Halloween Quilts for Paula and Mary + Broderie Perse Rosebud Secrets Rediscovered

Part One: The Halloween Quilts!

I recently had the pleasure of quilting a couple of really cute Halloween wallhangings for clients that I thought my readers would enjoy.  First up is Mr. Bones, an adorable machine appliqué project made by my client Paula.  This is a pattern from the Quilt Factory that is available on Etsy here (this post contains affiliate links).  

Paula's 32 x 60 Mr. Bones Wallhanging with Spider Spinners B2B

Wouldn't this be perfect to display on your front door on Halloween night, or in your entryway to greet trick-or-treaters?!  This pattern calls for some embellishments that you're not seeing in these photos -- fortunately, Paula knew to wait and add the buttons etc. after having her project long arm quilted.

We chose the Spider Spinners B2B design to play up the whimsy of the appliqué design.  I liked that it had playful spirals and spiders hanging down instead of just cobwebs alone, and I envisioned the whole quilt as an illustration in a children's book as I scaled the digital quilting design, trying to size the spiders and the cobwebs proportionately to the skeleton and Jack-O-Lantern the way they would be if the whole scene had been drawn by a single illustrator.  The perfect thread color turned out not to be gray, silver or white, but a true orange shade of Glide called -- what else? -- Halloween!  

Detail of Spider Spinners B2B Stitched in Glide Thread, Color Halloween

I'm so glad Paula trusted me on the orange thread!  If I'd used gray, silver, or white thread, the cobwebs would have blended in and disappeared against the gray background fabrics and the white and gray skeleton fabrics.  I really wanted those spiders and cobwebs to be "part of the scene" and visible in those areas, and I love how it turned out.  We used Quilters Dream Cotton Deluxe loft batting for that extra oomph to the quilting texture.

Goodbye, October 2020! Baby Quilt Update (and Happy Halloween)

 Well, October is officially a wrap.  The trick-or-treaters have gone home and my husband, younger son, and I have set ourselves to the task of finishing off the leftover candy.  I've powered off my long arm machine for the night, even though I'm only 2/5 of the way through quilting the baby quilt that was supposed to be Part Two of my One Monthly Goal for October.  Here's what Charlie's quilt looks like so far:

My Letter Home Monogram Baby Quilt is 2/5 Quilted

I loaded this quilt on my frame upside-down, so I'm actually quilting it from the bottom up.  There are five rows of 8" blocks in this quilt and the first row took me awhile because I only had a fuzzy idea about how I was going to quilt this one.  I wanted to keep the quilting fairly light and open, similar to the density of the pantograph design I quilted on my October OMG Part One quilt (below), but this baby brother quilt is getting SID, light ruler work, and a little bit of free motion rather than E2E pantograph quilting.  

Big Sister's Quilt, Aiming for Similar Quilting Density in Baby Brother's Quilt

I don't normally quilt such a large scale meander freehand, though, so keeping the size of that pattern big and somewhat uniform is challenging, and I'm also reminding myself that LARGE quilt blocks with LONG ruler lines to quilt are a lot harder than quilting the exact same designs on smaller blocks.  So my "quick and easy" quilting plan has evolved to require a bit of marking, which is helping to keep lines straighter and more evenly spaced.

Doubting Design Choices After the First Row

One thing that slowed me down was that, since we took the machine head off the frame to install the interchangeable hopping foot upgrade, my horizontal channel lock hadn't been holding as securely as it had previously.  I use my horizontal and vertical channel locks to keep my seams straight and square as I'm quilting, and this was bugging me, so there was an interruption of troubleshooting that yesterday with Bernie and the folks at APQS Tech Support (One little washer was all it took to snug that wheel back up to the carriage and correct the problem).  But, while I had Bernie and Anders available, I had them lower my frame about 3 1/2" so I could quilt from the front of the machine more comfortably.  I'd been wearing high heel platform sandals the day before, since we'd raised my frame a few inches for quilting pantographs from the back side of the machine.  We also moved my laser light from the back of the machine to the front, where it will be more useful to me once my IntelliQuilter gets installed.  But I digress.  Back to the quilt at hand:

40 wt Fantastico in #5007 Wales (Lime, Bright Green, Turquoise, Green Variegated)

I selected a cone of Superior Thread's Fantastico variegated 40 weight trilobal polyester thread in shades of Lime, Bright Green, Turquoise and Green, which I auditioned against the Kona Bone background as well as on the Indigo and the green fabrics.  I wanted to use one thread color throughout to "keep it simple," but knew that a white or off-white background thread might look really harsh against the dark blue.  I was excited about the variegated thread until I started quilting with it, and then I second-guessed myself midway through the first row.  

Superior's Fantastico Thread in #5007 Wales

I was tempted to start ripping out all the quilting I'd done so far, because I felt like the quilting was just screaming at me instead of playing a supportive role to the piecing design...  But the next day, when I came back to it, I reminded myself of my self-imposed deadline and how I wanted most of all to have this finished, so I soldiered on.  And, you know what?  I'm glad I kept going rather than reaching for my seam ripper, because the more I got quilted, the more the thread began to grow on me.

By the End of the Second Row, My Thread Felt Like the Right Choice

This is a good reminder to TAKE A STEP BACK before making rash decisions involving seam rippers!  With my face 8" away from the quilt surface, the green pastel threads seemed like they were too loud and fighting with the quilt, but from a distance it's much more subtle.  If I'd ripped out all the variegated thread and switched to yellow, green, navy and white, not only would I have slowed myself down considerably, but the quilting designs would have disappeared into the fabrics more -- and I might have been disappointed that I couldn't see my quilting designs well enough!  Knowing how the quilt will soften and smoosh and crinkle once it's finished and washed for the first time, I think this thread will be just fine.

So now my only question is whether those giant green 8" HSTs have enough quilting in them.  I mean, I know they have enough quilting to meet the requirements of the batting.  I kind of like the way they look right now, but maybe I'll come back and add something when everything else is finished.

Speaking of finished, I did finish the big sister's quilt, which you can read about here.  Here's a glimpse of how that one turned out, freshly washed and ready for gifting:

October OMG Part One Was Finished On Time!

That's it for me for tonight.  I'm going to eat too many Twix bars with my husband and son while we watch Saturday Night Live.  I just realized that this is probably the last Halloween that I'll have a kid at home with us, since Anders is a high school senior this year.  They don't come home from college for Halloween, so this will be an Empty Nester Holiday for us from now on.  So strange to think about that!  Okay, I lied.  I'm leaving you with one more picture, from my favorite Halloween in 2006 when the boys were 3 and 5 years old:

Halloween 2006: Anders is Batman, Bernie is Aquaman, and Lars is Spiderman

Anders is in the Batman costume on the left, Lars is Spiderman on the right, and my wonderful, amazing husband is wearing what is supposed to be an Aquaman costume.  I did not have an Aquaman pattern, so I made this costume from a Jalie men's figure skating costume pattern, out of green stretch velvet for the figure skating pants (more revealing in real life than they appear on TV during the Olympics) and an orange sequined lycra figure skating top, because the sequins were the closest thing I could come up with at JoAnn fabrics that looked like scales.  Bless his heart; he got more than a few catcalls from the neighbor ladies as he was out trick-or-treating with the kids, but my sons were SO HAPPY to be their own little Justice League with Daddy!

Happy Halloween, everyone!  I'm linking today's post with:

SATURDAY

·       UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland

One Monthly Goal at  Elm Street Quilts

SUNDAY

·       Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué

·       Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

·       Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

MONDAY

·       Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts  

·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Behold! I Am the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog! (In Which I Make, and Wear, a Giant Toddler Costume for Halloween)

Good afternoon, friends!  Happy Almost Halloween!  Have you ever noticed that my husband Bernie bears an uncanny resemblance to Tim the Enchanter, and that I am just the spitting image of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog?

Tim the Enchanter and the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog

In case you're unfamiliar with killer bunnies and Tim the Enchanter, refer to this classic Monty Python clip below:

So Bernie and I were invited to a Halloween costume party, and I was disappointed by the options for women's costumes that were available at my local Party City store:

Women's Costumes at Party City

Um, NOT what I had in mind.  I wasn't in the mood to go out in public wearing a costume that barely covers my tushy, but the sleazy bunny costume sparked the idea for making a Monty Python Killer Bunny costume instead.  I bought a pair of bunny ears on a headband, a tube of fake blood, and a pin-on tail from the accessories aisle and then headed to Jo-Ann's for my DIY costume supplies: a basic, loose-fitting pajama pattern, and several yards of white faux fur.

It turns out that thick, fluffy faux fur is annoying to work with, so I thought I'd share how I tamed that furry beast.  My faux fir was similar to a Minkee in its drape, but with barely any stretch to it and a VERY thick furry pile.  It was very difficult to cut through two fabric layers, and it shed so much white fluff all over the dining room that, when my son Lars came home from school, he said it looked like I had slaughtered the Easter Bunny.

I had originally planned to whip this costume up on my serger, but the two fabric layers were just too thick to fit under the presser foot of the serger and a few minutes of fiddling with it were enough to convince me that my regular sewing machine was going to be faster and easier for this project.  These are the settings that worked well for faux fur on my Bernina 750QE:

Straight Stitch No. 1, Stitch Length Increased to 3.0, Presser Foot Pressure Increased to 65

I was using presser foot 1D with Dual Feed engaged, regular polyester all purpose sewing thread, and a size 80/12 Universal needle.  The other challenge is that the thick furry stuff wanted to stick out past the cut fabric edges -- so I couldn't even SEE the fabric edges, let alone see the 5/8" seam guide marking on the stitch plate of my machine.  First I tried using the seam guide that screws into the bed of the machine, like this:

Using the Screw-On Seam Guide that Came With Foot 97D

It helped to have a "wall" to guide the fabric edges against, but I had issues with the bottom layer of fabric curling under and getting stuck in the seam.  So I took my biggest acrylic quilting ruler, smashed it down against the wrong side of the fabric, and trimmed away all of the fur that extended past the cut edge of the fabric, all the way around each cut-out pattern piece for my pajama pants and top.  This extra step made a big difference, because after I did that I was able to see and align the top and bottom fabric edges more accurately as I sewed the seam, and I was much better able to monitor that bottom edge to prevent it from curling up into the seam.

Furry Rabbit Pants In Progress

Do you see how thick that fur is?  It felt like I was like wearing a down comforter.  I'm glad I left the furry arms off the pajama top and wore a long sleeve cotton T-shirt underneath instead of doing long sleeves in fur.  I was already plenty warm in my furry outfit.

Anyway, that's all I have to share today.  The party was fun, but the faux fur made a huge mess in my house.  I'd like to return to my quilting projects today, but first I've got some vacuuming to do!

Quilty Goals for this week include:

1. Cheater Cloth Practice Quilt:
   
   Now that it's quilted, I want to photograph some of the issues I had with it, trim the excess batting and backing, and then serge the edges (rather than binding it) so I can toss it in my washing machine and evaluate how washing shrinkage affects my oopsies.  
2. Math Quilt:
   
   Backing fabric needs to be seamed together, and then this will be my first real pieced quilt on the quilting frame.  Not sure whether I'll attempt a simple edge to edge pantograph or continue working with my rulers and free motion fills.
3. Butterfly Bear Paw Quilt: 
   
   This one needs its final outer border cut and sewn, backing fabric pieced, and then it is destined to be the second real quilt for my longarm machine.
4. Anders' Modern Building Blocks Quilt:
   
   I adapted the Moda Modern Building Blocks quilt to work for an XL Twin bed and pieced the first block for this quilt over a year ago, so I think it's time to make the second block now, don't you?  This one should be fun to quilt on the long arm machine since I get to do something different for each block.
5. Jingle Quilt:
   
   This is a pieced and hand appliqued WIP that I set aside about 3 years ago because I didn't know how I wanted to set the center medallion and I discovered that one of my red fabrics is a bleeder.  That sapped all motivation for continuing to work on it.  However, with the holidays right around the corner, I've decided to take it out again and finish it up.  At the very least, it will be good practice for quilting around applique on my longarm machine, and I've gotten some good suggestions from other quilters that I can try that might save the finished quilt from the running red dye.  Worst case scenario, I end up with a pink background instead of off white.  And this quilt definitely needs to go through the wash when it's finished, because I glue basted all of those turned edge applique shapes in place and I want the glue out of the finished quilt.
6. Pineapple Log Cabin Quilt:
   
   I suppose I ought to make another paper pieced pineapple log cabin block for this quilt.  
7. EQ8:
   
   Last but DEFINITELY not least -- I downloaded the EQ8 upgrade a few days ago and I love it so far!  I'll be taking some time this week to get comfortable with the new interface and playing with the new features.

Today I'm linking up with:

• ·       Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/
• ·       Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/

Trick-or-Treat!

Lars as an Archer (from one of his books) and Anders as Darth Vader Sans Mask

Trick-or-treating has pretty much wrapped up for the night, and our little Halloween marauders have been tucked into bed despite the sugar high incurred by scarfing down as much candy as they could possibly manage before bed.  Lars dressed up as a character from one of his favorite books, and Anders sensibly chose to leave his Darth Vader mask at home so he could see where he was going.  For the first time this year, I left Bernie at home to hand out candy and I took the boys trick-or-treating myself.  It was fun to be out in the neighborhood with all of the kids and other parents instead of left behind with a too-tempting bowl full of candy.

As promised, I got a picture of our pumpkins once they were lit:

I also took pictures of my favorite carved pumpkins on other people's front steps -- more ideas for next year!

Skull & Cross Bones Pumpkin

Ghostly Pumpkin

Another Cute Ghost Pumpkin

This little monster pumpkin was my favorite!

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Happy Halloween! The Jack-O-Lanterns of 2011

Happy Halloween!  Lars and Anders did some trick-or-treating to collect food for Loaves & Fishes today after church with their youth group, and then they rolled up their sleeves for some serious pumpkin carving with their daddy.  We did some internet research yesterday and found some great jack-o-lantern ideas, which I posted on that Pinterest thing here.  Because we were pressed for time, we shamelessly copied two of the pumpkins straight off the internet.  Only Lars's pumpkin is a completely original concept. 

Lars Carving his Pumpkin

We carve with drywall saws at our house.  Oh, and I use that "we" very loosely -- I haven't personally carved a pumpkin in years.  I like to draw the face on a pumpkin, and then hand it over to my handyman husband for the gut-scooping glory of the actual carving.  It's a joint effort -- like parenting.  Yeah.  Also, someone needs to have clean hands so she can photograph the activity for posterity!  You will be happy to know that, at the end of the carving party, everyone in my family still has all of their fingers firmly attached to their hands where they belong.

Anders Carving his Death Star Pumpkin

Once Anders saw the picture of a Star Wars Death Star pumpkin, his mind was made up.  It took him longer than anyone else, but he stuck with it until he had a Death Star pumpkin of his very own.

I found a picture of a cannibal pumpkin "eating" another, smaller pumpkin.  It was more interesting than an ordinary triangle-eyed, zigzag-mouthed Jack-O-Lantern, challenging, but achievable.  I drew the face free-hand with a Sharpie marker and then handed the pumpkin off to Bernie for execution.

See how much he enjoys carving pumpkins?  Who am I to deprive him of this joy?!

We had carefully selected a little baby orange pumpkin to be the "victim," and here he is, all carved and served up to the jaws of the big, mean pumpkin:

Unfortunately, this little baby pumpkin fell out of the other pumpkin's mouth and smashed on the driveway.  I had to go to three different grocery stores before I found a little green squash of the right size to sacrifice to our cannibal pumpkin.  Here's what we ended up with the second time around:

Here are the boys' finished pumpkins:

Anders' Death Star Pumpkin

Lars's Jack-O-Lantern

...And here they all are, hanging out together on the front steps, waiting for the trick-or-treaters to come tomorrow night!  I'll try to remember to take another picture right after we light them tomorrow.

I think I will also rearrange the pumpkins when Bernie isn't looking.  I'd rather group all of the pumpkins together on the right side of the steps.  There aren't that many of them and they look weak spread out like that.  Also, since we use candles, it's safer to keep all of the flaming pumpkins on one side so I can herd the little princesses and caped crusaders up and down the opposite side, away from the pumpkins. 

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Happy Halloween 2010

Every year, we hurry through dinner on Halloween, then the kids frantically scramble into their costumes as the doorbell starts going bananas with the early crowd of trick-or-treaters.  I'm dashing to the door to hand out candy with a camera around my neck, imploring my restless cowboys to hold still for a picture as they duck out the door and into the night.

But THIS year, we had tickets to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra's Lollipops children's concert series, so we got the boys in costume on Saturday morning for the Thrills and Chills Halloween Spooktacular concert at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.  It was a chance to test out the lipliner "scar" on Lars-as-Harry-Potter's forehead, as well as the orange spray powder for the hair of Anders-as-Ron-Weasley.  The concert was lots of fun, and I got my photo ops in afterward before the security guard came and scolded us for taking pictures.  Apparently there is no photography allowed in the skywalk between the Bank of America building and the Belk -- who knew?

 Bernie and the boys carved their pumpkins outside by the fire pit on Saturday night.  Anders drew his face and Bernie carved his pumpkin, but this was the first year that Lars got to do his own carving.  He enjoyed it A LOT!

 Then on Sunday, after church, all the kids changed into costume and went out "trick-or-treating" in the early afternoon to collect groceries for the local Loaves and Fishes food pantry, followed by a Halloween party at the youth choir director's home (we love you, Glenda!).  I got this group photo of all the kids before they left the church:

It was about 3:30 when we got the kids home from the party, and then we watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on Hulu...

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, 1966

...followed by an old VHS tape of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  Not sure what that had to do with Halloween, but the boys enjoyed the ferocious rabbit with pointy teeth and the Knights Who Say Nih!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975

My husband cooked a delicious dinner of pork loin with sweet potatoes, then donned a purple-and-black witch's wig and black cloak before taking my little wizards trick-or-treating while I stayed behind to pass out candy.  All in all, it was a pretty good Halloween.

In Defense of Halloween, an American Cultural Celebration for Children

Norman Rockwell

When I think of Halloween in the United States, this is what comes to mind: Little kids looking adorable in their superhero, princess, or pirate costumes, families making memories carving funny faces on pumpkins and scooping out the goo, school parties and costume parades and contests for the most original homemade costume. Bobbing for apples, the excitement of troops of little ones out after dark with mom or dad, skipping from house to house for trick-or-treating. The loot sorting afterwards, your sister trading you Milk Duds for your Good and Plenty. Watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on television a few days prior, practicing cut-and-paste skills in the creation of construction paper bats and spiders, and maybe a harmless spooky story or two. Norman Rockwell captured the spirit of Halloween as a cultural phenomenon of American childhood in several of his iconic covers for The Saturday Evening Post:

Norman Rockwell, Hallowe'en 1925

Norman Rockwell, Hallowe'en 1920

What I love most about the 1920 cover above is the expression of delighted fake fear on the man's face as he pretends to be scared of the little girl in the sheet. Boo!

Let's take a stroll down memory lane and see how our parents and grandparents celebrated Halloween as children:

Halloween circa 1948

Halloween circa 1950

1958 School Halloween Party at the Kansas School for the Deaf

Halloween circa 1960

1960s Halloween

Class picture from a school Halloween party taken in the 1970s

School Halloween Party circa 1979




Carving Pumpkins in 1977

 

That last photo is my family carving pumpkins in 1977 according to our annual tradition.  Susan on the left, me in the middle, and Janice the Manice about to climb into the pumpkin on the right.  I'm pretty sure the way this went down is that we drew the faces on the pumpkins with a black magic marker, and Dad cut them out with a knife.  I think I drew elegant eyelashes on my pumpkin one year and was disappointed that Daddy could not execute these details with the carving knife!




Halloween 1977, Rebecca Grace and Susan Nicole

  

Here we are in our Halloween costume a few days later, posing next to the Jack-o-Lanterns.  Her middle name isn't really Nicole -- that's an inside joke.  :-)  Man, I wish I still had that orange wig; Anders wants to be Ron Weasley for Halloween and I'm still not sure how I'm going to safely turn his sweet blond locks to orange!



Halloween 1979

 

That's me (and part of Janice the Manice) in the photo above as witches for Halloween in 1979, yet the scariest thing in the picture is the hot pink lamp thingy hanging in the background.  

Of course, the best Halloween costumes are always the homemade ones.  My mom made my brother an R2-D2 costume one year, and Janice the Manice was Princess Leah in her nightgown with Reebok sneakers on her feet.  I'm pretty sure that flower thing on top of her head was a little silk flower ring that went around a scented candle from our dining room table.

Donnie as R2D2 and Janice as Princess Leia

Check out this House of Cards themed group costume that won first price in a Halloween costume contest back in 1980:





Lars's First Halloween, duck costume made by me with the help of Mom & Grammy

 

Since the duck costume, I haven't made any more costumes for my kids (not entire costumes, anyway -- I did make some Jedi cloaks a few years back to go with store-bought Star Wars costumes). However, we did have a family Justice League Halloween in 2006, with Anders as Batman, Lars as Spiderman, and I just couldn't resist making an Aquaman costume for Bernie.  I used a Kwik-Sew men's skating costume pattern, with hunter green stretch velvet for the pants and a sequined orange lycra fabric for the top that looked like scales... or disco... depending on your perspective.  I actually justified the purchase of my coverstitch serger in a fit of frustration because I didn't like the way my other hemming options were working on the Aquaman top.  So, all in all, this Aquaman costume cost close to $1,500.  I hope Bernie appreciated it!



Halloween 2006: Anders, Bernie & Lars

 

SO...  I've been stomping around the house all week, complaining about Elon Park Elementary School's anti-Halloween policy, and I had originally planned to write an impassioned defense of harmless holiday festivities at school.  Lars's school had something called a "Fall Harvest" party on Thursday, and parents were sent explicit instructions forbidding any party plates, napkins or decorations with so much as a spider or a black cat on them.  What even IS a Fall Harvest party?  If we celebrate the harvest in October, doesn't that make the Thanksgiving party redundant in November?

If you google things like "anti halloween schools" and "halloween banned schools" you will find, as I did, that a mostly misinformed minority of parents is being allowed to impose their wishes on the rest of us, and the schools are just trying to avoid controversy so they can focus on education.  I actually found where one woman claimed that having a classroom Halloween party is like forcing all children to fast in observance of Ramadhan.  Excuse me?  Whatever the roots of Halloween may or may not have been in Europe in the 16th century or earlier, it has always been a widespread and completely secular holiday in the United States.  No one is suggesting seances and human sacrifices, and most of the little kids would rather dress up as Disney princesses and superheroes than witches or skeletons anymore.  Give me a break.  If you'd like to argue with me about this, feel free to comment.

Anyway, we're looking forward to celebrating Halloween at our house this year.  Our decorations are up outside, and tomorrow morning we're going in costume to a Charlotte Symphony Lollipops concert to listen to spooky orchestral music, then carving our pumpkins in the afternoon.  Sunday after church, the boys will be doing early trick-or-treating with their Kids In Christ youth group to collect donations for Loaves & Fishes to feed those in the community who are in need.  Then after dinner, as soon as it gets dark, it's trick-or-treat time in the neighborhood!

I hope you and your families all have a wonderful weekend, regardless of how you choose to celebrate -- or not celebrate -- Halloween.