Halloween Fun!

Fall is my favorite time of year. I just love the colors of the leaves and the cooler days. The smell of a bonfire and pumpkin spice just warms my soul. Fall is my time of year. The fact that I'm a Halloween junkie just fuels this love. I have no problem with coming up with new Halloween decorations and ideas. I even dress the dogs up to greet the trick or treaters that come to the door. 

 When my kids were young, I used to host a Halloween party for all my nieces and nephews. I just loved seeing them all dressed up in their costumes! They are all grown up now. 

My oldest son is wearing the devil mask and my youngest is dressed like a Dalmatian. I love, love, love the court jester costume my nephew is wearing! The hat just cracks me up!

I enjoy decorating for the different seasons and Halloween is no different. Here are some project ideas using some of my applique designs.

As you can see, I sure had fun sewing for Halloween! I made a pillow using my 'Oh Hallows Eve' pattern. It's made using some Primo Plaid flannel from Marcus Fabrics. The owl design is done in wool.

I then made a banner using my 'Whoopsies Doodles Witchy Poo', 'Ekk! Black Cat' and 'Witchy Poo's Hat' mug rug patterns to make a fun Halloween banner for my kitchen. The Trick or Treat hanger is from Ackfeld Wire.

Here's another version of 'Whoopsie Doodles Witchy Poo' Instead of putting the 2 1/2" square border on each end. I fussy cut some striped Halloween fabric I had. I really love the purple witch border!

Happy Fall!
Cindy, Josephine and Bonaparte

Going Batty!

Boo!!! Trick or Treat.... Smell my Feet.... Give me something good to eat.....

When I was a kid, we used to chant this as we went from house to house. I remember us all running around the neighborhood in our costumes. One year I was a robot... I made my costume out of a refrigerator box wrapped in tin foil. I had a small slit cut to see out of and a 'deposit candy here' opening with a pillowcase hooked to the inside of the box to catch the candy. This was one of those costumes that in theory was awesome, but the practicality of it.... not so brilliant. I could barely navigate front steps. It was hilarious! I thought it looked like a robot, but I'm sure I just looked like a huge box wrapped in tin foil hobbling down the street. It turned out to be unseasonably warm that year... so I baked inside of my toasty box... I could have been a microwave!

Are you decorating for the spooky holiday yet? The leaves are turning, I've bought mums and pumpkins to decorate my front door with. I've been thinking about pulling out the fall/Halloween bins out to decorate. I'm looking forward to getting out my festive quilted bat mats. They are a lot of fun to decorate with. I love displaying them here and there around the house. I'm even thinking of making some more.



Wrap a Bat Mat around a bottle of wine for an adorable
hostess gift...



Stuff a Bat Mat in a mug with candy for your friends!

Make a bunch of Bat Mats and sew them onto some orange and white
bakers twine for a batty garland to welcome the little zombies that
visit this Halloween.

I am looking forward to a fall retreat with my mom and sisters in a couple of weeks, it's always so much fun. I need to get my projects together so that when I arrive, I know what I'll be working on! We go to Lake City and it's such a beautiful town. There's a great coffee shop we love to visit. So excited to go!

Happy Quilting,

Cindy, Josephine and Bonaparte

October!

It's October! Pumpkin Spice, Halloween, falling leaves time of year.... all of my favorite things! I did a little decorating over the weekend. It was fun to put out the mums and spooky skeletons out on the front porch. I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, but it looks like I'll have to wait a couple more days. This month there is no block.... I repeat.... no..... block. The free download this month is the layout for the quilt top, Next month will be the optional pieced border. If you're still working on the trees, that's ok too! I am also still working on blocks! I'm always a day late on working on my own quilt. I'm hoping to get all caught up on retreat this month. I have several projects going right now... I know I'm not alone! 

Quilt layout

I hope you have enjoyed this year's mystery BOM quilt. I'm starting to think about what we should do next year. If you have an idea.... leave me a comment! I would love to hear from you.

Fabric Requirements

Blue background fabric- 2 yards

white fabric (snowman faces) - 1/2 yard

green (trees) - 3/4 yard

pieced border - red- 3/4-yard, pink - 1/2-yard, light green- 1/2-yard, light blue- 3/4-yard

orange- snowman noses

scrappy hats- 10 plus fat quarters or a combination of fat quarters and fat eights in a variety of colors such as red, blue, yellow, pink, green, purple. 

Now let's get stitching! You can download the layout sheet on the website. Remember do not embellish with eyeballs or mouths on the snowmen if you are planning on using buttons. An easy cheat is to embroider eyes and mouths using your sewing machine if you have an embroidery machine. Those you can do before you sew together your blocks for the top if you would like.

 

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Post the button on your blog!

 Each month's pattern is a free PDF instant download. If you miss a month, the patterns are available for $2.50 on my website and also in my Etsy shop.  

If you don't have a printer, you can purchase a PRINTED copy of the monthly patterns.

HERE

 There's also a Facebook Group, please join and post your progress! It's also fun to see everyone else progress too! Make sure to post your blocks so far! 

 I hope that you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch.

Have a wonderful day,

Cindy, Josephine & Bonaparte

Songbird Holiday

 I love to embroider, I learned how to embroider when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. I remember mom giving me a crewel kit from Bargello to work on. Remember those? It had everything you needed to embroider a picture or Christmas sock. I remember using yarn and wool to embroider with and learned a number of different stitches while doing the kit. I don't really remember much about the item I worked on except I know it was a fall design full of autumn colors. I think stitching with the yarn and larger needle helped me learn since I'm sure my stitches were big and clunky compared with my stitches now. Growing up I also remember my grandmother embroidering on dishtowels and pillowcases. I have a set of each that she made for me as a bridal shower gift. I have them tucked away and only use them once in a while since I treasure the stitches that she made. I hope that as my granddaughters get older that I'll be able to hand down some of these skills to them. 

On my panels I don't get too fancy with my stitching, I mainly use a back stitch, lazy daisy and French knots to complete most of my designs. Sometimes I use a satin or chain stitch for texture. I have some short how-to videos posted on my Instagram account. I thought I would feature a couple more projects using my Songbird Holiday panel. It's available now for purchase in a quilt shop near you. It can also be found on my website and Etsy shop. 

Panels are fun to work with, not only can they be used as is, I enjoy cutting them apart for smaller projects such as table runners and pillows. It's always stressful to cut something apart. Measure once, measure twice and sometimes a third time doesn't hurt before you get the rotary cutter out.

I have several free patterns available to go with this panel, they can be found on my website.

~ Quick as a Wink Quilt ~

Quick as a Wink Quilt is a free PDF pattern download that is available on my website. It uses my strip it fabric to create the scrappy border. The only blocks that are pieced are the Ohio stars corner blocks. I have more fabric on the way so you can preorder Quick as a Wink kits for this holiday season. Shhhh, I didn't embroider the panel for this quilt.

~ Ohio Star Table Runner ~

The Ohio Star table runner pattern features two of the Songbird Holiday blocks fussy cut from the panel. It can be embroidered or left as is, it's up to you. I like using my strip it fabric to create a scrappy border without the extra piecing. It's a great little cheat!

~ Songbird Holiday Table Runner ~

This is a sweet table runner pattern that features four of the blocks from the Songbird Holiday panel that I fussy cut and then sewed together to make a large rectangle. I didn't embroider these, so this is a quick and easy beginner project.

I hope that you enjoy my free projects that go with this sweet fabric. I have more fabric on order and panels are available again in my shop.

I hope you have a great day and find some time to stitch!

Happy quilting!

Cindy, Josephine and Bonaparte

Songbird Holiday Cardinal Wreath Table Runner

Have you seen my Songbird Holiday panel yet? It's lovely and perfect for celebrating winter and the holidays. The panel and coordinating fabric can be found in quilt shops and online now. I have several free patterns available to go with this line and they can be found on my website as a FREE PDF download. Today I'm going to show you one of the cute table runners I made using extra blocks and portions of the panel that I fussy cut.

When I made the Quick as a Wink and Songbird Holiday Festive Bows quilts, I cut extra blocks knowing that I would use them in some extra projects. I figure why not chain sew and get it all done at once while watching a series on my iPad or listening to an audio book. I try to multitask when I can, lol. 

These lovely Ohio Star blocks made it easy for me to work with to come up with some free projects for you. What's nice about these free patterns, you could easily substitute any of the designs to fussy cut to personalize your project. For the Cardinal Wreath Table Runner Pattern, I feature the cardinals with the wreath from the panel. I took the time to embroider the block but that is totally optional since the design is colored to match the fabric already! For the embroidery on the block I used a combination of DMC and Valdani threads and handstitched it. The listing of thread recommended can be found on the quilt pattern listing under the supplies. 

 

After I got the top all pieced together, I layered it with my backing and batting and used my embroidery feature on my machine and machine quilted a single pass holly quilt design. Repeating it across the entire table runner. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

 

~ Cardinal Wreath Table Runner ~

This sample will be at the Missouri Star Birthday Bash in the Marcus Fabrics booth if you would like to see it up close along with the Quick as a Wink Quilt and the Songbird Holiday Festive Bows Quilt. I'm excited that I will be there on Thursday afternoon and on Friday walking about. Hope to see you there too! If you see me, make sure to say Hi!

Hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch,

Cindy, Josephine and Bonaparte

Black Cats and Halloween

When is the correct time to start decorating for Halloween? September first? October first? I have been chomping at the bit to pull out my fall items and start decorating. I haven't yet, but there was a chill in the air this morning and the leaves are just starting to turn so I know fall is right around the corner.  I did buy some mums the other day to adorn my front doorway, and I'm tempted to go back a buy a few more for my patio. As many as you know, I love Halloween. I love the cooler days and crisp nights, the changing of the leaves and pumpkin spice everything! I think it's time to pull out some of my favorite projects to work on and put them on display. All of these cute patterns can be found in my Etsy shop, or my website.

I enjoy putting this table runner featuring a black cat
waiting for the Trick or Treaters...

 I made a cute wall hanging featuring an adorable
black cat peeking out of a Jack o Lantern.... I'm
in love with the striped binding!

Out of some of my scraps I made this
wonky pumpkin coaster, or mug rug. I used
different sized buttons to add to the wonky-ness.

To make this wonky little pumpkin, I started out with a 6" square of orange fabric. Then I did a flip and sew with black fabric to make the 'corners'. I didn't pay attention to keeping it even, this adds to the wonky shape! I used heat n bond light and yellow fabric for the pumpkin's smile and nose. For his goofy little eyes I used two mismatched yellow buttons. A yo-yo embellishes his head for the stem. I used a 6" square of black fabric for the backing, and a piece of scrap batting. I had just enough left over binding for my mini coaster. It's a fun quick and easy project that uses up those little bits you may have left over from you fall, Halloween projects!

Halloween isn't complete without Witchy Poo's Shoe....

I hope that you find some time to do some stitching for fall and Halloween.

Happy quilting,

Cindy, Josephine and Bonaparte

September's Block

I can't believe it's September and it has certainly snuck up on me! Hubby and I spent a day at the State Fair last week and enjoyed a beautiful day and seeing all the displays.  We enjoyed our pork chop on a stick and our glasses of lemonade. Summer is officially done and the kids in my neighborhood are back in school. It's pretty quiet during the day. We are now getting ready for a trip to Wisconsin for fishing and some ATV trail riding. That's going to be so much fun!  Towards the end of the month, I'm looking forward to popping in at Missouri Stars Birthday Bash. My friends at Marcus Fabrics will be there and I'm looking forward to visiting their booth on Friday during Missouri Star's birthday celebration. I've been there a couple of times and am always in awe at all the fabric and sewing goodies that they have to offer! My Songbird Holiday fabric can be found at Missouri Star. Hope to see you there! Stop by and say Hi!

Now let's think about this month's block...  this block is the last block pattern. Now here's the catch... you will make 12 of these blocks! Yes 12! It'll be a sewing marathon. The last block is the tree block, and you will be stitching up a forest! You can make you trees all the same color green, or you can switch it up and make them all scrappy. Remember I am challenging you to use your fabric stash and I'm sure you have enough green to make these blocks. You should have a healthy stack of tree blocks when you are done to add to your snowmen blocks. Next month we will sew the blocks together!

Here's a quick recap, if you are just discovering this year's block of the month, it’s sort of a mystery and I am encouraging everyone to use fabric from their stash. You will want the same background color for the quilt to tie it all together but, other than that the sky’s the limit. So, to begin with go dig thru your fabric stash and look for the following. 

      Pair together blue B square with green F triangles, right sides together. Sew corner to corner on the diagonal edge. This forms a flying geese block when you are done for the top of the tree block.

Press to the dark side.

     Sew the D strip to each end of a G square, press to the dark side.

Sew one C square diagonally to each end of the E strip, trim away the excess to a ¼” seam. Press. Make 3 of these sections for each tree block

       Following the block layout, lay out all pieced rectangle sections to form the tree block.  Press.

     Sew the A strip to each side of the block, press. Sew an A strip to the top and bottom of the block. Press.

     Trim the block up to measure 9 ½” x 11 ½”. (This includes the seam allowance.)

Tree Block

Fabric Requirements

Blue background fabric- 2 yards

white fabric (snowman faces) - 1/2 yard

green (trees) - 3/4 yard

pieced border - red- 3/4-yard, pink - 1/2-yard, light green- 1/2-yard, light blue- 3/4-yard

orange- snowman noses

scrappy hats- 10 plus fat quarters or a combination of fat quarters and fat eights in a variety of colors such as red, blue, yellow, pink, green, purple. 

Now let's get stitching!

 

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Post the button on your blog!

 Each month's pattern is a free PDF instant download. If you miss a month, the patterns are available for $2.50 on my website and also in my Etsy shop.  

If you don't have a printer, you can purchase a PRINTED copy of the monthly patterns.

HERE

 There's also a Facebook Group, please join and post your progress! It's also fun to see everyone else progress too! Make sure to post your blocks so far! 

 I hope that you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch.

Have a wonderful day,

Cindy, Josephine & Bonaparte