Just Because Quilts: October 2019

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Spooky Box from the Fat Quarter Shop

Did anyone treat themselves to the Spooky Box from the Fat Quarter Shop?

This year I treated myself to the 2019 Special Edition Spooky Box from the Fat Quarter Shop, and I'm so glad I did! There were no tricks in this box, just lots of wonderful treats for quilters.

Included in this year's box:

KCats, Bats, & Jacks fat quarter bundle, a Spooky Box exclusive

KA Binding Bat ruler

KDriving Me Batty tablerunner runner

KHalloween bats mini foldable box

KDrive Me Batty fusible quilt label

It's always so much fun to get mystery boxes in the mail. I was especially intrigued by this offering because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I'll be sure to reserve my box next year for this little box of de-FRIGHT-ful Halloween fun.

Time to get SPOOKY!

Monday, October 21, 2019

Harvest Shop Hop

Along with the shorter days, cooler weather, and falling leaves comes the Harvest Shop Hop in Kern County. Fabric shops in Porterville, Tehachapi and Bakersfield take part and put on charming displays of fall and winter projects. This is a small hop, but loads of fun just the same. Rhea and I are always game for a road trip.

There are 5 fabric shops that usually participate, but this year Cherry Berry Quilts was involved in a horrific fire and was unable to join in the fun. I've been told they have secured a new building and are working hard to return to business as usual.

First stop was at Dunkin' Donuts to plan out our day over a cup of coffee and a yummy doughnut.

Next was 5 Heart Quilts & Fabric where we started the hop. We have our cards stamped, register for the gift basket they are giving away to one lucky winner, and mosey around the store looking for bargains and inspiration.

Next door to 5 Heart Quilts & Fabric is the Tehachapi Valley Arts Association, Inc. Galley 'N' Gifts shop. Although not part of the hop, they are a fun shop to visit, and Rhea and i stop there wach year. Tehachapi is home to a large group of talented artists who display and sell their work in the shop. This year what caught my eye was a witch's hat covered with autumn foliage.

These lovely ladies are 2 of the artists from the community and they volunteer at the shop.

Next stop was Debbie's Fabrics. I could not believe we spent nearly TWO hours in this shop! I won't say how much money we spent, but I will say we had a great time!!

I was looking for unicorn fabric and Rhea was looking for novelty fabric for her kids' pillow project. We found exactly what we were looking for at Debbie's.

There are always so many cute things in this shop. They have a huge selection of panels and wool and the patterns that go with them. Needless to say, this is one of our favorite shops!

The employees at ThimbleTowne were dressed up like scarecrows. What fun! They had a bobbing for apples game where Rhea won a fat quarter and I won a $5 gift certificate. No losers here!

After a late lunch, Rhea and I called it a day. We needed to get home and rest up. There's another quilt shop hop next month!!

Monday, October 7, 2019

Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop

BOO!

Today is my day to share with you what I have been creating for my Haunted Halloween! A big THANK YOU to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for hosting this spooktacular Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop! Carol's blog hops are always so much fun and, judging by the wonderful projects I saw yesterday, this year's hop is going to be a real treat!

Halloween is my favorite holiday! It is so much fun to play make-believe and dress in costumes. The candy's not bad either.

This year I made a wall hanging as a tribute to my grandson's favorite book about a monster who

lives under a little boy's bed. But mine has a twist.

The monster has taken over the bed! This was a really fun quilt to make. It is approximately 36" x 45" and is made using the raw-edge applique method. I started this quilt by making a drawing of my idea on the wrong side of old Christmas wrapping. When I was happy with the drawing, I traced the pattern pieces and cut them out of fabric.

I don't use fusible web; it makes my pieces too thick and hard to stitch. Instead I use tiny dots of Elmer's Glue to hold pattern pieces in place. It also makes it easier to lift up and readjust if I make a mistake.

Once my picture is the way I want it, I use a straight stitch to anchor the pieces down. For this quilt I used a zig zag stitch next and stitched around all the pieces to make them stand out.

I believe this wall hanging would have benefitted from some meandering quilting, but I'm not good at it, so I left it plain. Something to work on later.

I asked my grandson if he wanted this quilt to hang on his bedroom wall, and he said "No! No monsters!" You can't win 'em all.

But that's not all! I made a second project!

Last year I made 2 door hangings -- one of Dracula and one of Frankenstein. I enjoyed making them so much because they were small and I could get very detailed with them. They also looked cute on my doors Halloween night.

This year I decided to add to the collection and made a Fortune Teller Booth complete with gypsy. Do you remember these? When I was a kid they were at all the fairs and arcades. You inserted your money and the mannequin inside came to life and your written fortune dropped out a slot. Hokey but fun.

There's not much to this door hanging, just the evil eye and the gypsy. Again I used the raw-edge applique method and it went together very quickly.

Giving the gypsy personality was the best part. I used a straight stitch with black thread and stitched several times over her eyes, nose, and mouth. I did the same thing with gold thread for her earrings. And of course she had to have make-up!

The booth was easy to decorate. You can find the 8" x 10" colorful fortune teller print I used at Roxy's Tee Parlor https://roxysteeparlour.bigcartel.com/product/the-fortune-teller-print . I transferred the print to a fabric sheet and sewed it in place. To finish I added a little fancy stitching to the booth and sewed on the binding.

So that's it for me, but there's plenty more to see. Check out the treats my fellow bloggers have created for the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop.

October 8

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Life in the Scrapatch

Just Because Quilts

Brenda's Quilt Blog