In Bloom Halloween Style

Now that my work schedule allows, I can go to Monday classes at my favorite LQS, with all my quilting buddies.  Yeah!!!  This month we did this Timeless Treasures "In Bloom" quilt.

The actual quilt as designed looks like this. It's a beautiful floral, but not really my style, and with a stash the size of mine, I decided that I was going to shop my stash for this quilt. I had a fun Halloween border print that was going to work just right for it. That being said, it "was" a good plan, but once I started pulling out fabrics to go with it, I just didn't have what I really thought I needed, so off to the quilt shop I go. Even the best laid plans at times, seem to fail us. I had an idea that I would applique a design of some kind, in the center.

 Low and behold while I was waiting for my fabrics to be cut, I spy this wonderful book from Brandywine Design. I love all the adorable little critters and it's perfect for my quilt.  I have done baby quilts with their Dancin in the Moonlight book. That, and the children's book Goodnight Moon, is one of my favorite baby gifts to give.

Check out their books. They have the cutest little animals, I have ever seen!

It took only a few adjustments to make it fit the
format of my quilt center, and I am love the end results.

It always amazes me, how different fabrics can completely change a quilt.  If you can keep an open mind when looking thru the free patterns online, you might just find that perfect pattern for your stash, or at least part of it!  :-)

Next month, I am doing it again with another online pattern. It calls for a toile background, but I am using a black and white polk-a-dot. Maybe some really bright colors to go with it. We will see..

                                I believe the saying "rehash your stash" fits nicely for these projects! 
                                                            :-)  What do you think?

Ghastlies Blog Hop

                     Have you heard??? The Ghastlies are having a blog hop. :-)

Actually the infamous Madame Samm from Sew we Sew (aka) Stash Manicure and Sew I Quilt, her own personal blog,  is hosting this fabulous event. I just can't imagine how she has the time to put together another event. That's one incredible lady she is!

So be sure to join the 51 of us, yep you read this right 51 blogs, for a rip roaring good time paying our personal tributes to the wonderful Alexander Henry Ghastlie fabric.  From Oct 24th thru Nov 4th, you will be in for tricks and treats from bloggers every day! 

Now you know you can't miss this, don't you????? 
                                   :-)

A Happy Mail Call and Saving for fabric fix

 You can't imagine how delighted I was yesterday when the mailman brought this package to me. You see, Janet over at What Comes Next, had a give a way. Guess who won????
I did, yippee!!!!   I knew the fat quarters were coming, but I had no idea she was throwing in a book and the thread to go with it. Wow Janet, this is a great package, and I do promise to do something special with it.

Now take note of the great post card she sent along with it. Made out of a paper bag, an applique flower and rubber stamps. It is just toooooooo darn cute!






Then,  Linda over at Scrapmaster shared a post about her new fabric acquisition, and light bulb went off. You see Linda saves her change and when there is enough, she goes shopping for fabric.

In my, prior to quilting life, I was a crafter. I made fabric dolls, country style bunnies, bears, pigs,cows and a few moose too. Then I got the wood bug, and added wooden dolls to my collection, which ended up branching out to many different wood items.

Fence pickets soon became one of my favorite things to work with. They were inexpensive and precut. I learned to make many different things out of them. That was long ago now, and most have gone by the way side. I still have the change box that I made. It sits by the door and makes a great place to throw change as you come and go. It also doubles as a great doorstop.

Mine is tall, about 3 foot. I only wish it was full, but there is enough in it to make it harder than heck to move. (note the moose, seems they are everywhere around here!)

Now just how much fabric could I acquire with that??????    Hummmm...   Thanks to Linda, my mind is going like crazy! And it's probably NOT a good thing!  :-)      I promised her I would not share with hubby who gave me that great idea. He cringes when he sees bags if fabric come thru the door... and that's another story all in itself!  :-)

Saving for fabrics, what are your ideas on that??  Please to share. Better yet, make a change collector for yourself and show us what you did!

Dog Gone Cute

Don't these guys just make you smile!  Coasters, they are.  The Whole Country Caboodle is the creative force behind these cuties.  I see them making adorable accents to a scrap quilt. Maybe enlarged a bit and making blocks with them, or borders...  What's your vision? I would love to know. They have a such a great line of fun patterns. I've just bought the Gone to the Dogs, and after these guys, it's burning a whole in my quilting mind!!  :-)

October is here... October is here

My absolute favorite time of the year. With that being said, it was very difficult to decide of a Tuxedo for our tiles this month. So many choices and I am the biggest Halloween fanatic around.  You will likely see a few different tuxes this month, but lets kick it off with this one.

Again I found a pattern over at Quilt Blocks Galore, my favorite web site and "FREE" can you say Hallelujah, I struck gold!!  :-)  

Tesselcats! Now is that perfect for a not so scary Halloween treat!  Call it the bright colors, the easy paper piecing, great scrap buster or whatever, but make sure you check out this pattern. Click HERE to be magically transported to this fun little guy. 

Just a few tips. When piecing this, start with either piece 3 or 5, piece across for the ears then add piece 6 the body. This block is a 6" block. If you add a 1" strip around all sides, it will fit our 6" tiles perfectly. I painted my eyes on with regular acrylic paints, but applique (fusible or needle turn would work just great!  You can even stitch a few little whiskers if you like.  So what do you think. Ready to jump in and try it?  Or better yet,  how about a fun little wall hanging with a bunch of these guys?

Make sure, you share your projects with us all. We love to see every ones different take on things. You can post them in our Flickr account by using the link on the left side of my blog.

                                                  Now show me what you got!  :-)