the light of day.  I have cut it apart and used some of it.

First I made a couple of Halloween potholders.  I framed them with fabric from my massive (to me) Halloween stash.  Mitered corners are not the funnest to do and I’m not sure it made much difference with this particular striped piece.

This was a small image block that I added side borders to make it postcard size. Quilted just following lines in the image.

Then I took a “section” from one of the images I wasn’t overly fond of to make another postcard.  Again, quilting is just following the image lines.



This is the original panel piece (I had already started cutting it apart).

I have yet to make the crows, the skeleton and the tree into something.  Probably potholders/hot plate mat.

Hooray!...more stash reduction!

This next postcard is a section of a Halloween fabric and a section of paper piecing that I didn’t use for the Chillingsworth Wall hangings.

This Bat postcard is my usual style for fabric postcards, raw edge applique.  He is a Quilt Doodle Designs pattern called Going Batty Mug Mat.  I shrank the pattern to fit a postcard.

This spider I have made before but it has been many years.  This pattern is a Patch Abilities, Inc. called Eeek!  The pattern is a wall hanging of 3 spiders.  The medium spider is just the right size for a postcard.

This is my version of the pattern done several years ago.

It’s time to get my postcards in the mail!  Time flies by so fast.  Now that I am officially retired, dates and what day it is means nothing.  I have to make a point of paying attention to that now.

Happy Haunting!

He’s called Chillingsworth

I’ve had a tiny scrap of Chillingsworth on my small design board since finishing my last Halloween quilt last year.  Suddenly while sewing I felt I needed a handy tiny pin cushion.

His severed head was perfect for that!

The next waiting project I pulled from the stash drawers were two Chillingsworth panels.  They’ve been languishing for a couple of years while I collected more Halloween fabrics in anticipation of a clear idea of how to use this panel.

I knew I did not want a throw quilt.  But all plans kept leading to a quite large wall hanging also.  I spent 4 days looking through Pinterest for inspiration.  I finally came across 1” Scrappy Strips by Leila Gardunia.  They are paper piecing strips.  Now, I could have sat and drawn them myself, but for $10 I could just photocopy what I needed and get started sewing right now.

Anyone familiar with these Chillingsworth panels might notice that I cut down the sides of the panel.  I worried about doing that not being sure those top and bottom corner designs would look too odd.  It just had too much blank space around him for me.  So I cut anyway.  The corners don’t look odd to me.  OR if they do, they just add to the already oddity of Chillingsworth wearing only a top hat.

I started with this strip design but it looked too ... something.  I didn’t like it for a border for him.  So I chose the straight piecing design strip.

Here is where that awesome little plastic steam(less) roller became my best ever buddy.  It made pressing those hundreds of strips quick and easy.

The paper is so quick to pull off of these simple strips.

The trash is proof of the fun I had making these strips.

While I was making the borders I wondered how to quilt him without having to freemotion quilt around him and without having straight rows of quilting going through him.  So I drew my quilting lines.  (Forgot to take a photo).

I finish the back of my hanging quilts with strips to run a flat stick through.

Each of my kids will get one of these Chillingsworth guys.  I think the cream color one can be left out all year for creep-loving people...like my kids.

Stash busting!  It’s so awesome to get some of these older purchases made into “things”. 

An early-ish Happy Halloween!

Halloween Quilt #2

This second Halloween quilt began to come to life in December 2015.  I was ready for Christmas early and this Halloween quilt wanted to get started being made.

I wanted to make a Jelly Roll Race quilt.  I began collecting Halloween prints and colors a couple of years earlier to cut my own Jelly Roll.  But as I saw jelly roll race quilts being made, I saw that I wouldn’t be able to control how the colors landed together.  A quilting control freak cannot live with that!  I kept thinking on it and collecting and cutting 2.5” strips of fabrics.  

Finally I hit on this plan of jelly roll race CONTROL.  

I cut the strips into shorter lengths to maximize color EVERYWHERE.

It was fun to get this far, but I began to wonder if it was too wild and out of control.
  

But I kept going and for some reason, stopped taking progress photos.  But I began to like it again when the black end strips were added.  And I liked it even more when the checkerboard pieces began to be added.

Then I had to put it away to move back home.  Back to my teeny tiny sewing space that was not inviting me to come sew in it.  The quilt stayed packed up with the art quilt and another unfinished quilt for a years time.

I finally caught the sewing bug, worked on making my sewing space useable and began a mission to finish quilts.  It was now this quilt’s turn.  The rest of the checkerboard framing went faster than I thought it would.  Soon I was quilting this quilt.

It took me a weeks worth of every free moment to get it quilted.  And I only do straight line quilting.

I couldn’t believe I was finally about to bind this quilt.

I was so glad I chose the green for the binding.

I didn’t even notice the tiny green dots on the backing fabric until I was hand stitching the binding.  What a lucky choice to do green binding.

I still struggle to believe this quilt got finished.  But I love it.  My daughter has already claimed it for herself.  She’s Halloween crazy and color crazy.  I’m thrilled she loves it too.

My photo helpers are a bit on the silly side.

It measures in at 68” X 84”

I did it. I finished it.  I’m still trying to convince myself of that.

And there it goes, off with it’s new owner.

That’s now two of my three unfinished quilts finished!  The third one is being quilted now.  I’m getting pretty excited to start a new fresh quilt and get it from beginning to end.  No more of this UFQ (unfinished quilt) sewing!

It’s time to get your creep on!