Halloween Candy Tablerunner

It's almost Halloween, and stores are overflowing with candy right now in preparation for trick o' treat season. Not quite sure how that's going to work this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, but whether or not kids go door to door, everyone still wants their sweet tooth satisfied!

Whether folks venture out or party at home, a very fun way to add to the festivities is to take some those sweet treats and turn them into this adorable Halloween Candy table runner!

Though chocolate confections are my favorite, Halloween just wouldn't be complete without candy corn. Add to that some penny candy, that wrapped hard candy that seems to be in every bank, restaurant, or store candy dish, to make one very hard-to-resist bit of sweetness!

Remember my Candy Corn block? Well, I had no plans to use it as is, so I took it apart, back to the individual candy corn pieces. 

With the help of EQ and graph paper, I designed the Penny Candy block (pattern coming next week), 

and manipulated it to create the Halloween Candy runner.

With the addition of 2" borders in a fun Halloween print, plus the pantograph "Snack Attack" in Glide Cool Grey, I've got a very fun Halloween (and food) themed runner. Let the party begin!

A few more details about the Halloween Candy table runner: 

• it measures approximately 13 1/2" x 44" 
• fabric requirements use both fat quarters and yardage
• blocks are pieced NOT paper pieced
• the pattern is listed for the intermediate quilter, though a highly confident beginner would have success following to the very detailed diagrams
• the Halloween Candy table runner pattern is at special pricing, now thru Oct 31, 2020. Get it before time runs out!

Next week, the Penny Candy block will be available. It's a modified version, featuring a standard block size. The pattern will also include directions for making Penny Candy without the stripes, plus block layout ideas. Hmm, I'm visualizing another quilt - Christmas is just around the corner.

Until then, Happy Quilting everyone!

My Favorite Patterns

Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo!

 Look who's playing peek-a-boo in the pumpkin patch!

 

Yes, a little black kitty, possibly the brother or sister of the Pumpkat Patch kitty. 

Or maybe it's the same kitty - who knows? Sure looks like the pumpkin patch is a great place to be, especially for the Hello Fall Blog Hop hosted by Carla of Creatin' In The Sticks. If your a new visitor - Welcome!

A little more about Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo. The idea for this cute kitty and pumpkin wall hanging has been hiding out in EQ for about 2 years, with many, many versions. Finally, this year after a few more changes, I have found that kitty playing peek-a-boo in the pumpkin patch!

Isn't he so cute, peeking out from between the pumpkins? And I just love how his tail curls around and hugs the pumpkin - oh so cat-like!

With my love of kitties and fall colors, Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo combines the best of both. I am so happy Pumpkat Patch has a friend to hangout with, as this was designed as a companion piece to the table runner. 

Will they get along? I should think so, as the overall design of maple leaves and pumpkins set on a cream background provide the pumpkin patch setting. Plus the quilting is identical on both, with triple crosshatching in the background, and brown veins in the leaves and pumpkins. In the border, Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo has a few more quilted maple leaves to chase and play with.

Measuring approximately 34" x 40", the fat-quarter friendly Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo wall hanging pattern is available in my QuiltFabrication Etsy shop at a special price during the four days of the hop. With detailed diagrams and instructions, Pumpkin Peek-a-Boo is suitable for the confident beginner quilter and above. 

Need more fall projects? Be sure to visit the other quilters to see what they've created to celebrate fall. 

Monday, September 21st

Just Let Me Quilt

Websterquilt
VroomansQuilts
Karen's Korner
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
QuiltFabrication.com
Karrin’s Crazy World
Seams To Be Sew
The Joyful Quilter
Kathleen McMusing 

It's quite the fabulous line up of fall projects, now thru Thursday, with the full list at Creatin' In The Sticks. I hope you enjoy them all!

Happy Quilting!

My Favorite Patterns

Frankenquilter

Say hello to Frankenquilter - created from a patchwork of parts, just as the original monster was.

He's the perfect monster to help any quilter celebrate Halloween! 

Made for the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop, hosted by Carol of Just Let Me Quilt, Frankenquilter has been haunting my head since July. Having finally collected all the parts, lightening struck to bring him to life!

His entire being is based on 2.5" squares, with pieced hair, eyes, nose, mouth, and neck knobs. Add in some quilting tools used in construction for good measure!

Oops! It looks as if the quilter isn't done stitching!

And so that no one forgets, or confuses him with his cousin, Frankenquilter wears his name proudly.

If you've fallen in love with Frankenquilter, either as this completed mini, or as just a block of his face for use in another project, an easy Frankenquilter pattern is available. Instructions/templates are given for either paper piecing or the flip n' stitch technique for block construction. Templates for all the quilting tools and lettering is also included.

Here he is, hanging out with other spooky friends.

One last note: some of the inspiration for Frankenquilter comes from my teenage years, when I got the chance to participate in a now-defunct live monster show at Universal Studios. Oh, how I loved dressing up in that makeup! Not sure if Bob, the Hulk look-alike, did though.

Happy Halloween and Quilting, from me and Frank!

Just Batty!

It's getting to be that time of year when all things Halloween creep out of the shadows. My newest quilt creation - Just Batty - fits in just fine!

Above, a rare sight of bats hanging out in the wild during the daytime, and below, seeking the shadow of a tree,

while here, the bats got spooked and are taking flight! 

Ahh, reminds me of our visit to Noosa Heads, Australia a few years ago. Every night before sunset, the parrots would squawk like crazy while flocking to the trees, en masse, to settle into sleep. Then silence. And as the sky darkened, small, careening black shapes flew overhead as massive colonies of bats took flight in their search for food. We never tired of witnessing the brief moment of mass movement of birds every night - it's really quite the sight!

So, I have to say - I'm in love with this quilt!! Have you ever made a quilt that made your heart sing when laying out the blocks? Or feel such joy when the quilting brings it all to life? Well, that's this quilt for me, and it will be going onto my All Time Favorite list at the end of the year.

Suitable for the confident beginner quilter, Just Batty is composed of one block, and uses the same background fabric for each one. The fun part is creating a variety of bats from different blacks, and adding sparkle with several oranges - a great way to use fat quarters! 

Because I want Just Batty to be one of your favorite quilts this Halloween season, the multi-sized pattern (wall, crib, lap, twin) is available at the QuiltFabrication Etsy shop. And with super easy block assembly, there's plenty of time to add bats to your Halloween decor!

Now, how about some close-ups? The background is a silver colored print, and the backing another grey full of swirls to go with the quilting.

The quilting uses a dark grey Glide thread called Anchor, and the redrawn, by me, EZ Loops pantograph. 

I loved the loops and hook element in the original pantograph, but not the repetition - way too boring for this quilt!

                                                     
So, with the help of the photocopier, I singled out one motif, mirrored it, rotated it, re-positioned it, and joined it to two identical motifs to create my own pantograph. I'm calling it Loops and Hooks.

Complicated, yes, but oh so worth it! These new all-over loops and hooks really accentuate the flying bats for a perfect pairing. BTW, did you know I offer longarm quilting services? I would be happy to quilt this pantograph on your Just Batty quilt - just shoot me an email: quiltfabrication (at) gmail (dot) com to discuss prices and shipping.

Yes, I'm Just Batty over this quilt - 
Happy Halloween!

My Favorite Patterns

More FREE Pumpkin Quilt Projects!

It's fall, which means pumpkin season! To add to last year's popular Eight FREE Pumpkin Quilt Projects, I've compiled a group of 5 new pumpkin projects to add to the list!

Along with the cute and fun pumpkins from last year, there's this scrappy beauty of modern prints from Sassafras Lane,

                                     

quilt-as-you-go pumpkin mug rugs from the Patchwork Posse,

                                        


quick and easy pumpkin coasters from A Few Scraps,

                                     


a pumpkin block tutorial, made into a runner at Sew Lux Fabric,

                                     


and an adorable modern pumpkin wall hanging designed by Amanda of Jedi Craft Girl.

                                   


In the pumpkin spirit now? I am, as I'm decorating with the Pumpkat Patch runner,

another runner made with the pumpkin applique block,

and over on the sofa, the Pumpkin Harvest lap quilt.

Love all those pumpkins! 

My Favorite Patterns

Pumpkins for Pick a Pumpkin Hop!

Pumpkins! Who wants pumpkins?! Today is my stop on the Pick a Pumpkin Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks - welcome!

I'm just loving my new applique pumpkin block, made into a runner - so fresh and modern! Not only in design, but also in fabrics, cause I got the grey going here! 

Notice there's no white sashing in between the blocks. When they were on the design wall, I liked how my eye was teased by the shifting of grey/orange to orange/grey to grey/orange of the blocks. White sashing would have broken up that effect, so I opted to place it only in the border.

Also notice there's a thin line of green in between the white and orange borders. 

I had both the white and orange borders on, and decided the runner looked boring. Off came the orange, the thin flange of green was inserted, and the orange went back on. I'll have a tutorial on how to make that flange as part of the border soon so you can try it on one of your quilts. (Update - see Inserting a Decorative Flange)

The quilting uses rulers and Scotch inch tape (affiliate link) to make those diagonal lines behind the pumpkins - the tape was a life saver!

After stitching 1/4" from the applique, the inner parts of the pumpkin were left un-quilted to give the pumpkin a puffy, rounded look.

This easy to applique pumpkin block pattern is available at Etsy - how about some other ideas for these pumpkins? 

Stacked Pumpkins, as a wall hanging decoration

Nine Patch, for the wall or table

Pumpkin Placemat

A whole patch of scrappy pumpkins,

or maybe black and white.

Happy Quilting!