These 2 Cool Ideas for Halloween and Fall quilts will jazz up your home decor or make a friend happy as they are great gifts! They are my latest finishes and I am so happy to see how they turned out.
This is Witches Party, the Halloween pattern I designed with my favorite Moda Fabrics collection for Halloween: Ghouls and Goodies. This is the third quilt I made with this collection (here are the other two), and I am not quite sure it will be the last. Why? Because of the bright colors, the dimensions of the motifs, the variety of prints – the ‘dream team’ of attributes a designer likes to see in a fabric line.
The 8″ blocks for the Witches Party were ready and the top was put together, I had pinned it with batting and backing and then took forever to quilt it. Ai ai ai… I updated the photos on my Etsy store, PiecedBrain, to include the finished quilt.
I had so much fun free-motion quilting it! There were no plans – I just sat down and began working. Each appliqued block has a different quilting motif. I used Aurifil 40wt white thread because it adds a fantastic texture to the background. I also chose white because I did not want to darken the quilt.
The shapes have no quilting inside them so the stitches around make the applique’ pop, which is how I like it. When Melissa long-arm quilts my projects, I tell her to just quilt over it, with rare exceptions such as when I ask her to do custom work.
The quilting around the cat is wild on purpose, and the one around the house lends it an eerie look. Don’t you love those mummies?
Machine applique’ goes pretty quickly and I rarely use a stitch other than the blanket stitch with thread that matches the fabrics. Thus, the focus is on the shapes and not on the finish. Raw edge applique’ with the fusible web is fast and, for quilts that will be washed over and over, I apply Fray Check to keep fraying to a minimum.
For the pieced blocks I chose two different motifs: stippling on the background and wavy lines on the hat and robe. The narrow border has loops, and the wide border has straight lines. When I am free-motion quilting a project, I select the quilting as I go along unless I am marking it with a specific pattern.
To mark a quilt, I like to use Click here to see how I use it.
The back of the quilt has amazing textures. Witches Party can be used as a table topper or a wall quilt. I also think kids would love it as a lap quilt because it measures 36″ x 36″. You can find this pattern in my Etsy store.
Now, for my second finish:
The only thing I needed to do to complete this one was the binding, and it took forever. You guys had suggested on Instagram (@piecedbrain) an orange binding and I complied. It was the best choice! I happened to have an entire bolt of this orange (Confetti Cottons Pumpkin by Riley Blake) and I could not believe it when I saw how well it blended with the orange on the blocks.
There is no pattern for this project as I used blocks I had made while testing patterns. In the past, I selected random fabrics for test blocks, until one day the light bulb went off and I figured if I used the same fabrics a few times, soon I would have a fun sampler quilt. And there it is.
Yes, this one was quilted by Melissa and it measures about 41-1/4″ x 52-1/4″. The blocks are all 12″.
When I first began quilting I hated sampler quilts. They confused my orderly mind. Later, I realized that if I worked with fabrics that looked good together (to me, at least), a sampler quilt would be more pleasing. And the rest is history as I have made many of them.
I know I am a little ahead of the game with these 2 Cool Ideas for Halloween and Fall quilts but, since this hasn’t happened lately, I am celebrating these finishes wholeheartedly. Plus, there is usually so much going on at that time of the year.
I am sometimes surprised at what I can come up with when I search for fabrics amidst the ones I already have. This quilt was entirely made from my stash. It will be a perfect lap quilt and will go well with the current decor in my living room.
Before I forget, look at the fantastic quilt that Vicki Spycher made for her husband using the free pattern I designed for the Country Paradise collection by Blank Quilting. Don’t you love it! And the photograph staging was perfect to go along with the panel Vicki used. I loved the colors she used!
My goal is to inspire you to get those UFOs out of the drawers and finish them! I hope I have enticed you.
Enjoy your sewing day,
