October Mini Quilt Treat

The end of October

brings 

When my 3 girls were little they

loved Halloween. 

They would begin thinking about their costumes 

 for the following year on November 1st.

Over the years we had lots of fun 

making and creating their costume ideas.

Nothing ghoulish, just princesses,

pirates, Snow White, Bo Peep, and even Cleopatra.

Unfortunately, here in Colorado,

Trick or Treating usually involves

winter coats and snow boots.

Those lovely costumes 

get covered up and hidden.

My October mini is an embroidery

that, unfortunately,  

got covered up and hidden in my sewing room 

for a couple years.  Sigh....

Halloween Sampler

16" x 19"

The embroidery is designed by

Sandra Workman.

You can find it here.

The pattern includes an

iron on transfer for the stitching,

which made it very easy to get started.

It was stitched with DMC floss

on a striped grey and off white fabric.

I worked with one color at at time

rather than stitching one motif at a time.

It's an efficient way to approach it,

but maybe, not as much fun.

The finished piece worked up perfectly 

as a mini quilt for October. 

The narrow orange border with

the black ric rac sewn on top

gives the appearance of a scalloped edge.

By adding a couple of prairie points

and buttons, it adds some 3-D interest.

Halloween Sampler looks good on the fence.

Happy Halloween 🎃 

from all the Halloween Minis.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Looking Forward

There's an old saying that if

you fall off a horse

you need to get right back on that horse.

The reason being that if you don't,

it will be very hard to get back on that horse

the longer that you wait.
 I'm guessing that you could apply 

that philosophy to many situations.

I applied it to my quilting life.

After feeling somewhat defeated or

down about my overwhelming stash,

I knew it meant no more whining.

Time to get my favorite fabrics back out,

take the rotary cutter back in my hands,

thread up the machine

and get sewing.

That's exactly what I did.

I did some spot organizing,

looked through some of my favorite books,

and found a center medallion 

that spoke to me

from Susan Smith's book

Quilts, Somewhat in the Middle.

Refreshed-Rejuvenated

32" x 32"

It took me a week 

from start to finish.

I needed to get back

to feeling the excitement 

and creativity of playing.

I drew on the colors 

from many of Di Ford's fabulous fabrics.

Appliqueing the center

was like enjoying a delicious dessert.

Add a little fussy cutting

and I was definitely feeling rejuvenated.

It really didn't take much

to feel good again.

The inner border was fun with the melon shapes.

And who doesn't love adding circles.

I loved the simple idea of making

the sashing between them piece.

The more fabrics, the better!

And oh,

it gets better.

I bought a new

Laundry Basket fabric for the backing.

I kept the quilting to a minimum,

just because that's what I felt like doing.

Needless to say,

it was a great week of creating, stitching

and rekindling the positive. 

I hope, if you find yourself in a situation

where you've "fallen off your horse",

you can dust yourself off 

and get back in the saddle

and shout, Giddy-up!

Until Next Time-

Kyle