Bewitching

It must be the season, the chill in the air and the darkening evenings, but I'm getting the urge to do some hand stitching again. I have been thinking along the lines of doing some hand quilting and was very inspired by Jan's post yesterday. But a bit of cross stitch wouldn't be so bad either, and looking through my charts, I realize that I have several fun ones from Twisted Threads, two of whi(t)ch seem to fit right in with the season. I have several witchy pieces in my collection already, and these would fit right in. I just love the quirky humour here. I have the chart for the first one in my stash, but when I was looking up the page to link to these, I came across the pumpkin one, which made me laugh out loud. I might have to order that one too!

The first witch is saying: "I made my husband a pumpkin pie" The other one replies: "I made mine a toad".

So there it is, my Haunted House Quilt up on the wall, and I'm not going to mention it again ;-) I think I've said so earlier, that this was a kit from Keepsake Quilting, so this has been more like painting by numbers - or cutting by numbers, rather. For once I didn't change a thing about the pattern or any of the fabrics (although I did have a go with some bleach and ended up with some pink fabric for another project...). But it was fun to do. I love the fabric used for the background - such a wild and wonderful autumn sky, you can almost smell the bonfires and see dead leaves swirling about in the crisp night air. There isn't a lot of stitching on it - the blue/black is cut in one piece (apart from the witch and bats, of course) and that was the main job. The outline quilting was quick and easy to do, and then it just had some marinating to do before I added the binding...
So, that's one down and on to another - I stitched the triangles for my little floral quilt together today, and now I need to add some appliqué hearts before I stitch the rows into a quilt. Indiana Jones is going to keep me company tonight while I do that - it has been one film after another today, so I have managed to get a lot of hand stitching done - re-basting my Sunflower quilt is one of them. I had cut the batting too small and had such a hard time getting it all together that there was no way around it - the stitches had to be pulled and the batting extended so I could smooth the top out all the way to the edges. Much happier with it now!
That brings me back to my ever recurring problem of going from finished top to finished quilt. I came across a quote from a Himalayan Sherpa the other day. I forget his name, but it went something like this: "When you get to the top, you are only halfway". That's an apt reminder for us quilters too, I think, only slightly re-frazed: "When you have made the top, you are only halfway". I must keep reminding myself, it's so easy to get distracted by another idea once the top is done.
But then that's half the fun, though, isn't it?

Holiday spirit...

I woke up to a world all beautifully dressed in white today. I couldn't believe it - after all the rain and wind we've been having, it was almost eerie to see everything covered in snow. Since we turned the clock back this weekend it was lighter than usual when I got up, and even more so because of the snow. And so quiet, because there was almost no traffic (I discovered where everybody was once I got on the bus!). I was much too tired to remember to take a picture, though, and now it's all gone! Not that I'm complaining, as it was at least a month too early for my liking. But it did seem to get me in the holiday spirit, because look what I came home with: the latest issue of Christmas Ideas.

I have just leafed through it so far, but I stopped on this page - I quite like these Christmas trees in all their simplicity - I might just have to get out my stash of green fabric and see if I can make some of these - it seems like a quick project.

Talking about quick projects - ehrm... still working on my Haunted House quilt, but I'm almost there: I've finished the quilting and prepared the binding, so I should be able to get it up on the wall by Friday, unless it is hexed...

The fabric for the moon seems to work all right after all. Once the witch was added it turned out that it was just the right shade. Just in case you think I'm a wonderful needle-turn applique whiz, I must hasten to add that the applique is of the raw edge kind, done with fusible web. I've used Steam-a-seam Lite, which is great for this kind of project because it is a bit sticky, so I could easily place and adjust the pieces and make them stay put while moving on to the ironing board. The borders were added and the quilt layered with batting and backing before the pieces were stitched on with free-motion stitching through all layers.

Some of this - some of that...

I was sitting at my sewing machine stitching some triangular blocks together, and just realized that the things right next to it really mirrored my scatter-brained approach to quilting lately. Some stitchery-blocks, a piece of denim and the pattern for my haunted house quilt, and just out of sight to the left, my little blue bucket filled with colouring pencils, gel pens and paintsticks. I haven't been able to settle down to any one thing lately and seem to be flitting from one project to another, adding a few stitches here, a few stitches there. Well at least I'm doing something. And those stitches will add up and I will finish something one of these days... I had better concentrate on the Haunted House quilt, actually - it's that time of year. In spite of not really celebrating Halloween, I have one Halloween quilt already, and this will be my second one. I've been telling myself that it will be the perfect quilt for my cousins daughter, but it might just stay put here... There's more Halloween inspiration over at Dover - subscribe to their emails, and you get to download free samples from their books every week. This friendly witch is from a whole page full of Halloween images added this week.

Not too bad after all...

After all the fuss about that moon fabric I just went ahead and used it as is, thinking I could create a lighter effect when I quilt it. But, you know what? I think it will be all right after all! I just have to stop looking at the picture of the original!
I don't usually buy kits, but I loved the effect of that brown swirly fabric used for the background, so I just went ahead and ordered it. I suppose that using a kit I was more hung up about the thing looking like the original than I usually am - I usually make a point of doing my own thing, and find myself going off on a tangent somewhere in the middle of a project, but not so this time. The moon looked really dark on its own, but when I put it in place on the background, the effect was much better than I had anticipated. Once I add the witch I'll see if I get enough of a contrast, but I think it will be OK after all.
I went ahead and did some freestyle embroidery on my dragonfly as well, and although the silver foil didn't stick evenly on both sides, it doesn't really matter. I used a variegated thread in silver, copper and teal for the stitching. As you can see this is not a common dragonfly, but rather a dragonfly lady. I based it on a picture of a piece of Art Noveau jewellery I found in a book, and although I had to simplify it a bit, I think you get a sense of the original. This is going to be the center of a square in square block for a friendship quilt, but it is a secret so don't tell anyone... ;-)

Haunted

It must be the stormy weather we're having and the crisp autumn air that has turned my mind towards another world, because all of a sudden witches seem to pop up everywhere. I have all sorts of ideas about new things I want to make, and I see witches, broomsticks, cats and moons everywhere. Ideas of spooky castles, wise women, herb lore, spells and the like are everywhere: In books and movies, magazines and among the fabrics and patterns in my stash that grab my attention.
You might say I'm haunted by the images, and I'm not quite sure what's brewing, but there is a project or two lurking in the shadows I'm sure!
Ghoulies and ghosties and longleggety beasties, and things that go bump in the night are on my mind, and I'm sure October will take me on a creative ride down a mysterious lane. I'm going to have fun with it, I'm sure - starting with this "Haunted house" kit which has been left languishing in my stash for far too long. Then we will see which witch is next... :-P

Witchy

In case you think my stash ate me or something - no , I'm still here, and still sorting things out, little by little. Going through the piles of fabric and what have you, I found this finished cross-stitch from earlier this spring. I had put it aside until I found a frame for it. The frame was purchased a while later, but did the two ever meet? The answer is no, of course - rocrastination being my middle name and all... Well, you will be happy to hear that I have got around to framing it now - properly, with a thin layer of batting underneath and firmly laced on the back, and all - so in no time at all it should be upon the wall. Knowing me I probably shouldn't make any rash promises like that, but at least I think I know where to put it - to join this one: The latter is actually an awful picture, taken with my old camera, so I should take a new one, but you get the idea. Witches. There are more of them, and more to come.

They seem to steel into my stash in pattern (LH23) and fabric form. Now if they'd only swing those brooms and help me become a bit more tidy, but I seem to have missed out on a gene there, somehow. Oh, well, back to work!

Oh, I forgot to say: the first one is "Witchy Washy" by Raise the Roof Designs - they have a wonderful collection of washing-line designs, like "Santa Clothes" and "Turkey Dressing" and I really love their "Crabby all Year" design...

The second one is a Lizzie*Kate "Snippet" (small chart). The broom on the frame was my own idea.