Thursday, October 20, 2022

Gremlins, Goblins & Ghouls -- Oh My! Blog Hop

 


Welcome, my Pretties, to the
Gremlins, Goblins & Ghouls - Oh My! 
Blog Hop 
the brain child of 
Joan at MooseStashQuilting.com  


Today is my day to show you what I have been brewing in my craft room.  Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I love to decorate the house with fun and ghastly items.  But, alas, I have young grandchildren who are easily spooked, so I can't get too creepy. 

This year I discovered the art of making a Notan.  Talk about fun!  Notan is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark elements, or positive and negative.  The process is very simple but the result is striking.     

For my project I chose to make a table runner (because October is way too hot in Southern California for a quilt).  To make this project even easier, I decided to make my runner out of felt.  

To begin, I bought 2 yards of black felt and cut a rectangle of 17" x 60".  For each Notan I bought a 9" x 12" felt rectangle, each one a different color.   

I chose 5 simple Halloween designs -- bat, pumpkin, ghost, cauldron, and candelabra. 




I cut each piece of colored felt in half lengthwise.  (You only need one half of the felt rectangle for this project.)  



Next I folded an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper in half lengthwise and drew a simple shape.  Once cut out, this served a my pattern.




Pin your felt in place and cut out your design as precisely as you can.  To get to the inside areas, it is okay to cut a clean line across the shape.  Your Notan is complete! 




I placed my designs approximately 4" apart and sewed them in place, using thread colors that matched the colored felt.  Anywhere I had made cuts were easily "healed" by sewing the edges.  (I didn't, but you could sew across the cuts.)




Since my table is dark, I placed this on the floor so you could see the design's overall effect.  What do you think?

I hope you enjoyed seeing my Notan creation.  I think this would be a good project to do with kids.  It is quick, easy, and economical (and it might keep the little monsters quiet for a minute). jk
 
Once I get started on making things for Halloween, it's hard for me to stop.  I'm only showing you some of my creations.  You don't want to be here all day. 

To be Frank, I love Halloween.


I also made this cute little guy.  I haven't decided whether to make him into a Halloween bag, a pillow, or just leave him as is, a little open bag.  I could store all kinds of evil, wicked, mean, and nasty things inside -- like my own stash of chocolate.  What do you think?


But wait!  There's more!  

You won't want to miss the bewitching creations being unearthed at the sites below!  Pour yourself another cup of hemlock, and go check them out.  They're just dying to show you what they've made.       

Pinker n' Punkin Quilting & Stitching

Just Because Quilts (you are here)

BeaQuilter

Pieceful Thoughts

MooseStashQuilting


Joan has the rest of the schedule HERE and for a real creepy treat, you can view all the projects on Pinterest HERE.

Thank you, Joan, for hosting this haunting Blog Hop!  As always, it's been wicked fun!

Happy Haunting!

21 comments:

  1. What a fun and fabulous project. I am going to have to try this. A Christmas runner would be cute too. Thank you so much for sharing . Happy Halloween.

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  2. Both darling projects. I am going to make a runner- thank you for the tutorial.

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  3. What a fun project!! I love your little Frankie too~ treats for the sewing room~ I love it!!

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  4. Your Notan runner is amazing! Thanks so much for introducing the art form to those of us unfamiliar with it. I'm going to have to try it! I think you should leave Frank open for use as a bag; he's great!

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  5. Well I learned a new word today, Notan. I had seen appliqué quilts done like this before, but had no idea it actually had a name or it came from Japanese art. I really love your Notan project and how great the colors look against the black! I may need to give that a go to try it on a block and see what I think. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  6. I absolutely love that tablerunner! I didn't know that "opposite" work had a name--good to learn something new! That black was a great background for the colors you chose. I definitely have to give Notan a try! Oh, and Frank is very cool too! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Great table runner design! I also like the bag for all of that nasty chocolates, LOL.

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  8. Notan is sure new to me, but WOW just how cool is that! Your runner looks absolutely fantastic and I'm sure those little ones would have so much fun working on this project too! Frankie is absolutely adorable, you know in a manly creepy kind of way, of course. LOL!! I love the idea of storing evil, wicked, mean and nasty things in him! hahahahaha

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  9. WOWZERS, I love it! That is one fun felt table runner. I've done this and had no idea there was a name to it. Great job and I love your Frank bag too. Such a fun post!

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  10. I've never heard of Notan but I need to try it. I love all the creepy creatures on your runner! Frank is pretty awesome looking, too. Thanks for showing this "old dog" a new trick with the Notan!

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  11. I've never heard of Notan either, but love your felt table runner! Great work, and thanks for sharing!

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  12. That runner is great. Thanks for the how-to. And, I am a sucker for Franky. So adorable.

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  13. That looks great. Thanks for the tutorial. I've never heard of the term Notan, but seems similar to reverse applique. I really like it!

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  14. That is so cleaver, love it!

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  15. Oh wow! That was a wonderful idea. I love it. Thanks for sharing,

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  16. That’s a great idea and looks fantastic.

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  17. Thanks for introducing me to a brand new possibility. I think it will be a fun play day.

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  18. Thanks for sharing Notan - how fun! Sorry for the late comment!

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