Forgotten Quickie Found in Stash

Have you ever gone through your stash looking for something and you find something else entirely... wedged down between the stacks...bought long ago and forgotten for ages? I LOVE it when that happens, don't you? Well, that happened to me! I found an awesome Halloween panel and matching border fabric I bought on vacation in North Carolina about 5 years ago!!

The print is very "watercolor-ish" - which I love!! The colors are quite vivid and the maroon added to the night sky is really unusual.

And for some weird reason, I'm suddenly into owls and man are they everywhere! I've decided to start collecting owl fabric and make a wise quilt!!

With my severe cat allergy, I'm not real fond of them... but this one in the pumpkin patch is just adorable. And as this panel was designed by M'Liss Rae Hawley, who is a dachshund lover, she added one of those, too, in the pumpkin patch.

The border fabric is also endearing with the old primitive fence and the tall sunflowers!! What a super quick and easy project! Trim the panel, add the borders and done! I am really looking forward to quilting it!
What have you found in your stash that you forgot you had bought???

Happy Jack Tabletopper

I'm still going strong with makin' Halloween things!! This cute pattern is in the newest Fons and Porter's quilting magazine. It's called Happy Jack. Their version is a much more muted country look for Halloween. They even sell it as a kit in the back of the magazine.

But, I've loved Halloween forever, so have a ton of scraps from previous projects in a tub in my stash. So, I ordered the wire stand from http://www.ackfeldwire.com/ and just used my scraps to make the little quilt.





I really love making scrap projects because as you sort through the bin you remember fondly the other projects you made with them! Do you do this, too?? I really love the hotter, brighter colors for Halloween. I especially love lime green and purple with my orange and blacks!!

The applique pieces were fused then machine blanket stitched around the edges. The accent lines around the eyes and the web and legs on the spiders were also machine sewn.

The eyes of the spiders are small white seed beads and they were sewn on by hand... 'cause I couldn't sew them on by machine... not a huge handwork lover!!

I loved the little frown line made by the print. I'd like to say I fussy cut it to make it a frown... but it just happened by chance! The quilt goddess was on duty when I cut it out!!

Rather than sew on a little split sleeve, I just used the bent quilt pins to attach it to the stand!! The things we do to avoid hand sewing, huh??

OK, so leave me a comment and tell me your favorite Halloween memory from childhood!!

Crazy Jack Wall Hanging

I am still sooooooo in the mood to make fall and Halloween things... hoping it will rub off on nature and the leaves will start to turn and the temps will drop!! Wishful thinking, I know!!

I made this adorable wall hanging called "Crazy Jack". It only took one charm pack from the "Pumpkins Gone Wild" collection from Moda.

The pattern comes with the jumbo rickrack for the mouth. It took only an hour to sew up the top- for real!! I plan on putting it on my front door next month!!

I stippled on the black part around the pumpkin to make the pumpkin pop out...only quilted the lines on the pumpkin. In the yellow border, I quilted "Jack O Lanterns grin, Bats fly, Witches take flight- Halloween".

In the corners I quilted pumpkins. And in the outer border I quilted big pumpkin leaves.

I've still gotta decide how to hang it... I hate putting on hanging sleeves BIG TIME!! Do you?

Next project...another Halloween one! The cute little table top mini-quilt in the latest Fons and Porter magazine!! I'll post it tomorrow! So, what are you working on??

Boring Chores! UGH!!

UGH! I have only 3 more days left of my summer vacation before I gotta go back on Thursday, and I HAD to clean out closets.... ACK!! What a major waste of time!!



But it had to be done. I cleaned out 3 closets and 3 chest of drawers... took 4 big bags of clothes to Goodwill and have a pile of stuff for my son and his girlfriend to look over and hopefully take to their place and then 5 ginormous bags of trash to go out! Although boring, it was a very productive day.

I did , by the way, finish sewing up all 8 new tops for work. So, that was good, too. It's always nice to have some new clothes!

I made this fun fat quarter autumn leaf quilt top last week, but forgot to post it here!

You cut the FQ's into strips and sew them together into strip sets and then sub-cut them. Very easy and quick! I love the black background on the sashing and border fabric.

I found some great fall fabrics to make the leaf blocks from.... I just adore fall, so have lots of fallish fabrics in my stash! Especially Halloween fabrics. Do you?

Do you have a favorite season?? If we move back to Florida when we retire, I will truly miss the autumn leaves. I think my next project might be a fun Halloween bag! :-)

Three Work Tops Done!

Well, you probably remember seeing this top pattern before, as it's a favorite one of mine for work clothes. I've only got until next Thursday off. My school year begins a week from today! YUK!! Yesterday I cut out 8 new tops from this pattern. I cut out a large black and white check fabric and a pale iced aqua linen fabric, a gorgeous purple / royal blue / pink / green print fabric, a wild striped fabric with sunflowers on it,, a stunning Alexander Henry multi-colored floral and one other I can't recall right now...

The top only takes about 2 hours to finish. I 've made it so many times now, I can probably do it with my eyes closed!! It's a quick and easy one that is so versatile... can be dressed up or down.

This is another fabric I've cut out for one. I just love black and white. I bought this fabric at Quilt Odyssey a few weeks ago. Can't ya see this top worn with black or white pants over a lime green or hot pink t-shirt with matching jewelry?? This one is called "Night & Day" by Robert Kaufman.

This one is also in the stack to be sewn up tomorrow. It is called "Fresh Paint" from Marcus Fabrics. Kinda wild and crazy but cheerful and reminds me of a Chicos type print.

Well, I got three sewn up today and will try for 4 tomorrow... if errands to be done don't get in the way! My son Anthony is going back to VA Tech either tomorrow or Saturday early... so gotta help him get ready to go back to school, too. UGH!!

The Monster Parade

Fall is by far my favorite season of the year and my favorite holiday has always been Halloween! Every summer I get excited again about the coming of autumn and get the urge to make some Halloween quilts. So, as the summer is almost over for me as a teacher, and the summer challenge for our quilt guild was to make a stash quilt or scrap quilt, I just killed two birds with one stone, so to speak! I made this Halloween quilt from fabric in my stash- nothing new was bought for this quilt! I have TONS of Halloween fabric lurking in my stash. And I just lovvvveeeeee this border fabric of scary monsters walking with spooky-faced balloons floating above them. This is only the second time I've ever done mitered corners on a border. I think it turned out well, don't you?

I made a very simple quilt with a square in a square in a square block alternated with squares of black Halloween prints. The pieced blocks are quite busy, so I felt the eye needed a place to rest between them on the black prints.

I added a 3" striped border then the final mitered border of the monsters parading on Halloween night! Such a fun and easy quilt. Took less than a day to complete. Now to quilt it....



I still have soooooooo many scraps of Halloween prints...am thinking of cutting them into 3" squares and making that Big Bag Theory tote I've made twice now that makes a HUGE bag when using 5" squares but turns out a nice handbag sized purse when made in 3" squares!

As I only have a week left off until I start back to work for the new school year, I need some new clothes, so will stop sewing quilts for a few days and make some new clothes for work. I've got three tops cut out and have a few more to cut out tonight!

So, what are YOU doing in your sewing room this week????

"I See a Leaf" Quilt

I made this quilt top last September. I finished sewing the top and had it all sandwiched and pinned with batting and backing...all ready to quilt. Then I tore my rotator cuff on my left shoulder at work. So, it sat all ready to be quilted now for almost a year!! Now that I'm back to quilting, I finished quilting it yesterday and completed binding it today at bee. Label is on it, too!! YAY!! The pattern is one of my all time favorites- Yellow Brick Road. Such fun and mindless sewing! No thinking involved! A great pattern for stress reduction!!



I had in mind a quilting motif within each block and tried it and didn't like it so ripped it out. Then just went with leaves!

I made all different sized leaves based on the size of the block pieces. Then in the border I quilted meandering leaves and curly vines. Leaves are soooooo my favorite motif... another mindless stress reducing activity for me. Sorry the up-close photo is sorta fuzzy!

We had bee today at Suzanne's house. You should see her new furniture in her sewing room.... how awesome! You can fit three of my tiny sewing rooms in hers. And she is on her way to Russia for vacation next week! How cool is that???? And, today for lunch at bee, her dear husband made us absolutely scrumptious bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches! YUMMY!!

Well, my son Anthony and my husband and I are on our way out to see a movie tonight- "The Getaway". Hope it's good!! See ya!

Quilt in a Cup

I bought this awesome insulated cup kit last June at our annual QU quilt show here in northern VA. This newer version has a tight fitting lid and a big straw, whereas the older version does not. And I could definitely envision myself knocking that one over and spilling something on a work in progress! UGH!! So I was thrilled when they upgraded them with lids!!

As my sewing room decor is Mary Engelbreit with all her whimsical prints and vivid use of bright primary colors and lots of black and white... I went through my stash scraps and made my inside fabric "mini-quilt"cover from her fun prints.

Instead of free-motion quilting all over it, I played with my eight gazillion different stitches on my Bernina Artista 640 and used a different stitch on every seam. You can see it much better from the wrong side. That was fun!!

Then you just press under one long straight edge and pop it around the white inner core and slide it into the clear outer cup and screw it down tight. The lid just pops on and off.

And taaadaaa!! All done!!

I used my favorite Mary Engelbreit slogan for the center part and

sewed on the strips building the piece around it like a log cabin block.

I love it! It is so fun and will be used everytime I'm in the sewing room. I am a big water drinker and almost always have a bottle or big cup next to me everywhere I go...

even in the car!!

Even my sweet Yogi likes it! My husband call him my "girlie dog" as he loves to sleep in his bed on my sewing table. When he's not snoozing away, he's scoping out the squirrels down below on the deck through the window!!

God Bless, Polly :-)

My Back to School/Work Purse

Back when the Dick and Jane fabric line came out, I- like every other quilter who learned to read with Dick and Jane books, ran out and bought some and made a quilt!! Thought I had a photo of it on my laptop...but can't find it right now... sorry!

Anyhoo, I decided to make myself a new purse to take back to work at the end of August when I have to go back....UGH.

Just the thought is BEYOND depressing...

So, I searched around in my stash scraps and found some leftovers!! Enough for a new school purse.

I do so love this fabric!! Life was so simple in these books.

I especially love the mother at her sewing machine.

I love the dog and cat in all the stories. Priceless!!

The language was so sweet and simple...like life was back then.

My son's girlfriend Susan wants to make a purse for the first time . She picked out this pattern from my drawer. So I wanted to make it up myself first, so I could teach it to her .




What I like about this purse is that it needs no fastener. The handle runs through 2 loops on each side and automatically closes the purse when picked up.

I only put one pocket on the inside as I use a purse insert for all my stuff, so don't really need any pockets. It is the perfect pattern for a new sewer to try out! I'll be making it with her on Sunday! Wish us luck! It should be a fun time!!

Calendar Kids Quilt Blocks

Here are the seven tree blocks

I made for the Calendar

Kids BOM quilt on Saturday.

And these are some of the eight house

blocks I made. Love these fabrics!

Here is the September block!

Back to school!

This is the October blocks. My favorite

as I love fall and especially Halloween!!

This is the November block!

Complete with with a funky turkey!