Happy Halloween

What a great day!


                                          READY

                                         
                                          SET

                                         GO

As you can see, Tink is our assistant in everything we do.  With her short stubby legs she needs to stand on an old end table to look out the door.

I tried to capture some sense of the crowd that we had. They came in groups. It was a light year. We used to run between 350 and 400. My guesstimate based on what I have left is that we only had 250 - 275 tricksters. You can see why we are such a prime location. These are townhouses so the doors are no more than 20 feet apart.

                               
                                          I had a great day, hope you did too.

Wicked Hop

                               

For this hop I specifically made 2 projects. I am adding several other wicked items I made for this Halloween season.  But first I want to Thank both Mdm. Samm and Wendy for organizing and cheering us along the way. Without your support we just wouldn't be having this Ghoulishly  fun event.

I have 2 friends with September birthdays so what better way to participate in this hop then by making them Wicked birthday presents.  Since they don't know each other and live 1500 miles apart I felt comfortable making them both the same gift.

                                          Not 1

                                         Not 2

                                          But 3, nesting baskets

                                         With a cool polka dot lining.

These wonderful Nesting Bowls are from the pattern by  Nova at www.acuppaandacatchup.com        

While I know I have made similar baskets without patterns in the past. The joy of using this pattern was that all of the math was clearly done for me. She offers measurements for  a 4,5,6,7,8 and 9  inch versions. As well as measurements and directions  if you wanted to add a detailed band in the middle or how to calculate different sizes.  I choose to make the 5,6 and 7 inch plain versions.

Don't they nest well together. I found both of these great seasonal fabrics at Joanns.

Next up I saw this cute tutorial for a set of quickie coasters by Beth over at Love Laugh Quilt.  While they are great on their own, I needed to make them Wicked, so I added some Bats and Black Cats.

Now onto my latest interest, Post Cards.  It started with Michelle's wool postcard patterns that I fell in love with  over at Raspberry Rabbits    http://theraspberryrabbits.blogspot.com/   So far I have finished 2 of them.  There are 5 Halloween patterns in the set.  I'll get to the others soon.

Then I participated in a Post Card swap for the Fall Season with Sheila over at http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com/
For that swap I shrank down and slightly modified the latest FFF pattern by Kaaren Johnston at Painted Quilt.  I love how it turned out in it's 4 x 6 version.

Well that's it for me this go around.  I hope you have been visiting the other participants this week as well as the ladies I am hopping with today.  

Oh, I almost forgot.....I am going to have a give away of the set of Wicked Coasters.  If you are interested in a chance to win, just make a note in the comment. I'll send them anywhere.

Edit:

So I put this post to bed on Sunday evening.  Scheduled it for today, done.  Not so fast.  On Monday  my girl friend and I went looking for some smallish Halloween Candy sacks. She wasn’t fussy, they will be a token goodie bag for her collage age son and his roommates that she would fill with candy.  Couldn’t find anything in the size she was looking for so I volunteered to use some of my Halloween stash to make them.  Just your basically wicked Trick or Treat Sack.

                                                     These little guys measure in at 7x7x2

                                                         I made 4,  I’m really done this time.

                                        Please stop in and visit all of the other participants for today.

Tea Time Creations

Moosestash Quilting

More Stars in Comanche

Shape Moth

Selina Quilts   (this is me)

Debby Kratovil Quilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Robin’s Fabric Nest

Craft Nurse Quilt

Quilt Doodle Designs

Just Quilt It

More Postcards

They really are such fun to do.  I am getting such a great feeling of accomplishment tossing Post Cards into my quilting mix.

I participated in a FALL Post Card Swap coordinated by Sheila at   http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com/
I was late to the party and Annette from http://institchesandseams.blogspot.com/  took on double duty and made  this card for me. The leaves are embellishments and the effect is wonderful.

Since I spend more of my waking  life at work than I do at home I now her card sitting on a small plate rack on my desk  to brighten my day and to share with the folks I work with.

In turn I made this little guy for Annette.  It took 12 days to get to her. Columbus day here and Thanksgiving in Canada apparently slowed down the process a little bit.

 

This is a wall hanging pattern designed by Kaaren Johnston of the Painted Quilt.  It is her latest FFF design. I shrank it down considerably to fit the 4 x 6 Post Card standard and had to eliminate the top section of the design but it worked perfectly for a Fall Post Card.

While I was on this Post Card roll, I whipped up a Birthday card for my MIL.  She truely loves it when I make her little quilty things.

 

I was told by the admiring Postal person that this one is not truely a post card as it measures in at something more like 6 x 9 than 4 x 6 but who other than her really cares.

 

This week begins the Wicked Hop.  I hope you are planning on stopping by to visit all of the creepy, crawley blogs that will be participating.  I will be coming out of the shadows on Thursday.  Hope to see you here then.

I'm not going to Jail

Yes, I can prove I am a quilter.  It’s funny, but if you asked me if I kept my quilts I would have said no.  Not until I actually stopped and looked around did I realize I have a decent collection of my work floating around the house.  You will notice as we go on tour that I have my Fall (Halloween) season stuff out at the moment.  I do have Winter (mostly Christmas), Spring (mostly Easter) and Summer (mostly Red, White and Blue) things that you won’t see this time around.

I live in a 2 bedroom Town House. We’ll start in the living room.  

This is my Halloween quilt.  I made it last year for a blog hop.  I’ve made 4 Halloween quilts for me but they have all managed to find other homes. Let’s see how long I can hold onto this one.

This quilt is MJ’s.  It is called a Bunk House quilt by Country Threads.  I got the pattern and fabric kit from them several years ago.  It had that manly look to it and it was long.  MJ is a bit over 6 foot and length is always an issue.  Sorry for the darkness of the photo, our living room is pretty much a man cave.

Between our living room and dining room is a banister.  I made the quilt that is hanging over it 5 years ago while home recuperating from Hip replacement surgery.  A friend dropped off a kitchen trash can bag full of her scraps so I could entertain myself.  MJ set up my feather weight in the kitchen and away went many, many hours of forced, boring, stay at home time. I made a total of 5 tops with those scraps.  Gave away the other 4 and kept this one for me.

Now on to the dining room.  Here is the other side of the banister quilt.  I had it professionally quilted. Can you see, I got it back and in these 5 years have never managed to bind it.  

On the table is a runner I made for a blog hop last year.  I won the quilting in a giveaway.  I didn’t manage to get this one bound either.   Maybe I’ll get to it before it goes away in December, or maybe not.  I’m not expecting the quilt police to visit anytime soon and I have no problem living with it unbound.

This quilt is hanging on the dining room wall.  It is based on the tile floor in a bathroom in Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom.  MJ is a Disney nut.  When I made this for him I made the mistake of telling him he could hang it anywhere. Little did I expect that he would choose the dining room.  Yes, a good term for my house would be eclectic.  He can see it from HIS CHAIR in the man cave.

On to the kitchen.  This piece is from  a class I took 20 or so years ago to learn to appliqué.   It was before I mastered flat/ straight borders. 

I have a powder room that usually has something hanging in it but not at the moment.  Outside the powder room door is this piece.  I think this is my favorite.  I made it maybe 10 or more years ago.  For the last 3 years it has been hanging here.  I used to put it away at the end of the season, that was back when it hung in the dining room where the frogs are currently taking up residence.  The first season it hung here I missed it during season change and it has remained here ever since, because I like it.

I have quilts hanging on the upstairs banisters but they were gifts, not my work.  I also have quilted pieces in my quilt room (2^nd bedroom) but again they were gifts not my work.

In the master bedroom at the moment I only have the one quilt that is on the bed.  It belongs to Tinkerbell.  It was given to her to protect the bedspread underneath.   She is a slobbery dog.   In the summer I have a king size spread that I made several years back but I can’t find a picture of it. 

And this quilt hanging on the wall.  

I feel that I have now proved myself as a quilter and that I will remain out of Jail.  I will be linking to Lilypad quilting     http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com/2013/10/go-to-jail-sponsored-giveaway.html

Stop by and follow the links to the others who have proved themselves.  It’s a fun trip.

My first Postcard Swap

I am participating in my first postcard swap ever.  It has been coordinated by Sheila over at   http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.com/.  The theme of the swap is FALL.

I was partnered with Annette at  http://institchesandseams.blogspot.com/.  This is the beautiful post card I received this past week. It was a great treat to come home from a trip to.

I would have posted about it Thursday but it has done nothing but rain since I got home from my vacation.  This morning we had about an hour of sun so out we went to get a picture of the great colors and wonderful detail that makes up this FALL postcard.  

I thought this swap sounded like a great idea and joined without giving a lot of thought to its timing.
Well it is fortunate that postcards make for a very portable project because I was away for most of the last week and a half so all of the detail on mine was done by hand.

  I did get mine mailed out to Annette between stops on our vacation. I can't blog about mine yet as Annette hasn't received it.

Here is one more view, I hope to get a small plate holder for it this week so I can set it on my end table for the rest of the fall season.  It is the perfect size for the table, it measures in at 6 in x 7 1/2 in.

                Thanks so much to both Sheila for coordinating and Annette for the beautiful piece of art.